November fishing?

Are wingdams are still good places to fish time of year? Seems like everyone heads to the tailwaters of the lock and dam.

I’m not sure where your fishing…but most of the walleyes are moving as far up stream as they can right now…which is around the dams.

As they move up, they well stop and feed. Wing dams are a great place to rest and feed. Don’t be afraid to break from the crowds and work your wingies!

That’s coming from a catfisher person.

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I’m not sure where your fishing…but most of the walleyes are moving as far up stream as they can right now…which is around the dams.

As they move up, they well stop and feed. Wing dams are a great place to rest and feed. Don’t be afraid to break from the crowds and work your wingies!

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BK took this right out of his Everts cheat sheet. It is good advice.

FDR

Brian is right the Walleye often head up “Nort” pretty hard starting in September sometime. but north,(towards the dam), is a all a matter of perception… mostly because so many eyes/sauger spawn near the dams… we find that more accurately they move towards their spawning areas… on pool 9 that means anywehere from just about 3 miles above the Lynxville Dam all the way to the face of the Genoa dam….
Most of the 28 inch plus eyes that we catch this time of year,( keep in mind when something works you don’t go looking for other solutions), are caught in running sloughs , and usually on the first rock structure inside the mouth of the slough.. some are closing/wingdams, but most of them are neck down areas with a secondary closing dam and rock points sticking out and a significant downhill grade,( water), hitting them. I believe that the success here is do to the increased flow/O2 caused by the elevation change and the tumbling oxegenated water. This is also true when the current seems to almost go away completely at anytime of year.

Our second most productive place this time of year is the very far outside tip of main channel wingdams, just infront of the upcurrent face on wingdams near spawning areas. Only when the flow/current is good do we fish much on top or anywhere farther in on the wingdams…

Keep in mind we are playing a numbers game here.. there are dfinitely some fish feeding on top and farther in on wingdams this time of year as anyone who boat or ice fishes much this time of year will find out, but for good numbers and larger size I find the best results in the two places I mentioned above.

Ofcourse in front of the dam when there is flow there are fish almost everywhere in the basin… but in guiding we’re after the more spot on the spot thing rather than the wander til yah find them thing.. I might have had to say that this may have changed in the two years since I stopped open water guiding on the Mississippi, but I still see the same results in both personal boat fishing , and ice guiding.

Thanks guys! I’m on pool 14 and am trying to figure this walleye stuff out. I don’t fish real regularly, so a little struggling is gonna happen. I appreciate the tips.

as someone who used to fish 14 every weekend. wing dams are key and in between them can be good as well. learn some of the sloughs as well!

Lawrence,

Could you go a little more in depth about where on the rock structures of the running slough’s you fish. On top, outer edge, behind, etc. I’m not picturing what your saying. I fish big fish this time of year. Which means I go down river, but I always seam to find my fish on the outside wingdams, but I’ve found you need a deep water hole on the back side of the dam. I would like to know more about these slough walleye’s. I fish pool #12. Info would be greatly appreciated.

Lawrence, I agree with you completely.

But for us newbies here, why do a ton of fish stop at the dam when they are heading to their spawning ground? Would that mean their spawning grounds are above the dam and they came through the dam? Wouldn’t they turn off the main channel toward their areas?