3 Keys to Fishing Wing Dams for Late Summer Bass

Photo: Wing dam in a man-made river bed

 

On many of our nation’s large, commercial navigable waterways, there is a common piece of structure that can easily become a fish holding magnet…it is a wing dam. 

Wing dams are finger like structures made up of rock that are placed nearly perpendicular along a river’s bank with the purpose of directing the current back to the main river channel to keep water levels stable in the main channel for large commercial traffic.

These rock structures frequently hold largemouth and smallmouth bass, especially during the late summer months as this is when the flow on a river system is typically at its lowest and these wing dams will have flow on them. 

Since a river may have wing dam after wing dam, it is important to know what to look for when fishing them and how to effectively target the bass holding on them. 

When you find a wing dam, identifying its key areas is a must to establishing a pattern that you can replicate up and down the main river channel.  Some items to look at include;

Is the wing dam out of the water for the most part, besides the tip or is a large majority of the rock still underneath the water line?

Is it the wing dam on a bend in the river channel or a straight section?

Is the wing dam on the tip of an island?  If so, is it the upstream or downstream side?

When I first pull up to a wing dam and am not sure where the bass are located, I like to get a feel of not only what mood the bass are in, but also what the bottom content and make up is. 

TOPWATER TO LOCATE

To accomplish the first goal, I’ll turn to a topwater plug since bass will be holding on a wing dam to feed, so locating an active school of bass is easy when you can see them hitting your bait.  I like a popper such as a Storm Chug Bug or Rapala X-Pop as I can pause this bait in key slack water sections behind the wing dam.

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DETERMINE BOTTOM CONDITIONS

Accomplishing the second goal can be a bit snaggy – getting an idea of what the bottom is like and how deep the wing dam is means you are putting your lure down in the crevices and along the very abrasive structure of the wing dam. 

Because of this, I’ll spool my Wright & McGill Victory II casting reel with 17-pound Seaguar AbrazX Fluorocarbon line.  This line can take a beating as it is fished around the rock, yet it is still very castable, which is key when I want to make a long cast with a Carolina-rig.

I like to cast my C-rig parallel to the wing dam, both on the up and down stream sides and drag it all the way to the hole that is usually located near the tip of the wing dam as this is where the current will scour it out. 

MATCH YOUR WEIGHT TO THE CURRENT FLOW

The size of the weight I use will, depends on how much current is coming over the dam and the depth, but going with a lighter weight will aid in you getting snagged up less.  The two plastics I like to use with my C-rig include a green pumpkin Zoom Lizard and a White Pearl Super Fluke, with the first being my go-to and the Fluke getting rigged up when an actively feeding school of bass shuts down.

If you have determined that the bass are feeding, they will position themselves near the tip of the wing dam, since this is where the current is pushing bait fish and insects. 

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Targeting a Funnel

If there is a hole or break in the rock that forms a chute, where the water is funneled through, this is a prime spot for bass to actively feed.  Letting a weightless soft plastic float through this area can be a dynamite way to put some bass in the boat, either a Super Fluke or Fluke Stick Jr are my go-to plastics for this technique, as they both can mimic an injured baitfish floating in the current.

Boat Control on Wing Dams

As you are fishing a wing dam, your boat control is important as the current can easily move your boat out of the ideal casting position, along with put your boat in danger of hitting the rock.  So, relying on your trolling motor and shallow water anchors is very important.  If I’m able to deploy my dual Minn Kota Talon’s I’ll do that, but commonly the transom of my boat is sitting in the deeper water so the Spot-lock feature on the Ultrex Trolling Motor gets engaged.

As the months of summer arrive, don’t give up on those river systems, by paying attention to the details and presenting your bait properly can put you on a fantastic late summer bass bite all by fishing some man-made wing dams.

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