blues and flatheads

[Rockin' Blues]

Can anyone tell me of some good spots around St.Louis to catch Blues and or Fllats,I mainly drift fish but can adjust.Also baits used on these spots. Thanks

[bluecatnut]

when i use to fish the mighty mis up their by dupo we would just drift over the flats the slope in to semi deep holes or fish around any structure that you can find and believe me their is alot of structure ib that part of the river i hope this helped

[Rockin' Blues]

Thanks Dusty,any bait suggestions,and how'd you get em?

[slimcat]

Roneshe, about the best bait on the mighty mississippi would have to be skipjack herring. They flat out just work. We catch blues AND flats on skipjack heads and gutpockets, throw the rest away. You can catch them around dikes with sabiki rigs or curly tail jigs.

[NANNER]

ronesche, I fish the river just south of Saint Louis, and I do well in and around the wing dykes that jut out into the river. My best fish come off of the shorter walls, that are located on the inside and outside bends of the main channel. I fish primarily with Shad which I get in my cast net. I catch alot on Live ones, but sometimes FRESH cut shad gets the nod. I havnt had any luck at all with bait that is old. They really want the fresh stuff. In the summers, I use extremely large baits, (some as large as a pound or two), and I scale way down during cool water conditions. (less than 70 degrees). If you are not having luck finding shad this time of year, try and get your hands on the asian big eye carps that like to jump behind the wing dykes. I simply trim my boat motor way up, and driver in circles behind the dykes until one jumps in the boat. This is rather unorthodox, and can lead to bumps, bruises and busted tackle, but it puts bait in the boat in rather short order. Try fishing the deep holes off of the dyke tips, in at least 40 feet of water this time of year for schooling fish. As well, you can find fish on the rock revetments on the main channel. Hope I have helped a little, and best of luck fishing to you. :cool:

[fishingbuddy4]

jet driver do you fish with live asain carp or use them as cut bait

[NANNER]

Good question Buddy. I have tried using the small carps as live bait, and they wont touch them. I have great results on the Big Blues using large cut pieces of the asian carp. They have a really bloody meat, and the texture is tough, so its not easy to get the pieces off. I usually filet the big eyes just like you would any fish, but leave the skin on. I then will cut cross sections of the filet giving you a piece of bait roughly 6 inches long and 3 inches wide or so. I take my circle hook and run it through the very end of the piece, and I only run the hook through once. This serves two purposes. 1st, it allows the cut bait to "swim" in the current for better scent dispersion, and 2nd, it allows for a nice clean hook penetration when a fish hits. This is important, because if you ball the bait up, you wont get a good hook set and will lose alot of fish. I have found lately that the blues seem to be prefering the cut big eyes (asians) more so than the shad. You will get an occasional flat head on the cut carp, but for the most part they wont touch it. I fish primarily for the big blues so I cant help you a whole lot with the Flats, other than to say I catch quite a few on live shad. Hope I've helped. Give those asians an honest go. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Good Luck Fishin! :cool:

[catfishcentral]

"If you are not having luck finding shad this time of year, try and get your hands on the asian big eye carps that like to jump behind the wing dykes. I simply trim my boat motor way up, and driver in circles behind the dykes until one jumps in the boat."

Now that's one way I never heard to catch bait. LOL :eek: :eek: Do you bring a trash can lid with you to block those body shots?

[NANNER]

Thats funny you say that Chris, as I have been hit twice by these fish. In all seriousnous, you do have to be careful. The last one that hit me left a deep thigh bruise that took 2 weeks to heal up. I figure the pain is worth the bait. HaHa. Its best if you have two people, that way you can watch each others back. As you know, some of those fish can leap out of the water 10 feet or so, and weigh upwards of 30 pounds. Aside from a couple of bruises, and some busted eyelets on my rods, I've managed to stay pretty healthy with my bait catching endeavors. When you trim your motor way up out of the water like that and drive in circles, it really wigs those carp out and they start jumping like crazy. Within two laps, I usually have one in the boat. If you ever get desperate for some bait, give it a try. Ya might want to bring a helmet though. LOL :rolleyes:

[catfishcentral]

I don't believe we have any bighead carp yet in Oklahoma. I've never seen or heard of them here anyway. I'm sure though they will be making there way up the Arkanas River here before too long. When they do I'll be sure try your idea and pack a trash can lid. :p

[crazy]

There a pain in the ass when you go to load the boat up sometimes. They really do make good summer bait though. It's what all of are big fish came off of this summer. If you can't get them to land in the boat thats when I just bust out my cast net.

[Hannibal Mike]

Many people suggest fishing the end of wing dikes, but the current is really fast on the missi in my area off the tips. Part of the current breaks off and runs along the top of the dike toward shore while a bit further from shore the current increases and continues down stream. In our area the tips offer holes about 30 -35 feet. So, what anchoring techniques do you use? Also, some of the wing dikes have a riprap tail that goes downstream. When the river is very high and rushing over the dike it cuts a deep hole inside this "L" shaped dike away from the current. What do you think about fishing this inside area (when the river normalizes) behind the exposed dike. There is open water below the downstream tail on the wing dike. I have use one anchor off the bow and 2 to go sideways in the current, but it is a bit tough. If I anchor 40 yards above the tip and feed the line out, I need to use really large sinkers (6 - 8 oz). Along the face of the dike I can use smaller sinkers, but the water is shallower. Hannibal Mike

[NANNER]

Those are great questions Mike. We too have super fast water conditions off of those dyke tips. Dont neglect them. When the fish are actively feeding they will cruise the transition area between that fast current, and the ebbing slack current coming from behind the dyke. I like to cast 30-40 yards downstream from the dyke tip along the current rip. I really think a long cast from the tips is necessary to find those big fish. Next time your out, use your boat electronics and cruise around the area 20-100 yards off of those tips and youll notice a large dip, followed by a quickly rising hump, followed by another dip, which is caused by the current. The shad will school up around this hump, which in turn attracts the catfish when they are aggressively feeding. As far as the holes created by the dyke washouts, I dont have much luck fishing the deep holes right at the washout. (some are 50 feet deep). HOwever I do catch alot of fish immediately adjacent to these washouts. I try and postion my bait in 10-20 feet of water, on the slope down to the hole. Ive found the fish like to school up on these slopes and ambush the baitfish that swim next to the dyke tips. Dont be afraid to try different things. Its sucks sometimes to not get bites trying something new, but when you find a hot new trend, it makes it all worth it.Even with our extremely fast water conditions, I'm only using 2 ounces of weight. I like my bait to ride up in the water column a little. This has worked best for me. I hope I've helped a little. Best Of Luck to you. Maybe we can fish sometime. :cool: