Pools 3and4

I know these areas are about to be covered by a couple of large tournaments in the near future(I’m in one of them)so I’ll keep my questions as general as I can. I only have about 2 days of expirience on the river and I’m looking for some help pre-fishing. With the cooler temps and the low water lever, what kinds of water should a person eliminate? Are there any areas to stay away from for saftey reasons? I’m not looking for anyone to give up acuall hot-spots, just some general starting spots would be great. Thanks a lot for any and all help.

52 views and no replies…..Yes, you are right…. The two biggest events of the year payout wise are just around the corner. Get’s kinda quiet around here with so much money on the line!

Here are a couple of pointers for a guy without a lot of river experience:

-Use the “Search” function on this board and try and read up on posts from late September/Early Oct last year. (Do a search on words like Pool 4, Wing dams, Willow Cats) There have also been some detailed info given in the recent fishing reports.

-No secrets here…last year many good MWC weights came off the wing dams on lower pool 4 and the RCL was won in the backwaters of pool 3. Those are two patterns you may want to explore…. But a lot can change in a year and the water level certainly has.

-Beware of the Wisconsin backchannel with the low flow.

-Learn to lock thru the dam if you have never done it before.

-Things can change fast. One big rainstorm and…….

Anyone else want to chime in here….????

I haven’t spent the time on the river as I usually do but Jon is right on. For me I look for baitfish in fall. Where ever I find the minnows, I find the ‘eyes. It may might be river channels, wing dams, flats, rip rap, etc. You just don’t know without doing some driving.

Thanks a lot Jon and Mike. Thats exactly the type of info I’ve been looking for. I hesitated even posting at all with the upcoming events, but I needed some general thoughts. Thanks again and I wish you guys the best of luck!