Wing Dams

I have heard about fishing wing dams but have had minimal success. I have caught walleyes on them but I really think that I’m not doing something right. I usually fish the wingies near wabasha, upstream, and don’t even know If they are the ones holding any fish. Some imput on tips for fishing them and the better wing dams to fish would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks—————–> Lars

I’ve been doing great on those wingdams south of Lake Pepin the last couple days. Most dams are holding some fish. A few are holding a ton of fish. The best technique for me has been fishing a spinner and leech combo on the face of the dam. Look for dams with a clean rock face, good flow of water over the dam… and deeper dams have been more productive for me lately.

James thanks for the tips, I fished the wingies that I have in the past and used that technique and came away with 12 wallies off of one dam, damn! the biggest measured 0ver 25″ and the smallest was a shade under 14″. Though I had a tough time getting used to wear the wing dam actually was, and lost some spinners, once I got the hang of it BAM, it was on with the fishes!! Thanks again!

LARS

James, please explain what you mean by “clean rock face”. I can understand the good water flow but are you talking about weeds on the rocks of the wing dams or what.

Many wingdams on the back side of river turns or in side channels have become so silted in that there is hardly any “clean” or shall I say, exposed, rock remaining. Those wingdams are covered by years of silt and have little fishing holding value.

Some wingdams on pool 4 and elsewhere develop a very heavy weed growth just behind the top lip of the wingdam and can be especially attractive to walleye in the summer months. They can be a pain to fish but if you work parallel to the edge of the weeds with rattle traps and other cranks you will often be rewarded with mongo sized walleye, bass…. and the occasional pike.

Any other ?’s just holler.

Hey James…
Could you elaborate on how you work the wing dams using spinners? Are you working the area with the bow mount and using a 3-way system? If so, how long of a lead and drop weight? Or, are you anchoring and either throwing out dead rods like a lindy rig set-up or working 3-ways by casting them out and walking the sinker along the front of the wingdam? Or…just what are you doing? I haven’t fished wingdams that much yet and the times that I have, I haven’t had much success.
Thanks!
~Jenn

I almost never dead rod anything on wingdams. I’ll fish bait… leeches, crawlers, willow cats…. but I like to cast and drift the bait along the face of the dam and keep that one rod in my hand. Some like to just throw out a second “dummy” rod…. but that gets in the way too often for my liking and I guess I don’t like how deeply fish get hooked when I do catch them that way. So I fish one actively for the most part.

About the spinners…..

I use either my electric (low flow periods) or my kicker (high flow) to stay above the face of the wingdams and work the spinner on a 3 way. When I’m casting cranks or plastics I’m almost always anchored.

James, interesting that you say you almost always anchor above a wing dam when casting or working cranks. Why wouldn’t you want to keep working the wing dam back and forth with your electric to see where the active fish are?

Well… good question.

I anchor as a rule until the water flows reduce greatly later on in the summer. Even then, once I’ve found fish, I’m on the hook to really maximize my presentation.

The fish “usually” aren’t scattered all over the dam. Current levels will dicate the preferred holding areas for fish on a dam and that usually puts the fish on the tip…. or on the inside…. but very rarely just scattered completely along the length of the dam. So I make an initial descision on what position gives us the greatest chance for sucess…. based on experience I’ve had fishing that particular dam as well as how things look to me. And I throw out the hook and we fish that area completely.

I can’t tell you how often we find a little sweet spot that only becomes apparent after making repeated and only slightly adjusted casts to a dam from an anchored position. That kind of accuracy isn’t possible when your on the electric. You won’t even realize how much you’re sliding around and moving in and out from the dam until you try to do so next to an anchored boat.

Besides, the cranks I cast are pretty heavy and will go a country mile allowing me to cover a huge chunk of a dam from an anchored position anyway. Very few dams are long enough, and have enough ground worth fishing, to require me to re-anchor to get at water I couldn’t touch from my previous spot.

I’ll take precision over quantity and convenience ANY time. Hope this helps.

Excellent tips and pointers James…..thanks

Yes, this helps alot James. I fished wings this last weekend and, as the guy running the electric in the front of the boat, I can tell you that it is hard work! My back was about to give in from the twisting that it took. The pleasure boat traffic did not help things. If I would have anchored in the key slots I could have walked to the back of the boat and concentrated on casting to the areas that I knew had the potential for fish.

By “tip and inside” in your post I take that to mean the top and just below the front (looking upstream) of the wing dam. Correct me if I am wrong.

By the way, how heavy of cranks do you use?

By “tip” I mean the very end of the dam that meets the river channel furthest from shore. “Inside” is close to shore. Or closer to the shore than the “tip”…

Type of cranks…. I like cranks that cast real well and one’s that don’t “blow out” or track poorly when I begin my retrieve into heavy current. Shad Rap RS models, the discontinued Rattlin’ Fat Raps as well as the Down Deep Rattlin Fat Raps…. some bombers, occassionally a wally diver, etc, etc.

When you say you are using a spinner and a leech are using a bottom bouncer setup, a sinker with a chain, 3 way or something else. Thanks for a great tip

I prefer a 3-way… bell sinkers.

James: Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!! I have learned a lot.

Mark