Trolling Wingdams??

I see people mention they do this for walleyes, but must admit I am a little amazed by the success it has. Any tips on the right way to troll a wingdam, and are you not going to put the fish down in a big hurry by running over them?

I would guess that one would start deep on the tip and run towards shore along the face??

Thanks

ripper

I have come to the conclusion that in most waters, fish are not bothered by boat traffic and outboard noise, having caught way too many fish (walleye, Northern, crappie, smallmouth, etc.) that were definitely not bothered by outboards, boat traffic, my boat being only feet away when they struck, etc. When you think about it, fish in most lakes and rivers grow up hearing boat traffic more or less constantly, so it is probably just “part of the scenery” that they don’t really notice. I also doubt that fish have the ability to associate motor and boat noise with human predators. In clear water, very shallow water, and possibly remote lakes or rivers that see very little boat traffic boats and motors will spook fish, but the water around a Mississippi wing dam is not clear, very shallow, or lightly travelled.

As a rule of thumb, the best walleye water around a wing dam is the water just in front (upstream) of the dam at its base. (Like all rules of thumb, this is not always true.) So, when I troll a wing dam, I try to keep the boat just above and parallel to it so my crankbait or three-way rig is running in that area. This requires some care, as the current will push your boat over the top of the dam if you are not careful, which can lead to snagged rigs, or possibly a dinged lower unit if the top of the dam is close to the surface. I make several passes back and forth between shore and the tip of the dam, keeping my boat just upstream from it, and see if anything hits.

Another rule of thumb is that at normal to low water levels the end of the dam closest to the channel holds the most fish, along with the plunge pool behind the tip (make a couple passes up and down through that, too), but I know of several wing dams where this is not true.

Ripper,

Vikefan pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to trolling cranks on wingdams. I still do this once and a while but have been doing more casting cranks this year than trolling. Trolling can be very productive at times. Several years ago I was fishing a tournament and caught 4 walleye on 5 passes on a wingdam in pool 13. Try to stay above the dam far enough so that your crank is hitting the face of the dam or the bottom just in front of the dam. When you get out to the end of the dam keep going until your crank is off the end of the dam but don’t get your line in the buoy cable. Most of the time your boat will be a good 20 feet plus above the wingdam when pulling cranks. The current will wash the crank down into the face of the dam as you pull it. If you get too close the crank will get snagged up in the dam. I use both my outboard and my electric trolling motor to pull cranks depending on the amount of current. Some people will tell you that pulling cranks is a good way to locate the dams with active fish on them but this is not always the case. Some days fish just don’t want crankbaits.

Eyehunter

Depending on the water level, I often just go right over the top of the end of the dam trolling upstream. Bring your lines in a bit so your cranks run just deep enough to nick the top of the dam. It is fun to see your rods bounce from the rocks and then get slammed by a fish. You’re thinking you are snagged up and then you feel the shake!

One other thing you might do if you have GPS is make a trail of the dam. I’ve done this, but do be careful if you try to make a trail of the top of the dam, it may be wiser to try and make a trail of the base of the dam especially while the water is so low.

Thanks for the replies gents. I hope to be sitting on a wingdam by 5:30 am tomorrow on pool 9. I will probably anchor and cast at first, but as my year has been going, I’m sure I will be moving around quickly looking for a %$@& walleye. I have had poor fishing on 9 this year, and I know it’s just me. Even a bluegill would be nice!

Thanks again!

Here are my 2 cents worth on trolling wind dams. Keep in mind I’m talking about a long line presentation. When I say long line, that means about twice the distance of a long cast. I’d also add that this is a great approach this time of year and I do it quite a bit up here on pool 2 where we have 100’s of dams to jump around on.

– Just expect you are going to eventually ding prop/skag, scrape bottom of boat. If you are not OK with that concept, don’t troll wingdams!

– Your crank is not going to be in the same line as the boat. So you are never trolling over the fish your crank is in front of. Remember, your boat will be running a line fighting current. Your crank will get swept down current. Don’t matter if you are trolling in or out, your crank is not going to be directly behind the boat.

– As mentioned, start deep, work shallow. This is in a parallel relation to the wingdam which may or may not be square to the shore.

– Don’t expect to catch a lot of fish trolling wingdams. I use this as either a run and gun approach, (Catch a couple and move on down to the next dam) or to figure out where I want to anchor up. (Inside, middle, tip, shallow, deep ect)

– The GPS track plot is a must in my opinion. Drop an icon the moment you connect with a fish and run the boat over that icon at least 3 more passes. You can also come back to that icon later after the spot has settled down.

Good luck and let us know how ya did.

-J.

The flats between wingdams can be very productive… my favorite is where white bass are tearing up the baitfish everyday… about 100-150 feet downstream(behind the wingdam), on a flat the bits and pieces of leftovers fall and the Walleye and bass can be just thick there….. sometimes for days and even weeks at a time.. like right now.

I’ve never been able to catch a lot of fish trolling wingdams. I’m either up in the rocks all snagged up or to far the other way. I’d rather trolling motor it or anchor and cast cranks.

I’ve been taking a lot of bass lately on wingdams in the LaCrosse pool.

You can also try “dragging” 1/16 oz jigs tipped with either a leech or nightcrawler between and around the wingdams. That has been the only effective technique for my boat the last week.

Thanks to Brian (recent report) and Dean Marshall (Everts) for the clue to this tactic for this time of year.

Well guys, I spent all day saturday fishing wingdams on pool 9. From Lansing to De Soto, my buddy and I must have hit 9 or 10 of them. We trolled, which did take some practice but not to bad when I applied the lessons learned from here. We anchored, and fished with cranks, crawlers, jigs, minnows and willowcats. We fished the tips and washout holes, the middle, and the near shore ends, and even on top.

