Mon river...

I need help on the Mon.  A friend of mine has a bass boat, and we have been going out on Sunday evenings down by Masontown.  The problem is, he never fished much, and although I fish all the time, I don't know **** about river fishing from a boat. 

I have been trying to use deductive reasoning(structure, pillars, barges, trees, etc.)  Unfortunately, we have been striking out.  Any ideas?

Another thing, I am looking to catch bass.  White/spotted/smallies, I don't care. 

Sorry in advance for posting a "help me please, I'm stupid" thread...

Small bobber with 3'-4' leader to a 3/8oz sinker then another 18" to a white mr twister on a #4 circle hook.
Toss it as close as you can get it below a dam.

summers on the mon mean early mornings. Get on the water before the sun comes up and get off around 9 or 10. Bridges hold fish, but you need to find bridges with something else, whether that is a washout behind the pillar or some submerged trees/logs/brush. Sandbars and dropoffs where the bass can corral baitfish hold fish. Most of the barge pillars and steel structures around the mills will also. Early on you can have success with topwaters like small buzzbaits, poppers, and (my favorite) zara spooks. Once the light starts to build up and especially on weekends when the pleasure boats start pounding the shoreline, the fish back off to deeper water nearby, often rock pilings.

Find the baitfish and the bass aren't far behind.

Thanks
rick

Tippie,
 
I had the same situation when going from shore to boat, although mine was the Ohio River.  We started getting into more fish, using heavier jigs than I normally fished from shore.  We had pretty good luck with 1/2 ounce tube jigs and 3/8 ounce jig heads for sassy shad and twister tails.  I usually never went over 1/4 oz from shore.  But you figure, from shore, you fished from deep to shallow, now it is opposite, so the larger jig keeps you down there without getting hung up as it would trying to use something so heavy from shore.  I also did pretty well drop shotting plastic worms hooked whacky style.  Also use your shore fishing experience.  Pull the boat into that 2-3' water and cast from there.  Try not doing it where people are fishing from shore of course, but look for current breaks and other stuff that you'd look for from shore.
 
We did pretty good targetting barge tie offs, rock piles, bridge pilings and barges themself.  The empty barges seemed to work better, since they don't sit as deep in the water.
 
Like said, early morning or evenings.  Once the pleasure boaters show up and the sun starts pounding, they seem to lock their jaws.
 
Kind of frustrating going from knowing you are going to catch a bunch of fish when wading.  Then you get a boat to get you out on the water, and end up working your butt off for half as many fish.  Once you figure out a few things, you'll be right back on them, likely even more so.  If not, you are at least escaping the lawn chair mafia that think they own the shore accesses. 

Thanks everyone for all the help.  Got back from Bristol this afternoon, tired as hell, but I got the call from my friend, and went out.  I now, MUST figure this river out.  Fished until about 30 minutes after dark.  I got the skunk, but I hadn't read this yet, so hopefully I can get on some fishes.

 Next Sunday we will be back at it.  I will try to hit it as early as possible, preferably before daylight.  Yeah,  a 1/2 ounce jig sounds awful big, but I will pick up a few, see how I do.  I am going to have to buy some gear, looks like some crank baits, rebels, etc.  I have been pretty much solely fly fishing the last couple of years(everyone goes through this stage I think), but this boat, and the challenge of figuring out this river, has really, really peaked my interest.  I haven't had my **** kicked like this by a body of water in a while.

Like someone else said, you get in a boat, and think, hell yeah, we have it made now.  We can fish anywhere.  Then you go out, and things seem way different. 

Again, thanks for putting up with the begging for information.  I felt like a real pud asking like this, but it has gotten a little ridiculous, if not down right frustrating.