Unfortunately it is the flu season upon us and I got bit hard on Friday early evening with it. The next 12 hours were nothing but absolute misery! I had to cancel my Saturday’s guide trip due to my illness that came on strong. Skeptical on whether I would feel good enough even for my guide trip on Sunday afternoon, I decided to give it a shot and see what happens. With winds howling out of the NW at 20-30mph, it was definitely a day that my patience was going to be tried and tested.
Joining me on Sunday’s trip on Pool 2 was Bill Grierson and his buddies Collin and Craig. Together we hit the water to find some active fish. Our first few minutes were spent exploring a couple backwaters to see if we could escape the wind a bit and take advantage of some pre-spawn staging walleyes. After a bit of searching, we found nothing but iced over backwaters that are about a week away from opening up. We then re-grouped and headed for some nearby wingdams and start our seaching for some active fish. Our first couple of stops made their way to some medium depth wingies that traditionally had a fair amount of current on them. The first several minutes on each spot produced some quick nice average fish that fell victim to Yum’s 4” Ribworm in the Ozark Smoke color and BFT’s chartreuse/Pepper color. Both colors have been producing well for my boat over the past week.
With winds still stiff out of the NW we needed to be able to maintain bottom contact from time to time, so we bulked up a bit and rigged ourselves with 1/4oz jig sizes for optimum feel. As we hit about 5:00pm the bite picked up dramatically and we saw our average size of our fish grow as well. After getting the guys accustomed to the art of wingdam pitching, they were well equipped to tackle these nice fish! Collin stepped up quick and got things rolling with a nice 26” very fat walleye that just crushed hit ¼ oz rigged Yum 4” ribworm in the Ozark smoke color. Nice fish Collin! This fish came out of 9 foot of water off the side of a silted in wingdam. The next few casts produced several more nice fish from 25-26-1/2” including another real giant that I was lucky enough to get a hold of. This beauty hit the tape at 29” and guessing weight of 9-1/2lbs or more. After a couple quick photos, this fish was back again to swim another day. This flurry of above average sized fish produced nearly 5 more nice big walleyes. Bill and Craig both took their turns with a couple of what appeared to be bigger fish, but unfortunately they got off before we could get a look at them. Next time guys!!
With the winds still blowing good at sunset and temps falling quickly, the guys decided to call it a evening and end on a good note! Thanks again guys for the fun trip and look forward to the next time we get to fish together. This afternoon produced about 13-14 fish with about 6 of those fish over the 24 inch mark. What a afternoon for big fish! This is definitely what spring river fishing can be all about. Full moon periods+shallow aggressive walleyes= HAPPY ANGLERS with BIG Smiles.
As for me, even though the flu is taking its time leaving me this trip was just what the doctor ordered!!
As a heads up…I just got a cancellation for this weekend which opens up the entire weekend if anyone is looking to book a last minute trip to Pool 2 for some trophy eyes!!
Steve, you are the MAN! I think I need to get up that way soon.
Steve,
I had a question for you out of curiousity. Are the wingdams fairly visible. The only reason why I ask this is because I’ve heard that they’ve been known to tear up a motor once in awhile. I can imagine that in times of high water that they become more treacherous. The US Corp of Engineers built them to basically maintain the channel right? Do they have them marked from the shore to basically let you know where they are if the water is very high? When you fish around these are you using your electric to navigate?
-Mike
Mike,
For starters, here is a nice article by one of our Pro-staffer Jarad Fluekiger. He goes in depth on how and when to target these structures.
Wingdams
As for Pool 2, about 30% of the wingdams can be harzardous at certain times of the year. The Red and Green Channel buoys that you see in the main channel only mark some of the more distinct wingdams that are out in mid-channel that are used for barge navigation. There are many more that lie within the river channel but are less distinct. In most cases with a slight south wind, you can see a distinct small ripple line where the current meets up with the waters surface from the current deflection off the wingdam.
As for visibility, there are only a couple wingdams that lie ABOVE the waters surface. These are located up near the Lilydale ramp area. The rest lie anywhere from 2-4 foot below the surface. Regardless of there depth, I give them plenty of room and respect. Unless you know where you are going, once you are inside the channel markers, its best to idle around or drop your electric to further investigate the area. The common phrase applies here “A River is always changing, what was once 4 foot deep yesterday, may not be today!”
I prefer to use my electric if I have ideal conditions, meaning littel current of lighter winds. With the winds we had yesterday, anchoring is almost a must to stay where you want to be. Boat position is everything when fishing these structures and unless you have boat in the right attack position, you may not get bit. This often times is the hardest for anglers who start fishing wingdams. Once this little trick is conquered, the rest is in your hands!
Steve,
Other than walleyes have you ever stuck anything else fishing wing dams. Like a overly aggressive flathead? I’ve often been afraid to fish wing dams just because I can’t afford to replace my new Yamaha F25. Do they even have any boeys out right now marking the main channel so you can open your boat wide open without the fear of tearing off a lower unit? Hate to ask you alot of dumb questions, as I am dying to just go out fishing. Even just for the sake of getting out regardless if I don’t catch anything. I have cabin/fishing fever very badly. Ice fishing has never really been my bag.
-Mike
I’ll see if i can raid my piggy bank and let you know via PM
Mike,
No dumb questions here buddy! Better safe than sorry right? Yes the channel markers stay out all season long, 12 months a year! There is a ton of water to roam around down here without worrying about doing any harm to your boat/motor.
A little reminder would be to keep the green buoys are your right on the way down river and the red on your left and vice versa running up back current. This holds true from the start of the Miss river all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Get out and enjoy what this wonderful resource has to offer!!
Steve, another great report
Just goes to show you, bad weather doesn’t mean poor fishing. As long as you can adapt to the various conditions you can boat nice fish. Well done fighting that killer wind we had yesterday, and giving your clients a trip of a lifetime. Heres to you bud. 
Thanks Erik,
Those winds were brutal yesterday. As the old saying goes, “there is no good wind on the river”. It always has a way to follow you around!
On one spot, I needed to re-anchor several times before I got the boat positioned where I needed it to be. Pitching jigs to wingdams seems very straight forward until you are dealt conditions that are less than favorable and then those are the times that little things pay huge dividends!
I am glad that we were on the receiving end of this particular transaction!!
Great report and a beautiful eye Steve!
I am again impressed with your fishing skills and ability to pass along this wonderful info to IDA. I hope to get on Pool 2 someday with you as I haven’t fished it yet.
Keep up the good work!
Tom-
You wil have a great day on the water with Steve. Excellent teacher, and he can put you on fish.
Great reading. I’m located on Pool 9 and it seems everybody fishes the Genoa Dam and Lynxville Dam Pool 10 but you don’t see or hear of them fishing the wing dams this time of year. Have any input on why or if we should be hitting them There sure are plenty. Thanks
Gonefishing,
I guess I could not tell you why people may not be spending time on them down there. They sure can be fish producers all year round. A river walleye is a river walleye regardless of where in the country this fish swims!
I have never spent any time on that section of water, but I would be willing to bet that there has to be a fair number of fish relating to these windams!
Thanks for the reply, I’m planning on going out this morning. I don’t know why they don’t fish the wing dams, they fish them later.