Fall Wing Dam Bite?

I have been working wingdams on pool 14 with the expectation of the fall bite kicking in good, but have had limited success so far. Am I fishing them wrong, or is that the case for anyone else in this part of the river?

Water temp was 51 degrees last time I was out, lower flow and less grass floating the channel, so I worked the outside end of several dams and got zilch! I did find a couple fish on some blow holes through dams, but the action was very slow. Anyone doing good on wingdams with similar conditions?

I did find some over 20″ fish on riprap, but could not find any eaters! The summer wing dam bite was SO good here, I am a bit perplexed with the current conditions

Rooster,

When fish can not be caught right on the front side tips of the dam in low flow situations I will usually find them right on top or on the back sides.

If you have really low flows the eyes will hold right on the back side of the tip waiting for a quick meal to wash around the end of the dam. Anchoring your boat in the channel farther, out from the tip of the dam and sweeping a jig right over the tip can be deadly in low flow situations. Getting the proper jig size to move the right speed so your not getting hung up all the time can be tough to do.Once it’s all put together it can be very rewarding.

I’ll admit I do catch more fish on the front side of a wing dam but before giving up on the wingies I will give the above methods a try.

On our pool the flows can be really low this time of year. Your pool might have a bit more flow and this application will not work as good. Anchoring right on top and fishing heavier right on the back side can pay off as well.

Hope this helps, if not, it’s always something to have in the bag of tricks

Thanks Dustin, I did try anchoring just outside and above the end of a couple dams and drifting ringies over and around the end, but I think our flow is still a little to fast for that. About 32000cfs, which is a little fast for this time of year. I learned that technique from a couple guys that used to frequent this board, but have not perfected it yet. I tend to get a little impatient after snapping off several too heavy jigs.
I never thought of anchoring near the top and fishing just over the dam. I commonly anchor there and fish deep diving cranks across the face of the dam, casting upstream and ripping them down, then banging the face with them, but never tried fishing just over the top. I will positively give it a try next time I’m out! Thanks again. Can’t beat this site for getting great new ideas to put to use on the ol Miss!

hey John: I haven’t had much success on the wing dams lately eithier ,found a lot of slot fish ,like you on rip rap last week,and picked up some eaters in the slough,I think when the water cools a lttle more it will pick up.
I usually fish by myself so it’s tough to get pictures for a report but…I got a new camera with a remote so mabey next week.

Rooster,

I’m finding the wing dam bite in pool 14 slower than expected (much slower than last year), but still getting 3-6 nice fish in ~2 hour trips. A few fish up to 5 pounds, but mostly 16-22 inch. Mostly ringworms, some on floating rapalas. chart pepper being good with the dirtier water after the winds. Purple or black/red when the water clears. My only suggestion is to keep moving from spot to spot. A good spot one day will be empty the very next day. Very spotty with traditionally average spots producing more than my normally best spots. I’m hoping things will firm up with some colder water, but there will not be much temp drop this week. Fish location seems normal (front face and top)

Welcome to IDA! Thanks for the report. I found similar results with ringies on my last outing, and picked up a few more slot fish on riprap. The two colors you mentioned are two of my favorites as well. I like the red/black shallow especially.
I pulled floating raps on 3 ways in the wind Saturday, and did pretty well considering the difficulty encountered maintaining appropriate boat speed and direction in the 20-35mph winds! Ended up dragging an anchor off the bow to slow my upstream troll speed to 1.5 mph!
I also fished some “non-typical” wingdams for this time of year, and picked up a few decent fish, although the wind really made pitching jigs tough! Did o.k on live bait/3way and rap/3way on a couple wings too. Thanks again for the report! Good to see another local on the site!

John, I was hoping that you would have them fish dialed in by now,sounds like the bite has been off more than on.I think that once there ready to eat we will be in for a treat.Hope to make it out in the next couple of weeks,good luck!!! <Rick>>>

Rick, as RLK said, it is starting to pick up some on wings, but just have to keep moving to find active fish. I’m sure it will pick up more in the next couple weeks, but it may not be a “typical” fall. It has been a very non-typical year for most of this year. I don’t expect it will change now! Let me know when you may be heading out!
John

Any maps that can be picked up for pool 14, I have the CORP maps but nothing with depths and bottom.

I have never seen a good map of 14, just corps maps. I think, if you have Lowrance GPS, you can get a navionics map of 14 now, but I don’t believe there are any printed maps with depth for this pool. Sorry .