The following are copies of sections of my guide pages. Print them out or whatever. Hope they help
CASTING THE ROCKS(Bass,Walleye,Northern)
This is a huge subject but I will just tell you what we do and how we do it. Our go to lure for shallow rocks is any style of rattlin rap…trap, etc. including generics. This primarily a bass technique and this is how we have been getting our smallmouth and largemouth right next to each other IN THE MAIN CHANNEL. It is amazingly productive and amazingly hard on baits.(plan to lose 10-15 a day). Captain Hook’s in Genoa Wisconsin has a line of everyday $2.99 trap type lures. Every color they carry is productive, but I prefer chrome, and also crayfish patterns(they have three). Many people have asked on websites for details so I have reserved the details for those who visit this site. Anywhere on the Mississippi channel; wingdams,riprap shorelines, and front sections of backwaters you will find rocks. The all time most productive spots are the south end of closing dams that have rocks closest to the shore exposed with current on them. The casting is pretty simple. We use spincasters and aim about three feet upstream from where the rocks are exposed, at a 45 degre angle to the south. Your goal is to hook up with any fish right on the point or at angle just behind the end of the exposed rocks. I still haven’t found one that doesn’t hold some fish. It only takes a cast or two to see if they are there right then and minnows spraying tells you right away if the fish are actively feeding. Your secondary casts should be to the face of the above water section just in front of the exposed rocks, and third, (if you can get to the back side of the closing dam),along the backside of the same exposed rocks. I guess the exposed rocks part just comes as part and parcel with shallow rocks so it is more of a quick indicator than anything else. You will notice as water rises and drops these locations actually appear and disappear, but we find a much better percentage of fish on them when they have rocks showing. If you use this technique you will find that you will very quickly find out what water level is best at each individual location, both for fishing and not losing cranks. We have some that you grab the fish in 4 inches of water and some where 1 1/2 feet is better. Like I have said before on this site it is all about “TIME ON THE WATER”.
WORKING THE WINGDAMS- PERPINDICULAR PASSES
I FOLLOW A PRETTY SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO WORKING WING DAMS. FIRST I PICK THEW ONES I WANT TO FISH. FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE I WILL ASSUME I HAVE NEVER SEEN OR FISHED THE WING DAM BEFORE. I HARDLY EVER FISH WING DAMS THAT DON’T SHOW A LARGE WATER DISTURBANCE ON THE TOP. FOR WHAT EVER REASON THESE DAMS SEEN TO HAVE THE RIGHT CURRENT FLOW,UNDER WATER STRUCTURE AND DEPTH RANGE TO BE PRODUCTIVE. AFTER FINDING THE CORRECT WING DAM AND FLOATING OVER WITH THE MOTOR UP A COUPLE OF TIMES TO FIND OUT SEVERAL DIFFERENT DEPTHS I FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING STEPS TILL SOMETHING WORKS. #1 IF THE DEPTH ALLOWS I WILL MAKE 5-7 UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM TROLLING RUNS IN 3-7 FEET OF WATER USUALLY USING SHAD RAPS OR LITTLE WALLEYE DIVERS. SOMEDAYS IF YOU JUST DID THESE TWO STEPS YOU WOULD FILL YOUR LIVE WELL TO OVERFLOWING.THE NEXT COUPLE PARAGRAPHS IS A POST ON THIS SUBJECT THAT I AUTHORED…..As the water and flow has pretty much continued its downward spiral for 1 1/2 monthes, with a little up swing for 5 days about a week ago the walleyes moves have been very predictable. The Eyes on nine have moved from inside to middle to outer third of wingdams.(Ofcource there are always exceptions.) Walleyes have disappeared from the very shallow wing dams(under 2 feet), and have started showing up on wing dams that seemed to be too deep earlier in the year. Each year I try to concentrate on one type of fishing and from last fall till now it has been mostly picking apart wing dams with long line and casting cranks. (25% casting-75% or more long lining.) Let me tell you right now if you are not willing to ding the prop, skip the long lining!! Earlier in the year I had good success pulling the front and rear lips and the drop in front. For almost 3 weeks now the bread and butter,(size and numbers), have come from doing lawnmower swaths perpendicular across the top of the wing dam. In the last three weeks I have caught more walleye than I normally do all summer (on the Mississippi), and the size has been much more constant in the mid and upper 20s. Even more suprising is the fact that midday has been equal to or better,(much better last week and a half), than early morning or evening. This has been happening since mid June. On Friday about 3 P.M. two friends of mine(actually the two guys who taught me to jig) were casting with cranks on one of my favorite wing dams and as I approached