where to fish in rivers?

[whitetail_freak]

where do you typically look for walleyes on the river? i know dams are a major attractor, but where on the main river? any tips would be nice.

[PerchJerker]

There's a bunch of guys on here that know more about rivers than I do. But basically I think you should be looking for two things ..... current breaks (eddys), and structure. And a lot of times they're the same thing.

Current breaks are where the fish can get out of the fast water but still be ready to pounce on any food going past them. Structure can be anything like wingdams, sand or gravel bars, rock piles / rip rap / rocky shorelines, inlets, points, deep holes, etc. A lot of the time the structure will create a current break.

I hope that helps get you started.

[Northlander]

One sometimes over looked area is big shallow flats. Especially if they have some weed growth in them. The eyes will stage in these areas and hold there for long periods of time because of water warmth and the forage that holds in these weedy areas.

[tunrevir]

Some of the prime areas I fish in the spring are sand to gravel transitions, outside corners with current washing into a bank often hold fish. Don't overlook shoreline rocks and wood will both hold fish. It can pay to get onto an area in the late fall flows to prescout fish attracting areas for high water in the spring. A digital camera is handy to note some of the structure that might become submerged with higher water. Shallow flats can be great areas as Northlander mentioned front and backsides of islands can hold fish as well. Learn to read the water for boils, current seams where faster and slower water collide. An overlooked feature that is very productive is midriver dunes where the sand rolls up and down giving each bump a mini wingdam type holding area where fish can rest and duck out of the current and dart up for a tasty morsel and drop back in and rest till the next morsel flows by. Trolling cranks and dragging jigs can be productive as well as vertical jigging and rigging. Don't be afraid to work the shorelines in the skinny water early in the spring by pitching jigs and even casting cranks to the bank and retrieving them back. This tends to work best early and later in the day when the fish move up shallow to feed. Plastic twistertails and shad type baits are good for pitching to the shoreline areas as you won't get chilly hands from reaching into the bait bucket. Hope this helps!

Tunrevir~

[whitetail_freak]

thanks alot guys!

[Turk]

Whitetail,

For walleye you need to find where the fast and slow water meet, its all about the flow rate. not too much, not too little. This is very rewarding fishing when you figure it out.

I have an article I wrote that explains this, it was on FM a couple years ago, email me at [email protected] for the article if you would like.

Good luck.

Turk

[Phooj]

dont know but i just got back from the Xcel power plant in stillwater and the walleye are biting they are edible size 36e exit out of bayport make right and follow that down the hill and make right at the stop sign and Xcel is on left and go in park under the electricity pole and walk along the fence to the Dam