Good smallmouth . . . how far south?

How far south are there still fishable populations of smallmouth bass? Is there a southern pool where numbers drop significantly?

My experience has been that Pool 11 is about the end of the consistent smallmouth fishing. I’m not saying 11 is as good as 7, 8, or 9, but you can still target smallies and catch some nice ones. Pool 12 has them and seems to have been improving a lot in recent years, but in my opinion, there is quite a drop off from 11. Pool 13 is another big drop off. Last year, I caught some short smallies on Pool 13, which I hope is a sign of good things to come. I have caught one, and seen a handful of keeper smallmouth on Pool 13. I have also caught a few smallies on Pools 14, 16, and 19, but they’ve all been shorties and I can count the numbers on one hand. Once again, the northern pools have it all over the ones downstream.

Might this be because of poor water quality? Seems wallyes not heard of much in that stretch either.

Yes, I think that probably is one of the reasons why. There are more tributary streams with good smallie habitat and populations that dump into the Mississippi up north. Water clarity is better on the upper pools, too. More sand. Maybe more rock. Better spawning habitat. I’d like to see them take off down below. They have been slowly increasing in numbers, but again, keepers are hard to come by.