What do you look for when you get ready to fish a wing dam? How far is it under the water? How much current is rolling over it? Does it look like a waterfall or a small current break? How close do you fish from it? Now that I finally got a trolling motor to handle my boat I’m looking forward to fishing a few of these.
Thanks
Mark
i usually go out to the end of it and cast along side of it. when we troll we do the same thing, alongside, not across. if we are above it, i will cast across it, but for me it seems a guaranteed lost lure…
It really depends on the flow. High flow, I look for the 2nd or 3rd in a series to be protected from the flow. Low flow, I look for the ones that get hit the hardest by the flow and fish the very out edges of them.
In low flow in the dead of summer, I tend to look for the dams with the deepest water in front of them also 12-15′ is a good thing. I prefer to have 3-4′ of water above the top of the dam when possible so I can cast a crank over it. You’d be surprised how often the fish are right on top of it.
I like wing dams with a big rock pile at the end of them also, seems to be a fish magnet. Always look for the oddities in them. Some are broken with holes in them, those can be great. Some point upstream instead of down, in low flow those can be the best.
The biggest thing is to just fish a lot of them. In summer I spend 90% of my time casting cranks on dams and can cover 10-20 per day unless I find a really good one.
A few more things, don’t be afraid to anchor a few times on each dam. Depending on the flow, I’ve caught good fish tight to shore all the way to just outside the tips of dams. I try to fish the dams that have moderate flow as much as possible and fish the insides of them in the first and last hour of daylight. The rest of the time, I’m usually on the outer 1/3.
Depending how your wing dams are marked, you may be able to troll over the tips of them. Pool 6 is great for trolling wing dams, pool 7 not so much. The cans are way to close to the ends of the dams for this on 7.
If you get your crankbait hung up when you cast over the dam (when you’re above the dam casting down over it), just let out a ton of line. The current will catch your line and pull the bait downstream. I get about 90% of my cranks back this way.
You can also put on a light wire leader, doesn’t hurt the action of the crank and will protect you from breakoffs. You will still lose a few cranks, but worst case, this will allow you to drift over the dam and pull your crank out from downstream.
I should be able to take a good look at them with my 1197 and stay on them with my 101. I fish pool 9 on down and have dams anywhere from way under the water to the ones that take your lower unit out. Is the current really strong just up above the dams you fish?
Jarrad Fluekiger wrote a great article on fishing wingdams on the Pools…maybe BK can bring it up from the archives?
A good rule of thumb is that if I can’t fish a 1/4 oz jig on it, it’s probably moving too fast. I like to cast parallel and let the current sweep my baits in front of the dam.
Once the water’s warmer I spend so much time casting cranks that I’ll fish dams with more flow as well as slower ones. 5-10 casts on each and keep moving.
A good rule of thumb is that if I can’t fish a 1/4 oz jig on it, it’s probably moving too fast.
OK I’m getting the idea now
Just a thought on the 1/4 oz rule. I fish the river from Red wing to South of the Quad Cities , as you get farther South the river changes. Here on my home pool 14 there are times we pull fish off dams that you need 1/2 oz to cast and 1 oz to work a Dubuque rig. The river is much deeper and has lots more flow, with out the large back water areas all the water goes right down the channel. I guess what I’m trying to say is you have to adapt to the conditions. I spend time on pool 8 and I would agree with his 1/4 oz rule in that area, but if you venture down south make sure you have some big jigs with you will need them.
I should clarify my 1/4 oz rule. I don’t rule out a dam all together if a 1/4 won’t fish well, but I typically don’t fish that part of the dam (at least with live bait).
I’ll move in on the dam and fish the current seem, that’s where the I Pilot is worth it’s weight in gold. Anybody who’s anchored 50+ times in a day on wing dams can tell you that using the spot lock for this type of fishing is about the best thing you’ll ever do.
I have caught fish pulling 3oz bottom bouncers and harnesses on some wicked fast wing dams, but that doesn’t mean they were the most productive. For me, I catch more fish on dams with moderate flow than anywhere else. As for big fish on wing dams, well all I can say for sure is I’ve had to fish many to find those few gems. I also can’t say that they really have much in common. One I catch big fish on gets hit the hardest by flow on the whole pool and is awesome in low flow, another that’s been great to me is a very protected dam that I can fish the tip of in 25,000 flow.
Fish as many as you can, and you’ll start to see what’s allowing you to catch fish and what isn’t.
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I should be able to take a good look at them with my 1197 and stay on them with my 101.
There’s a lot of cool stuff to find in the river, and the 1197 is a perfect tool for finding stuff that most anglers just pass by.
Pic 1 is a lock wall. This particular one has a “pocket” formed by the discharge of water. Always wondered why I caught fish in such a small concentrated area
As for your original question about wing dams. If you find ones that barges have run into, (ecspecially on or near a bend in the river) you’ll find a debris field. Extremely good structure. Pic 2 is blurry because I slowed way down. But it is a spot blown out on a dam.
Pic 3 in a shallower wing dam with a large section blown out. There’s piles of rock carried down and fish do love to relate to them
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