Mississippi River(Pool 14)

Fished old man river on Sunday 8-10 & 8-17 with not much more than bluegills to show for. During both outings only managed 6 crappies (2 @13") and many dinks. Bluegills are everywhere you cast, but the crappies all seemed to be 3 feet deep or so with best luck around fresh leafy trees that fell in from this spring flood. Most fish caught off mini-mites tipped with wax worms. Keep buying minnows and trying at every snag, but have only managed bass with them. May as well save my minnow money until the fall.

Let me know if anyone ever fishes pool 14 as I'm always looking for a fishing partner, especially someone that know how to catch them heafty walleyes along the wing dams.

Probably coulda stood a few more of those 13" crappies, but bluegill fishing is fun too. Any size to the gills?

Yea couple 13 inchers is better then what I can manage out of pool 16. River crappies are hard to figure. I'm starting to beleave they go to the current when it gets into summer time but havent taken the time to try enough areas yet.

Crappiepalooza - The bluegills were no hogs, but good enough to get some decent fillets off. I would say during the 2 outings I caught hundreds of them, but only 35 worth keeping. You're correct they are good eating and can be fun to catch during the dog days of summer.

jwn - From what I have learned about river crappies you are correct and I would also say that the crappies move into current backwaters. I have found a few spots that are hit-n-miss in the current around trees from the bank that are submerged in 3+ feet of water. If you fish pool 16, you know that it's hard to find these trees along the bank with any decent water around them.

Tight Lines

A buddy and I fished Pool 14 on Sunday 8-31. Managed to keep 7 crappies (3 @12" & 1 @13") and 23 decent bluegills. As in past outings, the gills were caught almost everywhere, and the crappies were in 2'-3' f.o.w. Everyhting was caught on mini-mites and wax worms, with no luck using minnows.

Fished today 9/7 and ended up keeping 17 crappies and 11 bluegills. Majority of all crappies were caught around 1 floating tree branch in about 2 feet of water. Many small ones caught, probably threw back 3x as many kept. The water level seems real low and temp was around 76-78 degrees. All crappies were caught using minnows & wax worms on mini-mites.