BigBendFishing.Net

A few years ago, my mom bought a house south of the dam on the river. I grew up on the fresh water lakes and ponds in Central Florida and have been fishing for bass and bream since I could make a bread-ball or cast my old push-button Zebco.

Mom's place is on a pretty typical section of the river, sandy bank on her side, deep(er) channel on the opposite side, lots of fallen trees across the river. In about 5 years of intermittent fishing I've probably pulled a half dozen slender bass out of there and released all of them to fight another day, but it would seem like there ought to be way more fish than I am catching. There are lots of logs and other underwater hazards between one shore and the other and I have lost more than my share of hooks and lures over the years.

As for river fishing tactics, if I'm targeting bass mostly...what are some of the basics? Like I said, I grew up a pond and lake guy, so this moving water stuff is new to me.

Also, I seem to get more attention from Gar than anything else. I've landed some whale-sized Gar on top-water and even had a couple hit jigs...

Out there I've caught bass on top-water, and Senko-worms and I had one (yes, one single bass) hit a Spinner bait once.

If you are river-fishing for bass, in a section with lots of logs and sticks...whats a good strategy to increase your chances?

Brother, I feel the same way you do about the Och. river, but I have a friend who bass fishes it alot and i've seen some of his catches and they are impressive. He likes to use a soft plastic crawfish-type worm with a lite bullet sinker inline. He'll toss it up on the bank from his boat and jiggle it down into the water and work it REAL SLOW on the bottom.

I grew up fishing the lower flint. We did alot of plastic worm fishing for bass and used rooster tails/beetle spins for bream. I really didn't start using plugs until last couple of years. I use some very small size plugs in the creeks and pick up some nice size bream and a few bass.
Fishing with the current in the river is a big difference in pond fishing. I was always told to fish ahead of the drifting/trolling boat so that the fish would not feel the tightness of the line until you set the hook. I like using motor oil color worms carolina rigged and some purple fire tail colors. Drop them next to those logs and let one of the largemouths take it for a ride.

Good luck let me know if you need someone to demo on the water with you or net your fish.

We call those fallen trees blow downs. If you're fishing from a boat flip a worm/lizard/creature bait, Texas rigged, on the down current side of the blow downs. Bass are basically lazy. They'll find an ambush point out of the current (behind a blow down) and wait for something to come to them. Slowly work the bait all the way to the boat. A lot of the time the bite will be very subtle, or you won't feel anything.

My personal preference of tackle for this type of fishing is a 6.5' or 7' heavy action rod, a bait casting reel, and 14 to 20 lb. mono. I use a 2/0 or 3/0 round bend worm hook and a 3/8 oz. lead.

Tin Can has probably caught more Bass in one year than many do in a lifetime I would do as he instructs

Thanks for the advice! Can't wait to get back out there.

My father has a little river house on the Ochlocknee in the area you are talking about. I have been fihing it for years and have caught a ton of bass and bream in that area. I have had a lot of success fishing topwater for bass using the Heddon Lil' Spook. The one that is sort of frog colored with a yellow bottom and red mouth works the best. You can throw that thing and let it drift under willow trees and also around the blow down logs. I have caught bass on topwater all day long with that lure. Also, I have had a lot of success using a Texas rigged YELLOW trick worm with a weight or with no weight at all. For some reason, they seem to like that yellow worm in the stained water. Also use Texas rigged lizards.

As far as the bream go, we use one main lure and wear them out. Hildebrandt makes a lure called the Spin Dandy. It is similar to a beatle spin but a little different shape and action. Buy the GOLD SPIN DANDY. They come with a skirt on them but go ahead and pull the skirt off and throw it away. There are several different colors of the head and skirt but don't worry about the skirt. Just make sure you buy the one with a GOLD head and spinner. Once you have removed the skirt, thread a cricket on the spinner and get ready to catch some fish. Gold Spin Dandy with a cricket will catch 10 to 1 more fish than a rooster tail or beatle spin. It is a proven method for years. Hard to find the lure in most stores. Shepard's bait and tackle in Thomasville carries them. We have eaten a million red bellys out of that river using them.

Good luck!

i know this is an old post but i havent been on here in a while and wanted to comment.
all of the advice was great esp. yellow trick worms! but i figured id tell you about my (not secret at all) secret bait for the ock... or any river really... esp tidal ones.
the answer my friend is a snagless sally. number 4 with a yellow skirt. i have caught more bass than i could ever count in the ock.... both below the dam and above the lake... on a sally. ESP. when the water is low/ normal. when the river is real low and the current is minimal.... flipping a craw is awesome!

After many trips to many different tackle shops, I ended up at Bass Pro in Spanish Fort, AL and found some yellow Zoom Trick Worms. Do you recommend fishing them on shaky head rigs, Texas style with a bullet weight, or some other configuration?

Wolfman, the only way that I fish a trick worm is weedless and weightless.

Kinda swim it along like a jerk shad? In moving water it would seem harder....we'll see. Thanks!

You guys are really bringing back memories. I just got a new tackle box and was transferring everything and there, on the bottom and covered with sand was my last Snagless Sally. Haven't used them in years. It was buried next to a well-worn Silver Doctor, the kind Coach Graves always used to score big bass. Ahhh, the good old days.

If the Och has rocks in it, flip over the rocks and see if you can find some helgamites attached to the bottom of the rocks. Get a few of them, pinch the head off, take a bettle spin w/ a gold spinner (discard the grub on it) and thread the helgamite in place of the grub. You should be able to catch about 10 bream or bass on each helgamite.