Shoal Bass at Seven Islands Crossing
The Seven Islands crossing of the Ocmulgee River is one of the prettiest spots anywhere near Jasper County. It’s a wide-open shallow shoals area located about a mile south of the GA DNR kayak launch on Smith Mill Road. It’s not difficult to paddle from the DNR launch downstream through one set of small shoals to the top of the shoals at the Seven Islands Crossing. Fish from your kayak along the upper edges of the shoals or get out of your boat and walk through the rocks and pools fishing for shoal bass.
To get back upriver is not too challenging. When paddling back upriver, stay left (west) at the one set of shoals where the river splits in half. On the left side, you can paddle up the first set of shoals, but you’ll have to get out and pull your kayak up the small 2nd set. It’s flat water from there back to the launch.
Below is a map of the route I took with my wife on Memorial day 2019. On the day of our paddle, the flow of the Ocmulgee was low at around 650 cfs. I’m not sure at what flowrate the paddle back upriver becomes more challenging, but if I find out I’ll update this post. The Georgia Power data says the median flowrate for May 27 is a little over 1000 cfs).
Total climbing: 240 ft
The Georgia DNR Kayak launch on Smith Mill Road can be found here: