Talk to me about wing dams on the upper mississippi. Are they typically submerged? .
Are they visible at all? D Can you spot hem by eddys or ripples? Thanks

Agent J,
You are going to need to get yourself some good maps. If you are going to be on the Mississippi.... you will need to know where the wing dams are. They are typically marked with navigation buoys, but not always. Most of the time they are fully submerged and cannot be seen. In the late summer or when the water is down you can sometimes spot them by the current flow. If you stick to the main channel and follow the nav buoys you will be fine.

Check out this link to the Army Corp of Engineers where you can download some upper Mississippi maps:
http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil.../mrcharts.cfm?index=1


Oh and BTW.... The wing dams make great habitat for walleye and other species. I frequently fish the wing dams near Hastings, MN & Prescott, WI in my fishing boat.

Hope this helps.
Dave

Okay, I am a lake-lubber

What is a wing dam?

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Will change my name to Casting Away

The Army Corp of Engineers uses Wing Dams on the Mississippi to divert current into the main channel to keep the water levels deep enough for commercial barge traffic. The wing dams are basically large rock piles the stick out into the river channel.

They can be somewhat scarry because the are submerged. You could easily take out a lower unit or props if you were to hit one.

Thanks,
Dave

Yup, I have the corps maps, and that why I am curious. There are hundreds of the dams marked on the maps, but when I look on google earth or live search there doesn't appear to be any sign of them. A lot of that imagery is taken in the spring though, so the water is at it's deepest.  Still they don't seem to generate any rapids or even eddys that I can see.

AJ - That's what makes wing dams scary. They are **NOT** all marked with navigational buoys and frequently they do not display any noticeable current changes at all.

I run a Garmin "XOG" GPS unit on my boat with a lakemaster MN map chip that does a decent job of marking the location of the wing dams.

Thanks,
Dave

Aj - Another thing to watch out for is closing dams (very similar to wing dams). These are used to block the flow/current between the main channel and the backwaters or side channels. Closing dams span across the entire length of an opening. Be especially carefull when checking out islands or back channel waters.

Hope this helps.
Dave

Well done, Dave.

-------------------------
Ken Paulson
1996 44' Gibson Std.
twin 350 crusaders
Upper Mississippi

I can attest to that. While bringing my boat back from LBL in 2005 we pulled into Golconda Ill. and they had a new 55 Gibson with 2 divers working on replacing both struts, shafts, props, and 1 rudder. The Gibson had come down the Cumberland 2 days earlier and rather than going down River below the island at the mouth to the Ohio he ran the backside upriver to save about 5 miles of travel, and paid dearly for not have a chart book.

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UC FANS
1999, 52' Monticello - Miller Tyme
Port of Aurora IN

Chapmans advises approaching backwaters with caution from downstream. I have good charts, but I think it might take a while to really get to know a particular stretch of the river. You gotta start somewhere I guess.

Having grown up around the river, I can spot most (but not all wing dams) by changes in the surface of the water on a calm day. I've tried to show my wife what to watch for many times, but she doesn't see near what I can find. As a general rule, looking for straight lines in the water (typically 10 to 20 feet wide) that stretch in excess of 100 yards is a dead ringer for a submerged wing dam.

Now the confusing part. Just because you know they are there, doesn't mean a whole lot. Many wing dams will have a "break" or "access point" through which you can travel to reach sloughs or backwater areas. I've never seen anything official that tells where these "breaks" are. They are mainly found though watching "locals" traverse these lines in the water. You are safest to avoid them all together, but if you are like me, you'll find some reason you "need" to get to the other side (less wake, etc). I sit back on a busy day and watch multiple other boats pass through the area. Once I think I know what to do, I wait to see at least one boat that draws at least as much as I do then slowly and carefully duplicate what the others have done. So far, I haven't had any problems. Again you are safest to avoid these whenever possible.

Now to make things even more complicated. Just because to passed over a wing dam last week, or went through a "break" doesn't mean you can do it safely again this week if the water level has changed. During very low water, I've seen multiple wing dams that actually rise above the surface of the river by several feet. During high water, I've seen water get very swift and unpredictable near these "breaks".

Wing dams are typically "owned" by the Corps or Engineers and they are responsible for marking those hazards. Remember they are with the government and are hear to help you You'll "sometimes" see channel markers that are positioned at the end of wing dams, but don't rely just on this.

T.W.S. - Great post.....That's really good info about wing dams. You definitely need to pay them respect

Additionally, watch for the fishing boats.... they can help you identify the wing/closing dams. They will frequently be found anchored upstream from wing/closing dams to fish the structure (They are a great place to pitch jigs/crankbaits).

I always like to do a little "reconnaissance mission" in my fishing boat before heading out into the unknown back waters. These dams scare the hell out of me and I definetely don't want to get hung up on one.

Thanks,
Dave

Thanks for the replies!