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Some of us can't walk andchew gum at the same time. Some fish experience rthesamedynamic-walleyes can't eat and fight Curr€nt:atthe same time. Thus our fascination with Wing dams,current breaking structures that attract and hold walleyes all year long, warm weatherand cold. "Wing

darns hold back water so fish can feed there," saysJeff Lahr, tournament angler and guide on the Iowa "They stop baitfish movportion of the Mississippi River. ing up and down river and divert them to walleyes. A wing dam is a big serving table, where fish can wait for food and be rewarded for it." TonTmySkarlis, winner of the 2008 FLW Champi"wingmen" on earth. onship, calls Lahr one of the best "He's doing things I never heard of before," Skarlis says. "Stringing two cranks on one line is an example. He's using one crank to reduce the action of the other one. This allows fish to tell him which action is preferred at a given time on a given day." "I've Meanwhile, Lahr is just as respectful of Skarlis. "He knows his stuff. fished with Tommy," Lahr says. He's at his best on rivers." Together these two are introducing new win-win wing-dam options. Starting right here. r,:l:i. , ;r': ]i'}affia$_!.{.$ $ "The first step is knowing where wing dams are," "You need to get all the paper maps availSkarlis says. able for that river, plus Navionics chips and other charts. And you need to have them in sonar units front andback, so no matter which power source is running the boat you can find those wing dams.

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says. "In high water, tlre op'rpositt:is true. I I'I can't hold with rnv erlectric, thereare no fjsh on that portion of a wirrg clan:r.I start at the tail end of a series ir-rhielr water, n.hcre I can get right on top of thc fish and fislr a Imost vcrtically." Once a wing danr is locaterdand o u t l i n c d , S k a r l i sg o c s i n t o s t e a l t h "Y r-ttoc1e . .o L r c a n r r rn t l r r . , t r o l l r n g m o t o r a n d c a s t , " h c s ; r 1 , s",f 1 1

reposition the boat to cover every inch of thartportion of a wirrg dam. You might l.raveto re-anchor a tirne or two to fish the entire clam. "I like to fish from the shallows ciut,so I position the boat above the: c e n t e r o f t l r e w i n g d a m , r c s bt l r c anchor carefnlly on bottom, slorvly drift back,and turn the big rnotor s o i t r u d d e r s t h e b o a t a w a r yf r o m shore.Jf shore is to port, put tJrercpc , l l t ' r i. 1 . r ' r i l i c , r 1l , ,L t r , . . : . ,r r r c h r r r . o n t h c s t a r b o a r dc l e a ta n d s l i d c i h e ort a lot-tg r()pc so y(rLr cilit r;i;rce it boat trtr,r'arclshorc, with tlrc rucltlc-r r r , ' l l . r l r o r t , l l twt 'i r r q , l , r r r . I . 1 , . { r n t ( ,( t h c n T a i ne n g i n r ) k e e p i n g it fronl r r i , . j i -r rc t l v " [ - J s g1 . 1 1 1 1 1 ' I o ;'r1 r ' ; , 1 f l51,y swineing too far. Afte_-r covering tl-re

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'U formed by the wing dam meeting shore, work toward the middle of the dam. Then retie the anchor rope to the port cleat and slide out toward the deep end of the dam. "I fincast the face of the wing dam. The more aggressivefish hit cranks, but I have rods rigged with jigs, too. On that L-corner near shore, I start with l/8- to 1/4-ouncejigs. I make the first cast at a 4S-degree angle to the spot where the wing dam meets shore.Current washes it down into that slack-water cup, the vertical eddy where most walleyes sit. That's the sweet spot. Wttrking o u t i n t o d e e p e ra n d s w i f t e r w a t e r , jig. Change I switch to a 3/8-or-rnce whenever your jig blows out in tl-re cnrrcnt and yclu cnn't find bottom." Skarlis helped dcsign the L i n d y X - C l - r a r r g eJ i g t o f a c i l i t a t e quick changesin weight ancl color. "X-Change Jigs allow changing heads and colors without retying," "Tlre s y s t e mr e a l l y w o r k s he says. w e l l i n r i v e r s ,w l t t ' r ev a r i , t t r c t t' sr r d e r p t ha n d c u r r e n t f o r c e s o m a n y

