Small River Fishing

Hey all, looking for advice on when and how to target crappie in a small river system.

im From SW Ontario so not sure how this will translate to most places. This river has some population of both white and black crappie but have only caught a few whites unintentionally fishing walleye and then this morning caught one and lost two fishing shallow with a jig and float. There’s not much info on crappie fishing other than a few guys that’ll target them early spring (end of March/mid April) on lay downs but nothing after that.

For the river info, it’s on average about 50yds wide, it averages about 10-16fow in the middle with steep steady drops along the majority of the bank. Water visibility is generally between 8”-20”. Current is relatively light to moderate. Plenty of shore lay downs, submerged trees in channel, and overhanging branches. Water temp today was between 58’f and 60’f.

in my mind there has to be enough in there to make it worth targeting, but just not sure where to start or what to look for.

thanks in advance for any help.

The slack water on the inside of any sharp bend in the river.
Any bridge pillars.
Any blowdowns or other obstructions that can reduce water flow rate.
Any rockslides or rock cliffs.
Any collection of branches/trash/etc. that's floating on the surface & wind blown or current driven into a pocket or corner.

Always be on the lookout for baitfish schools ... either visible by seeing them with your eyes, or seeing them on your electronics. (believe me, the fish certainly are !! )

Most of the time, Crappie will be staged on the downstream side of any obstacle that restricts water flow.

Appreciate it, do you think I should try working a little deeper or at the ends of the laydowns? And jig Athena lay downs brush rather than running a float? I fished mostly from the 1-4fow depth just because in my mind with the temps being at 60’f and just below that the fish might be pushing up or hanging in that range.

What I've always done when casting to a laydown is to cast to it straight on, starting 6-8ft off to one side and moving in 1-2ft increments until I'm 6-8ft past the other side. My jig will land right close to the shoreline and will be slowly worked back to the boat, where I'm usually reeling the jig back up from straight under the boat. Now, the one important aspect of doing it this way is I'm using a weedless jighead, so that I can drag the jig up/over any branches.
Mind you, I'm fishing a lake & the laydown top may reach out to 20ft depths. In the Spring, they'll usually be in the <8ft depths, then in Summer they'll usually be anywhere from the 8ft depths to the end of the laydown, however deep it is. If the laydown is on a shaded bank during the morning hours, I can usually expect them to be there until the Sun gets over it. Then they'll usually be gone, or else down deep and/or down in the brushiest part of the top.

Remember, too .... the fish will be facing into the direction of the incoming water, if there's more than a gentle current. Start your presentation upstream and let the jig go towards them with the current. And if there's a sizeable pocket, or a small creek with little or no current, they are likely spawning spots ... especially if they have wood cover, pea gravel, weeds, stumps, or other obstacles that offer cover and block current.

Thanks for the advice and pointers, getting the jig off the structure or around it that far off is something I learned today. The one hollow stump I caught one on yesterday again provided another one tight about 6” down, then while hanging the jig off the side of the boat about 4ft down over 8fow well off the stump, one ended up smacking the jig, mind you that where the trees lay down is settled on the bottom but a very bare tree with not much for off shooting branches. Ended up pulling 7 suspended about 4ft above the main lay down that ran perpendicular to the shore line.

tried working brush piles and visible lay downs extending from shore but nothing to show for it. Left the electronics at home thinking I’d be targeting the visual structure again but after today with the fish suspending over what I couldn’t see I’m thinking I’ll look for that structure next time with the electronics and key in on it.

also worked a bridge pillar that also produced 3 fish.

the fish in this river I think are right on the edge of spawning but haven’t committed yet. All of the females hadn’t dropped their eggs yet and water temp still around 58’f-60’f, so I’m wondering if this might be a reason why the fish are not pushed up in the cover yet and if they’ll mostly, through out the river, be suspending over the submerged structure in that 8-10ft range on the edge of the drop off?

this river also only has one decent creek in the range that I fish that’s about 15ft wide but lots of trees and is probably around 8ft at its deepest but steep banks. That’ll be my next thing to try I’m thinking, if the rivers that temp I’d imagine the creek has to be about the perfect temp. But for the fish spawning on the river they just haven’t pushed up on the shore yet. Finding the submerged lay down will be the other goal.

If you find only males on shallow cover they're either making a nest or guarding one. If both male & female fish are on a piece of cover, then they're likely engaged in the spawning process. Females are not wont to drop all their eggs in one nest, but will retreat to a piece of cover some ways off from the nesting area & then come to visit any number of nests they find suitable over the course of several days or as long as it takes to drop their clutch ... if conditions remain tolerable.

Even a limbless trunk is suitable cover, as well as a possible current break.

The creek may or may not be at a higher temp, unless it has access to a lot of sunlight along its path. But you are quite right to consider checking it out, if only to find out if the water is indeed warmer.

Luck2ya on your continuing adventures !!

Another question for this topic…

I've fished this river several times the past week and have been having gradual success each trip and believe I’ve got a good pattern down for them. What I’ve noticed is that on the spots I’ve narrowed down its been mostly identical structure, large laydown with some degree of bank erosion coming out a bit into the river, creating a sizeable spot of calm water. The other structure type has been a few select large submerged trunks. On these “ideal” spots which are few and far between fish have been stacked there in good numbers, but other really good looking stumps and lay downs which there is no shortage of, partially submerged trees and other debris or branch build up also creating current breaks and cover hasn’t held anything. I keep making stops at these spots each trip to see if something changes but it’s been the same results.

the fish now appear to be in a full blown spawn as the temps have gotten to 60-64’f and are deeper in the logs and branches on these spots and shallower, but curious if these fish will stay schooled on these same spots as the spawn and summer progresses or should they start to disperse among all the other structure as the temp goes up?

I would tend to think that there's something "special" about those places where the fish are, versus the spots they're not using (at this time). It may be these spots are where many of them were born or spawned at in the last few years, since Crappie are wont to returning to spots familiar to them.
That's not to say, of course, that they won't use the other areas of cover over the course of the following months. Once the spawning is over & done, and the post-spawn healing & resting up puts them back into their normal routines & patterns ... I'd be looking for them to spend a lot of their time in close proximity to schools of baitfish. That may have them roaming the open water/deep water areas of the river, or hiding amongst the current break cover waiting for the baitfish to come within their range. I'd also be watching for any hatches of aquatic insects (like Mayfly hatches) or even hatches of crustaceans, the fry of other Sunfish species, and Silverside minnow species of your area, as these are a good food source when Shad or other minnow species are not constantly available.