Fishing a Tough River

[Rodman_Rob]

I'm hardly a newbie when it comes to bass fishing, often times fishing nearly a thousand hours a year, but figured I'd post this in hear anyway. The Oklawaha River is only a few miles away from me and just recently I've started fishing it more often (due to rising gas prices and its close vicinity). Problem is, its a Spring fed river, has clear water in the northern portion, muddy water in the southern, and stained in the reservoir. Its a long winding river with plenty of structure last 2 years of hurricanes have put a ton of trees in the water, most of the shoreline is roots, lots of structure, lots of cover, lots of dropoffs, lots of deep water, lots of points, lots of 180 degree bends, lots of cliffs, some open water, lots of laydowns, lots of lilly pads, lots of eddys, bridges, dams, creeks, etc. Being spring fed, it has a fairly strong current and maintains a fairly consistent temp of 72 near the springs and only slightly warmer further away from the springs. Because the river has as much stucture/cover as it does, makes it a very difficult river to fish. Not only is there a multitude of trees over and under the water to get hung up on, but add a strong current and it makes it that much harder to fish. So tell me, where would you try when its sunny, cloudy, or rainy? Its in Florida so its always hot. Interested to read your suggestions. To give you an idea how much cover/structure this river has, it owns about a tacklebox or 2 of my lures, lol.

[Fishie1]

I would fish shallower on cloudy days just because usually on my lakes they move shallower. I think bass move up more on flat areas to look for bait.....
With the water being clear I would use shakeyhead rigs and the dropshot on a heavier line....probably would be flourocarbon. Probably going to be a heavier weight because of so much current.........with there being so much cover I would concentrate on finding great structure line the bends in the channel like you said and then find the bends that have cover on them.....
Probably do the same thing in the more stained and muddy water but just change the baits to jigs and tubes.....

Rob this river sounds like a hard place to fish! When I was reading I was like this is going to take some thinking over.....

[Fishie1]

Please let everyone know or at least me how you figure them out! THis is pretty interesting.

[WTL]

I would try skipping flukes and floating worms around laydowns, especially on the outer bends of the river. Look for water thats in between, not dirty, but not clear if you can find it. If at 1 end its clear, and 1 its dirty, shouldn't there be a place where its in between?

[bassintom]

look for the slackwater and eddys on the downstream side of blowdowns etc.i'm assuming this is not tidal water so that's a plus.on the bright sunny days look for the shadows.fla.fishing is a different ballgame than n.j.fishing but IMO,the bass will still be hiding in the shadows on sunny days and overcast they should be cruising.i would not be fishing the middle of the river.

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by WTL

If at 1 end its clear, and 1 its dirty, shouldn't there be a place where its in between?

well yes and no.....sorta.......if that makes any sense. I'll try to explain. The southern portion of the river is muddy the middle portion is where the spring is located, and the clear water runs north. Where the spring meets the river is a Y. The spring is clear, the water running north is clear, but the southern portion is muddy. Where it all meets is a nice mudline that I throw crankbaits at. That mudline is the only "in between". On one side the water is crystal clear, and 2 inches away the water becomes muddy with almost zero visibility. Its been one of my better spots, but finding other good spots is EXTREMELY difficult because of the amount of structure, and different kinds of structure. Everywhere you look on this river "looks" like a good place for fish, but because there is so much structure/cover makes it difficult to distinguish what really is a good fishing spot. Its as if there is too much cover for the amount of fish in there, lol.

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by bassintom

look for the slackwater and eddys on the downstream side of blowdowns etc.i'm assuming this is not tidal water so that's a plus.on the bright sunny days look for the shadows.fla.fishing is a different ballgame than n.j.fishing but IMO,the bass will still be hiding in the shadows on sunny days and overcast they should be cruising.i would not be fishing the middle of the river.

no, not tidal, but being spring fed the water level fluctuates a lot with rain. If it rains, not only is the rainwater raising the level, but all the water entering the aquifer is pumped right back into the river. For the most part its a fairly narrow winding river so on sunny days, 75% of the surface is shaded. If you're in the middle of the river you can cast to both shorelines fairly easy, actually most parts of the river, you can pitch or flip to either shore if you're in the middle.

[lizardsrule]

I assume your launcing right out of the launch right off 40 east of the bridge? When I fished it in the spring the current was tough, we'd had lot's of rain. I caught a couple in the clear water, casting a white/chartreuse spinnerbait double willowleaf blades. Yes I said spinnerbait in the clear water LOL. I also caught a nice one down at the bridge on a shad rap crankbait. It does go from clear to muddy though doesn't it. My biggest problem besides the current was all the stinking boat traffic coming through this narrow river. I never went to far, but cloudy vs sunny isn't as much of an issue with all the trees in and hanging over the water. I would cast back into the roots areas where they will help break the current, and be good cover. The deeper areas, would be a crankbait, such as the Shadrap. Also a few of those stinking mudfish in there. Bring a anchor LOL. Good fishing, and as stated let us know how you did. I think this might also be a good place(deeper areas) for a Storm swimbait, however I never threw one. Flukes would be tough anywhere in the current due to the speed, but back in the slacker areas should work well. And we will have to get back out fishing again.

