River current - Question

[Team KaRu]

Does anyone ever catch fish in a river on the upside of an eddy caused by wing dams or any other structure causing the  current break?

[Duke]

Yes...

[Team KaRu]

I guess I will ask open questions for now on... I rephrase my question ....
What different situations would you fish the upside?.. and what are the better types of lures to utilize in these situations?

[rufus]

Interesting, I just returned from the BFL regionals on the Mississippi River and fished a spot the entire tourney just like you described. I actually caught most of my fish on the upside of the current break. I think the answer to your question depneds on the bait present and the amount of current you are dealing. In extreme current you will most always catch your fish in the eddy, but I have seen exceptions. Largemouth are more lazy than smallies and do not like swift current. I caught all my fish on a 1/4 and 1/2 ounce rat-l-trap. A small point stuck out into the river with an eel grass bed on top of it. Upstream a very large weed flat and grass bed was "feeding" the sweet spot I was fishing. As the current swept large schools of very small shad along they would get caught  at the point and eel grass bed. I believe the largies were following the shad and when they would start to bunch up on the upside of the current it would trigger a feeding frenzy and for about 10 minutes I would catch fish. After the shad were busted up I would have to wait out the next school of shad. I caught a few on the backside of the point including the two largest fish. The current was not too strong, but I did have to keep on the trolling motor to stay in my spot. I had it on 25%. I hit many heavier current spots during prefish without a single bite. In the prefish I caught fish on swim jigs and spinnerbaits. A fluke and a wacky rigged Senko will also produce if allowed to drift up to the current break. God Bless and Good Fishin'!

[Duke]

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you wanted more feedback than that. 

I live by the St. Joe River in S. Michigan/N. Indiana and fish it quite a bit. What I've learned is that this kind of area can be real good or it can be a ghost town. A variety of baits can work like jerkbaits, crankbaits, but especially jigs. What I've learned is that these areas can have rocks, wood, etc. that you can't see that serve as a current break just in front of the eddy/wing dam - not sure if that makes sense, but its kind of like an eddy in front of an eddy. Normally they're not big enough to hold more than a single fish or two, but its always worth tossing at for a few minutes.

[djkimmel]

My belief has always been that the most aggressive and feeding bass will be on the upstream side (barring too heavy current) and the least aggressive bass will be downstream (resting). Works a lot of the time, but no rule (or belief) works all of the time.

Heavy current can be relative. There's always some type of slackened current anywhere there is drag. Heavier current might equal a tiny slower area = only a bass or two, while slower current might allow a slack area able to hold a whole bunch of bass.

I sometimes think the more aggressive bass will pull into the key spot facing the direction of the arriving food and when you catch it, another less aggressive bass moves in from the back or from deeper water into the vacated key spot.

I like to picture that anyway when I'm casting my lure into the key spot. Keeps me on my toes