A river setup: current does half the work and breaks the other half

Three things current changes

1. Weight goes up. A 1/8 oz jig that reaches bottom in a pond will never touch bottom in a river — the flow sweeps it downstream faster than it sinks. Expect to fish two to four times the weight you would use in still water.

2. Line takes a beating. Current pushes your line against rock constantly, and it drags the lure into things you cannot see. Abrasion resistance stops being a preference and becomes the deciding property, which our line comparison covers.

3. The retrieve is mostly the river’s job. This is the part people get wrong. In a lake you supply all the movement. In a river the current moves your lure, and your job is to control the line so the lure behaves naturally.

Reading a river

Fish in current sit where they can hold position without swimming hard, close to fast water carrying food past them. Those two requirements conflict, and the places that satisfy both are where fish are.

A seam is visible from the bank once you look for it: a line on the surface where smooth water meets broken water. Fish sit on the slow side and dart into the fast side to feed.

Casting across and down

The default river presentation, and it is different from anything in still water.

Cast across the current and slightly downstream. Let the flow swing the lure across in an arc, reeling just fast enough to keep contact. The swing is the presentation — you are not retrieving so much as steering.

Fish face upstream, so a lure swinging past arrives the way real food does. This works for spinners, spoons and soft plastics alike.

Never cast upstream and reel back fast. That drags the lure downstream faster than the current, which nothing living does.

Fishing bait in current

For bait, the rig is a slip sinker heavy enough to hold bottom, with a leader long enough that the bait waves in the flow behind it.

Weight selection is the whole game and it changes with every spot. Too light and it rolls downstream continuously; too heavy and the presentation is dead. Start heavy enough to hold and take weight off until it just barely stays put.

A flat or pyramid sinker resists rolling far better than a round one, which our sinkers page covers.

Wading safely

Moving water is stronger than it looks and this deserves its own section.

Knee-deep fast water can take you off your feet. Force scales sharply with speed, and a river you can stand in comfortably at walking pace becomes unmanageable in a slightly faster section.

Face upstream and shuffle. Do not cross your feet. Move one foot, plant it, then move the other.

Use a wading staff in anything above knee depth. Three points of contact is a different proposition from two.

Wear a belt. Our waders page explains why, and it is the single most important thing on this page.

Sole choice is a safety decision, not a comfort one — see our wading boots page.

A collapsible wading staff is inexpensive and folds onto a belt when not in use.

Water level changes everything

A river is a different water body at different levels, and this is the biggest variable in river fishing.

Low and clear: fish are spooky and hold in the deepest available water. Go lighter on line and smaller on lures.

Normal: everything above applies.

High and colored: fish move to the edges out of the main flow, often surprisingly shallow and close to the bank. Go bigger and louder — a spinnerbait or a bladed jig that fish can find by vibration.

Rising fast: go home. Rising water is dangerous to wade and rarely fishes well.