What’s your favorite way to fish above and below rapids? I’ll be fishing the Kawishiwi River in May looking for ideas.

-CV

I've had luck four ways:

The first is the hardest: Paddle as high into the rapids as possible and then drift holding your leech and split shot as far forward as possible along the eddy lines. This way, your bait reaches the fish before your canoe does. A fish waiting to ambush from an eddy will hit it immediately. This is the most demanding method because it requires canoe control while stretching to fish, but if you place that bait on an eddy line, it can trigger an immediate strike.

Below the rapids, where the hole happens, I cast a leech on a split shot and slip bobber and let it bob in the lessened current. Deadly. It's also fun to watch that bobber bob along and then slowly disappear.

Just sit in the hole and dunk a leech TGO style. You can catch fish walleye all morning doing this.

I developed the fourth method after one especially productive morning using the third method. That morning produced so many walleye TGO style that I longed to catch them another way. I had learned that the hole was thick with walleye, but casting a crankbait into the hole produced nothing. So, on a lark, I paddled to the side of the hole and trolled my crankbait across it, paddling perpendicular to the current. I hooked a walleye and turned the canoe to repeat from other direction. I caught 17 walleye on 17 passes. I don't know why that worked when simply casting didn't, but it was cool.

Fan cast a jig and grub from a rock below the rapids. Work at the base of the rapids, down from the rapids and along eddys. They could be anywhere and everywhere. It always surprises me how some fish can be positioned right in the heaviest current. Dusk followed by dawn will be the most productive times.

Look further down from the rapids as well, slack water off o the side or deep holes. If you find a deep hole right in the middle of the current that is a nice spot. Fish just sit down there with no effort and jump up occasionally to grab an easy meal floating by in the current.

T

We had great luck at the base of falls/rapids. Paddled up shallow, then just rode the current as we threw plugs across the current. Caught some fish during the day, but dusk was really where it was at.

Black and bronze jointed Rapala in dark stained water.

CanoeViking: "What’s your favorite way to fish above and below rapids? I’ll be fishing the Kawishiwi River in May looking for ideas.

-CV"

Are you looking for a certain type of fish, or anything that will hit?

I wrote an article about fishing below, in the middle and above fast moving water for smallmouth bass. If you would like to read this article send an email to - queticomike@yahoo.com - request the article on moving water for smallmouth. Geared mostly towards late summer smallmouth, but should work at any time of the paddling season.

I think it all depends on if fish are in an active or neutral mood. An active mood and they will be up in the current and lots of presentations will work. But if they are neutral or negative they will be glued to the bottom avoiding the majority of the current and can be tough to convince to chase anything thats not right in front of them.

While the neutral fish are susceptible to jigs fished on or near the bottom they can tend to hang up a lot. "Slipping"out of a regular boat equipped with an electric motor is the cats meow for fishing inches off the bottom in current with a jig but tough out of a canoe.

Rather, I like deep diving crank baits with the belly hook removed and the rear treble upgraded by one size or even an in-line single hook. This alleviates snags substantially. S-L-O-W-L-Y crank your lure against the current and have it bump bottom frequently. Hits can be tough to feel (braid might help) and might just feel like some additional weight. Your bill will hang in the rocks but with a little slack they usually float free.

At the base of Kennebas falls I was fishing a Super Shad Rap (after a regular shad rap failed to produce) and catching walleye between 4 and 6lbs > i.e. dandies. On one cast I felt some additional weight and though I was hung........I let it float backwards but still felt "hung". I gently pulled up trying to get the big plug out of trouble and it throbbed sharply twice!! Big head shakes, probably a very nice fish. I had to stop fishing lest I burn up my travel day.

QM - I should have specified what I was after, preferably walleye, but large pike and smallies are very acceptable too.

Thanks everyone for the stories and tips.

CanoeViking: "QM - I should have specified what I was after, preferably walleye, but large pike and smaller are very acceptable too.


Thanks everyone for the stories and tips. "

In that case, if you're catching walleye and they suddenly stop hitting, tie on a pike lure and toss it.

