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where can i get contour maps of Mississippi river?

10K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  Jim dandy 
#1 ·
Good Monday to all.

I am wanting to see if there are any good contour maps of the Mississippi River (St. Louis Area) that can be bought or downloaded. I have been on the Army Corp of Engineers website and downloaded the maps that show navigation, wingdikes, etc.


Also I noticed almost all of wingdikes on the mississippi river chart that were marked (Portage Des Souix Area), but not seen. Do submerged wingdikes do the same as visible wingdikes. Are there still scour holes and the like?


Still learning about the river. Determined to catch a big fish. This will be my first real year of true catfishing. My personal best catfish is a 2lb Flathead and a 5lb Channel so I am ready to tangle with some real cats. I love to fish and fish for trout, bass, crappie, as well as saltwater redfish, drum, etc in Louisiana every year. But it's time for a big ole' blue!
 
#2 ·
to my knowledge, they dont make a topo map of the rivers because they are forever changing. old scour holes fill in and new ones form. thats why you can never let your guard down out there.
as far as dikes scouring holes even when under water, they will tend to scour holes in new locations, because the main water flow is now flowing over the dikes rather that forcing all the water to go around it. but they are still current breaks, and the fish will still relate to them somehow.
good luck on catching a new pb. 5lbs wont take too long to break! but don't expect to just go out and catch a 50lber on your first trip. anything is possible, but I have been on the missouri my whole life(34 years) and yet to land one over 50 on a pole. it just aint as easy as these guys here make it look.
 
#3 ·
to my knowledge, they dont make a topo map of the rivers because they are forever changing. old scour holes fill in and new ones form. thats why you can never let your guard down out there.
as far as dikes scouring holes even when under water, they will tend to scour holes in new locations, because the main water flow is now flowing over the dikes rather that forcing all the water to go around it. but they are still current breaks, and the fish will still relate to them somehow.
good luck on catching a new pb. 5lbs wont take too long to break! but don't expect to just go out and catch a 50lber on your first trip. anything is possible, but I have been on the missouri my whole life(34 years) and yet to land one over 50 on a pole. It just aint as easy as these guys here make it look.
Very true. I agree. I've been at it longer than that and it's still not easy. It's enjoyable tho.
 
#5 ·
Being a civil engineer I have special data. If you search for bathymetric data that should do it. It is a process that scans the waters and produces a doppler like depth reading in that area. Here is one done on the upper missippi. I will look tonight to see if st. louis has this area. If not I think I have an old topo of the river front from a project I did a while back.

UMESC - Bathymetric data for the UMRS
 
#16 ·
Being a civil engineer I have special data. If you search for bathymetric data that should do it. It is a process that scans the waters and produces a doppler like depth reading in that area. Here is one done on the upper missippi. I will look tonight to see if st. louis has this area. If not I think I have an old topo of the river front from a project I did a while back.

UMESC - Bathymetric data for the UMRS
 
#6 ·
Hey pal I bought a map a few years ago called Fishing Hot Spots. You can buy them at Bass Pro, Walmart, and Cabelas. The one that I have is the Alton Pool, which is from above the Alton dam to the Winfield dam. There is a phone number that you could call 1-800-338-5957. Hopefully that will hope you.
 
#7 ·
Brandon, here is what I am talking about on bathymetric maps. Go here and this has a few at the bridges at highway 40, 70, 370 and 367. This was from 2010 on both the Missouri and Mississippi. I think I can locate some more. This is also done on lakes as well.

USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5170: Bathymetric Surveys at Highway Bridges Crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near St. Louis, Missouri, 2010

Click the link then on the far right there is a link to Bathymetric maps in 11x17 format. These are full color and are easy to read. The map has a title at the bottom typically to tell you where you are.

If you want to read about the whole report there is a link above that (file is 300 mb!) but that report has some amazing stuff in it and details the public may have never seen before.

This is great stuff and good luck smacking that big one this year.
 
#8 ·
Thanks Steve that's some great info. Gives a guy a whole new perspective of what the river bottom looks like. Is this just done around the bridges or is the whole river surveyed?
 
#9 ·
Doug, this report was funded by everyone's tax dollars and spent by MODOT. This one only focused on the piers to check for stability in the river current. Many of the old bridges are having this done to see if a potential problem may occur. For a guy who fishes piers this is a great info source.
 
#12 ·
Cool keep them coming. Thanks
 
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