Wingdam Questions

I would like to go try my luck on some wingdams this weekend… the problem is I really have no idea what I am doing. I was thinking about heading down toward the Wabasha area- any words of wisdom?

Here is a link to an article from FTR staffer Kensyl Reading:

Wingdam Huntin’

If you go with live bait, try to find some willow cats!

J.

Thanks Jon, I have read that… so I guess I have some idea, but can anyone tell me more specifics? Should I be casting crankbaits to the face of the wingdam? Should I be using livebait? What might I expect for depths? Can I go over the top of most of them with my boat? Are they marked at all? Hmmm…

I’d be carefull going over the top of any wingdam with the low flow now. Actually, I always try to avoid it. Why put your boat on top of the fish?

Here is a basic approach that I have been using when exploring. I work my way towards the WD using my bowmount and keeping an eye on the depth. I’m looking for the “Boil” of water going over the top. Staying upstream of the boil, I’ll work the dam from the channel in towards shore casting cranks. If I connect with a fish, I’ll slip an anchor over the side and work that area over for another 10-15 minutes, then I’m on the move again.

If you don’t have a bow mount then anchor up in key areas. The end (channel side upstream) or about 1/3 of the way in and fan cast the area all around your boat. No fish, move! Keep runnin’ and gunnin’ till you get bit.

J.

Here is a article I have been working on. THis is not complete buy may help you. This is just a rough draft.

As a child I remember waking up at the crack of dawn with grandpa tickling out toes saying, “It’s time to go fishing guys, time is a wasting.” A quick breakfast from grandma and we were out the door to see who was the first one to sit next to grandpa in the car. In the boat grandpa knew right where to go. The honey hole, a place out in the middle of the channel. At least that is what I thought we were fishing. Here in this spot you would here the laughs and arguments from my brothers and me. Laughs from catching tons of fish, to arguments about who is fishing in who’s spot. We would jump from one side of the river to the other. It took me a while to figure out what Gramps was fishing. Then I figured it out. It was wingdams. Man did we ever catch lots of walleyes and bass along with tons of panfish and rough fish. The older I got the more I wanted to understand these structures. Now they are one of my go to spots for quality walleyes. Thanks Gramps.

Wingdams are man made structures that help force the flow of water in to the main channel for barge traffic. Wingdams also help stop soil erosion buy forcing water away fron islands and other stuctures. Most wingdams are made of rock, sand, and submersed trees.

Which wingdams does one start on? It really depends on lots of factors. River condition, is it high or low? The time of year, is it spring, winter or fall? Lets start with early spring. Usually in February and early March walleyes are starting to make their annual run up to the dams for spawning. At this time walleyes are still their wintering holes. This could be anywhere from deep backwater holes to the main channel abysses. Where ever one can find a side cut from the backwaters, a bay of the main channel, a bay off a back channel, a deep hole next to a wingdam one will find that the wingdams. Directly above and below these cuts are going to be you best produces of quality walleyes if water stay stable. Some of my favorite presentations this time of the year are three ways and jigs. Pulling live bait or cranks on three ways around the face, tip and backside of the wingdam can be very productive. My favorite is pitching jigs. Throwing 1/8-oz jig with a B-fish-N-Tackle ringworm or 1/8 oz Fisherflick hair jig. Both are very productive. One will have to experiment to see which one they will want that day.

Now it is getting into March and April. Water temps are on the rise. Walleyes are almost everywhere in the river system. The water starts rising and the current is strong. Everything changes. Walleyes still have to eat so finding wingdams with less current on them will your go to spot. I like finding wingdams that have a couple in a row and ones that are in the inside bend of the river. Each wingdam will slow the current for the next. Making that last wingdam a sure bet to yield some quality walleyes. The faster the current the close you will want to be to the shore. Slower the current the more you will want to be towards the tip. With the current up some walleyes will tend to spawn in low current areas like backwaters, small side lakes, and bays. Once spawning is done those wingdams that have side cuts, bays, and lakes in the vicinity will the one you will want to target.

Now summer comes along (May-August). The bit is great. Except now we have to change a few things. Cranking for eyes should be in full swing. Pulling or throwing deep diving crank baits may be the ticket. Pulling cranks can be a very fast way to locate walleyes around wingdams. Throwing the crankbait is also good but throwing will also fine-tune your trolling of wingdams. I like to take a deep diving crankbait, throw it on top of the wingdam and gently pull it back to me until it the crank bait goes slack. What has happened is you just hit a hole or low spot in the wingdam. Walleyes will use this spot or break for means of traveling. Once you locate these holes trolling becomes that much easier. I have taken many walleyes while trolling up through these holes in the wingdam. Trolling the face of these on some of the longer wingdams can be very productive too.

Don’t forget live bait rigs this time of year. There are a couple ways I like to live bait rig a wingdam. One way is Dubuque rigging and the other is the old fashion lindy rig either by anchoring or by control rigging.

The best way to anchor is 50’ above the line of the wingdam. The in the water is the backside of the wingdam. 8-10’ up from there is the start of base of the wingdam. In front of the base, is the scour hole, you will want that bait in that scour hole as much as can. When the water hits the face of the wingdam a back current is caused making a perfect spot for a walleye to pick up bait.

On days that walleyes seem finicky the Dubuque rig and control rigging the face on the wingdam may make all the difference. This way one can cover all depths of the wingdam and be able to use different presentations. A Dubuque rig is rigged up on a three way. One side of the three way is usually used with a plastic or hair on a ¼ -3/4 jig, on a 6-12” dropper. I use ringworm and Kalin from B-Fish-N tackle. The other side is live bait like crawlers or leeches. Remember boat control makes all the difference with this technique. Keeping that rig in the strike zone longer will yield more walleyes. I like using my Yamaha T-8 kicker when currents are stronger other wise my Minn Kota auto pilot on lower current times. Tips and the holes of the wingdams are you go to spot on the wingdam during normal flows.

Once fall comes around everyone is usually in the woods hunting. It gets really lonely on the river. Why? I haven’t figured it out yet. The walleyes on the wingdams are better than ever. Crankbaits are working (big ones…#9, #11, #13). Live bait is working. The best of all the ringworms and Kalins are alive again. I don’t mean just any ringworm or Kalin. I mean big ones. The 4”-8” size plastics will really knock you socks off when a walleye hits. No guessing here… it is like a freight train hitting. The best presentation is working that wingdam out on the tip. Depending on how deep tht tipis will determine you size of jig. During low light conditions slowly move into the shallows of the wingdam. Change you size to light as possible. You will want that jig to drift with the current. If you jig comes back to you on a straight line, your to heavy.

I have more information to continue with but this may help to start with.

Real nice job Jarrad! I really appreciate your information. I will give it a try this weekend and let everyone know how I did on Monday. Thanks again!

Nice article Jarrad!….What is the easiest way to find a wing dam? I know you said look for the boil, but is there an easier way? Are there any markings on the shore? Any good maps out there that show the locations??? Thanks !!

Hey nice article Jarrad.
Skeeter if your coming to Wabasha I’d advise an early start.
4:00 am till 10:00..after that it is like the Ocean down here with all the boat traffic.
Good luck let the hogs go.
My best advice is to use a Dork rig with a willow cat for bait. Works every time.
Dork Rig= a barrel sinker 1/8 0z to 3/8 with a leader of 12 inches to 18 inches. with or with out a colored bead and a number 2 aberdeen gold hook.
Can also use leeches and crawlers on same rig.
As for the easiest way to find a wing dam. Well right now the water is low and the flow slow.. If you run your boat up river inside the channel makers…I will guarantee you find a wing dam with in about 200 hundred yards…
From the end of lake Pepin to Alma there are almost 100 wing dams down here..
Have a great day on the water….
Good luck
Greg

Wingdams are not always marked with bouys, and not all bouys mean a wingdam. They are all on the nav charts on the coe page here.

Good luck, and remember: Better safe than sorry. Some of the dams have sufficient flow to knock you from the boat if the current takes you into one. With the boiling water in and around the dam, it could be ugly.

Would you recemend that someone with little or no experience go and fish these WD? I have no trolling motor on my boat, or atleast not yet, trying to talk the wife into getting me one for xmas. but I have a 16ft tri-hull boat that i made into my fishing boat. i want to chase the eyes and big bass, but not get myself into a situation where i am somewhere that is not safe or ruin my motor. can you advice places that the ones that are trying to gain some knowledge on fishing WD to go, maybe where the current aint so bad. and also what side of the bouys are they located on, the inside meaning where most of the boat traffic don’t go?

thanks

shane hildebrandt

There shouldn’t be too much to worry about, and I didn’t mean to scare anyone off. Once you’ve fished a few wingdams, it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. These wingdams are all on the main channel, so there shouldn’t be much danger to your lower unit. You’re pretty much 100% safe if you keep it between the bouys when you’re moving from spot to spot. When you sight a boil from a wingdam, remember it’s 5-10 feet downstream from the top of the dam. Pull in front of it, anchor securely (a good idea to make sure the anchor is holding before killing the outboard), and catch them fish.

Of course, you could also work on your TM from the safety angle: “But honey, you don’t want me to be unsafe, now do you?”

SKEETER,

I just started fishing wingdams last year, and can’t aggree anymore with the article that was posted. This past year alone I have put more fish over 27″ in the boat than I have ever in my life useing some of these techniques. Give you some numbers (and remember I am a novice at this still) I have boated 4-27″ fish, 2 more over 28″ and one 30 1/4″ this summer alone. I have lost a couple other fish, one in particular that would have broke that 33″ mark I thought I would never see on the Mississippi.

Oh, there tackticks work well in the back channels as well.

Good luck, and I bet you will be doing it again soon!!

TOLDEN

gianni,

Well i just worked over 150 hours in the last 2 weeks, and still to no avail. I got the we will discuss it some other time. I am thinking that she is not liking my new found interest in becoming real serious about my fishing. I figure it would be better than spending it on stupid stuff that you wouldn’t get much enjoyment out of. for now, as much as i hate to admit it, i think my trolling motor is on hold, unless i can work some serious o.t. again coming up again soon. but I am thinking that i am going to take my boat down there and just putz around and see if i can get my butt into big trouble. he ehhe

thanks for the tips guys,

shane

Skeeter,

I hope this helps.
http://www.in-depthangling.com/articles/jarrad_indepthdams.html