White river crappie fishing

I fish the white river refuge alot but have never fished in the river. I've caught some really big crappie in hoop nets, and have released them as soon as I run the nets. I know the rivers full of crappie. Has anyone fished the river and if you have how do fish for them with the current flowing all the time. Do you fish just eddies or just when the river is low and slow. Most of the crappie I catch in the hoop nets are below sand bars with the net set close to the bank. I'm not fishing for them, just buffalo and cat. When I wrote that I fish the refuge I mean for crappie in the lakes off the river

Never fished main river for Crappie but they should hold in eddies just like other rivers. IMO

Thanks Nimrod. After seeing those huge crappie in my nets I'd sure like to get on the end of a line

I fish the river some. You have to look at the river for current breaks just like you were bass fishing. I fish laydowns, eddys, etc. I don't normally catch a lot of crappie, but I sure catch some good ones. Besides the crappie, I generally catch a nice flat head about every day. That's worth the effort right there.

What part of the river are you fishing remington? I'm below St. Charles.

I fish between Preston Ferry and Crockett Bluff.

Look at the crookeds lakes especially farthest one ;-).


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

The crooked lakes are good. I usually fish the lakes back in the bottoms that I have to walk to. One of the lakes i fish, and I know this is hard to believe, but i've fished it for years and have never seen anybody on it when I fish it. People use my boat and i've seen fourwheeler tracks where they put in on the lower end but i've never seen anybody. Last year the first time I fished it I caught about 50 crappie and brought out 30. I use the smallest jig spinner wal-mart has and put a blue and white or a red and char. jig on it. Most of the crappie were in one spot under a sycamore tree out from the bank about 30 feet. Didn't seemed to be anything there. Everytime I threw in there I would usually catch one.

I like fishing the rivers for crappie,takes a good tm to fish some of the areas that crappie hang out.Some days they want be in the eddies but feeding in the current.If you cann't find them in the bigger eddies look for small eddies behind any break in the current.When I say smaller eddies I mean something like the size of a basket ball or number 3 washtub behind a break.In the river the eddie does't have to be large to hold more then a limit.

x2! gotta get out there and look for those places. turtlebait is right on!

Thanks Turtlebait. Do you use jigs, Minnows or do you throw small crankbaits or something other. I've thought about tying a bell sinker on the bottom and jigs or minnows on a leader above the sinker. Do you fish on the bottom or shallow?

Does this include indian bay? Been there once before for bass and did well. Water was up a little more than now. If indian bay is what your talking bout, how's the lauinch and stuff- just curious

I don't use live bait,I use jig,spinner,small crankbaits,.....
In the bigger eddy I cast 99% of the time,the wittle eddy I use lone pole(10ft),I carry two lone poles each with different size jig head wt..The bell sinker works great...only reason I don't use it anymore is b/c of tangle problem when laying it back down in the boat with 3 to 5 casting rods rigged and ready to go.Its best if your tm can hold you in current and even pull you up river to fish the wittle bitty eddy whats found in fast moving water.On white river I like tenn. Shad,bleeding shad and orange/char same on spring river,strawberry river,eleven point and god forbid on what color black river but blue/ white is my go to color.
I DON'T use bells or whistles to find them when I unload the boat I switch my brain from knowitall to a fish brain,will I bite today will I chase the bait peck at it or just look at it hummm after a few hours I switch brain back over to knowitall and just enjoy the day.
Learned if you haven't enough money to buy a bite on the lake go to the river,if you cann't buy a bite on the river go to the lake.

Thanks Turtlebait. Very helpful.