As far as Adam Johnson is concerned, there’s hardly a river that won’t be productive for walleyes in the spring.

“The river, any river, in the spring, is where all the action is,” he said. Johnson, an aquatic biologist and professional angler, uses the fact that walleyes are in a transition mode and on the move in the spring as the criteria for his statement.

“Spawning puts the walleyes in an easily patterned scenario that makes getting your lure in front of them a simple prospect,” he said. “On the bigger rivers where you find the dams, the walleyes migrate to these manmade barriers in the spring where they’re stopped. This concentration of fish makes it easier to target lots of them at this time.”

And on the rivers where a dam is not an obstacle?

“Walleyes will move out of lakes and into rivers to spawn as well,” explained Johnson. “Below a shallow riffle where the current washes over a rubble bottom is always going to be a productive area.”

Johnson admits that there are plenty of options besides dams and shallow rapids where walleyes can be found.

“It’s because all the fish don’t move at once,” he said. “From late March through mid-May in Minnesota, there will be walleyes moving upstream to find an area to spawn. While many of the fish are finished by the middle of this period, you always have some early movement and late spawners.”

With that in mind, Johnson recommends not only the dams and spawning sites on rivers as prime locations to fish, he recommends taking advantage of the current breaks as well.

“As walleyes move both upstream and downstream, the current breaks become not only resting places, but also spots from which to feed on the minnows, crayfish and whatever else is moving downstream with the current,” said Johnson. “Current breaks near the dams and spawning sites on a river can be just as productive as the area below these barriers.”

According to Johnson, the main component when deciding where to present bait is the water level. Rivers tend to fluctuate based on how much snow fell over the winter and how quickly that snow is melting. Spring rains can also affect how high the river is running and how fast the current is flowing.

“Walleyes in the river, when they’re on the move, are going to position themselves according to the current,” said Johnson. “If the water is high and the current is fast, you will not find many walleyes in the main channel. They don’t want to fight that current when they can slide up to the bank and follow the current breaks upstream.”

On the other hand, if the river is low and the current is slow, then those same walleyes won’t hesitate to stay out in the middle.

“Walleyes will still use current breaks to rest behind,” said Johnson, “like the tips of wing dams and islands off the main channel, but with less current the fish will move out away from the banks and follow a main channel upstream.”

Anglers on the river tend to follow the predictable game plan, according to Johnson, which is pitching a jig-and-minnow to a spot, letting it sink to the bottom and slowly dragging it back to the boat.

“While this is a productive presentation,” said Johnson, “there are plenty of other techniques that work just as well, or better, on the river.”

At a dam, where everyone else is trying to hold in a spot and pitch a jig, Johnson can often be found using a three-way swivel setup with a short swiveled snell and a minnow, and sliding his boat with his bow-mounted electric motor into eddies, up to the front of wing dams, and slipping along the edge of the base of a riprap shoreline.

Johnson also likes to use the bow-mounted electric motor to position the boat on wing dams and over rapids while he feeds out a crankbait. The current provides the flow to generate action on the lure and his electric motor holds him in position to just let the lure sit in a productive spot to catch the attention of the walleyes holding there.