Newbie here - Best catfish locations for smithville lake?

[KingKAt35]

Hello fellow catmen. My name is tony and I hail from the Show me state. Just got into catfishin bout a year ago. I am currently upgrading my stuff and cant wait til the spring time. I aminly fish smithville Lake for bass and crappie but have never fished it for Cats. I would like to catch some blues but whatever I pull in I love it. So if any one can tell me where the best place is tp catch some cats at smithville lake I would appreciate it. Thanks

And have a great fishin spring.

[spoonfish]

Welcome to the BOC Tony!!!
Come on down to Truman. This May we are having a get together. Hope you will join us, should be a lot of fun. Heres the link where you can post at.
http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?p=99093&posted=1#post99093

[NANNER]

Welcome to the membership Tony. Cant help you much with Smithville, however there alot of folks on here who can get ya going in the right direction. Welcome aboard and Best Of Luck Fishin:thumbsup:

[BKS72]

I fished Smithville quite a bit this summer, but I sure couldn't say where the fish are. Never had much luck there. Cook is the guy for S'ville fishing info, he posts here quite a bit.

If you fish S'ville, you're not that far from some good MO river accesses.

Good luck!

Branden

[AC1108]

I'll have to agree with Stolib on Cook being the major informant when it comes to Smithville. If you have a boat, live fairly close to Smithville and like catching cats you should just head towards Farley and put in at Schimmel City so you can fish the Missouri. It's only a mile down the Platte before you get to the Mighty Mo. The best thing about fishing there is the lack of speed boats, skiers, and wave runners. The size of the fish you may pull out of there plus the adventures that the river holds make it a great trip. But, back to the subject. To be honest I have only caught two cats out of Smithville and one was in the spillway. It's a great lake by all means but I no idea where the cats are hiding up there. The gentleman at Burtons bait says that the W boat ramp is one of the best spots and according to the pictures he has in the shop I would say it's a fairly good area. If you ever feel like doing some cat searching up there just let me know. I'm always up for fishing rain, sleet, or shine.

[BKS72]

I wouldn't mind getting up in the north end of the lake in all that submerged timber in late spring when the flatheads are moving. I don't think that end gets fished as much and with all the wood in the water, there's surely some flatheads there.

[Willy]

I have done really well on the north end of Smithville up in the trees and it takes time to learn how to navigate around up there. Trick is to watch for flagged trees and such that the bassers have flagged the lanes with yellow tape and markers . Watch where the glass boats are runnin all out and you will get along fine. Just north of W ramp ya need to stay to the right if ya are runnin up the lake as there is a line of stumpsya have to navigate through. I fish in shallow water in the spring up there and when its up get real shallow. Watch for runnin fish in shallow water and when ya see torpedos takin off shut down and fan cast cut shad all around the boat and set for a half hour or so and see what happins. We were catchin good fish in water so shallow that when ya set the hook the fish were blowin up on the surface. Biggest fish I have caught was a 22lb blue in 4 foot of water. We have caught several limits of 3 to8 lb fish in a couple of hours at times.It takes a while sometimes to find the fish but when ya do just use common sense and dont blow them out by runnin through them or makin alot of noise. We have drift fish also and done well. Night time is a blast in the right places with some big fish caught on back to back hooksets,(anyone like 12lb channels) we learned how to catch them by employing some tactics that we use in Oklahoma in Feb. and March when we go to Kerr Lake to fish with a buddy there.Fish shallow in spring and use your head to find warmer water area,(sunlit banks that are out of the wind,mud flats that are 2 to 4 ft deep with trees mixed in.

[BKS72]

Thanks for the info, Willy. The first time I took my boat out, we put in at the Platte River ramp (free one) way up north. Didn't get too far, got nervous hearing all the wood hitting the boat. I need to get up there and scope out those flags your talking about as well as just find some routes through there.

[Willy]

Give me a shout some time and we can hook up and I will show ya what I know about the north end as I hate payin to launch a boat when you can run to the main lake in 15 to 20 min. if ya know how to do it.I am workin on gettin another boat this summer to get back in the game . Got banged up on the job a few years ago and just now gettin back to where I can afford a boat again, ow well thats life,get knocked down ,get up and go again.

[crazy]

Pay at smithville? I just go after dark. That said the north end of the lake looks good for fishing but after getting stuck on a tree for awhile I gave that up. I should probably go in the day light some day. As far as schimmel city make sure you stay the the left side of the bank when leaving the ramp do to a big rock pile. A lot of times it's just under the water so you can't see it. It's only about a 5 min. ride to the missouri river.

