# Freshwater Newbie



## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

I’ve fished quite a bit on escambia and yellow river last year with no luck. Took a break for hunting season. I grew up in the salt down south but I’m determined to learn freshwater. Caught one bass by accident on a crappie jig and a fair amount of shellcracker on crickets, although I prefer artificial. Are there any generic tips for the area? I’ve been focusing on cuts off the main rivers and spots that hold grass. I’ve tossed weighted worms, spinner baits, creatures, frogs, chatterbaits and an assortment of swimbaits. Any and all advice is welcome. I know there are bass in the river, I just haven’t the slightest idea on how to catch them consistently.


----------



## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Fishing the rivers around here is less about patterns and more about spots, keep searching different areas. I like to search with a weightless Texas rigged trick worm, if they’re there, they’ll hit that, you’ll catch a lot of shorts. Also, casting is very important, you need to be able to hit small targets, sometimes the eddy behind structure is small and you need to drop it in the sweet spot. Keep at it, you’ll start figuring things out. Good luck.


----------



## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

DLo said:


> Fishing the rivers around here is less about patterns and more about spots, keep searching different areas. I like to search with a weightless Texas rigged trick worm, if they’re there, they’ll hit that, you’ll catch a lot of shorts. Also, casting is very important, you need to be able to hit small targets, sometimes the eddy behind structure is small and you need to drop it in the sweet spot. Keep at it, you’ll start figuring things out. Good luck.




Agree 100%. Youll get good at it in about 30yrs


----------



## The Real Amarillo Palmira (Jun 29, 2016)

Yeah, its difficult when you first start bass fishing here. Escambia is excellent for numbers. Yellow River has so much current that I have to find places out of the current to catch bass and the bigger ones are way upriver though I've caught my share of 4 and 5 pounders on the lower end. Use a lightly weighted trick worm or Senko and just stick with it before you switch to other lures. Fish into the current and toss the worm to any likely piece of wood or grass cover including eddys and points. Sometimes you will go a few hours without a bite but when you locate them, it can be ON! Another option is to pound the bank with shallow running crankbaits and spinnerbaits. You will have to cull through chain pickerel, bowfin, and redfish by doing this, but it can be a lot of fun. Good luck. PM me anytime. There are guys on here who can produce a 20 pound bag from Yellow River, no kidding. I've seen them do it year after year in tournaments. There are many other ways to fish the rivers but I think you should start with the basics. Jack


----------



## The Real Amarillo Palmira (Jun 29, 2016)

Try'n Hard said:


> Agree 100%. Youll get good at it in about 30yrs


You can do it in 20, if you fish for bass four days per week


----------



## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

Give up bass fishing and start inshore fishing. When it warms up I will throw a frog for bass. Get deep under the cover 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


----------



## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

another thing is that you have to learn the patterns in the river when you're bass fishing and it's totally different when you're trying to learn the patterns of the lake. takes years to predict it and you might catch a fish.

jack


----------



## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

jack2 said:


> another thing is that you have to learn the patterns in the river when you're bass fishing and it's totally different when you're trying to learn the patterns of the lake. takes years to predict it and you might catch a fish.
> 
> 
> 
> jack


High water. Versus low water. Versus time of year with high water or low water 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


----------



## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

OwenM said:


> I’ve fished quite a bit on escambia and yellow river last year with no luck. Took a break for hunting season. I grew up in the salt down south but I’m determined to learn freshwater. Caught one bass by accident on a crappie jig and a fair amount of shellcracker on crickets, although I prefer artificial. Are there any generic tips for the area? I’ve been focusing on cuts off the main rivers and spots that hold grass. I’ve tossed weighted worms, spinner baits, creatures, frogs, chatterbaits and an assortment of swimbaits. Any and all advice is welcome. I know there are bass in the river, I just haven’t the slightest idea on how to catch them consistently.


