Gary Roach hits the river prepared for any scenario at this time of year. Photo by Tim Lesmeister

It doesn't matter what part of the country you're in, those river walleyes tend to hole up and get tight-lipped after they spawn. You would, too, if you had just swum for miles up a river and then laid a few thousand eggs. Fortunately, however, those big females don't spawn all at once, so there's always some good walleye fishing somewhere on the river for big fish. You just have to know where to find it.

Of course, the smaller male walleyes will recover much faster than the bigger females, and these 2- to 3-pounders will be biting in certain locations. That's the beauty of river fishing for walleyes. There are always some nice fish biting somewhere on that waterway. You just need to know which game plan to employ to catch them.

There is one hard-and-fast rule whenever fishing on a river. You must keep your bait or lure near the bottom. When the walleyes are in a transition period, like they will be during post-spawn, these fish will be moving. This movement consists of an upriver or downstream movement from one current break to another. Typically, but not always, this movement is near the main channel. When the walleyes are moving from one break to another you can count on the fact that they will be right on the bottom.

Here's another rule you can count on. During the post-spawn period you're going to be dealing with fluctuating water levels. When the river is rising, the walleyes will be moving tighter to the shoreline. When the water is dropping, the fish will be heading for the deeper channel.

The one variable that doesn't change is the fact that the walleyes are using current breaks during their movement up and down the river. Now if you've fished the river as much as I have you know that every current break is not going to be loaded with fish. In fact, during the post-spawn period the walleyes tend to be spread out even more, and few current breaks hold the mother lode. This is why you find yourself moving a lot during post-spawn because the pattern almost always finds you picking up one fish here and one there, but it's always on a current break.

There's a typical reaction for most river anglers to always grab a jigging rod. The old tried-and-true jig-and-minnow is well known for catching a lot of fish on the river and it's hard to change ponies in the middle of the stream. But it's not the only way to catch walleyes in the river. There are plenty of others, but while we're on jigs, let's go into a bit more detail.

Always use a jig heavy enough to get you down to the bottom in the current you're in. Some anglers think that the early-season cool water temperatures require a smaller jig. In my book, size is the least of your worries if the lure is not on the bottom.