diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/PublishRiverClusterStateAction.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/PublishRiverClusterStateAction.java
index 9f3ebbdee50..dda0a9a5fe2 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/PublishRiverClusterStateAction.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/PublishRiverClusterStateAction.java
@@ -72,10 +72,6 @@ public class PublishRiverClusterStateAction extends AbstractComponent {
             // master nodes because they will handle the state and the allocation of rivers
             // and river nodes since they will end up creating indexes
 
-            if (node.clientNode()) {
-                continue;
-            }
-
             if (!node.masterNode() && !RiverNodeHelper.isRiverNode(node)) {
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/RiverNodeHelper.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/RiverNodeHelper.java
index dcaf57e4442..693e502c6ce 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/RiverNodeHelper.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/cluster/RiverNodeHelper.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.river.RiverName;
 public class RiverNodeHelper {
 
     public static boolean isRiverNode(DiscoveryNode node) {
+        // we don't allocate rivers on client nodes
         if (node.clientNode()) {
             return false;
         }