Pool 8 Panfish Wood and Wing Dams 7/14/12

In no way can it be said my boat or Mike’s has seen the river as much as other years. Matter in fact, with all the small water opportunities that are just a hop from home, there hasn’t been the erg to go fish the every seemingly high water conditions around La Crosse. Plus the trips have been cut short as not to bake my skull anymore than necessary, so the 30 plus mile drive has been ignored

Enough with the hot already

After what Mike and I experienced on Pool 7 fishing the Donaldson tourney last week, then keeping an eye on the rivers flow and stage predictions, a some what educated guess was made according to what has been learned from seasons spent on the water. There were good thoughts happening with the hard drive in my head imaging pictures on the backs of the eyes of the days during this time period fishing pannies on wing dams

Form the tourney we noticed a good amount of dead fish, all being big pike. The back waters warmed up faster than these fish could tolerate. Suffocation took a good number of quality pike from a number of waters this year. Knowing fish are looking for oxygen what better place than a oxygen rich wing dam. Pool 8 here we come!

With the flow dropping the thought was, early morning crappies in current swept wood and possibly wing dam gills later if the flow isn’t just blowing over the tops of the rock.

After a short sit in Mike’s truck waiting for the first thing in the morning thunder shower to pass, it was go time around 5:30ish

The Yamaha 40hp 4 stroke was lit and purring like a sewing machine waiting for captain Mike to get the truck parked and his can planted in his captains chair. After a short run we were tied up on some wood holding 6-15fow in its surroundings. The first area had us in just a tad to much current so a slip around the point was made and the water spike once again held the boat in position. With in minutes Mike had the paper mouths figured out and filets were being put on ice. After a struggle trying to play catch up, which just wasn’t going to happen, I was happy with enough rod benders to keep the morning interesting but Mr. C had there game figured out and he was dialed in!

Mike’s set up for the specks was a small pink jig head with a minnow pierced through the lips under a slip bobber approximately 3ft. The pies were sitting in a current seam near wood just waiting for the water to carry an offering to the front of their face. Early morning produced 11 nice crappies put on ice while a number of smaller fish, the ones I kept out of Mike’s way, were released. As soon as the bite starts for us in this area it shuts off just as fast. We have experienced it many trips to this spot.

After fishing with no results it was time for a move by 8:30ish 9 o’clock maybe.

With some worry that the flow might be blowing over the rock we still ventured to the next targeted area, a favorite wing dam close by. We had nothing to lose by checking it out.

Once anchored up, the face of the wing dam was being picked apart with small jigs sporttin’ a chunk of crawler. After a couple of bumps along with one dandy gill in the boat it was clear there were fish here but we needed to reposition the boat until we found the heard! After the third set up it was game on. The average gill was 8-9inches. These bruisers were full of spit and fire showing off color and girth proving we hit a school of healthy river dwelling gills

Another thing learned over the years, gills will school according to size. If you are not in desirable fish move until you find what it is you are looking for. Sometimes this move may be only out of casting distance.

At first we were trying to fight flow thinking the baits had to be glued to the bottom. After trying various set ups we got the glued to bottom hang up out of our heads and noticed you didn’t really need to feel the jig bounce off bottom. Jigs from 3/32 – 3/16 oz with an appropriate split shot for a little added weight 3 feet in front was all that it took to place the bait in the strike zone. Using just enough combined weight would get the offering hovering just in front of the face of the wing dam creating drag pulling hits on the light tackle. Pink, Orange and Yellow, proved to be the colors of choice. Dark colors were not ignored but not as productive.

The conditions for pannies on wing dams is shaping up nicely. The bite should get better as the flow drops a little more. Don’t hesitate to move from the tip to the shore while picking apart the face of these piled rock structures. Move on to the next if not bit, you will find your time and effort rewarding when you land on a heard of healthy finned river varmints

After 11 Crappies, two wing dams producing 38 gills on ice, many others released and told it was there lucky day, one nice small mouth, some big fish never seen, a slightly sunburned forehead, a belly full of laughs, it was time to call it quits and head for home with another day that will not soon be forgotten. I had a blast buddy Mike, thanks for the company

Good luck fishing people