I dont lose near as many as I used to! 20lb Fireline or Suffix and knowing when to give a little and let the crank float out of a snag. I dont lose more than a couple a year on rocks, I lose more on timber. Like Jason said, I will break as many swivels as I will have line break.
0-2 per trip? That’ll drop to 0-2 per year with this tool.
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<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Cody Meyers wrote:</div>
You guys catching cats on cranks yet? Seems like when that starts happening with regularity a fella can head down there are really get on them good. It’s a good sign they are all wrapped up with the spawn.Yes, the cat bite has picked up nicely and the shad are starting to work themselves back into the game
I’ve only been down there a couple of times in the last two weeks, but I didn’t see much for shad in the usual places. last year at this time it seemed like the entire river was full of shad….
Here’s how I crank a dam (with minimal losses):
1. Start way upstream of the dam and move in little by little. Sometimes when you start right in front of the dam you are actually setting up right over the top of the fish. This is especially true as flows decline in the late summer. When you get fish hitting right at the boat it might not be a follow. You might be fishing on top of fish. Moving in slowly on a dam you’re not familiar with will also help you learn where all the snaggy parts of the dam are and develop a different approach for each dam to be able to fish the snaggy stuff without getting locked up.
2. I use a heavy braid – 15# or 20# power pro in high vis moonshine for my crankin rod. Moonshine is the color that has a UV additive. I have a headlamp with UV bulbs, and when I fish at night my line lights up and I can fish and tie knots easier. The heavy line is a little bit harder to cast but you will get almost all your cranks back. River fish don’t care that much about your line – we’re not slip bobbering on Mille Lacs here. That being said, just cause I’m a little superstitious, I will take a brown sharpie and darken the last 18″ to the snap if I’m not too busy smacking fish already.
3. Like DaveB said, let em float out when possible. I see a lot of guys set the hook when the rod loads up regardless of how it felt right before it loaded up. Pay attention to the feel and let em float out if its not a hit. You should be able to close your eyes and tell where your crank is in relation to the dam based on the line tension during the retrieve. You should also be able to feel when fish are pushing baits instead of hitting them. At least then you know you are on fish but the fish are negative.
4. A trick I learned years ago when fishing dams is if you’ve really got one locked up and you don’t wanna motor over to it because you don’t wanna spook fish then let about 10-15 yards of line out. Let the current take the slack line downstream a when the line becomes taught again give it a good hard yank. This is basically like pulling from the opposite direction without having to move your boat. I get a LOT of them back with this method.
5. Finally when all else fails you can choose to motor over and yank it out or just pull and hope for the best. Now you have an excuse to skip mowing the lawn and go to fleet farm instead.
hope this helps
j
Holy cow Jason, those are some super helpful tips! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Jason, great information appreciate the time it took to write up! 
Are you guys casting cranks up and over the wing dams ? Or Just hoping the lure starts and tip top and runs down the upstream face of it ? I assume the end scour hole is good as well . How longs this bite run for ? Through august ? ?
That Moonshine is great stuff!!
You might recognize the bridge in the background. 
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Are you guys pulling cranks up and over the wing dams ? Or Just hoping the lure starts and tip top and runs down the upstream face of it ? I assume the end scour hole is good as well . How longs this bite run for ? Through august ? ?
Depends. Sometimes fish are on top and you are casting and retrieving over the dam. Each dam can be different.
My most common approach is to be about a cast length to the dam. Cast the crank at and angle to the dam and let the current sweep the crank while you are reeling in. You should get a bit of dam contact but not being dragging rocks. It’s like quartering the dam.
I think often times guys are too far on top of the dams. Don’t be afraid to move off of there is good flow away from the dam.
You can catch them on cranks on dams almost year round. They seem to really get fired up in the summer though. As the water cools the fish just move and I slow down.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>isu22andy wrote:</div>
Are you guys pulling cranks up and over the wing dams ? Or Just hoping the lure starts and tip top and runs down the upstream face of it ? I assume the end scour hole is good as well . How longs this bite run for ? Through august ? ?Depends. Sometimes fish are on top and you are casting and retrieving over the dam. Each dam can be different.
My most common approach is to be about a cast length to the dam. Cast the crank at and angle to the dam and let the current sweep the crank while you are reeling in. You should get a bit of dam contact but not being dragging rocks. It’s like quartering the dam.
I think often times guys are too far on top of the dams. Don’t be afraid to move off of there is good flow away from the dam.
You can catch them on cranks on dams almost year round. They seem to really get fired up in the summer though. As the water cools the fish just move and I slow down.
Thanks for the intel . Learn a lot on here ! Plastics ever works ? I’ll have to try it Monday on Pool 4 .
“A trick I learned years ago when fishing dams is if you’ve really got one locked up and you don’t wanna motor over to it because you don’t wanna spook fish then let about 10-15 yards of line out. Let the current take the slack line downstream a when the line becomes taught again give it a good hard yank.”
This will get out about 90% of snags when fishing wing dams. Works with jigs as well.
Was it mentioned that when you do break one off watch the surface for it to float up?
Anyone pitching jigs this time of year?
Anyone pitching jigs this time of year?
A little bit but live bait has not been as good this summer as past for me. Like Steve, I’ve had better luck with some plastics and gulp. There have been a few days they have been so keyed onto the cranks baits I haven’t tried anything else, though.
Anyone try it this weekend ? Any luck ??
Was it mentioned that when you do break one off watch the surface for it to float up?
Anyone pitching jigs this time of year?
Funny you say that. I have had two scenarios where I lost a crankbait on dams. Whatever, put a new one on a keep fishing. Then about TWO hours later, after making that same run over and over, I look over the side of the boat and see my shad rap floating downstream. Total coincidence both times and one of things that you have to be there to believe.
