Melvin price

[kaskas]

Hey Guys I got fishing fever!!!! anybody fishing below the dam yet? I was thinkin bout going tomorrow and was wondering about the river conditions wether high or low, Iusually put in onthe missouri side right below the dam. Last year that ramp didn't have water a couple times I showed up!!! Any information would be very helpful.. Thanks

[catman872]

what dam are you talking about?

[bearcat]

Hey KasKas. The water is low but not bad. River level as of 2/26 was 4.17 ft. I believe that is enough to put in at the dam. Other wise you could use the ramp at the Columbia river bottoms conservation area. It is just north of 270 right after you cross the bridge on the MO side of the river. It is a nice ramp. There you are only 1.5 mile from the miss river. Hope this helps.

[YeeHaw]

Yeah i've been fishing on by Meyer dam, we didn't catch anything yet but we will soon.

[jdog]

i'll be going to columbia bottoms tomorrow

[kaskas]

Hey bearcat, have you done any good there? I didn't even know that it existed. I hate pullin up to the ramp south of alton only to find out that the river is too low. Bout how far up stream of columbia bottoms is melvin price lock? Do you think its too early to find skipjack? Thanks Aaron

[Skunk Master]

There was alot of people fishing the chain o rocks today.. Didn't have time to stop and see how they were doing.. Wish I coulda got off work and joined them..:crying:

[bearcat]

Hey Arron. If you put in at the Columbia bottoms you will have to go down stream on the MO river until you get to the MISS river. It is about 1 and a half mile. Then it is about 2.5 mile back up stream on the MISS to the dam. At this time of the year I would suggest fishing the wing dams and outside river bends. I would guess the cats are still in the deeper holes. The water temp cant be more than the low 40's.

On the skip jacks I would say you are a little early yet. I would guess that by march 15 or 20 th you could start to get some. One place to try though is the power plant about half mile down from the dam. Cast some jigs in to the hot water outlet and see what happens. I know we have gotten shad there and some small skippies in the cast net. Good luck and let us know how you did.

One other thing. The river is up about 1.5 ft since 10 days ago. That should help.

[tbones23]

Be careful if you put in at the ramp by the Alton Dam. This fall somebody was working on it w/ a backhoe to dredge some of the muck and tore up the bottom of the ramp and exposed a lot of rebar. I don't know if it's been fixed yet or not, you may want to contact the Corps to be sure. I heard some folks say they tore up truck tires and trailer tires putting in there. I put in at Columbia bottoms this winter quite a few times w/ no problems. All the wingdams should be exposed on the ride to the confluence w/ the water as low as it is. Make sure you take a wide turn before heading up the Miss towards the dam cuz there is a sandbar on the north end where the rivers meet that is decieving. Stay in the channel and you should be ok. I may try to get out on Saturday but am debating on putting in at Weldon or Columbia bottoms.

[ultima_cat_man]

i was at alton last sunday and the boat ramp stopped about 3 foot shy of the water and at the end of the ramp 3 three foot pieces of rebar were standing straight up and painted orange,,,, you couldnt put a canoe in there,, tim

[bearcat]

Bummer on the ramp at alton. I sure hope they get it fixed before spring .

[catfishcrazee]

I was at the alton ramp last saturday (2-25) and there was plenty of water. there were a couple of trailers that launced with no problem.

[bearcat]

River level at alton , Melvin price lock and dam tailwater. Water level at 7 am thursday was 3.67 ft

Hey Kaskas I have done real good on the miss river below the dam. It is always alot of fun also. Hope you catch a biggun. The weather sounds like it should be good . Cool front moving in saturday nite. Fish should be feeding on the approaching front. Good luck and report back to us how it went.

[ultima_cat_man]

the ramps above the dam have plenty of water to launch but the ramp below the dam is not even on the water, i have some video tape of it but we cant post vids on here.... tim

[ultima_cat_man]

patrick let me know if you want some company on the river, i know it pretty well from alton dam down,,,, tim

[ultima_cat_man]

went back to the alton dam today looks like they fixed the ramp.. or tried to atleast the orange painted rebar is gone but the end of the ramp looks jagid and bumpy, there was one trailer in the parking lot but i wouldnt put my boat in, looks like a flat tire waiting to happen,,... tim

[Skunk Master]

It sure would be nice if they put a ramp on the illinois side below the dam.. Missouri Bottoms is ok but they close at nite..:crying:

[TeamCatHazzard]

The boat ramp doesnt close at night, just the back in of the bottoms where the gate is. You can still get to the ramp though 24/7

[kaskas]

Columbia bottoms is the way to go until they get that ramp fixed, that rebar gouged my boat pretty good last fall.

[Fishhead1]

If you put in the Columbia Bottoms you need a Missouri liscence to be legal. You can always risk it or try to explain to the CPO how you really were fishing the Miss River and not the Missouri but I'lll bet you it doesn't fly. I know they've ticketed for that before.

The Bottoms is about 2 miles down to the Miss then 6.5 miles back up to the dam. Not bad if you have the boat and motor for it, otherwise it's enough of a run to try and avoid it. The 2-3 mile stretch of Miss River upstream from the Missouri can be down right unpassable if the wind is cranking from the wrong direction.

They did dredge out the ramp below the dam a bit I hear, I just hope the ramp itself gets fixed. Technically that is an Illinois ramp (the dam and the land right around it is considered Illinois) but I agree, they need a new one somewhere below the dam on the Illinois side.

[TeamCatHazzard]

Actually you can fish a certain distance up the MO with an Illinois license even if you put in at Columbia Bottoms. Im sure that the water is up enough now to put in below the dam because the water level has come up quite a bit