"But whenever conditions allow, I use the 3-way. I tip the lig with a 4-inch Kalin Grub or Berkley Powe r B a i t R i p p l e S h a d d r e s s e dw i t h a leechor a crawler." "I Lahr molds his own jigs. pour mine with 4/0 and 5/0 hooks," he "That way I can slide on a plassays. tic body on and l'raveroom for a leech or a crcrwler.If I'm fishing a shad bodv I pr-rta leech on it. I use half a crawler lvith a plastic grub. In cold water I don't bother with bait-just plastics.As the water go witli prlair.r warms I like thirrgsto move more, , ' , : ,. , a : 1 , ' , R i g s h e r v ea p l a c e r ,e s p e c i a l l y livebait bccomesessential." Rathertl'rana 3-way swivel, l-ahr when they coverrtwc'rclcpths ar.rd options at L l s e sa rs l i d i n g t w o - s w i v e l s e t u p . two potential presentatic-xr allow the sametime. Lahr usesa modified Iowa, lllir.rois,and Wiscc'rnsin l)ubuque rig, with a jig at the bottorn fishing tr,r,oltrrespcr rod, so he uses of tr 3-way rig to take a bait down, Dubr.rquerigs in i,r'artnwater,switchgiving walleyes two choices.Whcn i n g t o F l o a t r n g R a p a l a si n c o l d e r snagsare a problermhe switches to water.He savstl'rcsticklraitbite dies l i r r e b ; r i to n a r i s a n c i r o r e d w i t h a a t a b o u t 6 2 " F .L. i v e r b a iot t r a N o r t h l a n c lP h e l p sF l o a t er i s h i s c l r o i c ci n Lincly No-SnaggSinker. "l ht' u s e l / 2 - o r 3 / 4 - o u n c e N o - warmerwatel. ln lr'.rllvlon'r,r'rrter, Snaggsto pre'sentleechesanclcrawl- usesa plain #2ttt #?/t)\/ N4C()ckrptrs e r s o n f l o a t i n g j i g h e a r i s , "h e rs t r y s . hook. No beadsor other arttractors.

changesthroughout the day. "l don't worry about fish see"I ing the line," he says. use bright green 8- to 10-pound Fireline or Spiderwire Stealth tied right to the jig. Fish are making snap decisions as current sweeps things past. I step up to 14- or 20-pound where I'm losing a lot of jigs. The best cadenceis to lift-drop and follow tlre jig back as current takes it. That allows you to sweep jigs acrossthe face,often over a 3O-footarea."

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8 feet,"he says."If l'mfishing wing dams in skinny water I get rid of the floater. I like to use 10- to 1S-pound Spiderwire Stealthfor malnline when rigging, with 12-pound Trilene XT for droppers and leaders.In high water, use a longer leader. In low water you have better boat control so you can lighten the jig and shorten the leader." Skarlis uses a livebait ris on a deadstickaround lr ing dams. "A plain Lindy rig lvith lir.ebait works as well as anything," he savs."I use the same 14-to 20-pound braids for mainline, and a 2-fooi leader tied with 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon becauseof the lebra mussels.Typically, I'm working u'ith a 3/-l-or,rnce Lindy sinker. "No finesse; it's ail offense..I tip with a leech,a creek chub, a redtail, a nightcrawler, or a willon' cat (the deadliestlivebait of ali). I'm fishing another line at the sametime, so I put something big on a size#2or size #.1 Daichi Octopushook. Add beadsor floats to suit your fancy.I usr-rallvjust go with a plain red hook. "Pitch the rig straight behind the boat to the faceof the wing dam, put it in the rod holder so the rod's oointing out toward mid river to keep it out of your way while fishing shallow. Then point it the other way when you switch to fishing deep."

ParadigmBenders Lahr often uses a unique a tandem rig consisting of two Floating

Rapalason the same line. The rig is mostly trolled, but at times he also castswith it, using a 36-volt trolling motor to position the boat. "I like Lahr: mono leaders because it's easier to tie lures on. Next, I work the wiggle of a Rapala by varying knot placement on the nose eye. When it's cold, I like the plugs to just shiver, so I tie an improved clinch knot and cinch it up tight dead center on the nose.To get a slightly wider wobble, move the knot up just slightly. For a wide, rolling

wobble, move the knot up even a little more. "The first Rapala is tied on a S-foot leader. Then I tie a 3-foot leader to the back eye of the first Rapala and add a smaller Rapala in that position. In fall I run a #13in front with a #1! or #9 as a tailgunner. In spring I use smaller lures; often a #11un front followed bv a #9 or a#7.I mighi experiment with leader length to seewhat the fish want, but mainly I'm working with the wobble of the lure. You must reposition the knot

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it, it tells you they almost no action, so at that poiht make sure that back bait isn't wobbling much by adjusting knot placement. When they're hitting the tailgunner, they're telling you they want more action." The weight of the rig is critical, so Lahr uses pencil weights, trimming them to the perfect weight. The rig needs to be just heavy enough to maintain bottom contact while swimming the jig or Rapala rig. You don't want it to drag or blow out.

)Wing Tools

hooks," he says. "If you can'tmove the bait on the hook-set, you're toast." He prefers casting reels with a flippin' switch so he can let out line and lock it back up with one hand. He uses the same rods and reels to present his tandem stick'double-dipala" bait or rig. Since the Rapala setup is a coldwater application, he believes scentis critical and applies Kickin' Walleye to his lures. He uses his kicker motor to neutralize the current, setting the

curient with the wing dam behind him. 'At this point I'm three boat lengths from the dam in high water and right over the top of it in low watet," he says. "In an upstream wind, you see the turbulence line where the water is diverted upward by the dam. That's the best wind for wing dams. It slows the river down and you get distinctive boils that make it easy to identify the hot spots. I have my sonars linked, so

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the transducer in the back is feeding units front and back. "Pitch smaller jigs and cranks when the water gets really low. With the boat right on the end of the dam, cast perpendicular to the bank and retrieve right dolvn the slot. I use d e e p d i v e r s ,c r a n k i n g t h e m d o r , r ' n until I hit rock, pause,and let it float up. Walleyesoften tr r, to pin .1.-t'..rlp against the rock. "I use B a n d i t sa n c lt l r t ,l l o r t r b c r Fat As-lures r.utrstanglt'rsthirrk of a s ' b a s sc r a n k s . '\ 1 L r : t. r n g i c r sn s e s h a d - s h a p e dc r an k r . 1 r 1 1d l l e y g 5 d o n ' ts e et o r rl l , r t r r l ; . r r . .tj. , r r l r i c h w o b b l e b i e a n t l J i r L '. 1 r ' r , 1q.L r i c k .I c a n s t u t t e r - s t e 1, r. 1 1 , , ' , 4 r, , i i i c j c n t l y

least be .ln-Fisherman FieldEditorMatt Straw has morethantwo decadesof experience workingon In-Fisherman projects, including TV.

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S k i l r l i sen r ; r l 1 r: 1C r ' . lkr ' ( ) n \ \ ' r 1 1 g d a m s , t t l o , 1 - r 1i .''ft , j' r r g t i r r , I i n t l 1 , S h a d l i r r igr rr l r r . l. - l i , , 1 . 1...1 ,. , 1 - s p i u g s w o r k t o o . 1 - r1, 11 1 . , . , 1 , rt1l r1t 'r. . , \ , oA,arrd 7 A .T l r t ' i (1, . . 'l .r . , . . - 1 , , , ' p . C r a w f i s h w o r k s . t f t h r , r i r , i ' l r , rr , n d o f t h e w i n g d a n ' r .! \ i h c n t l r , . . ,i.i r . l ' s b l o w i n g u p s t r e a n r , i t ; . . t . 1 . , -- , , , , , - , a g a i n s tt h e b a c k o f t h c r r i r . t , j . t n r a n c lc r e a t e a s n a g g r e s s i v t , b r tT t ,1. . , t:t w h e n c r . r r r k sr c . a l l r s, ,i t i n t , \ \ l r . , n r v i r r , l ' l:) l \ r \ \ ' l t S r r P r i \ ' ( .\r\' l r ' * , : . r i l aiwaysseer.rr to hold fish. "I t t s e t l - r es a m e t . t c l .l r. , i r r r c r a n k s , " S k a r l i s s a v s ." \ i r L r t l r , r rt n e e d a l o t o f l i n e c a p a c i t r ,s, o s n r . lrl reelsare good. The 30-sizePf1r-rcgt,r President and the Abu Clarciaijt)l are two of my favorites on a 7-foot medium-power St. Croix rod. Ii you're going to err, do it orr tht: heavy side. In current, you have a bow in the line, even with superline. You need power to set hooks. Most of the time you get a goliath thump-they just stop it. Other times you have to sensewhen something happens, even with cranks." Successon wing dams is all about reading current correctly. In addition to the tips already offered, Lahr instructs to look for notches in the dams. Ice flows often rip holes or gouge the top of dams and the fish hold in the slower water right along side a the chute. No surprise, catching walleyes on in these situations is all about details in location and presentation. Add patienceto the mii. Skarlis:'At

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