Pool 6 Help

Looking to come up mid July from Virginia to bass fish with a friend on pool 6 Any help on lure choice,colors, technique for this area and time of year. Thanks

First off….Welocme to IDO

I’m not a pro but hope I can help some.
My favorite presentations in July are top water along weed edges or plastics across the slop.

Here are a few reports from just 2 pools south that I have put together in the past during the July Bass season that explain my favorite baits and where I have found the LM Bass to be holding during the July frame.

July Report 1

July Report 2

July Report 3

I wish you the best of luck when you make the trip. Maybe shoot me a PM when the time comes and I might be able to help if I’m on fish

This is honest advice…..Don’t waste your time on pool 6 in July. Go to 4, 5, 5a, or 7……more productive backwater areas and better fishing.

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This is honest advice…..Don’t waste your time on pool 6 in July. Go to 4, 5, 5a, or 7……more productive backwater areas and better fishing.

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What!!!!

Pool 6 is one of the best smallmouth pools on the river. You have miles of rip rap shore line and countless wing dams. You will do just fine on 6. If you want some pointers get ahold of me when the time gets closer and I will point you to some awsome spots….

pool 6 has the best Bikini’s I have ever seen on the river..

it also has produced the biggest bass that I have ever seen on the river , including a true 6 pound PLUS smallie.. that was SO BLACK, you had to really look at it up close to decide it was a bass.. it was solid black, top to bottom..

we had a guy win a club tourny there one time.. he had 10 lbs and 8 oz.. TWO FISH.. a 6lb 4 oz and a 4 lb 4 oz..

its a “different pool.” but its still extremely good. just be careful by the rail road bridges in Winona.. but at that time of the year the rock piles should be out of the water..

I wish you well.

Thanks to all of you for your help. As time gets closer, I may reach out to you again. It looks like hospitality doesn’t just run in the south, you guys are great !!!

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You have miles of rip rap shore line and countless wing dams.

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Isn’t that every pool on the Upper Mississippi River?

Not saying it completely sucks, just saying the other pools offer more fishing options…..especially for someone who has never fished the river before. I live four blocks from a pool 6 landing, but only fish it certain times of the year anymore….and the end of July isn’t one of them.

I’ve always thought the lack of accessible backwater habitat/spawning areas (compared to the pools formentioned) kept the size and numbers of fish down on pool 6. Bass/walleye/sauger/northern included…..but I’m no biologist. Just observations from a non-tourny fun fisherman.

it depends, I have never seen a party pool like pool 6.. wow.. and I mean WOW..

however, its just a “different” pool.. 4, 5, 8, and 9 are all similar pools, 6 is SOMETHING ELSE.. but what you learn there you can apply to other pools.. I had pool 6 as my “secret pool” for two summers.. and I really enjoyed it. .my problem was that I enjoyed it alone, and didn’t have a partner to really fish the pool out..

you can fish a whole ton of that pool and only see one or two boats per day..

While not by any means someone who knows how to fish Pool 6, there are a few tips that might be helpful. For me it’s all about water, finding backwater that has current, then looking for intersections with slower moving water coming out of cuts or small canals. What happens is the the hydraulics of current will usually create a deep side of/on most openings, staying down river from these deeper cuts and throwing up into them usually will get you bit. Fast water intersecting with equally fast water is usually less productive for me.

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You have miles of rip rap shore line and countless wing dams.

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Isn’t that every pool on the Upper Mississippi River?

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No. Not every pool has the amount of rip rap pool 6 dose. Look at pools 5,5a,7,and8 none of these pools have anywhere near the rip rap 6 dose. You can start in Winona and fish nothing but rip rap nonstop all the way to the the Tremp. dam on either side of the river. That is close to 3 quarters of the pool. That’s the type of thing that makes 6 unique to all other pools on the river. If you put more time in on 6 and learn it you will find that it is a very over looked pool because of the same mind set you have. Just because it doesn’t have an ton of backwater doesn’t mean the fishing is poor. Fish don’t need back waters to spawn it’s just a common misconception among a lot of people.