Lizards

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by lizardsrule

I assume your launcing right out of the launch right off 40 east of the bridge? When I fished it in the spring the current was tough, we'd had lot's of rain. I caught a couple in the clear water, casting a white/chartreuse spinnerbait double willowleaf blades. Yes I said spinnerbait in the clear water LOL. I also caught a nice one down at the bridge on a shad rap crankbait. It does go from clear to muddy though doesn't it. My biggest problem besides the current was all the stinking boat traffic coming through this narrow river. I never went to far, but cloudy vs sunny isn't as much of an issue with all the trees in and hanging over the water. I would cast back into the roots areas where they will help break the current, and be good cover. The deeper areas, would be a crankbait, such as the Shadrap. Also a few of those stinking mudfish in there. Bring a anchor LOL. Good fishing, and as stated let us know how you did. I think this might also be a good place(deeper areas) for a Storm swimbait, however I never threw one. Flukes would be tough anywhere in the current due to the speed, but back in the slacker areas should work well. And we will have to get back out fishing again.

Lizards

actually I was launching right at the bridge on 40, not the actual ramp, but close enough.......or gores landing (few miles north of 40 bridge off of CR 315). On the east side of the bridge on the south side of 40 there is a dirt road that goes down to the river. even with 4x4 its hard to get all the way down there especially if we've had a lot of rain and if other 4x4's were down there "tearin' it up". I won't go down there on a weekend because of the size of my boat and the amount of boat traffic (boat wake can easily capsize my little 9 footer), however there was recently a second tree that fell down at the Y where Silver Springs, the Oklawaha, and Sharpes Ferry all meet, so there is now a tree on each side of the river that has come down and creating a VERY narrow path (3-4 feet) for boats to get through, it should limit the number of boats that can go through there. As much as I love using flukes, you're right, they're pretty much useless because of the current. Just too many dang laydowns from the huricanes make it hard to pick good spots......they all LOOK good, but not all of them are. I do know a good spot up at Rodman though

[Fishie1]

if this thing is anything like the ohio....shakeyheads in the current could be good.......try a dropshot around the bridges .......

[Vabass22]

I have the same problem, at one of the lakes I fish at. There is so much cover, you can't fish it all, and most of it will be non-producing.

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by lizardsrule

I assume your launcing right out of the launch right off 40 east of the bridge?

I re-read it, yes, just east of the bridge.....not the boat basin (county park) but the other side of the bridge. might be harder to get the boat in the water there but its much closer to the fishing and no need to paddle as far upstream either. I can paddle a 1/4 mile upstream to the Y where silver springs, the river, and the sharpes ferry section all meet, 2 nice laydowns and the mudline there near some shallow water points and deep water as well. last time I was up there, a 7-8lbs bass kept swimming out of that mudline, under my boat, and following a down tree on the bottom, kept turning its nose at my lures. also say a 3-4 foot aligator GAR, and some of the biggest shiners I've ever seen, thought they were small bass at first glance, looked to be every bit of 14-15 inches.

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by Vabass22

I have the same problem, at one of the lakes I fish at. There is so much cover, you can't fish it all, and most of it will be non-producing.

rodman reservoir is much the same way. Rodman is actually part of the oklawaha river. they built 2 dams which flooded the surrounding forest creating rodman reservoir. its loaded with stumps and trees and weeds. people typically have the most luck near the original river channel. don't know what the underwater structure looks like on your lake but if you have topography maps, study them hard.

[Vabass22]

I have, and the only time the bass really hit hard there is in the winter, and early spring, other times, even the locals don't waste their time there. Besides, people go their, and keep every single fish they catch with nightcrawlers(including bass), so now the population is way down, and even the local tournament anglers have a hard time finding quality fish. I only fish off the dam for catfish there now.

[Rodman_Rob]

the same fish hitting hard in the spring and winter are in those waters during summer and fall, just gotta find where they are and what they want.........not always the easy part.

[Vabass22]

Yeah, it is such a hard lake to fish, plus there are no tournaments on it. People see no reason to constantly fish there, and learn the seasonal petterns, if there are no tourneys there, and it's no fun to fish............

[Christopherkeene9]

Hey Rodman you ready for some more laydowns

[Rodman_Rob]

Originally Posted by Christopherkeene9

Hey Rodman you ready for some more laydowns

it looks like they're on the way doesn't it.

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by Fishie1

if this thing is anything like the ohio....shakeyheads in the current could be good.......try a dropshot around the bridges .......

Nothing like the Ohio at all This is a VERY NARROW river, that is spring fed. Lots and lots of vegetation around most of it, and when he says laydowns, he means like every foot or so, not like every 20 feet or so on the ohio Plus some of these fish have teeth, and them Lizards grow really big here

Lizards