How to fish the Missouri River

[wingman47]

I am going to give the Missouri river a try this year. Never fish the river. I am looking for some advice on where to fish on the river. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Not looking for your fishing spots. Just trying to find out what and where will the cats be located and how to fish them.

Thanks

Wingman47

[SHAWNFISH]

boat or shore?

[wingman47]

I will be in a boat.

Thanks

[flathead_hunter]

in the water lol... i like fishing the flats or if i want to catch some fish to eat i will fish the rocks for small flathead.. also depends on time of year and day or night

[Flathead Frank]

I pull my boat up behind a wing dyke, cast a light 2 ounce sinker out to the rip water and see where the current takes it. Then once I know where the hole is off the wing dyke I cast out 4-5 ounce with bait to where ever the 2 ounce sinker ended up. If the fish are there it will be short and sweet, if not pack up and hit the next dyke or log jam. Repeat all day/night!

Hope this helps

[SHAWNFISH]

I pull my boat up behind a wing dyke, cast a light 2 ounce sinker out to the rip water and see where the current takes it. Then once I know where the hole is off the wing dyke I cast out 4-5 ounce with bait to where ever the 2 ounce sinker ended up. If the fish are there it will be short and sweet, if not pack up and hit the next dyke or log jam. Repeat all day/night!

Hope this helps

ditto on what jr and frank said. but i wouldnt be so quick to leave the wing dam, franks right sometimes instant.

but some wing dams hold fish in front, back, the arm pits. the holes on the tips take years of practice to fish them thuroughly, fish the drop on the upside of the hole cuz they will sit just below it to stay out of the current and wait for the food to drop right in front of them. the tailout needs fished too but usually any fish in that part of the hole arent very active so dont waste much time on that peice. now heres what takes years and years of practice, first off if ur fishing alone i wouldnt try it because you will waste so much time getting anchored in position the trip will be shot. have a buddy keep the bow up stream with the motor so the boats sittin still out on the tip, look where the waters whipping around the tip of the dam and you will see the seam in the current, you wanna get ur bait just barely on the inside of that seam in the bottom of the hole, that seem will have a narrow strip of water down there where it is dead calm almost and they sit in that dead spot with their noses right against the seam and wait for food to come to them just like on the drop in front of the hole exept here if ur baits inches one way or another you wont get bit. its taken me years and years to be able to feel that seem down there through my rod,sinker and line and im still learning. my point is ive been on tips for 20 mins runnin the boat when its my buddys turn and he says there aint any fish in that one and we switch and i drop my bait down,find the seam and like frank said its instant. i thought it would be easy to feel but its not, theres an art to it but once you lear to feel it you can fish a ton of wingdams in a night cuz u only need about 10 mins or so on each one to know if anyones home. keep in mind too your mainly gonna get blues and channels from them but once in a while there will be a flathead on one of them......ramblin over! lol!

[wingman47]

Thanks to those who replied. I will give these ideas a try. Good luck to everyone on fishing this year.

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[Greg Lingenfelter]

Great info.

[papabear6714]

Great info, but how bout those of us who are gonna try bank fishing it soon? Does Iowa side matter vs Nebraska side?

[catfishbrew]

I bank fish the Missouri. I think it depends on the bend of the river. I think Ia side is better for bank fishing as far as more options (just my opinion). But there are some good bank fishing areas in Ne too, south in plattsmouth area. Flathead hunter says there is some good bank fishing further south in Ne city area, I hope to try that in next few weeks. Last 3-4 weeks I've been fishing Ia side between Missouri Vally and Modale and have been doing ok using shad and night crawler tipped with a green worm.