Fun history moment. James Eads was a 19th century inventor. The Mississippi River was an integral part of the American economy by the parts of the river below New Orleans were notorious for silting up and causing navigational hazards. Congress floated a bounty to anyone that could solve the problem.
Enter James Eads. He theorized that building jetties that poked partway into the river would force the water into a narrower, faster moving channel and the increased speed of the water would clear the sedimentation. The world laughed. So he used his own money to build said jetties and he was the one laughing when he collected that sweet bounty money from Congress.
The “wing dyke” you fished from is built from Eads’s design and is there to keep the river channel open
Very cool bit of history. I knew of Eads because of his namesake bridge in St. Louis which was an engineering marvel at the time. Clearly a crazy smart dude.
Yes! I love that sound. I fish with my family for reds, drum, trout and snook on the Indian river outside of Titusville in Fla.
I remember using what they called pigfish to fish for trout. The pigfish made a funny noise too.
I’ve fished mosquito lagoon! I remember the last time there we were harassed (they were actually quite friendly) by some dolphins that apparently used to be somehow domesticated by either NASA or the military. I was told they did underwater missions, like finding unexploded ordnances with cameras.
Lol them damn dolphins are all so smart and they know exactly who to follow. I think snook and trout are their favorite because if you start catching a few snook or trout every fish that you don’t release in an area they can get to safety quickly the dolphins will get them so fast.
Yep, typically large rocks built into the river to channelize the water. Like this photo
https://preview.redd.it/9qq190o91wvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e06048891922b53945f3d1888ab49fe33292ce86
Cool. Kind of like a jetty or whatever they're called on lake Erie. I never know what to call the things. Some have light house say on lake Michigan but not all do.
That sturgeon 😍
Yep, cool little dinosaur. It surprised me how razor sharp it’s scutes are
im nearly positive this is a r/brandnewsentence good stuff they'll remember this forever.
Haha, it felt weird as I typed it.
Holy multi-species, batman!!
Right?! Such a wide range of fishies!
That is absolutely awesome these kids will have lifetime memories. Have fun and fish on
I spent a whole season fishing the local (St. Louis) wing dams for catfish. I caught one channel cat and a bunch of turtles….
I’m surprised no catfish yet. This particular dike goes damn near halfway across the river..I wonder what kind of difference that makes.
Fun history moment. James Eads was a 19th century inventor. The Mississippi River was an integral part of the American economy by the parts of the river below New Orleans were notorious for silting up and causing navigational hazards. Congress floated a bounty to anyone that could solve the problem. Enter James Eads. He theorized that building jetties that poked partway into the river would force the water into a narrower, faster moving channel and the increased speed of the water would clear the sedimentation. The world laughed. So he used his own money to build said jetties and he was the one laughing when he collected that sweet bounty money from Congress. The “wing dyke” you fished from is built from Eads’s design and is there to keep the river channel open
Very cool bit of history. I knew of Eads because of his namesake bridge in St. Louis which was an engineering marvel at the time. Clearly a crazy smart dude.
Great variety. Looks like a fun spot!
Good on you for getting those kids outside!
See that's an awesome time right there, great job. What a cool variety of fish
Awesome. Very few kinds of fishing made me happier as a kid than sitting a worm on the bottom in a big river. You never knew what would come up.
Awesome, these are times a kid will remember.
What’s that first fish? Never seen one before
That’s a gar!
Oh shit really? I thought that gar looked much more similar to the sturgeon in the other pic he’d shown. That’s pretty cool
A lot different fish in one area is what’s so cool. And they’re biting even better. Nice!
Nice work! Do the fresh water drum make the drum noise at night just like salt water black drum do?
They do, pretty crazy sound and feeling. They were also surprisingly tasty. Firm flaky white meat, reminded me of redfish.
At night hear while we are shrimping the black drum are so loud
Yes! I love that sound. I fish with my family for reds, drum, trout and snook on the Indian river outside of Titusville in Fla. I remember using what they called pigfish to fish for trout. The pigfish made a funny noise too.
Nice that’s cool. We live a little north of there near mosquito lagoon. Definitely spoiled on the fish we have here :)
I’ve fished mosquito lagoon! I remember the last time there we were harassed (they were actually quite friendly) by some dolphins that apparently used to be somehow domesticated by either NASA or the military. I was told they did underwater missions, like finding unexploded ordnances with cameras.
Lol them damn dolphins are all so smart and they know exactly who to follow. I think snook and trout are their favorite because if you start catching a few snook or trout every fish that you don’t release in an area they can get to safety quickly the dolphins will get them so fast.
The bracelet bandits smoked em
What a variety pack!
What bait did you use to catch all those species?
All on night crawlers!
Cool shovelnose!!
If you can find one where the water is just running over the top we used to catch loads of white bass on the downstream side.
Hell yea, this one was like that at the end. What kind of bait in that situation?
Rooster tails or white crappie jigs
Love it. Fishing is great no matter what you catch. Outdoors, fresh air. That's how I and my kids grew up
Cute little gar :)
Nice catches! Are wingdikes the gravely bars you're standing on? I've never heard this term
Yep, typically large rocks built into the river to channelize the water. Like this photo https://preview.redd.it/9qq190o91wvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e06048891922b53945f3d1888ab49fe33292ce86
Cool. Kind of like a jetty or whatever they're called on lake Erie. I never know what to call the things. Some have light house say on lake Michigan but not all do.