Blue cat fishing on Missouri

[4wanderingeyes]

So, what's your favorite bait for flats? We always use live suckers but I hear bluegill are the best bait...I never used them.

Fish story...
My wife had a flathead run one time with a live sucker for bait. She set the hook and briefly felt a fish on, then it got off.
She reeled in to check the 5" sucker bait and, lo and behold, there were now TWO 5" suckers on her hook, but one of them was half digested. We figure the cat swallowed her bait and when she set the hook, it just buried into another sucker that the cat was digesting and she yanked it out of the cats belly. True story.

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Tap, for me in mid summer heat I use bullheads, they live much longer, and are easy to keep alive. In early summer, and late summer when temps arent crazy, I like to use creek chubs, or suckers. In Minnesota, we cant use sunfish for bait, hell we cant even transport live bait unless it is in fresh clear water. MN, the land of over governed stupid laws.

 

[ksgobbler]

Ive caught more flatheads on nightcrawlers than any other bait. However I like green sunfish and bull heads. My brother and cousins use goldfish.

 

[H20fwler]

So, what's your favorite bait for flats? We always use live suckers but I hear bluegill are the best bait...I never used them.

Fish story...
My wife had a flathead run one time with a live sucker for bait. She set the hook and briefly felt a fish on, then it got off.
She reeled in to check the 5" sucker bait and, lo and behold, there were now TWO 5" suckers on her hook, but one of them was half digested. We figure the cat swallowed her bait and when she set the hook, it just buried into another sucker that the cat was digesting and she yanked it out of the cats belly. True story.

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We use live bluegills with their dorsal fins trimmed, on big circle hook through the back like a minnow and saltwater rods.
Our best to date is 42 pounds but the river we fish is known for 50-60 pound cats.

 

[ksgobbler]

 

[ksgobbler]

Daughter with her first all by herself fish. I had us spotlocked over a big school of whitebass. She was 4 in this picture

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Ok because of the floods, I am forced to make new plans. I am open for suggestions. I am open to almost anything at this point. If we can find cheap airfare, and a roof over our heads that won’t break the bank, I would even be open to some salt water fishing in the south east. Or some alligator gar fishing somewhere. We just want some big fish, and would prefer somewhere a little warmer then here in the northland.

As of right now my backup plan is to head to the Lake of the Woods, on the Rainy River for some sturgeon fishing. But we were hoping to go somewhere a bit warmer. Any help would be very appreciated!

 

[Someday isle]

Off of Howell Island conservation area in Chesterfield. Technically the Island is in St Charles but the access point is in St. Louis County. Bring bug spray. You can get access off of Centaur Chute. During high water though you can’t cross. Easy to get lost on the Island so be careful. Water can get rough and dangerous down there. Jordan can maybe share stories about that area too. There are a couple farms right by the river there too. Nice families but realize they’ve dealt with lots of trespassers over the years. There’s a nursery there too. If you stop and ask permission they may allow you acces to the river itself. We used to go down there as kids and even as a young adults. I bowhunted down there a few times but mostly we just fished. We’d fish off the dike and throw out trot lines overnight. If I had young kids with me I’d avoid the Island and try one of the farms or just fish near the access area.

The Katy trail runs right by there too. You could walk down the trail from the access area and find access through to the river in a couple spots without trespassing on private property to get to the river.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Off of Howell Island conservation area in Chesterfield. Technically the Island is in St Charles but the access point is in St. Louis County. Bring bug spray. You can get access off of Centaur Chute. During high water though you can’t cross. Easy to get lost on the Island so be careful. Water can get rough and dangerous down there. Jordan can maybe share stories about that area too. There are a couple farms right by the river there too. Nice families but realize they’ve dealt with lots of trespassers over the years. There’s a nursery there too. If you stop and ask permission they may allow you acces to the river itself. We used to go down there as kids and even as a young adults. I bowhunted down there a few times but mostly we just fished. We’d fish off the dike and throw out trot lines overnight. If I had young kids with me I’d avoid the Island and try one of the farms or just fish near the access area.

The Katy trail runs right by there too. You could walk down the trail from the access area and find access through to the river in a couple spots without trespassing on private property to get to the river.

I do have a boat, and if the rivers down there near St Louis are fishable in a week and a half, that was out plan, and we would like to stick to it. But if the rivers are not very fishable, then we would like to try a different place, preferably someplace warm with big fish, but I am not going to pull my boat, or drive to Florida, so we would be getting a charter of somesort.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Well my main plan, and back up plan have fallen through. My main plan was to fish the confluence in St Louis for blue cats, but because of the high water and floods, we decided to still keep it as an option, but come up with a different plan. We decided as a plan B we would go to Rainy River and fish sturgeon, well 2 of the bigger rivers that dump into the Rainy river opened up from ice and the water was filled with trees, ice, leaf litter, and it was rushing very fast. I have fished it before in these conditions, and while the fish will bite, it is hard to fish. So we decided a plan C, we booked a alligator gar fishing trip with Bubba Bedre. It has been a bucket list item that I have been wanting to do for many years. Being the trip is in just a few days we were thinking this would be a sure thing. Yesterday I hear a tornado ripped through within 25 miles of where we would be going, and I haven’t heard back if we are still a go. But assuming we are good to go, this should be a great time!

 

[Bill]

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Charman03]

James river in Virginia

 

[ksgobbler]

Sounds like you are bad luck.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

KS, I think you are right! A couple days before we got here there was tornados and a lot of rain. Then the night before we went we got about 3 inches of rain, and high winds, and a cold front that went through as we fished with passing showers. So no big fish for us, but we did get into some smaller ones. Today we are shark fishing in Galveston. Maybe our luck will change?

 

[John B]

Im in central MO. Most guys use cut-bait Asian Carp for the big blues around here. My old man has caught a few over 50 on jug lines in the last few years but he ins't too serious about it. Attached is one that was caught just up river from where he fishes.

 

[ksgobbler]

Uncle caught a potential new state record channel catfish last night. Officially weighed in at 38 lbs. They sent off dna since the anal fins were damaged.

 

[buckdeer1]

Almost allt he water is way high around here.What rig did you use for the gar?Any one watch carp hunters on outdoor channel,They have special rigs just for catching carp and I got lots of big carp.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Almost allt he water is way high around here.What rig did you use for the gar?Any one watch carp hunters on outdoor channel,They have special rigs just for catching carp and I got lots of big carp.

Basically a HD Penn rod and reel, with a 4-6 inch piece of cut carp on a treble hook.