If you wanna have fun. Start fishing the lights out tournaments from carpenter's park. They will be on Thursday night's. Cost like $25 for 2 people 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


----------



## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

The river is the most finicky type of water around to fish especially for bass, water levels, clarity, time of year, presentation, lure types, and accurate casting all come into play. It really does take awhile to get the feel for it. Maybe start by finding a couple good sloughs/lakes off the river to try to just catch something, since you don't really have to worry about current. You can experiment with different lures also to find what they want. After that you can start trying the main river in the current. This time of year you can find good fish in sloughs but as it starts to warm up the main river is where good fish will be, just outside of current holding very tight to cover. This is why accurate casting is extremely important, a couple inches off a good hole can be the differences in catching or not catching a river bass.
Lures: black worm, bubblegum trick worm, zoom brush hogs in varying colors, crawfish and shad colored crankbaits, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse, topwater in spring and summer, I like buzzbaits and bang o lures. I like to down size my spinnerbaits and chatter baits, nothing above a 1/4 oz. anything more that that and you will have trouble with hang ups unless your really skilled at controlling your bait at all times in current. Good luck!


----------



## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

jcoss15 said:


> The river is the most finicky type of water around to fish especially for bass, water levels, clarity, time of year, presentation, lure types, and accurate casting all come into play. It really does take awhile to get the feel for it. Maybe start by finding a couple good sloughs/lakes off the river to try to just catch something, since you don't really have to worry about current. You can experiment with different lures also to find what they want. After that you can start trying the main river in the current. This time of year you can find good fish in sloughs but as it starts to warm up the main river is where good fish will be, just outside of current holding very tight to cover. This is why accurate casting is extremely important, a couple inches off a good hole can be the differences in catching or not catching a river bass.
> Lures: black worm, bubblegum trick worm, zoom brush hogs in varying colors, crawfish and shad colored crankbaits, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse, topwater in spring and summer, I like buzzbaits and bang o lures. I like to down size my spinnerbaits and chatter baits, nothing above a 1/4 oz. anything more that that and you will have trouble with hang ups unless your really skilled at controlling your bait at all times in current. Good luck!


excellent advice. i totally agree.

jack


----------



## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

Thanks for all the replies. I’m going to give it a shot this weekend. I usually start pretty far upriver by parkerville or Fisher on YR. I went to bw this afternoon for a bit and managed 2 and a pickeral. Tried weighted and unweighted worms, creatures and lizards. Didn’t get anything until I started running the lizard just barely sub surface over thick grass. Hopefully I’ll be able to put up some reports this year.


----------



## billyb (Aug 22, 2012)

I want to fish FOM and Parkerville, but have heard you could have your stuff stolen from there. You had any issues?


----------



## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

billyb said:


> I want to fish FOM and Parkerville, but have heard you could have your stuff stolen from there. You had any issues?


I haven’t but I can see why people would target those areas. FOM is totally washed out, Atleast it was last week. Might be fine now.


----------



## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

I’ll have to look into that but I’m going to try and get a few under my belt before I put any money on my skills, or lack thereof.


----------



## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

OwenM said:


> I’ll have to look into that but I’m going to try and get a few under my belt before I put any money on my skills, or lack thereof.


This was directed to the tournaments out of carpenters.


----------



## Stoker1 (Feb 17, 2014)

lettheairout said:


> Give up bass fishing and start inshore fishing.


Yep. Moved back home after 14 years overseas and couldn't wait to get back to 'bass fishing' around the delta. So one cold trip up the river, we noticed guys killing trout and reds and though it can't be that hard.

Been hooked every since. Fun to pull a green fish, trout, red and even a bream out of the same hole.


----------



## lettheairout (Mar 11, 2008)

Stoker1 said:


> Yep. Moved back home after 14 years overseas and couldn't wait to get back to 'bass fishing' around the delta. So one cold trip up the river, we noticed guys killing trout and reds and though it can't be that hard.
> 
> Been hooked every since. Fun to pull a green fish, trout, red and even a bream out of the same hole.


Yeah I still enjoy catching bass. But inshore with trout, and reds is my favorite. Really never know what you will catch on the same bait while trying to catch trout. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


----------



## Sublight (Mar 31, 2013)

I'm a freshwater newbie myself. I just bought a boat, and I want to go try to catch some fish.
I know nothing about fishing a river. Still cant wait to fish, and go sit on a sandbar and fish.


----------

