River Panfish Location

Can anybody offer any advice on prespawn bluegill/crappie location on the river?

I would guess they will be somewhere close to current just off the main channel or sides of it? Will they spawn on rip-rap or look for sand to make nests in?

thanks

The crappies will be found near backwater shorelines lined with downed timber in 2-5fow near deep holes. They will start the spawn when water temps are 52-60 degrees, in other words, now on the back waters of pool 8
The bigger females will spawn near the edge of the drop while the smaller specks will be tight to shoreline. I find that the basic set up, using a bobber and small hook with a crappie minnow will out fish any other presentation during the spawn. After the spawn, when the crappies start to migrate back into the deeper water I go back to using jigging spoons over the side of the boat.

The Bluegills will start there spawn when water temps are steadily holding at the 70 degree mark and rising. This in when the males will move into 1-3fow with a sand/gravel clean bottom to start fanning out beds. These are the same areas the large mouth bass will move into to spawn as the gills leave. A small tube jig or jig and crawler pulled across the bedding area will produce a countless number of gills.

Many people do not like to share this information because this is when prized pan fish are the most vulnerable and large numbers of big females are easy prey.
Practicing catch and release with the big females at this time is a must for producing trophy sized panfish whether it be on a lake or the river.

Keeping a meal of the 9-11inch male crappies or some 7-8 inch male bluegills is good rule of thumb for selective harvest.
Hope this helps and gives you a start

Excellent post Bret! Thanks from an old panfisherman…

Thanks for the help Brett. Exactly the info I was looking for to understand locations versus just looking for “spots”.

Very good information from a wise old man!