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I've fished the Logan river and the Weber rivers in the last week. The Logan I tried almost every lure I had over the last weekend and the only thing I had luck with were Rapalas. I then went and tried the Weber yesterday and caught a few on Rapalas as well.
My question for all of you river fishermen is how do you usually fish rivers with lures like Rapalas. Do you cast upstream and then try to reel very fast, or do you cast downstream and reel slow, or cast up and across the stream?. I've tried each way and had some success with each, but wonder what those of you with more experience than I have found that works best.
Follow up question is do you walk upstream or down when fishing the river? If you are wading do you stay in the water the whole time, or do you wade for a short time at a good looking area and then get out and walk on the shore ?
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I fish going up stream. When using Rapalas or Panther Martin Spinners I throw upstream and across. When I get hit it is uaually as soon as the lure hits the water or when the lure starts to turn back toward me. I used to fish this way all the time especially on the Weber between Wanship and Echo. Caught a lot of Browns this way and one 6 pounder @ 27 inches. Haven't fished this way in years since I bought my boat.
I would wade as much as necessary to fish each hole. I should also mention that you need a reel that has a fast retrieve to give the lure movement while moving with the current.
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This is my favorite way to fish. I'll throw a rainbow or brown trout Rapala usually in ultralight or possibly countdown. Post up at the top of a hole, and throw at a 30 degree angle downstream with a slow retrieve. Change up with a 45 degree throw. Sometimes I'll throw a 90 degree straight across and let it balloon out down stream. I've seen a lot of hits as it sweeps slowly across the hole.
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I cast all directions and catch big fish every way. My favorite is a size 7 countdown for rivers. When I cast straight up river and reel down and just reel in faster. When I cast downstream and reel up I just reel in slower (this is just in slower stretches). In slower stretches I do a lot of casts just straight across. Casting all directions work, it just depends on the river with what will work best
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I've been fishing the cd-5 rapala on rivers for over 30 years in Utah and have done very well. I always cast up stream and reel back with a twitch reel twitch reel. Fishing them down stream just doesn't work very well the rapala always comes to the surface and jumps out of the water. Look at it like this, when a bait fish is swimming up stream it's a heathy fish and can swim fast, a big fist will have to chase and work hard to catch it. If a bait fish is coming down stream and is limping back and forth, the big fish does not have to work hard to catch it, he will take it better. It's still alive and fresh not old and dead.
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I used to fish them a lot on the south fork of the snake. We were almost always floating so it is a toss to the bank and pull across. But I've thrown them up down and side ways and truthfully Browns will hit them any direction the key is to make sure the retrieve is fast enough to get the action to work.
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I always work my way upstream, you're less likely to spook the fish that way. I fly fish now for stream trout, but I used to use small jerkbaits quite a bit when I first moved to Utah. I would cast upstream or up and across and fish them in an erratic fashion with lots of twitches. They worked well for me.
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[quote utwalleye]
I've been fishing the cd-5 rapala on rivers for over 30 years in Utah and have done very well. I always cast up stream and reel back with a twitch reel twitch reel. Fishing them down stream just doesn't work very well the rapala always comes to the surface and jumps out of the water. Look at it like this, when a bait fish is swimming up stream it's a heathy fish and can swim fast, a big fist will have to chase and work hard to catch it. If a bait fish is coming down stream and is limping back and forth, the big fish does not have to work hard to catch it, he will take it better. It's still alive and fresh not old and dead.[/quote]
This^^^ The predator is more likely to use the current to chase prey downstream, swimming with the current, than fight the current to chase it upstream. I used to float clients down a few rivers in Wyoming chucking Rapalas all day and the lure moving downstream, down and across more precisely, always had the most takes.
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Sounds pretty definitive [:p] fish will take a Rap cast and retrieved at any angle and it depends on the fishes mood, it's position in relation to the retrieve, the current speed and a host of other conditions. My advice would be to find a technique that works best for you and get good at it. In my case I use and array of Rapala minnow style baits in rivers all the time and I cast where I believe the fish will be able to intercept the lure the best based on the specific conditions in front of me. I've done it enough now so that I target water that works best for my style of fishing, which is casting across and down stream and retrieve slowly pausing, twitching along the way. For this technique, I search out areas with moderate riffle and a good current seam but not rapids and not slow pools. In slower pools I cast up stream, across stream and down stream searching all of it. I use other lures in faster stretches of water. Fish them, they work, but a little differently for each angler.
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I've caught fish casting across many holes in all different directions. I usually only fish with Raps in the spring on the river though, the moss and grass grows way too long this time of year, I hate pulling a salad off my lure every cast!
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Thanks everyone for the responses they have been a great help as I have tried to get better fishing this way!
I have fished the Logan river a few more times and hit up the Weber one more time. On the Logan I seemed to have the most success finding a pool of slow moving water and then casting above it and reeling the lure down into the pool with the current. Other than the big pools it seemed the most effective thing was just getting the lure to what looked like a good area of water, usually small pools at the edges, a lot off time with trees or shrubs overhanging them. I got a lot of strikes almost as soon as the lure hit the water, or just after I started to reel in. Didn't seem to matter if I was casting upstream or downstream or across as much as if I was getting the lure to the right spot.
On the Weber every fish was caught casting across and downstream or just straight downstream along the edge where the water pools a little bit and isn't moving quite as fast. I tried a lot of casting across and upstream many times, but had no success this time I haven't been able to find many slower areas with big pools on the Weber, and those areas I did find that were slower seemed to be almost totally covered in weeds and moss, so I couldn't fish them very well anyways.
I am having a lot of fun fishing this way and hope to keep getting better.
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I've always had the best luck casting rapalas right to the edge straight across from me. They will usually hit it within the first 5-6 ft of reeling it in. I have to say catching fish in a river is fun on a rapala! However any river any state , a Bluefox #2 all silver or Bluefox #2 Silver blade with purple body. Will keep you busy all day!!! When fishing spinners I always cast up stream. I need to post more but, I had a 38 fish day in the Provo in midway. The fish ranged from small , medium, to large divided pretty equally. Anyways good luck fish on
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