Which Wing Dyke? There are so many.

[NANNER]

Hello all. With all the great advice the BOC has given me, I thought I'd give something back and share a fishing tip with everyone. I have figured out something with the wing dykes being on the river three or four days a week for the entire summer. With so many wing dykes, I used to just guess and hope for the best. I've since found a method for picking some productive dykes, and I can honestly say it has made a difference. Heres What I do. ;)
Line your boat up even with the very end of a wing dyke. Look to the horizon, either up or down the river, and draw an imaginary line between the tips of the dykes. Now, you will notice that not all wing dykes will be as long as the others. Take note of these shorter dykes, and fish them. You will notice that these shorter dykes are a little bit farther away from the main channel current. That being said, I have found these walls hold far more bait fish(shad) and I get my larger fish off of these walls. If you have decent electronics on the boat, you will also notice that these shorter dykes have more rocks down current of the dyke ( a debris field from high water) Also these shorter dykes have gone the longest since the Corp Of Engineers reworked them for erosion control so, in my opinion, more resident fish are on these dykes due to more cover :) . If you would like to take this a step farther, chose these shorter walls on the inside and outside bends in the river. I really think this will make a difference for some of you. Especially those that target the big blues like I do. If anyone can add anything to this post, please feel free as I'm always looking for ways to refine my techniques and maximize my productivity on the river. Good Luck Fishin!!!!

[kcgeoff]

John,
Excellent post. I've never thought of that but will keep it in mind when fishing the Missouri.

[lakeith]

Nice work, sounds reasonable, i'll definetly give it a try.

[crazy]

I'm going to give that a try next time i'm out.

[BIG-G]

Very good post John. Some info to ponder and put to use. THANX

[NANNER]

I sure hope it works for everyone. I primarily fish the Mississippi, and it seems to work for me. I just got another nice blue last night (27 pounds), on a very short wall. Best Of Luck to Everyone on your waterways and God Bless!!!!

[NANNER]

Hey KCGeoff, what did that Pig weigh in your profile pic?Thats a beautifull shovel head.

[Mocathunter]

excellent post jet, never thought of them in that way. The blue in my avatar came off an old short wing dyke, but I never would have coralated the two. I will definately start keeping track of what I pull off the short ones now. Thanks for sharing your observation with us!! : :thumbsup:

[NANNER]

Your very welcome. That is some fish in your profile pic. What did that Pig weigh? I caught a 90 pounder back in 2001 and yours looks quite a bit larger. Great Fish. Keep me (and others) posted on how the short walls work for you. I think were on to something here. I dont mind sharing my good fortune with others. This site has given me some great information also. Best of Luck to you. :cool:

[Mocathunter]

He went 79 pounds at the boat ramp, put him in the big livewell and had him weighed an hour later, and their scales had him at 76. So somewhere in that neighborhood, I was happy with the bruiser either way. My dream is to land a 90 plus, as I am sure is it the hopes of most of us. I will definately share my experiences with the short walls, I am heading out tomorrow night again, and then I will be out after them again on the weekend. Good luck :D

[kcgeoff]

Hey KCGeoff, what did that Pig weigh in your profile pic?Thats a beautifull shovel head.

John,
I caught that flathead and didn't have a scale or camera with me. So I put him on a stringer. And called my dad to bring a scale and camera out to the lake. The only scale he could locate in a hurry was an old bathroom type that only went to 100lbs. I put him on it with his tail, part of his belly and part of his head hanging off it went to 65lbs. I am guessing he was easily 70lbs if not 80lbs. Sure made my arms sore holding him up. LOL I released him without getting an accurate weight as I didn't want to chance killing him.

By the way Sean. Thats an awesome blue cat!!! :cool:

[crazy]

Last night was the first night I ever had the wind efect me on the Mo. The river is a pretty slow moving one right now. Tried a few short ones. Nothing just like the bigger ones. Although I never tried any holes on the short ones.

[NANNER]

That is two truly GREAT fish Guys. Thanks for sharing the information. Hopefully we can all get bigger ones this year. Best of Luck to you. :cool:

[catfishcalvin]

I hope they're biting tonite. I haven't been able to go for about 2 months,going nuts now . Just have to get out for awhile.I will let you know if your tech. works for me.Good Luck to everyone.

[Dave53]

Jetdriver, On the Missouri it has several dikes that appear to be short because there is 20 to 30 yards still under water. Does the Mississippi have these and are these the short ones you referred too? Do you drop anchor off the end of the dikes that are under water??

[crazy]

I'm sure the dikes on the Miss. are the same as the ones on the Mo.. There are shorter ones then others on the missouri river. Right now the river is pretty low. You should be able to most of the dike. You are always going to have some of the dike under water so it can do it's job of keeping the channel clean.

[Kutter]

Kinda depend on where on the Mississippi. Where Jetdriver took us the other day, the dikes were short with almost nothing underwater. Downstream where I am more used to, the dikes are much longer and much of them are underwater, stretching nearly a quarter of the way out into the river in some places.

[NANNER]

Kutter gave you a good answer Dave. I have the benefit of both types of dykes really. If I run south from the ramp the walls are longer, with much more of the wall under water. I go north and the opposite is true. I usually run north because I seem to get more Big Blues on the shorter walls. These shorter walls dont have but about 10 feet of wall that is under the water line, if that. I've been fishing an area about 10-15 miles north of the ramp in Festus that has a dozen or so very short walls in succession and they have been really good too me. Best Of Luck to you. :cool:

[Dave53]

Have you guys fished off the dikes that run parallel with the river? I have a friend that swears by these dikes but I have never caught anything but trotlines that were tied off to the ends! :sad:

[NANNER]

Dave, we only have a couple of walls in a 30 mile stretch that are vertical. I have fished them and had terrible luck each time. I gave them a fair shake, just didnt go any good. I may not have fished them correctly. Check with the guys that fish the Missouri alot. They have a ton of those vertical walls and they probably know how to fish them alot better than me. Good Luck

[catfishcentral]

I guess I need to read the Missouri threads a little more often. Nice post Jetdriver. I will be testing out your findings.

[poopdeck [patrick]]

Great piece Jetdriver , especially for a guy like me.I/m not new to the mississippi, been bankfishing for flatheads for several years.we recently got a boat and it/s a whole new ball game.were wanting to catch some of those big blues off the dikes but don/t know how to excatly fish them. Were going out tomorrow and gonna try those short dikes. I just found this site last week and there is some good infromation in here especially from you Jetdrive since were both fishing the mississippi.We put in the boat right by the confluence of the mo and miss so we can fish either one. I would appreciate ANY advice from any one. Thanks guys

[NANNER]

Your welcome Patrick. I hope it works out for you and welcome to the BOC. There are several methods for fishing the wing dykes. Myself, I prefer to tie up to the tips of the dykes and fish the current rip line for the the big blues. Kutter and others like to anchor up current from the dyke and fish the up side. I think both ways have merit. If you read some of the post here in the Missouri section, you will find some discussions on this very subject. Best Of luck to you and Good Luck Fishing. :cool: