Dam fishing

[Bass Assasin]

I am doing a school project on dam fishing and was just wondering if anyone new where the crappies are this time of the year.

Thanks,

Jason

[CrappieJohn]

Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com! Always happy to try and help out.

Would you care to elaborate just a little as to where you are and what river system you would like us to reference?

[Bass Assasin]

I live in Elk River and am talking about the Orono dam. I usually catch the crappies in the rockie rapids in the summer but can't seem to find them. i've tried fatheads on bobbers and small curly tail jigs without luck.

It is part of the Elk River system and is very close to where it joins the Mississippi.

[CrappieJohn]

On the big river below the cities and , more specifically the Red Wing dam, we can find large crappies in the winter months below wingdams. You haven't got those in your river, but if you can find some quiet water in an eddy below an obstruction or logpile jutting into the current, try it. The water doesn't need to be too deep. These fish we find are only eight feet or so deep, and many times shallower, sometimes a bit deeper....the key is slack water. Crappies are not current fighters at this time of year as a rule, but river crappies are acclimated to a current environment and will tolerate some water movement. As it gets closer to the middle of winter though, these birds can get hard to catch.

They will likely want bait, too. How you present it I guess will be up to what the fish are preferring. I'd start with a float and a small jig/minnow and go from there. Plastics....very small ones, can be hot on these winter river crappies. I live near a lake and fish crappiesall winter using a small float with a 1/32 jig and 1" twister. These fish are caught immediately above the dam in an area with obvious current in deep water.

These are the two options that I can think of for fishing near the dam. Further down and away from the dam area shoreline wood jutting into the water with moderately deep water would be good spots to target.

One thing about river fish is their uncanny ability to suprise fishermen. They are very adaptable.

[Bass Assasin]

Thank you very much for the really good info. It will come in handy for when i'm fishin. I really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Jason