Fish a little further out from where the rapids begin and a little further out from where they start to dissipate. Hard to go wrong with a leech on a plain hook and a split shot a couple of feet up the line. If you aren't using live bait try a leech imitation on a jig or curly tailed jig in black. Walleye can be caught in the middle of rapids but it is harder to detect a bite with the fast moving water creating slack (a slip float would help). You want to keep in contact with your bait as much as possible.

missmolly: "I've had luck four ways:


The first is the hardest: Paddle as high into the rapids as possible and then drift holding your leech and split shot as far forward as possible along the eddy lines. This way, your bait reaches the fish before your canoe does. A fish waiting to ambush from an eddy will hit it immediately. This is the most demanding method because it requires canoe control while stretching to fish, but if you place that bait on an eddy line, it can trigger an immediate strike.


Below the rapids, where the hole happens, I cast a leech on a split shot and slip bobber and let it bob in the lessened current. Deadly. It's also fun to watch that bobber bob along and then slowly disappear.


Just sit in the hole and dunk a leech TGO style. You can catch fish walleye all morning doing this.
Yes

I developed the fourth method after one especially productive morning using the third method. That morning produced so many walleye TGO style that I longed to catch them another way. I had learned that the hole was thick with walleye, but casting a crankbait into the hole produced nothing. So, on a lark, I paddled to the side of the hole and trolled my crankbait across it, paddling perpendicular to the current. I hooked a walleye and turned the canoe to repeat from other direction. I caught 17 walleye on 17 passes. I don't know why that worked when simply casting didn't, but it was cool. "

Missy Molly, I will keeps these in mind. I find the last tip fascinating. Thanks!

1. fish the eddy lines. The smallies love to hang out there to ambush food.
2. fish the current if its not really swift. try this... throw a gitzit (tube bait) in a crawdad color across the current and let it swing down holding your rod tip high. It will bump along the bottom and it simulates natural crawfish. The smallies will hammer it. You might hang up some but it is effective.
3. In Quetico, if you are fishing moving water you are probably catching a lot of fish, maybe not the big girls but good quality strong fish.

Im getting excited thinking about it!!

mastertangler: "I think it all depends on if fish are in an active or neutral mood. An active mood and they will be up in the current and lots of presentations will work. But if they are neutral or negative they will be glued to the bottom avoiding the majority of the current and can be tough to convince to chase anything thats not right in front of them.


While the neutral fish are susceptible to jigs fished on or near the bottom they can tend to hang up a lot. "Slipping"out of a regular boat equipped with an electric motor is the cats meow for fishing inches off the bottom in current with a jig but tough out of a canoe.


Rather, I like deep diving crank baits with the belly hook removed and the rear treble upgraded by one size or even an in-line single hook. This alleviates snags substantially. S-L-O-W-L-Y crank your lure against the current and have it bump bottom frequently. Hits can be tough to feel (braid might help) and might just feel like some additional weight. Your bill will hang in the rocks but with a little slack they usually float free.


At the base of Kennebas falls I was fishing a Super Shad Rap (after a regular shad rap failed to produce) and catching walleye between 4 and 6lbs > i.e. dandies. On one cast I felt some additional weight and though I was hung........I let it float backwards but still felt "hung". I gently pulled up trying to get the big plug out of trouble and it throbbed sharply twice!! Big head shakes, probably a very nice fish. I had to stop fishing lest I burn up my travel day. "

MT - Thanks for sharing again, I’ll have to try removing the belly hook sometime, I can see how it would greatly alleviate snags.

I had a big fish in a bay one time, I thought it was a snag, when I pulled it must have realized something was wrong. It took off and nothing would stop it. Eventually I was left with a limp line :-(

CanoeViking: "

missmolly: "I've had luck four ways:



The first is the hardest: Paddle as high into the rapids as possible and then drift holding your leech and split shot as far forward as possible along the eddy lines. This way, your bait reaches the fish before your canoe does. A fish waiting to ambush from an eddy will hit it immediately. This is the most demanding method because it requires canoe control while stretching to fish, but if you place that bait on an eddy line, it can trigger an immediate strike.



Below the rapids, where the hole happens, I cast a leech on a split shot and slip bobber and let it bob in the lessened current. Deadly. It's also fun to watch that bobber bob along and then slowly disappear.



Just sit in the hole and dunk a leech TGO style. You can catch fish walleye all morning doing this.
Yes


I developed the fourth method after one especially productive morning using the third method. That morning produced so many walleye TGO style that I longed to catch them another way. I had learned that the hole was thick with walleye, but casting a crankbait into the hole produced nothing. So, on a lark, I paddled to the side of the hole and trolled my crankbait across it, paddling perpendicular to the current. I hooked a walleye and turned the canoe to repeat from other direction. I caught 17 walleye on 17 passes. I don't know why that worked when simply casting didn't, but it was cool. "

Missy Molly, I will keeps these in mind. I find the last tip fascinating. Thanks!"

I don't know why that last one worked: I did it on a lark and am still surprised at how productive it was.

Chainsaw: "1. fish the eddy lines. The smallies love to hang out there to ambush food.
2. fish the current if its not really swift. try this... throw a gitzit (tube bait) in a crawdad color across the current and let it swing down holding your rod tip high. It will bump along the bottom and it simulates natural crawfish. The smallies will hammer it. You might hang up some but it is effective.
3. In Quetico, if you are fishing moving water you are probably catching a lot of fish, maybe not the big girls but good quality strong fish.


Im getting excited thinking about it!!"

Chainsaw - thanks for the crawdad tip. Moving water has always treated me well. I get excited too talking about it.

Some will depend on current and how easy boat control is going to be. I tend to choose a spot, drop anchor and work the area. If it works, stay, if not, pull up and move a little and try again.

Leech or a minnow on a bare hook maybe 18 inches behind a split shot. Soft cast it out behind you and slowly drag it towards you, dragging on the bottom. Wait for the bump, slowly reel down and set the hook. You will get a lot of snags, but it has never failed to produce something for me. If you are worried about snags, it will also work with a floating jig head.

If this is slow, work the edges of eddies with crank baits for aggressive fish, or a jig/plastic/live bait if the action is a bit slower.

Early morning and toward evening always work better for me. Seems they like to come in for breakfast and have a snack in the evening too.

One weird thing that works more often than not - pick your spot and get set up. Tie on your favorite jig and plastic combo. Give it a decent cast, but flip the bail/stop the bait after it gets out a ways. Let the bait 'slap' the water, and then sink on close to slack line. They will hit as it drops, usually a pretty strong strike too...

Great thread. Moving water is super fun. Rapids usually are a multi species bonanza. All of the above are great. I had good success with smallies and bonus walleye this year slow swimming and jigging the Ned rig on pumpkin gopher mushroom head jigs and "the deal" colored z man 2.5" worms. Lots of info on how to fish these and the 5 retrieves that Midwest finesse fisherman use on the In-Fisherman site. This is a GREAT place to use them. When fish stopped rising or wanted something slower, I'd switch to a "bottom-up" approach - either a drop shot rig with Jackall minnows or the more simple floating jig head with the grub of your choice. I like powerbait in chartreuse or black.

On the rocks!

Don't forget about fishing the top of the rapids.

It's not unusual to find a log or some type of dam.

Sneak up on it, and try not to spook anything.

You will usually find some smallies or northerns, laying in ambush, waiting for stuff to go over.

SammyN: "Don't forget about fishing the top of the rapids.


It's not unusual to find a log or some type of dam.


Sneak up on it, and try not to spook anything.


You will usually find some smallies or northerns, laying in ambush, waiting for stuff to go over.
"

One of the best places to catch smallmouth, right at the edge where the current starts to pick up or goes over the falls. Same with the other end of the current where the stream or river or falls dumps into the next lake. The closer to the incoming edge the better at times.
I have caught hawgs right on the incoming edge in a foot of water. Don't over look shallow water in the current.

Here's a hawg from the edge........a magnum bullfrog torpedo was crushed

My FAVORITE way to fish rapids is where you can walk out on the rocks a little ways close to the current and throw a regular red/white bobber with about 1.5 ft below it and a minnow or crawler on a bare hookand let the current drift it through the pools. Works for any species but I used to do this a lot for catfish... where they sit right in the various pools and wait for food to come their way. Would use 8/0 octopus hooks, cut bait, and 80lb braid for catfish. WHAT A BLAST!