Dammed off river questions and tips

Hi everyone. I am super new to river fishing and never grew up fishing rivers. I live close to a dammed off River and I would like to fish it frequently now that the weather is better in Wisconsin.

The blue circles are dams. The purple dots are visible rock piles I've caught fish on. (That are easy to get to, but everyone and their dog fishes them.) The red circle is the boat landing. The yellow circle has a TON of current flow. And the huge red circle is where I've trolled for walleye.

I have a couple questions… How do fish get from the lake to the river? Under the dam? Some kind of passageway?

What would keep a fish in this stretch of river without just going to the next dam and the next stretch of river?

Why does everyone go East immediately towards the dam? I'm guessing the current flow.

Would you even fish towards the west? It seems NOONE does that fishes this stretch.

Is one shoreline of a river typically better fishing than the other side? This river to me is very wide. So its not your typical fish both sides or fish both at the same time river.

I've been told fish like bridge pillars but I've never caught anything near them. Only really caught some by rocks.

I am on a paddle kayak. It's a ton of work to even get to where people fish, Let alone paddle all the way back after catching nothing, and then you're fighting the current the entire time.

I prefer to use a chatterbait for Smallmouth/Northern/Musky. Rapalas/cranks for walleye. And when it warms up a small whopper plopper.

Would you panfish this river? I've never seen a crappie. Bluegill. Or perch.

I've caught Smallies. Small Northern. Small Musky. Walleye on this stretch. My goal is to catch and release big Smallies.

Thanks for reading and any tips I'll apply and will be greatly appreciated.