I grew up and still live on the shores of the Ohio River, one of the great fisheries in the South. The Ohio is noted for producing the best sauger fishing in the world during winter. Its blue, flathead and channel cat fisheries are legendary. And this is where the Kentucky spotted bass was first identified. The Ohio also is loaded with white crappie. Slab-sized white crappie.

Highways

Early in my fishing experience, I learned that crappie in the Ohio use river channels the way people use highways. They particularly like sharp bends in the navigation channel, and spots where tributary channels intersect the main river channel can be productive throughout the river system.

I have fished a number of such places over the years where rain or shine, spawn or not, I can manage to catch six or seven big slabs most times I go out. These spots vary little from year to year.

I even catch good fish from these spots when the water is high and muddy. But to do this, I use emerald shiners the size of a man’s little finger, on a No. 4 Aberdeen-style long-shank hook and enough weight to sink it about five feet.

The challenge in fishing big rivers has always been current and color. Because rivers are prone to flooding and discoloration, some lake-oriented anglers find these issues difficult to cope with, resulting in lower fishing pressure on river fisheries in general.

A Guide’s View

Veteran crappie fisherman Darrel Van Vactor has fished almost every body of water in the South that holds crappie. As a full-time guide and successful tournament competitor, he has learned to use current and water color to his advantage.

During normal levels, his choice spots are on sharp turns of the old river channel, especially if there is other structure there such as old trees, sunken barges and so forth. If the river is up, running hard and muddy, he simply moves to the nearest bays and establishes a pattern for fish that have moved in to escape the current and to find clearer water to feed in. The same tight channel turns, submerged wood and aquatic growth that are usually parts of the bay’s drainage system will almost always hold crappie during high-water periods.

His favorite big-river crappie hole is the Coosa River just below Weiss Lake dam. “It’s one of the top trophy waters in the South during late spring and early summer,” he said, noting that Charles Clark, tournament fisherman from Jasper, Ala., weighed in a 4.19-pound super slab during a tournament held there in 2005.

River crappie will seek to escape a hard current, so if the water is fast, look for pockets and bays of still, clear water.

Van Vactor’s choice for the best river lure is a Charlie Brewer Slider jig tipped with Eagle Claw Nitro Gems. Where there’s color in the river, he opts for red or black and chartreuse color combos fished slowly in 10 to 15 feet of water, especially if the spawn has finished.

Two Main Spots

Louie Mansfield has been harvesting crappie from big rivers, including the Mississippi River, all his adult life. On the Mississippi, he’s simply the best.

Mansfield concentrates on two main spots when fishing big rivers. He likes water levels that are fairly normal and slightly stained (not muddy). Crappie, he said, will live in the dead water behind dikes, pylons or other current obstructions. An avid vertical-jig fisherman, he’s had a boatload of success slow-rolling small jigs tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles alongside pylons and other abrupt, current-stopping structure. He usually starts fishing about 5 feet deep then drops farther down until bites occur. After the jig falls to the depth he wants, he holds it totally still for about 15 to 20 seconds  before giving it a quick jerk, just enough, he said, to draw attention to the lure.

Mansfield has caught a ton of slabs from open-ended oxbows (called “chutes” locally). These areas have two totally different sides. One side will be deeper with a steep bank where the current washes it out each year. Here, anglers find sunken trees and root wads that are ideal cover for white crappie. The other side of the chute will be shallower and slightly tapered with various size willow trees growing in the water and on the bank. This side is fished only when water levels are high enough to flood the top of the growth.

Tree tops are productive year-round, according to the veteran guide.

While he prefers to fish jigs, he’s not beyond dunking live minnows under a slip float, using extra-light wire hooks such as a No. 2 Eagle Claw 214EL. These hooks will bend easily when they become snagged in the brushy cover where crappie live.