Pool 3 Wing Dams

After two years of reading Today’s Topics on IDO, I finally have become a member and this is my first post. I have been trying to learn the St Croix,Pool 3 and Pool 4 the last couple of years. The info you folks have shared has helped tremendously. Here is my question: it is apparent that late summer on Pool 3, one should hit the wing dams. Here is the problem I am having, With the zero flow, I cannot see any tell tale indication on the surface that there is a wing dam. Unlike where there is alot of flow and the level is up, you can see them. What am I missing? Other then knowing where they are, or ‘bumping’ into them (no good) how does one know?

If you cant see any flow you probably dont want to fish it look for flow

That makes sense. So, a wing dam with flow should have a tell tale ripple or something that changes the flow of water indicating that there is actually a dam there? Am I reading the water correctly right now that there is literally no flow right now on the Mississippi? Not looking for specific locations here, I realize one needs to find his own spots, but from Prescott to the Nauti Hog, I have not seen any wing dams with flow the last three weeks. Are there any with flow and surface indicators right now?

Get a map or GPS chip that shows the dams. What you are doing now is like trying to find your way in the dark without a flash light.

Days with north winds right now it will be very tough to see a dam. Light south winds will make them standout like a sore thumb. But if you are trying to anchor on those days the wind will blow you away from the dams.

That makes sense. Thanks guys.

To avoid bumping into them, I set the shallow alarm on my depth finder at 4 ft. Usually that will give me enough time to back away from the dam or at least take the motor out of gear and/or trim it up. Definity saves on prop repairs.

If you know about where they are but not exactly, you can go below them and make a wake that goes upstream over them. That will create the ripple line like an upstream wind will do for a brief while. Wakes from upstream bound cruiser or other boats can do the same thing.

Obviously if you have GPS on your finder, you can create a bunch of waypoints to mark the dams.

Boone

That chip is awesome, I have HDS7 and a navionics chip and it shows 95% of the wing dams and all of the critical ones. They are pretty darn accurate, the other tip is watch other fisherman now on the main channel. Mark those areas and come back later and see what the last guy was fishing structure wise. Get an old hotspots book and use that for finding wingdams. Good luck

Look for the Lil rock piles on shore- that’s where your dams are. Go upriver from the dam u want to fish- keep big motor on with bow pointing upstream. Slowly let boat drift downstream toward the dam closely watching your finder. When she starts coming up rapidly boogie forward upriver. Then u will have to figure out how far u want to be from the dam and how far inside or outside u want to be. Takes time!!! Good luck out there!

There actually is enough flow right now to see some of the wing dams. I was down there today, and we were able to see the dams even with the stiff SSE wind.

As mentioned previously, if you can’t see where the dam is by looking – skip it. You will want to look for the first few dams in each series. They will have the most flow. Crawlers and cranks put a few fish in the boat. Most of our fish came in the first few minutes on any given dam. Contrary to popular belief, walleyes will come out to play on the inside of the dams this time of year. Especially the active fish…

There are many days you will have no shot at reading the water to tell you where they are-even if they have substantial flow. Wind at certain mph will mess up your visual from multiple directions. Welcome by the way-

There are usually dams before any major river bend to divert the flow. Get a chip it does wonders out there.

Gotta have a chip, i agree, it helps, but they aren’t 100% accurate.

Wow..thanks for all the great advice. Solid info and a genuine willingness to share it is what amazes me and is why I keep reading and finally joined and posted. Thanks again for the invaluable info and warm welcome!

Another way to find dams is to look for the channel markers, especially on Pool 3. This isn’t a 100% sure fire way, but I would venture that most of the cans on P3 are just off the tip of a wingdam.

ET