Pool 13 or 14?

Wondering if anyone has been out on Pool 13 or 14 chasing walleyes. Have not been out in a while. Anyone have a report?
Rooster

Fished both Sat. and Sunday with not much going on. Water was still above 11.0 ft at Bellevue lock. Most wingdams and rock had too much current. Had one good bite on Sat. (19 inch walleye) and caught 4 small sauger, 2 flathead catfish, and 1 5lb channel catfish on Sunday. The river has been dropping about 1/2 ft or better per day – I think we need some stable water, also, is seems to have clouded up since the middle of the week.

Thanks fishsqzr, I believe I will try hitting some backwater areas with low to no current and see what I can find. It sounds like you at least got to stretch your line a few times. Beats a good day working, unless your work is fishing!!

I talked to a guy at the boat ramp this morning who showed me a pic of a near 30″ eye he caught late last week on rip rap in Beaver Slough. That makes two BIG walleyes which that slough has given up so far this year. Gotta fish it more. This guy also reported catching several legal size fish in the slower backwaters. He mentioned Swan Slough and Hanson Slough, on pool 14. I’ll post a report if I get out today. Thanks again,

Rooster

Fished Pool 13 Sunday and Monday, To say the least it was dead stop for me and my partner. This was my first trip to Pool 13 and a little disapointing, water very muddy and high in the river and fast current, fished Spring Lake with no success marked fish in 5-9 ft. but no takers. I’ll go back and try it again until I get it right.

Tonight, Pool 13’s flow is at 85k. Too fast for me. If you do go, I’d check out Pinoak and the Apple. The slough that runs by the Apple and the depot had all that rip-rap laid last fall. That would be the first spot I’d stop, along with those couple of wingdams that I’ve never figured out why they are there.

As for me right now, I am sticking to ACL. The bulls are just coming in. I don’t fish the beds, but really enjoy watching them on the beds. I’ve almost finished my first pound of panfish leeches and have 2 more on the way. I don’t care to catch bass, but last weekend I had 17 legals with the biggest being 4 pounds. It’s already a great year.

Thanks for the reports DMan and Jeff. I went out on pool 14 Monday evening in the rain. We found a lot of walleyes in the sand pits south of Albany, but they were 10-14″ range. Also a LOT of small channel cats. We were dragging a floater on a 8″ leader with nightcrawler. Switched to ring worms and caught a couple decent eaters before we ran out of daylight. Another couple days now and the flow should slow and stabilize. Wing dams should pick up hot and heavy in a week or so. I can’t wait! Dman, if you hit 13 again, try the areas Jeff mentioned, and I like the wing dams in the area of the Maquoketa river mouth. Some really good fishing there when the flow slows under 50000cfs.
Jeff, sounds like the lake is doing great this year. I’ve never fished it. It is a public access lake? Any walleyes in it? Thanks again,
Rooster

First of all, the flow on pool 13 is down to 64k tonight. The level is dropping fast as well. Rooster, no ACL is not open to the public. There are walleyes in the lake. I don’t target them, yet… I have so much fun catching the big gills, I can’t bring myself to target the ‘eyes. Every year, I say that this is the year, but it doesn’t happen. The biggest ‘eye I’ve ever seen taken was 26 inches. The association stocks 4500-5000 every year. The daily limit is two, and I have seen guys take two in a day. Yesterday, we had two high 30’s northerns. I wonder if it wasn’t the same one. They were caught in the same little bay.

Clue me in, what or where is this ACL you are talking about fishing?

DMan
ACL means Apple Canyon Lake it has some nice fish in it but it is a private lake. It is located just north of Woodbine Illinois between Stockton and Elizabeth.I was on the lower end of pool 12 yesterday water is in great shape.
BIGJIGGER2002

Flow on 13 has been steady at about 62k since yesterday. The ‘eyes at the wing dams are hungry for leeches trolled on a 3-way.

My buddy has been nailing the crappies on Lake Geneva with small off-white tubes and twisters, slowly trolled in 12′-15′.

rooster where are you fishing in the sand pits? also which sandpit(s)? and what the heck is a ring worm? i have read several articles that refer to them but have no idea what they are. a buddy and i fished all day last friday north of sabula and caught one legal fish and ALL day on saturday from albany to leclaire and caught one gar. we were trolling cranks and floating jigs/nightcrawlers into the wingdams. thanks in advance.

Thanks for the info Bigjigger2002, I hope to get out Pool 13 around 1st of July. I have yet to be there in low or normal water. All the stumps I hear about have me worried in the backwater.

riverking,
The sand pits we were fishing are a couple miles south of Albany just east of the lower end of Meredosia slough.They can produce some good fish, especially when the river flow is high, but in summer you have to battle countless pleasure boaters and there is a huge population of bait fish to compete with. Still a good place to try though. If you go, be careful going into the pits. The northernmost one if VERY shallow going in if you don’t hit the right area. They are just north of CF and FS industries, farm service storage tanks.
As for ringworms, just click on the EFN Outlet Store link above and you can see what they look like and buy some if you would like. They are a very productive plastic, especially fished with light-as-possible heads and cast cross current above wings. Let the jig drift into and across the face of the rocks. Walleyes hit them so hard some times, it feels like a northern strike!
I hit the wing dams near Clinton for a while last Tuesday. Caught several fish on ringworms, crawler harnesses, and casting crankbaits, but not a legal fish in the bunch that day. Very high pressure on wings the last couple weeks. If you come to 14 again, drop me a p.m or post here and I’ll see if I can get some good up to date info for ya!
Rooster

The flow tonight on 13 is at 42k. What to do… What to do…

Go to the river or chase bulls at the lake? Starting Wednesday, I’m off for a couple weeks. Maybe I’ll get to do both.