Catfish Fly Fishing

[esox niger]

The water clarity is variable...the longer the missouri river has been falling the better the clarity...the other day it was about max 2 ft...yesterday the water began to rise and clarity went to ? 6" probably....with the cloudy water and rising water cats have typicly been off for me but there is some kind of fish feeding surface that i cant get a bead on...at first i thought they were gar but they look more like salmon ie Carp...but not common carp i believe ive seen some buffalo rising but im seeing more dark back with silvery sides....and no large scales wich leaves me with big asian carp...but there hitting the surface and leaving big circular boils....maybe they are mating...but im under the impression they are feeding minnows however, I tried a deciever and a deer hair floating minnow and nothing at all. if anyone has any ideas about those fish...they appear to be quite large and very powerful. id be interested to find out what those are.

to be honest I dont know what affect the mudy water has but id say its better when it clears up a little after 4-5 days of falling water levels...if the bait guys are doing well on the flats id say you could do just as well. like i said I believe the heavy fly smaking the water is going to get the fishes attention especialy in the flats or near log jams. im willing to bet that even in pitch blackness a nearby fish can find your fly and attack it. i usualy use foot long strips finished with a thumb pop ( i strip the line with my thumb on the line closest to the rod and when i finish the strip i twist my rist downward which finishes the strip quiker than it began... probably needless bull...point being move some water with the fly. if the fish are feeding you should be on. thats my guess.

[ksbass]

You might try a floating mulberry fly or something like that for your mystery fish. I just posted in the carp section about our luck with mulberry flies for carp. Even without a tree dropping berries they are very interested in them. They know a good thing when they see it.

troy

[drew03cmc]

Esox, that sounds like bighead carp. If and when hooked, watch out for your reel handle. It will draw blood from your knuckles. On another note, I saw a black buffalo jump two feet out of the water the other day, not five feet from where my fly was, but, lo and behold, it didn't hit. Darn it.

The thing about catfish disappearing makes me laugh. To consistently catch them, you have to find their hidey holes and fish it near the bottom, not on the bottom as channels and blues are NOT bottom feeders by nature. If you fish an olive, brown or tan leech pattern from 3-5" long, you will catch fish. Also, in deeper flowing water, learn to read the water and use a sink tip or sinking line (Type IV Rio 15' DC or Teeny T-series, sized for your rod) will get your flies down in the runs the fish are in. Enjoy!

[esox niger]

yeah i think they were bigheads , what were they eating...seemed like minnows but there was some cotton seed too. I sure didnt see any minnows but there were some weird little we waves like a schools of them... ive head about the deciever asian deal at Rend lake, i tried a deciever no luck. would they aggressively boil and hit the surface for cotton seed? looks like i have some experimenting to do with them, even though i dont like them already...id like to catch them.

oh yeah, the water report for the missouri this week was 65deg lets say 68 max in the backwater... peak spawn is 81 degrees ...so ive got some time before they leave, if they leave, probably if it gets uncomfortably hot or shallow. the lakes only about 2' shallower than the river though. we'll see what happens.

i dont like fishing deep so i hope i dont have to, but i may...id prefer to find them morning and night shallow water hunting.

[drew03cmc]

It takes a lot of heat to heat up something like the Missouri. I could see you chasing these cats into July and mid August in your backwater slough. As for the bighead carp, you may well catch them on woollies, Clousers, leech patterns, cottonwood seeds, etc. They are very opportunistic, and we can catch them in the high water every spring here on the local water.

[esox niger]

