Pool 13 Question

So, I am headed to Savannah for my annual voyage to Pool 13 this weekend… arriving town Friday sometime and look forward to a great catch!

Not sure if Ken still monitors the sight, as I know he is a local on 13…and well connected with the fish!

Questions for anyone that knows…

Is the pool (13) low? I hear all the pools are low, and that 11 and 12 are as low as they’ve been in 40 years. True? How about 13?

Do I have a realistic chance of blowing into Browns this year? Or, is it too risky with the low water? Its such a fabulous little area!

Any other “areas” I should check out or focus on? All recommendations are welcome… I am not a tourney guy, and only fish 13 once a year, so no worries about this guy! And, PM’s welcome to protect the innocent!

Oh, and since my co-angler (dad) won’t arrive until Saturday AM, if anyone wants to head out, I’d love to hit the water Friday afternoon with you, I bring gas money, beer, and, well, decent conversation (just as the Jerkin’ Lippers!!

I say blow into Brown’s, you got insurance.

I fish pool 13 once a week, with the last time being on the 19th. The water is LOW for pool 13!!! The river stage on that day was 10.5′ and on Saturday it was up to 11′.

We had a great day on the 19th, besides being tied up under a bridge when the storms came through. We had 50mph wind gust and lightning with heavy rain. After that the fishing went trought the roof.

We picked up a 4 pounder and a 3.5 pounder in Town Lake, then went into running slough and just crushed them.
We ended up with 14 fish over 14″ and 6 of them being over 16.5″. We also missed a lot of good fish. I was using a buzzbait and would have 3 pound fish come out of the water and miss the bait. My dad also had a 4.5-5 pound bass on a worm, he brought it over two logs before it broke the line and the side of the boat. Fish were on light current with wood and weeds. We picked up a few small fish on rocks but only one 14″ fish.

I am headed out again tomorrow to see if the pattern will still work.

Jeremy

I was back for Dad’s wedding in Galena and hit Pool 12 and 13 a few times 7/15-20. Awesome fishing, especially on 13. We made it into Browns with my big 21′ Ranger but barely and we drug mud for literally 1/2 mile and I bent the skeg hitting a few logs. I think the water may have come back up some now, though. With the water low, when you find the bass, you’ll kill them. Before the big storms on 7/17, 3 of us caught over 80 bass in Pool 13 in about 4 hours. No BS, it was insane how easy the fishing was. Definitely the best afternoon I’ve ever had on the river!! Only about 10 were dinks, too. Biggest was only 4-09 but lots of 2.25 to 3.75 lb 16 to 19 inchers. Went back to 13 on 7/20 and it was a lot slower in the same areas with no wind or clouds. Still, we only saw one other bass boat all day and we still managed over 30 fish, although it took us about 8 hours to do it. White buzz baits, black and blue creature baits and dark colored jigs all caught them best, as well as a white spinnerbait in the windy areas.

Lots of action on Pool 12, too, but more dinks.

Good Luck,

Tom

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We made it into Browns with my big 21′ Ranger but barely and we drug mud for literally 1/2 mile and I bent the skeg hitting a few logs. Before the big storms on 7/17, 3 of us caught over 80 bass in Pool 13 in about 4 hours.

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Did you catch any in Brown’s or were you on the main river fishing current?

I stayed moving really fast on the trolling motor and we covered a lot of miles. They were in clumps of grass on 7/17 on the outside edges but slightly higher water and brighter conditions had them tucked way into the shallowest and thickest cover on 7/20. We just covered water really fast until we got a bite, then sat on those areas and really hammered them until the stopped, then kept moving until the next school. That’s about as much info as I can give. My buddy lives up there and has a tourney coming up. Hopefully he doesn’t see this post or I’ll be in trouble!

Good Fishing,

Tom

Understand the tournament concern, and I won’t probe any further on locations, etc.

One question – do you know what Pool 13 stage was when you were dragging skeg? 4′? 4.5? 5? Please advise, as Brown’s can just plain be fun, but getting there with a bent skeg may not make it as enjoyable!

Thanks, Tom – appeaciate the help.

Thanks for the thoughts… everyone we spoke to just kind of gritted their teeth and said “well, you should be able to get into Brown’s” and shrugged their shoulders. So, since its my dad’s boat and he is kind of particular about it, we wandered all over the middle section of the pool, about a 14 mile stretch. There are not the same type of backwaters as there are up here in the north. The water is muddy, lots of mud bugs and mud banks. Vegetation is not as thick or as abundant, so rocks, humps, drops, and wood consititute most of the fishing. Brown’s, of course, is THICKLY choked with lotus and pads.

Anyway, it turned out that reading a map and picking locations that best served (in our opinion) to hold bass worked out! We both managed to boat a fish over 4#’s, with my dad’s likely being a legit 5#, but no scale to truly take a measurement. And, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words… Oh, and offers proof in fishing…

Again, thanks to those that helped!

PS – It was sure HOT out there… our conditions were 98 degrees, sunny, no clouds, no wind, low flow, low water ~4.2′), dirty water, 84 degree water… and LOT’s of humidity. Thank goodness for built in coolers!

Dad was jacked… I think its his biggest LM. I guess, though, I need help taking pictures. The mouth and girth on this fish was impressive.

Dad needs to push the fish away from his body!

Those are nice fish for any pool at any time of year. What did those pigs come off of, grass or wood?

No grass to be found anywhere. Both fish were found in current breaks on large rocky substructures in and around wingdams/closing dams. Most of our numbers came from wood on cut banks with significant current, but off the main channel. Due to the muddy river composition, getting away from the wave action and finding clearer water was key to the larger fish. Hope this helps!