There is an overwhelming amount of information about crappie fishing in lakes. I rarely ever find any information on fishing rivers and streams relative to crappie fishing. Lures, presentation and boat position relative to current and structure are elusive articles. I often find most of my crappie in small creeks with little or no current off the main rivers in eastern North Carolina. I also believe I am overlooking a vast population of crappie in the main river (Neuse River). Got any suggestions for mid-south river fishing tecniques?

Crappie are often considered a lake dwelling fish because they do not like the fast waters like a river. This is true but crappie also like cool water and can often be found in rivers or in the tributaries. Let me first address the smaller streams. These are often cooler sources of water and are also faster and shallower that the rivers or lakes. These streams often have a very rich source of food such as small fry and other small water critters. Take advantage of this knowledge, look for the first slow, deep water immediately after the tributary empties into the river or lake. You will find all manner of fish in these areas but most of them will be aggressive hunters. The lazy cats will be in the holes but crappie and bass will be in shelter that is brushed by the faster cooler waters. Crappie will locate shelter as cool, slower waters pass through a fisherman%u2019s nightmare of brush and other complex structures. With this in mind you have basically three choices of where to anchor; upstream, downstream or perpendicular. The last option is interesting because you can cast upstream into a feeder stream and pull your bait along natural flows. Anchoring upstream allow you to mimic a healthy active piece of bait. This method will often catch you an aggressive younger fish but it%u2019ll pay off in the fight. Anchoring downstream and casting upstream will provide less work for you because you don%u2019t have to fight the current and as a general rule this will catch you some of the older fish looking for a quick bite but beware the bait that casually floats with the water is often considered dead and some scavengers will bite it as well.