Dams and fish

I see many ice houses below L&D 7 (pool 8) all winter long. We all know the sauger stack up below L&D 3 on pool 4.

– Does this phenomenon happen below every dam on every river?
– Do you twin city guys find fish below L&D 1 and L&D 2 all winter long?
– Why do the fish do this? Do the baitfish love being below the dam?

I ask cause I wonder if the fish in the rivers in Northern MN act in the same fashion. Nobody and I mean not 1 sole fish the rivers/dams in the winter up there. It may be an untapped resource.

I asked a similar questions to this earlier in the fall/winter.

The gist of the answers was that the acreage below #3 caused unusual densities of fish/CF H2O there. What triggered MY question was watching boats below dam #4 at Alma.

The upside to this is that the pressure on the other dams is lower too, so there isn’t as much competition for those fewer fish.

Now, if we get into a available fish/boat, i’m outta here. I become an ice fisherman before i go into THAT conversation…

Not to knock your idea, but most rivers aren’t open to fishing Walleye/Sauger year round as in Pool 4. They close the season to protect the already pregnant females in their wintering holes.
Pool 4 has so many fish that (I guess) the DNR doesn’t believe the year round harvest will effect the population.
If any local River guys have another answer I would be interested in hearing it…it is amazing to me. There are a few rivers in Wisc with a 0ne fish per day type deal during the winter but open season with a 12 fish possession limit(Wisc) year round is amazing.

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Not to knock your idea, but most rivers aren’t open to fishing Walleye/Sauger year round as in Pool 4. They close the season to protect the already pregnant females in their wintering holes.

Pool 4 has so many fish that (I guess) the DNR doesn’t believe the year round harvest will effect the population.

If any local River guys have another answer I would be interested in hearing it…it is amazing to me. There are a few rivers in Wisc with a 0ne fish per day type deal during the winter but open season with a 12 fish possession limit(Wisc) year round is amazing.

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Must be a WISC thing. In MN all Inland rivers are open during the regular season unless there is a special regulation. We can fish them right up until the Feb 26h closing date. Reopens around May 15.

Here are the only special regs I can find on the Mississippi from Lake Itasca down to the Twin Cities.

– Mississippi River from Blandin Dam downstream to Coon Rapids

Dam (Itasca, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Morrison, Benton, Sherburne, Wright,

Anoka, and Hennepin counties) muskellunge: Catch-and-release only.

– Winnibigoshish Lake and connected waters (Beltrami, Cass, Itasca

counties): Mississippi River to Knutson Dam, Third River Flowage to

Little Dixon Lake, Pigeon River to Pigeon Lake Dam, First River, Egg

Lake through Cut Foot Sioux Lake, Raven Flowage to Raven Lake,

and Sugar Lake. walleye: All from 17-26″ must be immediately released.

One over 26″ allowed in possession.

Here are the general inland regs

– WALLEYE and SAUGER May 14, 2011- Feb. 26, 2012 6* (Not more than 1 walleye over 20″ in possession) (either or combined)

The areas I’m thinking will not fall under any of these regs. Heck where I’m thinking the Mighty Miss is only 225′ wide.

The Mississippi River is open year round to fishing here on Pool 7-9 as far as I know.

As to the OP question- We fish the dam at Trempeleau and Dresbach through the ice. I would not say they “stack up”, but they are definitely there during the winter.

Post deleted by targaman

I’m thinking I’ll either strike out or find a hidden gem.

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– Does this phenomenon happen below every dam on every river?

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I am not sure about every river, but I think it is very common.

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– Do you twin city guys find fish below L&D 1 and L&D 2 all winter long?

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The upper pools all freeze solid. But not solid enough to ice fish. I am sure a few brave souls have tried but not my cup of tea. The nuke plant keeps Pool 4 open year round.

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– Why do the fish do this? Do the baitfish love being below the dam?

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I am not an expert but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. I think it has a lot to do with the spawning migration. Most river species travel upstream to spawn. Some find areas to spawn along the way, while others keep moving upstream. They will eventually hit the dam and thats where the journey ends.