[cook]

Welcome aboard,Tony.I'm not as long winded as the others,I type way too slow.
First off,there is no "BEST"anything.There is the right time at the right place,or the right tool for the right job,etc....

Spring time.concentrate on the shallows for channel cats,I've caught them as early as feb.,in 2 feet of water,with eggs.
After heavy spring rains,anywhere water is dumping into the lake with a lot of current,mainly north end.
Summertime is time to chum for channels,or drift the main lake for blues.
Flats are a mystery for me except when they let water out of the dam after july.

Like anywhere,you have to move around and find them.What works one day may not the next.
Assasin and Icemanxxx should chime in also.

I'm all in for some navigation lessons on the north end,just got a cheap boat last fall,not real comfortable going out by myself till I get more experienced.

[Willy]

Give me a shout as I will play navigator if someone wants to haul me around,I live 40 miles away but its not no big deal for me to drive farther to go fishin.Ya need 2 good anchors to set up sometimes and also I have a couple drift socks also. Bait is not hard to get there as I have been gettin shad there for years,depending on water level ya can even go up the old river channel also.I am not afraid to show my fishin spots as its a public lake and I work at a place that handles soybeans in bulk so chum is not a problem. Just need advance notice of when as spring planting season will be my most busy time.

[KingKAt35]

Thanks for t he advice. I mostly bank and dock fish. I dont have a boat. Cant wait til I can afford one in 2024 when my youngest is off to college. :)

[crazy]

I might hit you up on that Willy. I don't mind one bit burning up some gas on a weekend or week night.

[paddle]

Cook is right about the right time and the right place. I have seen him in action. Pay attention to what he says, he catches more by accident than a lot of guys catch on purpose. -- paddle:0a17:

[fishhead]

Yeah,getup Early Follow Cook>

[cook]

Aw,shucks......caught 11 types of fish today off the beach in Fl.....couldn't tell you what half of them were...strange creatures

[crazy]

Sure rub it in go ahead. At least it was in the 50's here today cook. :)

[lakeith]

Sounds like you're havin' fun Cook. These last few weeks the fever is startin' to rise in me. Glad to see the Smithville thread is getting some action. I plan to do alot of boatin' there this yr. Hope to get together w/ a few of you guys and my old buddy Stolib.

[KingKAt35]

So where is the spillway or the dam located at on the lake.

[Icemanxxxv]

I've got a 22 foot pontoon I although its big I would sure like to get into the upper lake without taking too many lumps! Any advise on the lanes would be appreciated!

[Icemanxxxv]

So where is the spillway or the dam located at on the lake.
South end of the lake off DD.

[Willy]

Been thinkin on how the best way to get several people rounded up on a trip from one end of the lake to the other and I guess one of my biggest fears is me showing the way and someone trashin their boat on what I thought was a safe passage.You have to keep things in perspective as to how much the lake is up or down and where you are at in relation to the old river channel.I have hit more things at the lake than I ever have on the Mo River,but if you use common sense you can navigate pretty easy once ya know what to look for. I took a buddy one afternoon and he thought I was crazy runnin through the places I did but he was a converted bass nut and was used to runnin with a glass boat and followin the pack down there.In fact he got plum spooked after dark when we were north of W bridge and I was fishin some 4 ft flats for cats.We caught several fish up to 12lbs and then he wanted to move back to a main lake point and finish the night there,we caught fish but not near the fish we would of caught up north. Back to my thinking ,would several of you guys be intrested in a trip sometime this spring on meeting up and fishin on a weekend and if ya got a GPS you could plot a way from one end to the other with hazards marked also. I bought a detailed map of the lake from a guy in Kansas by the name of J. Baker and it shows alot of detail with GPS markings on it also. There is a lot of places I still have not looked at with catfish in mind but we have had alot of luck fishin in the places we have found so far and just have not needed to go exploring too far yet.Still want to drift the main lake but just have not done it for catfish although I have done it for walleye and know where they can be caught sometime.We could put in up at the free ramp and get bait there pretty easy also.

[Willy]

Finally got smart enough to put a picture up and the fish in my pic were caught up in the north end of Smithville lake in about 2 hours in 4ft of water or less during the day. Bout crapped my pants when I hooked the 1 blue in a stump field in shallow water, He came out of the water and stayed on top or I would of never had a chance of gettin him out of there. He weighed 22lbs and the rest of the fish were all solid 3 to 5lb fish.We have had some good trips up there and found that if the carp and buffalo are spawning the cats are eatin the eggs bigtime. Have not caught many fish deep but I am gonna work on that this year. We kinda fish the lake when the Mo river is messed up or if the river fish are not biting we can always catch fish at Smithville. One tip I will pass on when the crappie start to spawn fish for cats in the same places the crappie are at.