any of you fish dams?

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Feb 10, 2013
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What type of fish? Where? Above or below the dam? Lures or natural bait?

I recently had a couple of hammer handle strikes just below the dam on Zumbro River in Rochester, MN using spinnerbaits.
 
How I fish depends on the dam and the species. Generally speaking right by the dam usually has deeper and cooler water, so it is a good spot to go after trout.
 
Yes I do. Can't tell you where or for what yet though. A lot of people are catching on to our honey hole and people even go getting the extra license to take the fish.

One thing I can tell you about dams is cameras are usually watching you for size and bag limits on different species.

I heard people lose all their fishing gear and had their car taken and received fines and either banned or suspended fishing. These people weren't physically caught either. They were on camera and probably got served a month after the incident.
 
Can you blame the Fish & Game for dong there job..? If you can afford to do the Crime you can do the "Time" with everything that goe's along with it.!
 
Can you blame the Fish & Game for dong there job..? If you can afford to do the Crime you can do the "Time" with everything that goe's along with it.!

The problem is every year there are so many regulations being changed. Measurements, weight, time of season is always constantly changing year by year and so many for different species. Specially here in FL.

That's why I was warned and informed about it. Most of the people getting screwed weren't trying to poach knowing what they were doing was wrong. Rather they never did enough research to even know. In this part of central FL they're are lots of illiterate people.
 
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Read the regs annually.
The problem is every year there are so many regulations being changed. Measurements, weight, time of season is always constantly changing year by year and so many for different species. Specially here in FL.

That's why I was warned and informed about it. Most of the people getting screwed weren't trying to poach knowing what they were doing was wrong. Rather they never did enough research to even know. In this part of central FL they're are lots of illiterate people.
 
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Read the regs annually.

I've even seen the laws change mid season because of a mistake in the system. The wardens were out in full force but we're informing people so only warnings unless you had already been informed and it turned into a catch and release type of year.

I've only fished dams a couple times. It was always after with natural bait (earthworms) and I caught a 2'6" carpe one of the times back when I was about 10. It was just as long as I was half my height at the time. Probably weighed 20lbs. I guess that's for another story though :D
 
Or if you live in central Florida, have someone from the rest of the country read the regs to you.

Hey its central FL home of the Rodman Dam the most useless dam in the nation with no purpose what so ever other then ruining terrestrial and aquatic habitat and blocking fish and wildlife movement.
 
I fish for warm water species (bass, blue gill, and crappie) on impounded water and for trout down stream from some of dams (tail water fisheries) in my area. I honestly don't pay a lot of attention to the "rules" other than the requirement of barbless hooks on some streams. Smoky Mt NP is a barbless hook place. I throw everything back that isn't "dead". If it means breaking the rules, I will toss back "dead" as well to not chance a violation.
 
I normally have good luck fishing the tailwater downstream of a damn using jigs and lures that imitate minnows that could have washed over or through the dam.
 
Pymatuning State Park, PA.

Some of the more unique sights include the dam, the Linesville “spillway,’’ the fish hatchery, and the two causeways across the lake . The spillway is perhaps one of the best known locations because the fish are so plentiful that the “ducks walk on the fishes’ backs” to compete for the food fed by the visitors.

Daily carp:eek: attack at Spillway. :D

135300d1188258376-spillway-pymatuning-reservoir-img_1951.jpg



Have only fished above and up to the dam.
Walleye and crappie heaven.
They do stock hatchery trout with the native browns below the dam and I've fished a tributary creek for trout and smallmouth.

DC
 
Is the dam you're fishing generate electricity ??? Or are the gates open for level control?? It makes a difference down stream of a dam. Fish calm water by current water. Fish around structure on the calm side of the structure.

For fishing the dam/ lake side if it's not restricted, bigger fish will hang in the thermocline. Fish structure around the dam, or the rock beds.
 
I used to often. I used to fish the snake river below palisades and American falls reservoir. After 9/11, around here, they made it so we couldn't get very close to the dams. It is fairly turbulent below these large dams so we used mostly heavy weights and nightcrawlers. Some people would use small flies with heavy weights. I really liked it because you could hook onto some dandies. There are several types of fish, but we would catch mostly trout in the turbulent water. Aw, the good old days!
 
They just open the gates for water level control, no electric generation.
The dam did break 40 yrs. ago and that's why we have smallmouth bass downstream of the dam.

No restrictions, and as far as the thermocline and sunken structures I've been fishing here for a while
and there are two large wrecks submerged above and on both sides of the dam.
Hot spots for the bigger fish. :thumbup:

DC
 
I catch lots of different species of fish below dams .Spinnerbaits work well. I use inexpensive ones because I let them sink and lose a lot . The H&H spinner works well and doesnt cost a lot .
 
I used to fish below Burt Dam in Newfane NY. The closer to the dam the more fish I caught. My preferred bait was Spikes (grubs or maggots)on a small black hair jig and ultra light tackle for trout medium for salmon. Fresh trout or salmon Egg sacks and skein worked as well. The further from the dam you walk the better the spikes worked for trout. The salmon are up there to spawn so eggs work best on them.
 
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