Bass Camp

[French Spaniel]

Was thinking of heading down to Bass Camp next week. I have never been there. What is the scoop on the place? Heard it is privately owned and you pay a fee to put your boat in there. Is that the only place you can put into the river in that area? I have been going to Lake Pepin for years but just want to try something different.

I see a lot of folks below the dam sitting pretty still. Are they anchored or staying in one spot with their motors. Seems like the water is moving pretty fast there. Any info is appreciated on the location and also what techniques work best there.

[JIvers]

The last time I was there, yes, Bass Camp was privately-owned, and there was a $5 fee to launch. That was probably five years ago, so things could have changed.

As for the fishing, there are plenty of wing dams below the launch, and as I recall at least one above Bass Camp, on the east shoreline below the lock and dam. I caught a lot of fish on that one. It may be that at least some of the boats you saw anchored were on the upside of that wing dam, or others.

Most of the drift fishing or anchoring in open water right below the lock and dam happens in the spring and fall, aside from the summer fishing on the wing dams, but some people do it in the summer, too. Right now, with the flow up, I would be hesitant to anchor in the main channel.

There are also some expansive backwaters below Bass Camp on the Minnesota side that may be worth checking out.

[French Spaniel]

I don't know a lot about wing dams or how to fish them. Are they using three way river rigs when they drift below the spillways? Thanks for your help. I think we are going down on Monday.

[itchmesir]

wing dams are structures made from rock put in place to prevent erosion.. you will notice them by seeing a long line of slack or chop coming out from the shore depending on the conditions.. fish are often found near the end of the wing dam or behind them...

[French Spaniel]

Well, we did make it down to the river on Monday. We didn't get on the river until 4:00 in the afternoon. We actually decided to put in at Winona and went down stream. We will hit Bass Camp area another day. We didn't fish real hard as we did more exploring the river area. My son and I wanted to fish .... wife and daughter wanted a boat ride so we compromised.

In the little fishing we did we caught five small sauger and one little bass. Didn't really know where to fish. Then saw some interesting things.

#1. Was a shanty town on the river. I was totally surprised by this. It looked like something out of the movie Waterworld.

#2. Eagles nest with two young eagles in it.

#3. Must have been a commercial fisherman. He had a real big flat bottom boat. We ran into him four times and each time he was checking nets he had staked out in the water. He had big markers showing where his nets were.

What kind of fish would he have been netting? Didn't know that kind of thing was allowed on the river. So that is it for late afternoon on the river.

[itchmesir]

Yup.. Winona is one of the only cities along the river to have a living boat house community!

Commercial fishing is definitely legal on the mississippi.. He could have been keeping anything and everything.. Walleye.. Carp.. Catfish.. Pike.. Turtles.. Sheephead..

[FlatBottom]

That was probably a guy they call "Buzzy" or Adams. They're chasing big/smallmouth buffalo or carp. They hit that pool and pool 4 and 5 on a regular basis. Both of them know better to put a walleye in the boat. They've done it for a many years.

[oleWalter]

Can you ice fish at Bass Camp?