I havent caught many fish since that approximtely 28 inch fish a few weeks ago...as a note to anyone interested, it had been lightly raining that day about an hour and a half to two hours and i saw multiple large fish cruising. id heard they like the oxygenation from the rain..might be. to all you guys who said it was a spawning phenomenon catching so many cats I think you may have been right. despite the mdc's fishing report giving the missouri river temp at 65 a couple of weeks ago the backwater ive been fishing is now at 89 degrees...well above peak spawn...we will have to see what happens, the water has been so high its up into the tree line and id bet most active feeding fish are back in it. On a positive note I had some good luck night fishing the past couple of knight towards the uper reaches of st. louis' largest oxbow lake . catching gar, which i dont realy care to catch especialy after i had one thrash my pinky. funny thing is as i was reaching towards the thing i was asking myself "how much damage can a gar do" well...plenty. aside from the gar got a 20 inch cat the first knight and a pair of 22-23 inch fish last knight plus a nice 18 inch large mouth and a 23-24inch drum. Ive tried a version of the ddh leach, which i tie like a wooly bugger but using a dark piece of estez and a piece of dark chenile spun together to make the body, however I feel like its not nearly as productive for the cats as the white rabitt strip with yellow estez body and lead eyes. Id realy like to try fishing below alton dam one night or early morning. I felt like a bit of a spectalce out there the last time being the only flyfisher these guys had probably ever seen. maybe it wont be as crowded late at night or early morning.

[fishinwrench]

Well I'll give ya credit for stickin with'em.

I assume that when the river is rising or falling that there is a bit of current at the outlet of that backwater slough. I haven't seen the area (obviously) but I have a mental picture of what I think you have there, and I'm thinking if you concentrate on the flooded wood cover that is close to the outlet, where there is a bit of current, and keying on shade, you'd be in the best position possible to get lucky. How deep would you say it is at the channel of the outlet ? and how wide? any rocks...or just mudbanks?

[esox niger]

Well I'll give ya credit for stickin with'em.

I assume that when the river is rising or falling that there is a bit of current at the outlet of that backwater slough. I haven't seen the area (obviously) but I have a mental picture of what I think you have there, and I'm thinking if you concentrate on the flooded wood cover that is close to the outlet, where there is a bit of current, and keying on shade, you'd be in the best position possible to get lucky. How deep would you say it is at the channel of the outlet ? and how wide? any rocks...or just mudbanks?

Thanks fishwrench, Ive read that on falling water bait fish wish get packed into that area...ive had some luck there...I always give that area some pressure but its never been spectacular. you are correct ...lots of wood debris in that area...only occasional fish found there and the water is typiclly anywhere from 8-16 feet deep while the opening is 15-20 ft across, no rocks just mud and overhanging trees...impossible to fish the channel itself. ive seen and hooked into the bigest fish at the far end of the lake in a large flooded shallow and in other areas of the lake near two beaver tree piles which likely have tunnels or something under them, they dont look like lodges. this little lake is a bit of a trek for me to get to but i love fishing there...im going to try getting out there very early like 5:00am or between 9pm and midnight, should be fun kayak fishing at night, but im ready for the challenge. right now im keying in of upper Creve couer lake where the creek enters. litteraly right below creve couer mill rd bridge. its close to home and promising...if some of the debris would just clear...the water is low now but the area is strewn with large bolders and cuts...would be awesome in higher water if it even gets that high. if you try to fish there i virtualy guarantee your going to fall on your face or your butt. very trecherous conditions definitely have a wading saff of some sort. Im interested in the meramec river too. id like to find some good spots to wade fish there for early morning and night fishing. right above the 141 bridge is the only spot I know of...and maybe simpson lake outlet area. also the outlet of creve couer lake might be good especialy on falling lake levels...but i think night fishing there is off limits.

[fishinwrench]

Sounds plenty deep enough to hold fish all Summer. Is anyone else putting pressure on it or have you had it all to yourself ?

Also sounds like a good spot to get a mess of FROGLEGS !

[esox niger]

Sounds plenty deep enough to hold fish all Summer. Is anyone else putting pressure on it or have you had it all to yourself ?

Also sounds like a good spot to get a mess of FROGLEGS !

it gets deeper than that...that areas a good 5-8 ft shallower than the majority of the lake. Ive seen one boat come in once, im sure some guys go back there but mostly theyre up that "creek"

(large lake arm when the waters up like this) mainly to catch bait then there out to the river. you live in stl? and yeah therse a couple frogs around. not too long ago i saw one bouncing around in the woods and then splash into the water...make a huge wake as he swam out to the log raft then hop up onto a log and watch me. it was creepy and cool at the same time. maybe it all had nothing to do with me but id like to think it did.