Small river fishing – What to use

Hey Guys,

There are some small/medium size rivers I plan on fishing in the near future. They hold walleyes and smallies. Recommendations for lures that anyone likes or has been successful with in this style of fishing?

Thanks!

Jigs an bring a lot of them

-Bottom fishing rigs (bare hook, sliding sinker above a swivel)
-In-line Mepps spinners
-Jig and half a crawler
-Jig and B-fishn Tackle plastics
-Shallow running crankbaits
-White spinnerbaits for smallies
-Floating jigheads with crawler or leech

The list is endless. If I cannot catch fish on the above, I generally head home or launch my river boat somewhere else.

How about rod/reel setup?

Kyle Wills wrote:

How about rod/reel setup?

I would just go with a medium action spinning rig.

68MXF with a 2000 series reel

Tubes with insider jig heads. Both smallies and occasionally walleye will eat them

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For the smallies in smaller rivers I find in this area the water tends to be a little stained or muddy. Find some deeper holes or current breaks. Throw a 1/6 oz VMC wacky jig with weedguard rigged with a wacky worm and work slowly. I have had best luck with colors that stand out in murkier water. Best 2 colors to date are: Yamasenko blue Pearl fleck (basically white with flecks) and Kalins Wac-O-Worm in Baby bass (green with white stripe). Find boulders, rocks, rip-rap, concrete structures for smallies. If they’re in there, they’ll hit it. Caught a few walleyes around wood laydowns that way too. Good luck —

Thanks everyone! This is my first attempt at river fishing.

FryDog, I expect the water here to be stained and muddy with this area consisting of a lot of farm and marsh land butting up against the river or river flowing thru the marsh. I’ll be sure to try the slow approach with some wacky jigs.

Would shaky head jig be an option for river fishing?

Welcome to the world of river fishing! Thought i would share this in-fisherman article on how to present Lures in current for bass. http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/smallmouth-bass/smallmouth-bass-and-current/

Also once things heat up a Heddon tiny torpedo is a great all around topwater for Smallies.

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

What times of year are you guys using top water baits vs baits that get down further?

By the way this river there are parts that are deep (outside bends) and parts that are really shallow. I will be wading this river.

Steveo are the tube jigs with the lead inside less likely to snag? Kyle let me know if you want help checking out your river (if you are in MN) I have a 14’light Jon Boat-3hp outboard, stronge trolling mtr. and a square stern canoe,
I’m also trying to figure out how to fish small to Med. sized rivers.

tim hurley wrote:

Steveo are the tube jigs with the lead inside less likely to snag? Kyle let me know if you want help checking out your river (if you are in MN) I have a 14’light Jon Boat-3hp outboard, stronge trolling mtr. and a square stern canoe,
I’m also trying to figure out how to fish small to Med. sized rivers.

If you’re looking for a snag resistant tube jig/hook, I started using the Owner Phantom tube rig last year. Works well, various weights too. Video below:

For smallies I like a 1/8 oz melon Fin-tech (jigfish.com) Title Shot Jig with a 3″ green pumpkin Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw. My go to on lakes too. The wedge jig design rarely snags and easily pulls through rocks and weeds. If they don’t take that they’re not biting or I’m fishing where there isn’t fish. Berkley products are available on their website too with a $10 rebate on 4 bag purchases with free shipping. If I ever feel I need to try something different I’ll try a Baby Threadfin Shad Bomber Square A crankbait B05SLBTS and bounce it off rocks and cover.

Walleyes are a bit harder to find on shallow small rivers but by favorite is an orange/chartreuse 1/16-1/8 oz Fin-tech Knuckleball jig with a live leech.

Northern pike are fun too, try a spinnerbait with Colorado blades or a Rapala size 12 perch color X-rap. My dad’s saying is “It takes a perch to catch a pike.”

For a smallie/walleye rod I use a 6′ 6″ M fast action Fenwick Elite spinning rod with a Abu Garcia Orra SX30 spooled with 6# test Hi-Seas Grand Slam mono I bought on Amazon. The line is smooth and limp but strong for 6# line. The smaller line also allows me to use the same rod for gills, crappies, and white bass. Going up to 8 lb test does help with deterring lost jigs if I’m fishing 8-12 fow with a snaggy bottom.

All really good info above. I fish some medium sized rivers around ne Iowa (Cedar and Wapsipinicon) for smallmouth. Your normal 6’6″-7′ medium action spinning outfits will work fine. I also use casting equipment too for throwing crankbaits and flipping. Like said above, spinnerbaits are a good choice for the smallmouth if you have stain to the water. Little square bill crankbaits like a KVD 1.0 or a Rapala DT4 are good for little rivers because a lot of the forage tends to be smaller. All sorts of plastics work and are versatile. Chigger craws, speed craws, kalins grubs, beaver baits etc. And yes shakey heads work very well around rocky areas. Green pumpkin is tough to beat and I use black trick worms too if the water has a heavy stain. A speed craw on a shakey head is tough to beat also. If the clarity is a little better small swimbaits like Keitechs on a jig head fished with a steady retrieve is solid also. Good luck