Broke off a crankbait yesterday and went to look for it as I was about ready to move anyways.Couldnt find it,oh well.Went a mile or so downstream to try elsewhere,after about an hour or two here comes my crankbait floating by,easy recovery.
Bite is still pretty good. Same program with crankbaits. Jig and crawler bite has picked up a bit, too. Started using gulp crawlers yesterday and they worked pretty well, too.
No real bigs the last couple times out but a lot of fish in the 20” range.
I also had a good bite this week but no Pool 2 piggies, biggest were 22”. Jig and 1/2 crawler has been my go to for a few weeks. Problem is there are a lot of small fish that bite the worm off. Gulp Alive minnows worked pretty good one evening and they thumped it.
Jigs and paddle tails have been working here. Like Matt said, lot’s of 18-22” fish.
I must not have this figured out down on pool 4 . I was the only one down there Tuesday night casting a 7 flicker Shad . Only thing I caught was a white bass . Didn’t even really feel the rocks ? What weight jig heads ? I tried 5/8s for a few cast and didn’t feel much . Maybe it was the wing dam I was on ?
I must not have this figured out down on pool 4 . I was the only one down there Tuesday night casting a 7 flicker Shad . Only thing I caught was a white bass . Didn’t even really feel the rocks ? What weight jig heads ? I tried 5/8s for a few cast and didn’t feel much . Maybe it was the wing dam I was on ?
Not sure but best way to get on the dam is use your map chip and then use side imaging to find the end of it. Some dams you can motor right over…others are too shallow.
Once you find the dam, try and get about a half cast length upstream of it. With a 7 size bait you should be banging into it. Some dams can be deep but I’d be surprised given the low water right now. Quarter oz jigs are what we have been using lately.
You can also see the ripples the dam will make. That is usually from water going over the rocks so the ripples are the top or back of the dam. The visual clues can be as good as electronics.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>isu22andy wrote:</div>
I must not have this figured out down on pool 4 . I was the only one down there Tuesday night casting a 7 flicker Shad . Only thing I caught was a white bass . Didn’t even really feel the rocks ? What weight jig heads ? I tried 5/8s for a few cast and didn’t feel much . Maybe it was the wing dam I was on ?Not sure but best way to get on the dam is use your map chip and then use side imaging to find the end of it. Some dams you can motor right over…others are too shallow.
Once you find the dam, try and get about a half cast length upstream of it. With a 7 size bait you should be banging into it. Some dams can be deep but I’d be surprised given the low water right now. Quarter oz jigs are what we have been using lately.
You can also see the ripples the dam will make. That is usually from water going over the rocks so the ripples are the top or back of the dam. The visual clues can be as good as electronics.
No side imaging but I do have lake master which marks them . Accidentally floated over one – spot lock kicked off for some reason . 14-3 foot really quick lol . Still for some reason even when I tried to get snagged I couldn’t . Casting 14 lb test braid so maybe it’s too much ? . I did find some weeds on one dam . I’m admitting I did only try 3 dams as I was running short on time .
Another decent morning on the river and quite a surprise as well. I haven’t been finding any White Bass for quite a while, years maybe? I caught one in June and that was it. Today I was sitting on the tip of a wingdam when I noticed some commotion right near shore. I thought it was most likely little Smallmouth, but I eased in there anyway. Maybe two feet of water. Turned out to be a school of White Bass! They ran from 12 to 16 inches and absolutely clobbered a paddle tail. Great fun. Otherwise I did manage to find a few Walleyes including one that was a fighting fool and measured 26 inches.
Water temp is still in the lower 70’s, still not much flow. The barges were busy.
SR
Great report, Steve! Those white bass can be an absolute riot when you can find them. Like you, I haven’t seen any in a few years. I used to be able to get into them pretty frequently.
thanks for the report Steve!
Another decent morning on the river and quite a surprise as well. I haven’t been finding any White <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Bass for quite a while, years maybe? I caught one in June and that was it. Today I was sitting on the tip of a wingdam when I noticed some commotion right near shore. I thought it was most likely little Smallmouth, but I eased in there anyway. Maybe two feet of water. Turned out to be a school of White Bass! They ran from 12 to 16 inches and absolutely clobbered a paddle tail. Great fun. Otherwise I did manage to find a few <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleyes including one that was a fighting fool and measured 26 inches.
Water temp is still in the lower 70’s, still not much flow. The barges were busy.
SR
Heck yeah! Great morning out there Steve. It seems rare to find a school of white bass anymore but every once in awhile you will. What a bonus!
Steve, my last few trips I’ve come up empty using paddle tails. I’ve caught walleyes using other stuff.
Any particular color paddle tail working for you?
Today they liked green. The paddle tail I was using was green with lighter colored specks in it. Sorry I can’t remember the name they called it. Also caught a couple of Walleyes on a Pulse-R, again in green. That was out around the tip of the dam using a 1/4 ounce jig.
Had good fishing Wednesday and Thursday AM. Biggest 23”. Wednesday they seemed to prefer cranks. Thursday was a jig and 1/2 crawler. Caught some deeper Thursday, 14-18’. I was surprised that the fish I marked deeper were walleyes.
Wednesday there was a snake swimming by and under the 494 dock. My friend from down south was wondering if it was a rattler. He looked it up and it was a northern water snake, nonvenomous. I’m not going to pick one up though. MN DNR:
Even though it’s not venomous, you probably don’t want to tangle with this snake. If you pick it up it will give off a bad smell, defecate, and maybe even throw up its last meal. It will also bite. Its saliva contains a substance that inhibits its victim’s blood from clotting.
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