I know of a river dam in North Dakota where a stringer of 6 walleyes weighing 56 pounds came out of one March day. There is no season for game fish in North Dakota. I cringe every time I see that picture hanging in the bar.

So to answer your question, I would give it a try, you never know.

I also sent you a PM and the area you are talking about.

I has alot to do with the Nuke plant keeping water open in the winter, also has changed the ice fishing on Lake Pepin.
Warmer water brings the shad.

Theconfluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi marks the starting point of the shared water. Fishing is year round from that point down to the Iowa border, then Iowa and Wisconsin set the rules.

You’ll find fish below all dams along this stretch during the winter. Access with a boat is the limiting factor but those who walk and cut the ice do pretty good. Pool 4 has the unique open water because of the nuke plant above the dam and a lot of Pepin’s fish move towards that slightly warmer water during the late fall, winter and very early spring. Still, when the ice allows boat access at Alma or Whitman or other dams located below Pepin, its game on.

On a side note, not all fish in Pepin make the journey to the RW dam.

All the Dams down here in Iowa have good fishing below them in the Fall and Winter.Some are better than others.

The primary reason we ice fish the dam area on pool 8 is because the river freezes solid and there is no boat access. If we had open water like P4, I bet you’d see a lot more boats.

Ice fishing at the dam can be good at times, but rarely is it spectacular. Remember, you’re still limited to fishing straight up and down, and limited again by what the ice conditions are. The hardcore guys around here use air boats to get to their spots.

We’ve caught eyes through the ice 6-7 miles downstream from the dam many times, and usually better ones. 95% of the fish I catch and see caught through the ice at the dam are saugers in the 8-16″ variety. Many caught out of 35 plus feet of water with their air bladders hanging out (it’s sickening). There are a few guys who catch some really nice eyes and saugers in the shallow water near dusk and after dark.

Jigging Rapalas rule the ice down here. I’ve caught fish on spoons, blade baits, live bait, hair jigs etc…. but none produce like the jigging raps. There’s definitely an art to it, and hopping holes is a big part of it. If I fish a hole for 2-3 minutes and haven’t been hit I move. If the flow is low enough, a flasher is awesome, but usually you have to drill a hole about 3′ downstream to see your bait on the flasher.

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If we had open water like P4, I bet you’d see a lot more boats.

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Gump! Your a ******* genius!

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If we had open water like P4, I bet you’d see a lot more boats.

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Gump! Your a ******* genius!

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Sometimes, a guy has to call out the obvious.

Have not noticed a big concentration of fish staging below the Ford dam on pool 2 over the years. Im sure a few move up but most are in that under 20″ range and not worth spending a lot of time targeting. Just down river from the Ford dam is the MN river. I think far more fish head up the MN than head to the dam.

Pm sent mr ruger

I think it depends a lot on the local geography. Like Mike said, in Pool2 they go up the MN River. In Pool3 they have th St. Croix. In pools 4 on down, there are fish below pretty much every dam to a certain degree. Pool 4 probably has the best concentration in part because of the warm water from the nuke plant – I’d buy that theory. If you try the tailwaters below some of the dams on smaller rivers, you’ll find decent concentrations of fish below some of them for sure.

Years ago….when I was in my early twenties, weighed under 160 and drank heavily….we’d walk up the ice to the line of open water found below the Whitman Dam at Minnieska. We’d jig all along the edge of the open water and find walleyes and sauger willing to hit. Bucktails and minnows worked and then we discovered the sonars and really felt as though we hit paydirt.

I’m not sure if the nuke plant at Prairie Island has any bearing on ice quality down there now or not, but I am too old to find out now. Back then the ice would be safer at the lip than it was on the walk up to the edge.

WAY TOO DANGEROUS ON LOCK & DAM #3.

The super heated water coming out of Prairie Island combined with the boil from the roller gates causes at best uneven formation of ice.

From what I’ve heard, no ice forms there, but if there were, it would be of irregular, unpredictable and unsafe thicknesses…

Exactly what Stu said.

Shut up Gator.