[DJH1]

Anybody ever fished the Diversion Channel just south of Cape Girardeau?? My buddy is wanting to do some fishing this weekend since the weather's gonna be nice. I'd like to go out on the river, but I don't have all of my "big fish" gear together yet, still waiting on my rods to come in.

We were thinking about putting in at the ramp next to the interstate, going upstream, and fishing for some channel cats. Is the diversion channel plenty deep enough to run a 17' boat in? I see boats out there quite a bit so I assume it is. What kinds of baits work best? Whats some good structure to fish around? We plan on going upstream and just looking for some logpiles, small current breaks, etc.

Any info you guys could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[fishassasin]

i have fished it several times ... i used to live in cape girardeau .... dont go upstream ... go towards the river. there is a creek down there about 1/2 mile down. ive caught some nice ones there .. and then if u go about another 1/8 of mile down stream on the right there is some good structure and it is very deep there. also where the power lines go across the river fish under those on the north side. weve caught alot of numbers there .... if u wanted to test and look for big boys go down to the mouth of the of the channel where it meets the mississippi and fish there ... ive seen some nice blues come from there. on the river side of the mouth there is a huge drop off that they love to sit in .... i used to limb line the diversion channel when it flooded and got up into the sapplings there ... i have had 4 inch green branches snapped in half. so there is some nice fish there.

 

[BajaCoop]

There was a 100 plus lb gator gar taken out of there last summer.

 

[DJH1]

i have fished it several times ... i used to live in cape girardeau .... dont go upstream ... go towards the river. there is a creek down there about 1/2 mile down. ive caught some nice ones there .. and then if u go about another 1/8 of mile down stream on the right there is some good structure and it is very deep there. also where the power lines go across the river fish under those on the north side. weve caught alot of numbers there .... if u wanted to test and look for big boys go down to the mouth of the of the channel where it meets the mississippi and fish there ... ive seen some nice blues come from there. on the river side of the mouth there is a huge drop off that they love to sit in .... i used to limb line the diversion channel when it flooded and got up into the sapplings there ... i have had 4 inch green branches snapped in half. so there is some nice fish there.

Thanks for the good info. I think I know where that creek is, does it come in from the right if your going toward the river? I think I've seen it when I was up there bowfishing. Only reason I wanted to go upstream is because this is the first time this season I've ran my motor. Just wanted to be sure I'd be able to float back to the truck if I needed to.

 

[wayne1967]

I live in Cape. If you head north about a 1/2 mile there's a RR tressel that has the deepest hole for about 15 miles or so. Alot of logjams there that have flatheads. My friend lost one there that would have gone 25lbs easy. The best fishing though is in the mouth when it empties into the river about sept/oct. Flatheads stack up there that time of year. I found one floating dead there that weighed 44lbs gutted. Most of it gets warmed up in the summer because it's not all that deep. Great place to net shad for the river though.

 

[DJH1]

North? I thought it just runs east and west through there. Does it turn north if you go upstream or downstream?

 

[wayne1967]

Sorry, up stream. I think north/south because of the river all the time. As long as you put in above 15ft river stage you are not going to have a problem boating. If it is low stay right if going down stream till you get to the feeder creek then stay on the left hand side. There's a little wingdike about 75yds past it. When you get to the next bend stay in the middle because of trees and logs. If going upstream stay on the left untill you get to the tressel. Then just stay dead center. Not much struture after that though. The river is fine right now be cause it it high but this might help in the future. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pah&gage=cpgm7

 

[DJH1]

Thanks for the info, Wayne, thats what I needed to know. I figured there was a certain river stage where it'd be fine to run in. I always use noaa to check the river stage here in New Madrid. Hopefully we'll do some good up there this weekend.

 

[wayne1967]

Joey, did you do any good? We'll be hitting flood level in a day or so.

 

[DJH1]

Wayne,

Things didnt turn out the way I planned. Went outside the day before and uncovered my boat from where it had been sitting all winter. Put the muffs on the motor and it fired right up, but started running rough after a while. Went out the next day and started it and it would start fine, but run for a minute then die. I tilted the motor up and some gas ran out, so I'm guessing the carbs are gummed up with crap. Soon as I get i get the carbs cleaned I'm gonna try to get up there, unless the river is down to normal levels here.