Smallmouth location

The next drawing depicts one of my favorite kind of river sections. It has an island followed by a bend with a point bar. Point A the head of the island often fishes much like a regular riffle with the added bonus of having deep water very close by in the main river channel. Spot B the bottom of the island also has good feeding locations but not quite as much on average as the upstream end of the channel. This is often an ideal place for bass to spawn as there is enough current to keep a firm bottom but it's still sheltered from the main river current. The shallow channel behind the island will hold rock bass or longeared sunfish if there is enough cover and a few deep spots. Spot C is a small eddy formed tight against the island by a big rock, maybe a log or just the shape of the island these are usually just one fish spots but it can be a very good fish. Spots marked with a D are underwater rocks that create holding stations for fish in the deep swift channel running past the island. Just like rocks underwater below a riffle they usually create a boil or a slick on the surface to let you know where they are. Spots E and F are prime shovelhead locations. If the deep steep bank in a bend like F is undercut and has a hole you can be sure a shovelhead uses it. Spot G is the point bar across from the deep bend. As water speeds up go around the outside of the bend it travels faster than the water traveling around the inside of the bend, So a bar is built up on the inside of the bend while a hole is dug out on the outside. Remember that the material on the deepest end of the bar is smaller on average than the material at the base. All kinds of things like different species of darters prefer rocks of a certain size. So depending on what the bass are feeding on that day they may find one band or depth of the bar much more to their liking that day. It pays to try fishing each depth rather than just walking to the end of the bar and casting towards the hole.