and pulled the flats above the dam, they moved on to the next one. They had been casting parrellel to the dam in the middle and in towards shore. As they drove away down the river I turned and did a 90% run across the dam they had just left. The first pass was 28″ sheeba(walleye) and the second a 10# plus cat. I was only about fifty feet from where they had parked, but they casted towards shore. They were casting 1 to 2 feet of water and above and below and I was pulling over 4 to 6 feet of water and caught the fish right on top. I mention that because 3 to 5 feet of water has worked best most of the summer. I keep trying shallower(mostly casting), both on wing dams that are all shallow and on the shallow end of other dams. Even when the insides were working the water was about this depth. THE LAWNMOWER SWATH THING IS A VERY GOOD DISCRIPTION OF HOW I APPROACH NEW WING DAMS. ON THAT PARTICULAR WING DAM UNTIL I MAKE A GOOD NUMBER OF PASSES I DON’T KNOW A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT IT FOR EXAMPLE: IS IT BROAD OR POINTED, HOW SCRAGGY AND SNAGGY, IS IT ON TOP, WHERE EXAXTLY IS MY TARGET DEPTH, ARE THERE ANY HOLES, DENTS, POCKETS,(IMPORTANT SINCE WE ARE OFTEN LOOKING FOR SOME UNIQUE CHANGES THAT MIGHT HOLD FISH, THE INFAMOUS SPOT ON A SPOT), WHERE DOES THE SHALLOW END AND DROP INTO DEEPER WATER, AND OFCOURCE WHERE AM I GETTING MY BITES. AS YOU CAN SEE I’M LOOKING FOR SO MUCH INFO THAT PROBABLY ACTUALLY WON’T BE USED MUCH TODAY ,BUT BUILDS UP MY SO CALLED DATABASE ON THAT WIND DAM. BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANCE AND COMPLEXITY OF WORKING THE WING DAMS I AM ONLY COVERING ONE AT A TIME-NEXT STEP…..CASTING THE WINGDAMS
WORKING THE DAMS – CASTING
Casting wing Dams is actually pretty straight forward. The first thing I’m always trying to determine is where the fish are on a particular wingdam. Two factors play a big part in this . The flow on the wing dam, and the general structure and shape. Remember under the first section above I mentioned floating over the dams to get a better look on your fish finder, with regards to dents, cups, holes, how the end drops off, in the wing dam. This is where I really start using this info. In the Perpindicular passes mentioned above, my passes were determined by where the depth was right for both the boat and the cranks being used, (obviously if it is to shallow to boat over I couldn’t fish that part of the Dam), . Now with casting I have more options. Flow is only critical when it is either higher, or lower than normal. In general, low flow-fish move towards the channel end of the wing dam, high flow – fish stay put or move nearer to the shore end of the wingdam. So I start my casting, in the approximate, depth, location I expect to find the fish at. If your at a loss here as to where to start, just start on one end and work your way to the other. I actually usualy park casting distance in front of the wing dam, in about the middle and fan cast in both directions, and keep moving left and or right till I either have found the fish, or am confident I have covered it well enough . You just heard me say I anchored in front and this is my first step. Again like the swaths I was cutting with the boat moving I am gonna cast pretty much perpindicular. It is somewhat accepted that actively feeding walleye will be on the front or the top of the wing dam. Again here there is no 100%, but it is usually the case. After I have done my 90 degree cast, if I haven’t located the fish I will now start casting more parralell to the front face trying to cover the front lip, and any structure that is off the face of the dam, ie…trees, rock piles, etc. For whatever reason, both of these first two types of casting hardly ever work on the same wing dam on the same day. Next where the depth and structure of the wingdams allow, I’m gonna anchor on top of the dam and and cast pretty much in every direction trying again to cover the top completely. May successful wingdam fishermen only do this one, especially in early morning and late evening, as sunset draws near. You will notice here I didn’t mention what I was casting since I usually follow this pattern with cranks, light jigs, dubuque rigs, spinnerbaits, just about anything I cast. The huge percentage of the time I am throwing cranks as explained in the next section “Low Water Walleyes”
Low Water Walleyes – One of my posts on Working wing dams
