River fishing is a sport in the truest sense of the word. It’s definitely a whole lot of fun, but it’s also a challenge. You need to come prepared with not only the right river fishing rods, but some solid river fishing techniques.

Here are a few such techniques worth practicing before your next Alaska fishing vacation.

Bottom Bounce Your Live Bait.

One of the best river fishing techniques is to bottom bounce live bait, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s when you use live bait and bounce it off the bottom. There are tons of different types of fishing rigs you can use to bottom bounce live bait, and present your bait as naturally as possible. Just be sure to bottom bounce your bait with the current — never against it.

Locate the River’s Backwaters.

Finding the river’s backwaters might not seem like one of the particularly good river fishing techniques, but you wouldn’t believe how many of the most popular game fish aren’t too fond of strong currents. For example, largemouth bass like to hang out in backwater creeks that break off rivers and eventually merge back with the river downstream.

Fish by Weeds.

Fishing by weeds is one of the sneakiest — but most effective — river fishing techniques. If you can snag a calm part of a river (perhaps like a backwater creek, for example) with a bunch of weeds growing, you’ve snagged a primo fishing spot. However, weeds aren’t too common along rivers, so they can be tricky. That being said, it’s worth finding the weeds, because fish love to gather in these calmer areas. Don’t be too surprised when you find a monster-fish there.

If you practice these river fishing techniques, you’ll be ready for whatever Alaska fishing trips you decide to go on. If you have any questions, or know of any other river fishing techniques worth mentioning, feel free to share in the comments.