Dams and spillways are some of the most popular places to fish for walleye and sauger in rivers. While these areas won’t always produce the best results, you can typically expect to catch some fish near dams and spillways.
Spring and Fall are Best
The spring and fall runs up the river are predictable and on good waters, you can usually find plenty of walleye or sauger. These fish will move up the rivers to find a place to spawn and lots of fish will make it all the way up to a dam or spillway before they can’t go any further. These spots hold a lot of fish and attract a lot of anglers, so don’t plan on having these spots all to yourself in the spring and fall.
Fish the Current Breaks
Some of the better areas to fish along dams are current breaks. Some current breaks may be obvious, but others come from bottom structure. A sharp drop-off or underwater hump will form a current break downstream of the dam and walleye will hold in these areas. Walleye and sauger are known for actively feeding upstream of the current break as bait fish get pushed downstream. Most anglers think the better walleye bite comes downstream of the current break, which is true many times, but aggressive fish will often move out in front of the current break to feed quite often.
