Wing Dams

[i'majigger]

I have only been on the river near Red Wing one time and I have a question. I tried to find some wing dams to fish by and either I did not look good enough or there is a trick to finding these dams.I realize they are probably submerged and I told some other fisherman down there that I would just cruise the shoreline until locating them on the depth finder. They said this was not a good idea as I would probably take out the lower unit before I realized I had found the dam. Now I had not intended to run at full throtle to find them but I thought if I just trolled along I would be safe. Some input on this problem would be greatly appreciated as I am heading down there hopfuly the end of March to try again as I had a ball there last spring and can't wait to get back there again and would like some other spots to target.

[CorynTracySellHomes]

Wing dams are fairly easy to spot once you get an eye for reading the river! The easist way to spot a wing dam is if the wind is blowing against the current, you will see distinct line coming out from the shore. Another way to do the same thing is to motor the main channel at about half plane, have someone watch behind you in the wake, the waves will also mark the wingdam in almost a straight line. The biggest thing to remember with this is to proceed carefully, and to remember that the line that shows the wing dam, is actually down stream from the true wing dam. The current pushes the surface disturbance downstream from the actual wing dam. Once you get an eye for this, tou can spot all sorts of honey holes in the river from reading the surface! I hope this helps a little, and Good Luck!

Cory Frantzick

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[Guest]

The easiest way to find the wing dams would be...
Stop at 4-seasons in Red Wing and pick up a (Mississippi pool 4 Fishing Hot Spots) map.
Im looking at it right now and it shows you all the wing dams.
That or I know Eric has one posted to the wall in the store take a quick peek!

http://www.geocities.com/wish_i_was_fishing2002

[Guest]

When at the dam in Red Wing you will find the wing dams on the MN side. There are 3 wing dams. The first is up by the dam just where the tree line starts, and next is just down a ways and the third again a ways down. They are harder to find Friday - Sunday do to about 300 boats triing to get up on them.
Once the flow starts to pick up they are good to fish but right no the flow is down and sound as if the Vermillion is the hot spot with reports of bigger fish.
Good luck

[This message has been edited by Jigger2001 (edited 03-06-2003).]

[juggs]

The wing dams protrude from shore out into the main channel and are usually marked by red and green buoys at their tips. So when you're navigating, stay in between the buoys. For fishing, definitely get a Fishing Hot Spots map of pool 4.

[tyler97]

Jigger2001, is it where the Vermillion dumps into the Mississippi, or on the Vermillion in general?

[Guest]

Like Rvvrat said MOST of the wing dams on pool 4 are NOT marked with a bouy.

There is a wing dam at the mouth of the vermillion.

I dont think it would be a very good idea to slowly troll the shore line looking for a dam on your depth finder.
I have lost a few chunks of prop on the wing dams, and I have seen people stuck on top.

Its pretty cold to be knee deep in water trying to get unstuck!

Good Luck

[rvvrrat]

Just want to clarify what Juggs said...SOME wingdams are marked with bouys (actually few) and bouys are not neccesarily placed at the end of the wingdam.

Best way to learn wingdams...go out with someone who knows the river and in five minutes you will be spotting them by yourself. A map can help in windy conditins on unknown water.

[fishermann222]

if you talk to river rats you will quickly learn what to look for to notice wingdams. you can also buy a map of the entire mississippi river. that shows them all, I think it is by the army core of engineers. I would have to go get mine to tell ya for sure.