Winter Time Tie Sessions Baitfish Central

[esox niger]

just some stuff ive been working on...thought i was going to do some blue cat fishing beneath the alton dam...12 deg farenheit is too cold! made about 12 casts and guides were clogged and fly was ice. even holding the rod in the water did nothing to reduce ice buildup, my hand was going to freeze in 10 more min anyway, called it a day...lots of new flies though, check em out.

[esox niger]

the rest of em

[esox niger]

and more

[zsmith62]

Dang man, you've been busy - wish I had that kinda time... The look great, keep up the work...

[ekl-stl]

Those look great for the big river.. The blues should be at Alton now.. Just needs to warm up enough to tolerate it.. Let me know how you do.. I may be over that way and by Chain of Rocks this weekend.

[esox niger]

Those look great for the big river.. The blues should be at Alton now.. Just needs to warm up enough to tolerate it.. Let me know how you do.. I may be over that way and by Chain of Rocks this weekend.

looks like first day above freezing is going to be monday and then the rest of the week. dont know when i will make it out there again, but there should be plenty of opportunities the rest of winter. do u know anyting about labadie or other warmwater discharges? (i need foot acess. say withing 1/2 mile hike).

and whats that your holding in your pic...buffalo?

if you do go this weekend let me know how it goes.

[ekl-stl]

Yeah, that is a buff from the LOZ this past summer.. Caught it on a clouser on the 2wt.. took forever to land..

Foot access.. I am not familiar with many warm water by foot around here.. Alton dam, Chain of Rocks.. Check the fishing piers at Columbia Bottoms.. They catch cats from there and the wing dams that touch the land around it.. Also, check Dresser Island and the coal plant has a warm water discharge.. It is a long walk though.. Not sure if you can even get to the open water by foot.

[Gavin]

Good luck...took a road trip up to Pere Marquette for some eagle peeping on Sunday...lots of ice above Alton..

Flies look great BTW...

[esox niger]

Yeah, that is a buff from the LOZ this past summer.. Caught it on a clouser on the 2wt.. took forever to land..

Foot access.. I am not familiar with many warm water by foot around here.. Alton dam, Chain of Rocks.. Check the fishing piers at Columbia Bottoms.. They catch cats from there and the wing dams that touch the land around it.. Also, check Dresser Island and the coal plant has a warm water discharge.. It is a long walk though.. Not sure if you can even get to the open water by foot.

I think thats a UE plant there. i was actualy just looking at dresser island on yahoo maps and noticed the powerplant. scketchy walk! i can get a kayak out there and then drag it over whatever that is in the satelite image (rock wall/leve/dyke?) and get to the discharge. either way an adventure for some distant later date when the ice clears.

i got a couple hours in below the dam yesterday. snagged two bigheads on the upermost il side and thats all to tell. went back to the missouri side...fished half and hour and split...water was down around 7 ft on the gage. better fished with boat if you could even get out there. il side choked with ice except extreme upper section, muddy... firm mud in most places but up by the water you might go to your mid thigh in mud if surface layer mud ice breaks. i speak from experience.

all in all pretty dangerous conditions on both sides of the water. thanks for the heads up on dresser. 2wt? reminds me of my first grass carp which i hooked on a 3 wt. nice fish.

[ekl-stl]

Where did you go on the IL side? Not familiar with the other side being fishable..

I plan to take the kayak out to dresser this spring.. I would imagine the warm water discharge would be good fishing as soon as the ice clears.