Total score: 0 walleyes, 0 bluegills, 3 sheepies, 4 small bass.

Even tried trolling the channels by ferryville…..nothing. I’m having a horrible year here, time to go back and start fishing Lake Michigan again .

Oh well, thats fishing. Thanks for all the help. I will be back next weekend for more punishment. Although trout streams would probably be better than the old big muddy skunk again!

I was out Saturday morning on Pool 16, trolling cranks and fishing live bait on some of the wing dams where I have been doing well this year. There was a steady breeze blowing straight up river, and it made trolling the front of the wing dams easy, as the breeze was just enough to push my boat upstream. Problem was, the fish did not seem to like the chop and/or surface water being pushed upstream, and did not cooperate at all. Even the sheepies and channel cat were in a foul mood.

On the issue of casting vs. trolling wing dams, I have always had better luck trolling cranks along the front of wing dams, or anchoring and fishing live bait from above them, than I have had casting and retrieving cranks there. Smallmouth on wing dams are a different story, as they usually hold on top or just behind the dams, where it is way easier to cast to them. At times, walleye will actively feed on top of wing dams, and then casting is the only way to get at them. This doesn’t happen all that often, though.

I didn’t make it out this past weekend here at Dubuque. I hope to make it out for a few hours tonight after work. I used to pull cranks on dams all the time but this year I have been casting cranks over dams and have done very well on the walleyes. I have never caught as many walleyes casting crankbaits as I have this year. Just a couple weeks ago a friend and I caught our limits in just 4-1/2 hours doing nothing but casting cranks on rockpiles, closing dams and wingdams. This time of the year wingdam fishing can slow. It isn’t that the walleyes aren’t still on the dams. I know a few dams that seem to hold fish in these dog days of summer. Look for deeper dams and fish the end with the most current. It is not unusual to find fish in 20’+ of water out in front of the end of a wingdam this time of the year. You can still get them shallow on the dams in the early morning and again in the evening but they tend to go deep during the hottest time of the day. This is also a good time of the year to fish around the ends of wingdams. Deep closing dams across running sloughs are real good places to find daytime walleyes this time of the year. I don’t anchor on dams this time of the year (I almost never anchor on dams anyway) because if you can’t find action in 15 – 20 minutes you have to move on to the next spot. The fish are spread out now with a few here and a few there. You will be lucky to catch more than 2 fish off of the same spot this time of the year.

Eyehunter

Good info again. Thanks guys. So I take it when water levels are low, the fish just plain spread out, and current breaks like wingdams are not as important. Do they move around along the channel edges or running sloughs? If the water levels and current come back up, i.e. heavy rains, I would assume wing dams become more attractive??

How about the channels from Ferryville south to the dam? Are fish down there? I have caught them there in the past, but not this year. Do they hang out in the weeds?

Thanks again.

Signed
Walleyeless in Wisconsin.

I’ll be out today fishing wingdams on the LaCrosse pool, so i’ll try a few things differently. My problem is finding the right wingdam. Some of them are almost out of the water, while others are deep enough to run across.

Heres how bad it is up here (LaCrosse and north) for walleyes. I know a bunch of guys who fished the Catfish days tournament in Trempealeau this past weekend. Out of 10 boats in their group, they had 13 keepers (nothing big). One guy had 6 of those fish!!!!!

I think the walleye fishing has really died sense the 4th. The river is low and there is little to no current.

In the low current stay away from the dams that are out of the water or only have a few inches of water going over the top. Fish those dams that you can go over. These dams tend to be deeper and should you find one with current on it you should find a few fish. I didn’t make it out last night but I talked to a couple friends who were out over this past weekend here at DBQ and they both caught several fish all coming off of wingdams in the lower parts of pool 12. I like the lower stretches of pools this time of the year. One word of advice with the unbelieveable clear water for this time of the year is to stay off of the structures as much as possible. If you can see the rocks on a wingdam with 3′ or 4′ of water going over the top then the fish are going to be able to see you as well. You may need to long line it a bit more but you won’t be spooking as many fish.

Eyehunter

Never tried the flats between the dams, and i’m also kind of new to the river summer walleye patterns, when you troll the flats are you going up,down or across the flow and are you more out towards the channel, the middle, or shallow ?

this sight is great

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Heres how bad it is up here (LaCrosse and north) for walleyes. I know a bunch of guys who fished the Catfish days tournament in Trempealeau this past weekend. Out of 10 boats in their group, they had 13 keepers (nothing big). One guy had 6 of those fish!!!!!

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Dang–I am thinking of heading up Winona-way this weekend–not what I wanted to hear.

Regarding channel edges: I have found, pretty much like someone else said, that walleye move on to the channel edges when the river is low and the water temps. get really warm. Since that describes the conditions on Pools 16 and 17 right now, I have put in a little time working the channel edges, but have had no success, except for sheepies. Generally, trolling cranks downstream is more effective, because the current helps pull your bait down, whereas going upstream the current works against your line, making it harder to stay near the bottom.

Some guys will run crankbaits downstream, and then run crawler harnesses or leeches on three-ways very slowly upstream. I haven’t tried this approach much, so I can’t say how effective it is for me. I’ve also never really tried trolling flats between wing dams for walleye–that is more white bass and channel cat territory in my experience, but that might be because I’ve never targeted walleye there.

Pool 9 is loaded with tons of abutments along the main channel, try trolling those up stream. The walleyes are biting on Pool 9, you just have to find them.

Try pulling 3 ways with a 3/4 or 1 oz dropper and a small craw pattern or perch pattern crank as the trailer and see what happens.

Later.