River Help

So my nearest body of water is a river in my home town. The section easiest to get to is between two dams. Im having a tough time finding crappie though (yes there are some in the river) There is a nice creek that feeds into the river at one point. Ive waded it before looking for smallmouth and its about 3 - 3 1/2 feet deep on average. What caught my eye was about 6 or so trees that have fallen into the creek at various points. I was thinking those might hold crappie in the summer?

I cant seem to figure out where the crappie are hiding on this setetch of the river. There are no real deep pockets, maybe 5 ft or so at most, and this hear the river level never really came up with spring flooding so its a little on the low side.

What am i missing? I feel like im always looking in the wrong spots.

I know crappies don't like current, so look in spots where there is the least current. Those trees might be good spots, but you may have to really get in deep to find them. Downstream from laydowns, rocks, points, etc. Try different retrieves, from slow to quick and even toss a jig under a bobber. Good luck.

Like he said look for cover in calm areas to start .

I have heard that crappie do not like current , but having fished small dams on rivers and creeks I seem to find them in the slack areas of the dams.

If the main river or deeper water is fairly close they will most likely miagrate there after the spring spawn.

If there is a dam then the water flow will hold bait fish and the crappie stage close by the running water to ambush the bait. Look for flowing water with a spot that has little flow next to it.

So I was out fishing my favorite smallmouth spot on the river today (got skunked on smallies but picked up a nice 18" walleye at the end of my outing), anyway. I was wading around the main river channel and wandered towards some backwater spots. They range from ankle deep to probably 4-5 ft deep normally. Some may be up to 6ft right now as the river is kind of high. The nearby main river channel is about the same 5ft-ish deep.

One thing I noted was about 5 big (maybe 40ft by 15ft at most ) patches of lilly pads in the back water areas. These are way out of the main river current. Would these be promising spots to find crappie in the summer? I was hoping the nearby main river channel, slower water and weeds of the backwater area might attract crappie (and gills).

What do you guys think, worth a few hours probing with a long rod, float and a handful of jigs? Im thinking the deeper into the weed pockets i could drop a jig the better.