I just bought a Fishing Hot Spots map from Gander today to prepare for fishing up there. One thing I noticed right off the bat was the only wingdams they show are right off the dam. Aren’t there more wingies than that? That seems very odd because in James and Dustin’s video they talk about fishing them with plastics. Am I missing something here?
AM,
The Hot Spots maps are a good starting point but they fail to give you all the details. There are wingies all over the place, the best way to locate them is to read the water, look for the changes in on the surface. Most of them are on the outside bends.
Well, I myself can’t read the water very well yet 
, but my partner can 
I looked at the map a little more and it does show more wingies, but they are below Pepin 
How about from the dam to the head of the lake? We will not be going as far as the lake that I know of.
AmWatson,
The map is right to an extent. There are very few wing dams on the upper end of pool 4.There are 7 of them above the lake to be exact that are not silted in yet. The lower end is loaded with them.
One un-recommended way to locate wingdams is to speed across the water, paralleling the shore about 50′ feet out. I was just out on pool 4 on Monday, go distracted, and drove up on one. Fortunately we were snacking and I was only going about 4 mph. I saw the bottom come up quick but the brakes weren’t working and we kissed the bottom.
Seriously though, wingdams are much easier to see on a calm day. Wind hides the tell-tale boiling of the water just downstream from the wingdams. Any straight line of “boiling” water extending from shore out to 50 or 100+ feet is a wing dam.
So, if I were to come up there this weekend, where would you recommend I try first? I don’t want your hotspot, just an idea where to pitch plastics
First off stop and talk to Steve Vick at Everts to get a current report, he will point you in the right direction. All of the rip rap from Everts on up will hold fish right now. You can’t go wrong casting plastics to the rip rap in the dam area.
Fishing Scout………. 
You didn’t happen to do this on Sunday morning in a Blue Lund, with a Yellow Lab??????
Too funny!!!!!!!!
Thanks Dustin I will definitely stop and talk to Steve as he has always been very helpful. 
last spring We saw a guy come out of the hole full tilt with a 20″ Ranger headin down stream on the Minn side near shore and WHAM BAM!!!! 
It was a looong drift down stream home 
This map will also show all the wing dams and closure dams:
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/NavCharts/UMRNavCharts.asp
I used it on pool #9. Just bring up the section you want and you can enlarge it so you allmost see the rocks. If you have a lap top you can put it on a cd and take it on the boat with you. You must put the adobe acrobat reader on the cd to or load it on your lap top.
Also go out with one of the guides it is money well spent.
JIM
AmWatson
If you get bored up on the norths 7 wingdams.
You can come down to Wabasha there is over 100 down this end to play on..
AmWatson,
WARNING!!! If you’ve never been to L&D #3, it’s kind of different. There is an island that separates the lock from the gates. There are three wingdams on the east side (MN side) of the island that separates the locks from the gates of L&D #3. This would be the east side of the island but the west side of the channel. These are very shallow wingdams and it’s quite common to see boats smack into them. Depending on the wind and current, sometimes you can see the ripple line, sometimes you can’t. When the water is low, you can see the rocks extended out from shore on the third one down from the dam.
These are not marked with bouys because the navigational channel goes up the lock side of the island.
Good Luck,
Boone
The water is low right now so the wingdams are pretty easy to see if you look towards shore but the low current flow doesn’t make them show up very well out in the water. Take it easy the first time up and watch everyone else. If I had to give one bit of advice it would be to get there early. It is pretty common for us to catch our biggest fish of the day before the sun comes up. Last time down it was a 23 incher on about the third cast of the morning. Most of all enjoy being on the open water in February!
When fishing wingdams is there a difference in where eyes tend to hang out in relation to the dam at different times of the year? I guess I’m wondering if they migrate to the dam or just deeper water in general like Pepin from areas south of there and if so for how long. Also, do they tend to like wingies that are more defined? Not too familiar with walleye fishing and need some advice. I can’t rely on catching too many on weedlines off of spinner baits like the one I’m holding…need something more reliable Thanks, Chris
Catchandrelease-That is funny about the spinnerbaits Last year a caught a few doing the same thing. We were throwing spinnerbaits in shallow very warm water on the weedlines and I had 2 or 3 eyes just nail them. This was on Lake Onalaska and never even thought they were in the lake that time of year.
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When fishing wingdams is there a difference in where eyes tend to hang out in relation to the dam at different times of the year? I guess I’m wondering if they migrate to the dam or just deeper water in general like Pepin from areas south of there and if so for how long. Also, do they tend to like wingies that are more defined? Not too familiar with walleye fishing and need some advice. I can’t rely on catching too many on weedlines off of spinner baits like the one I’m holding…need something more reliable
Here is a little article I wrote. This should help you out with where the walleyes will be in regards to water levels and the time of year.
If you go to map #15 of the pdf link below I think it marks 2 of the 3 hidden wingdams by L&D #3. This is an awesome doc that shows the Mississippi from the Coon Rapids dam down into Missouri. It also contains some of the Minnesota River and the St. Croix River.
http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/navcharts/Documents/CD-final.pdf
Pool 4 is another on my list of places to fish this year (along with pool 2). I’ve never been on the river and have always been too chicken to try because I’m worried about hitting wing dams and other hidden hazards. But I think I’m just going to grit my teeth and go for it this year.
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One un-recommended way to locate wingdams is to speed across the water, paralleling the shore about 50′ feet out. I was just out on pool 4 on Monday, go distracted, and drove up on one. Fortunately we were snacking and I was only going about 4 mph. I saw the bottom come up quick but the brakes weren’t working and we kissed the bottom.
I saw that! I did kind of chuckle. I hope it is alright!
Tuck
ClarkK…..as a virgin to these waters 2 years ago, I can tell you that if you use some common sense in navigating (ie; dont go nuts with the throttle unless you’re in the main channel, and even then, keep your eyes open), you can cover a lot of water without problems. Starting to venture to the back channels a bit now, but only after being out with James or Dustin couple times. I could see getting into trouble in the back channels if you’re not extremely careful, and even then, if you dont know your way around,caution might not be the cure-all. but as for areas along the main channel, heed the input of previous posters, and you should be ok.
Hey Jarrad, all I have to say to that article is WOW! It answers the questions I asked and the ones I didn’t ask but would have sooner or later incredibly well. Thank you very much!
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I saw that! I did kind of chuckle. I hope it is alright!
Tuck
Still floats… Actually the boat is fine, we didn’t hit hard – my ego is hurt far worse than the boat. I am just glad I didn’t have to make my brother-in-law get out and push us off. He was CHOWING the sun-chips and I just wanted to make sure I got a handful before they were gone.
The best advice I can give is to stay out of the back channel!! Very treacherous…..plenty of hazards and no fish 
I second the wingdam article! Great info Jarrad! I always have trouble reading wingdams out on the main channel.
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The best advice I can give is to stay out of the back channel!! Very treacherous…..plenty of hazards and no fish
I think your nose is growing!
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