Pool 2

[OLY]

Fished pool 2 with my dad this weekend. Saturday we caught about a dozen bass half LM and half SM. Most fish came on a whit jig or spinnerbait. Today we ended up with 23 fish mostly SM. I caught all my fish swimming a whit bitsy bug jig with a power grub trailer. My dad was throwing a spinnerbait and a shallow running crankbait. We had 2 17 in smallies today and the rest were btween 12.5 and 16. Some of the fish are starting to get bloody beat up tails so they are starting to make beds and I would guess they will be spawnig pretty good by next weekend. Water temps were 61-63.

[HellaBass]

what type of water were you fishing? Backwaters, wingdams, mouths of backwaters?

[OLY]

I am Fishing as far back in a couple backwater bays as you can go. I went out today from 5-730 and ended up with 14. 12SM and 2 LM. Biggest smallie was 18 and the biggest LM was 17.75. I fished the exact same areas as yeasterday first with a swim jig and then went back through with a spinnerbait. The 2 big ones came on the spinnerbait after many casts to the same area. I also caught 3 of the smallies in some very heavy current that goes over a rock slide along a bluff wall on the main channel on a norman deep little n crankbait. The key is to find deep water near shallow rocks in the backwaters. It seems like you have to be close to deep water or you will not get as many fish. There are some huge backwater areas that get no deeper than 3ft and I have never been able to catch fish in those areas. If you can find 5 ft or more you will find fish.

[Ray Esboldt]

I am with you Oly. Those giant 2 to 3 foot backwater lakes hold nothing - well carp are there. Even if there is wood piles or some other type of structure, they don't hold bass. Rocks, gravel, or wood with some type of nearby depth variation is key year round. And, I've always thought I needed some moving water - not real fast, just movement.

[OLY]

17 inch smallie from sunday

[OutkastC]

Fished pool 2 a few times and the backwaters down in the bottom of the pool hold some dandies!!

[Craigums]

If one of you river guys ever has an open seat PLEASE let me know, I would love fishing a river for the first time with the possibility of catching some smallies like OLY's. Im in woodbury so just a stones throw away.