RE: does anyone river fish?
Up until last year I lived in a small town that sat on a lovely scenic river , and some of my best memories of living there were centered on wading in that river fishing for feisty smallmouths and rock bass . I focused on the end points of riffles , any log jams or snags , and areas where the river broke into pools between the riffles . My go to bait was and still is Berkeley Power baits , mostly the 7" curly tail worm in black , pumpkinseed , or motor oil . I also use their power grubs combined with a beetle spin for flash and thump , my favorite rig is a chartruese sparkle curly tail grub on this rig , it's a smallie slayer . There used to be a Berkeley product called , appropriately enough , Slime™ that added a sparkly slimy coat to artificial baits giving them a more lifelike feel and taste . I haven't seen the product for years and miss it badly since it makes soft plastics very appealing to even finicky fish . If anyone stumbles across some please PM me , I'll make it worth your while .