I’m writing a book here to have others who use this technique to compare notes and make additions and suggestions. Have some of you been seeing the same patterns , in particular the Midday bite??? Actually I am making overlapping passes. On pool nine on the dams I’m working, weeds aren’t much of a factor as far as I can tell, other than you will be cleaning them off all the time. I usually start the farthest towards shore I can go with out replacing a propeller and then jump to the outside end and work back to that spot. Don’t hesitate to drift over a new dam a few times to see how deep it really is. Pulling the cranks upstream seems best, but downstream works too. Don’t forget to pull the drop just in front of the wing dam and the tailwater right behind. In addition to dings in the prop when you get a little too shallow , you will loose a lot of cranks too. Don’t be afraid,(if depth allows ) to float back to the the lure, and pull it loose from right above. The fish don’t seem to mind a bit. You are going to find out right away which wing dams and fish like this technique. I catch ninety percent of my fish on three wing dams, but I fish about 8 to 10 a day just to make sure the best ones aren’t changing. I’m using a combination of walleye divers, bomber long a’s, and #5 shad rap RS. These are banging pretty hard, and aren’t far behind the boat. I realized a couple of years ago that it is possible to catch a walleye on almost any rig right under the prop wash. For the front and the tailwaters I run parrellel and with more line out. It appears that most aggresively feeding fish are on top or on the front lip, because that is where almost all of them have come from in the last 2 weeks, (actually last month and a half). I also sometimes will 45 degree across the top from outside to inside and you will snag and loose more cranks this way, but somedays it’s all that works. Over 75% of the time I’m just cutting the perpedicular swaths and basically giving away the front hole and the tailwater. Even at Pepin about a month ago we set our lines at the depth of the humps and didn’t continually adjust for deeper streches. It worked and won the tourney for us. I noticed in the middle of 1999 that fish seem very often when feeding to suspend at the depth of the stucture they are feeding on even when they are not right on the structure, ( like at Castle rock, Petenwell, Green bay, Winnebago), and I’m kind of betting on it everywhere now. Ofcourse you always try the other possiblilities to make sure your not missing easy fish. Try it and tell me what you see.
Working the Wing Dams- Rigging
I have already explained rigging/jigging techniques above, but when it comes to a wing dams I do it a little differenly. I use the rigging/jigging rig and either slow troll back and forth out in front of the wingdam so that I am covering,(bouncing off of), the front base of the wing dam rocks were they meet the flat bottom, or I anchor and cast or slowly work the rig back till it is again connecting with the same part of the wing dam. Then if the fish seem to be some what neutral and only half heartedly nipping at my bait I will park and put two or three wolf river rigs out and let them have time to eat the bait, before I set the hook. I use just about everything for bait, crawlers, leeches, minnows, willow cats, but crawlers are still my favorite from June-October and minnows the rest of the year. I think I already told this story, but several years ago my son Brian and I finished second in a tournament in Dubuque ,sitting on a productive wingdam using a wolf river rig,(three-way with a sinker for a dropper and a hook on a leader on the other eye of the threeway),. It took us exactly twelve dozen night crawlers to do it, (we left when we ran out). The problem most often associated with a crawler setting in front of a wing dam, is that if the right forage and conditions are there for one type of fish, then it is right for many other types of fish , too. We had to catch nearly 100 other types of fish,(sheephead, catfish, readhorse), in order to get the walleyes we are after. I love wing dams with tons of fish of all kinds on it, because I know the “right conditions”, are there. Redhorse are a particularly good indicator of walleyes being present. Again here I also know many fishermen that never fish a wingdam any other way than what is explained in this section.
Working the Wingdams – Three-way cranks
This is probably my favorite technique for prefishing wing dams for tournaments. I say this because it covers what most would call the highest percentage location for wingdam walleye, (Front base), and because actively, aggressively feeding fish respond to this technique very well. In tournament fishing you only have 8 hours to get it done and you want to be where active feeding fish are . Do you miss a lot of fish, by not following or should I say trying every technique on that wing dam. Yes, but ofcource once I locate fish with this technique I will slow down and test other techniques. I am pulling the three-way cranks from the inside to outside, and from the outside to inside on the bottom about 5-10 feet in front of the base of the wingdam. Because of the current dynamics you deal with here, I usually am using a heavier,( 3-5 oz), bell sinker to keep the bait closer to the boat and under control. I can’t count the number of times I have caught fish in 6 feet of water almost right under the motor with this technique.
