Over the holiday weekend, some buddies and I were sharing stories and pictures of recent outings and were discussing the differences between river fishing and lake fishing.
One concept that was tough for them to handle were wing dams, and why we would cast expensive rapalas or bombers into a pile of rocks, and have these baits bounce down the face of the dam as we were retrieving the lure back to the boat. My answer was “big fish”, their question was, “isn’t there a cheaper and as effective way to fish these?” Sure, there are many different ways to fish them; I’m just used to pitching cranks.
This week, I’ve left the cranking rods at home, and have been trying alternative methods on wingies with many different species caught, including some great walleyes.
I was running a basic three way setup with live bait (crawlers and leeches). What has worked best for me is when dropper is around 6 inches long; the snell about 3 feet long and the weight is a 3/8 oz bell sinker. I tried to run the traditional lindy dragging weight, but found myself snagging to often on the rocks. With the dropper, the weight would skip or bounce off of the rocks, keeping the bait in the scour hole longer and it kept me from retying often.
Here is how I approach fishing a wing dam. I find the dam I want to fish, I drive over the back side of the dam (going up river), slowly, raising the motor as needed. You will notice how steep the dam comes up, and how it sharply breaks deeper as you go over the top of it. This is what is known as the scour hole. This is where you will find the majority of the fish. I mark this spot on my gps or by taking a look at the shore finding a piece of structure (tree, stump, bush) in relation to the scour hole.
Either using the trolling motor, or the kicker motor, I drop the 3ways down keeping contact or just above the bottom and slowly make my way out to the main river channel. By keeping my tracking on the gps, I can make subsequent runs more effectively as to note when I would get too far (shallow) on the dam (rocks), or when I would move out to far (up river) from the dam and be out of the scour hole.
I keep the rods in the rod holder, and watch for the rod to bend over or start shaking violently to tell me FISH ON.
Using this method, I caught bass, catfish, sheep head, a sucker, and walleyes!
If you’re new to fishing wing dams, are taking kids along for the day, or don’t feel comfortable tossing your cranks on the rocks, give this method a try.
Note: With this cold front we’ve been experiencing the last couple of days; I’ve been struggling to put fish in the boat. Locations that have been good for me during the warmer weather, have been giving up a few fish, but I’ve had to work a lot harder for them. Not to worry, warmer weather is coming by the weekend.
Good luck, go fishing.
Jami
Buddy Cameron from work with a nice rigging eye.
Double rainbow on Wednesday night after the quick shower. Didn’t find the pot o’ gold, yet.
Big old paddle wheel boat making its way up river.
Nice report.
From the looks of that rainbow you should have moved down two more wing dams!!
Jamie, Great post! Very informational. If I could, I would like to add that I would use 2lb mono as the dropper line (from the 3 way to the sinker). That way, if the sinker does get snagged up, you only lose 6 inches of line and a sinker rather than your whole setup. This works especially great on lakes as well when you are using expensive cranks or spinners. But just as well on the river too.
Again, great post!!!
That was one of the most informative posts regarding wingdam fishing I have read!
Great Reprot and photos.
Jami great report, when I get my boat fixed I’ll have to get out there & try that.
good work on the very helpful report Jami. just curious why you would leave the rod in the rod holder when fishing wing dams in this way?
Very nice!
Try it with the original rapala floaters!
Good luck,
Brian
Thanks for the report, info, and pics Jami.
Thanks, Bill
Hi Jami,
Excellent post!!!
Question 1: Do you feel the walleyes are more or less receptive to this tactic compared to pitching Bombers?
Question 2: How much time are you spending working a wingdam before moving to the next?
From a multi-species catching perspective…My kids would rather catch “anything that swims” than focus on walleyes by pitching crankbaits…this actually works in my favor since they tend to lose a lot of expensive cranks.
Question 3: Do you catch “A LOT” of “anything that swims” using this tactic?
As an angler with very limited time resources and opportunities on the water, I see this tactic as an excellent way to target walleyes yet keep my kids engaged by catching a lot of “whatever swims”.
Thanks Jami!!!
Micah, honestly, I was catching more fish on the dead stick, so both went into the holders.
I would have to say equal, by using this presentation I’m able to keep the bait in front of the fish for a longer period of time.
Question 2: How much time are you spending working a wingdam before moving to the next?
After 20-30 minutes with little to no activity (two pulls) I would move onto the next. If I was getting bit, I’d stay until the bite died off.
From a multi-species catching perspective…My kids would rather catch “anything that swims” than focus on walleyes by pitching crankbaits…this actually works in my favor since they tend to lose a lot of expensive cranks.
Question 3: Do you catch “A LOT” of “anything that swims” using this tactic?
Yes, I was catching “A LOT” of other species. This one wingie I swear I caught 20 little cats on the 2 passes I made. You go through lots of 1/2 crawlers, but it makes the rods bend.
As an angler with very limited time resources and opportunities on the water, I see this tactic as an excellent way to target walleyes yet keep my kids engaged by catching a lot of “whatever swims”.
Thanks Jami!!!
I hope I answered all of your questions? If not let me know.
Jami
Brian,
Not to hijack Jami’s post but are you able to troll a original floater using a 3/8 bell sinker?
where about were you fishing. me and a freind of mine were im between prescot and the kinni trolling and looking for so me sort structure. Is this a good technique?
I was on the lower half of pool 3.
If you were between prescott and kinni, you won’t find any wing dams on the croix. If I was fishing the croix right now in that area, I would be either pulling spinner blade rigs with bait (crawlers, leeches, minnow) in 15-25 ft along the transition lines. Or I’d be pulling lead core in the same areas. Turk just put a report in the st. croix forum.
Here is the link. Turks Croix Report
Jami
As a followup…
Last night I had my two boys and one of their friends out on Pool2. Dropping 3-ways down we popped fish continuously the entire evening. Although we did not hit any walleyes, I think this is a very effective and easy technique for working wingdams.
It still takes some practice to get the boat control right. Staying in front of the wingdam is a must. With the low-flow conditions, this is a terrific alternative technique.
…then again, any technique that keeps the boys into fish (as opposed to WWE wrestling in the bottom of my boat) is a terrific technique.