How much dam patience must I have…..

So…….I attempted to better myself at this wingdam stuff on monday, but ended up with little to show for my efforts…..just a few short walleyes, a hand full of channel cats, and boat load of question……most of which have to do with the time spent fishing (searching) on each dam……

so lets say you’ve never fished this strech of water before and there’s dozens of wingalisious looking dams to choose from ……

First……How do you choose where to start? (which dam)

Second……How thoroughly will you work each dam over (without catching a fish) before moving on? (change colors, lures, technique, presentation, location on the dam?)

Third…….When you do finally catch a fish on a particular dam, is it a safe bet to say “there are more where that came from”, and stay and fish the day lights out of that dam?

as always, any help on this one would be much appreciated

Jake,

I fish wing dams for different species so I might not be the right person to be giving advice. My observations are that in a series of wing dams check the 1st and last in the series. If you don’t do anything there skip the rest of them. Dams close to other feature such as island points or side channels have a little more to offer and I would look at the first. Not much help but the price is right, free!!

Jake,

There just so happens to be a great fishing video available that really gives some In-Depth information on fishing wing dams. It features fishing guru’s James Holst and Dustin Stewart. Best part is that I know right where you can get one – guess where? (Hint, hint – the same place you work.)

Good Fishing,
Mike

Thanks Jon, that info does help (and It even makes sense)…..

And yes Mr. Mike, I have indeed seen that video you speak of……..and quite frankly, it makes me sick……..I feel suckie enough just reading the reports those guys put out about 20-30-50 legal fish days (walleyes, not sheepies) with a few 28″-30″ kickers to boot………but then they feel the need to go and make a video and actually show me how easy it SHOULD be………I think they’re just trying to rub it in

How long? I fish it until I feel I’ve fished it well. I’ll likely change anchor positions a few times if the dam looks promising and I’m going to fish cranks, jigs (hair & bait) as well as bait on rigs on the top, front face and at the base of the dam. I don’t really leave until I feel I’ve covered the area well. I might throw a #7 shad rap or a rattlin fat rap to work the very tops of the dam and then change over to a #5 – #7 bomber model A to get a bit deeper and then work the deep tip and sand in front of the dam with a super deep diver like a #5 down deep rattlin fat rap or similar. And then I’ll rig bait like a leech, crawler or cat at the base of the dam. Once I’ve covered the area with a couple different presentations and fished it well I feel like I can move on to the next dam. If you’ve got your rods rigged and ready to roll and if you’ve got a buddy in the boat you’ll be able to get this done in short order.

There is usually more than one fish on a given dam but that doesn’t mean you can make it eat. I would throw a little extra time at a dam that has produced a solid fish but that doesn’t mean I’m going to live and die there. More likely I’ll take the technique that produced that one fish and apply it on other dams in the area to see if it was a fluke or if it is the beginnings of the making of a pattern.

You wanna talk patience? You should talk to Dee Zee. Thoroughly working a wingie would be an understatement..