Where To Fish In Mo?

[Cyklops99]

been fishing for years, usually in boat I was with my dad... small creeks, public lakes, etc by myself. now that I am older, have a boat, I'm looking for something closer (less than 1.5 hours from St. Louis)  where one can launch a boat, and expect to catch something... (bass/crappie) 

 

is council bluff lake any good? i've read mixed reviews. 

 

i dont mind Mark Twain or Wappapello, but they're a little but of a stretch (nearly 2 hours) 

[Missourifishin]

been fishing for years, usually in boat I was with my dad... small creeks, public lakes, etc by myself. now that I am older, have a boat, I'm looking for something closer (less than 1.5 hours from St. Louis)  where one can launch a boat, and expect to catch something... (bass/crappie) 

 

is council bluff lake any good? i've read mixed reviews. 

 

i dont mind Mark Twain or Wappapello, but they're a little but of a stretch (nearly 2 hours) 

So you're in the St. Louis area? I haven't done much fishing around there.

But, since you mentioned Mark Twain, I hear really great reports about the crappie fishing there. I haven't fished there myself in a long time though.

[Cyklops99]

So you're in the St. Louis area? I haven't done much fishing around there.

But, since you mentioned Mark Twain, I hear really great reports about the crappie fishing there. I haven't fished there myself in a long time though.

 

oh yeah, when my dad was alive we'd head up there for crappie, great size, and seemed always able to catch a mess of them. I've not been up there in a couple years tho.. 

[Cyklops99]

and yes, st. louis area... :-)

[Fishes in trees]

I'm not much help, Ilive on the edge of the KC Metro area.  Years ago, I lived in Columbia, There was a conservation area, the next exit east of HWY 54, called the Grindstone Nature Area, I think.  In the mid 80's, there were multiple large ponds on the property and 1 90 acre or so lake with a decent ramp.  Back then, I didn't go there very often because I had better places to go closer to home.  That was 20+ years ago.  I've no idea what shape it is in now.  I'd recommend getting the Atlas from the MO Conservation Department, which lists each piece of ground the department owns county by county.  You'd be surprised how many medium sized lakes the conservation department owns/manages.  Nearly every county as 3 or 4, often they have more.

 

That's where I'd start looking for different fishing spots.

[Missourifishin]

^^^Good point. You can actually get on the conservation department's website and view a list of areas they own/manage in each county. I have several new places picked out here in Boone county that I plan to try in the near future.

[Cyklops99]

i've actually done that! hoping to get out to one this weekend, or early next week - now all I have to worry about is whether my f250 2wd (which gets stuck on wet grass)  will pull the boat OUT of the water without spinning the tires on the ramp.  :-) and of course paranoia that my truck will slip out of gear and roll into the lake. 

[Brad70]

I'm from the Farmington area Cyklops, I haven't fished Council Bluff a ton but visit it a few times every year. In regards to big bass, this is not the lake for it. It is 440 acres loaded with standing timber. We usually put the jon boat in at the southern end of the lake at Enough Boat Ramp. I have no electronics and just a trolling motor on the jon boat so we normally just work our way up the shoreline and hit the points and coves. We have had quite a few 20+ bass day but I will say that most of them are 10-12" inch range. Water is usually very clear and 4 inch senkos can be great, especially in a smoke pearl color. I've also heard from some good ol' boys that black plastics and black spinnerbaits/buzzbaits are terrific in low light/dark hours. I've never targeted them there, but Council Bluff has a reputation for some of the best red ear fishing in the state if you are after some meat. The lake I frequent the most would have to be Bismarck Lake, "Di Salvo Lake" as it known as now. It isn't a big lake, only 210 acres and it gets heavily pressured. On any spring/summer weekend expect over 15 boats to be out at a time. With that being said, I'd say 80% of them are crappie fishermen so it must produce excellent numbers of crappie considering the heavy pressure and the amount of people who continue to go there. The lake is shallow, usually 10ft or less throughout and in the summer is consumed in lily pads/vegetation. I can never catch a large number of bass there, but the fish I catch there are big girls. Water is always heavily stained/murky. I throw bright colors like fire tiger/chartreuse and black/blue jigs. 

[Cyklops99]

I'm from the Farmington area Cyklops, I haven't fished Council Bluff a ton but visit it a few times every year. In regards to big bass, this is not the lake for it. It is 440 acres loaded with standing timber. We usually put the jon boat in at the southern end of the lake at Enough Boat Ramp. I have no electronics and just a trolling motor on the jon boat so we normally just work our way up the shoreline and hit the points and coves. We have had quite a few 20+ bass day but I will say that most of them are 10-12" inch range. Water is usually very clear and 4 inch senkos can be great, especially in a smoke pearl color. I've also heard from some good ol' boys that black plastics and black spinnerbaits/buzzbaits are terrific in low light/dark hours. I've never targeted them there, but Council Bluff has a reputation for some of the best red ear fishing in the state if you are after some meat. The lake I frequent the most would have to be Bismarck Lake, "Di Salvo Lake" as it known as now. It isn't a big lake, only 210 acres and it gets heavily pressured. On any spring/summer weekend expect over 15 boats to be out at a time. With that being said, I'd say 80% of them are crappie fishermen so it must produce excellent numbers of crappie considering the heavy pressure and the amount of people who continue to go there. The lake is shallow, usually 10ft or less throughout and in the summer is consumed in lily pads/vegetation. I can never catch a large number of bass there, but the fish I catch there are big girls. Water is always heavily stained/murky. I throw bright colors like fire tiger/chartreuse and black/blue jigs. 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the info... I actually went out to DiSalvo lake last tuesday, I figured middle o fthe week and we'd be alone... we got a late start (there by 9am) and there was already 5 boats there,  and as the day wore on more pulled in. We caught a couple crappie, o real decent one, but didn't have the right bait for 'em. I'd forgotten all my crappi stuff at home. I did bang up the prop pretty good on the boat tho... and yes it is shallow, I'd say the average depth was about 5ft. Talked to a couple folks tho and they'd say they were catching some bass, not a lot tho. May head out to council bluff soon, how's the "enough boat ramp" ? im debating between that or the campground at te other end of the lake. 

[Fishes in trees]

BE CAREFUL banging up your prop.  Banging up the prop can get it out of balance - not a good thing.  Seals can get compromised.  Water leaking into internal drive components is expensive.  We're all gong to smack our prop into stuff from time to time, it  is just something to monitor.  Do you have a steel or an aluminum prop?  It is much easier to get an aluminum prop out of balance.

[MichaelJ7]

I am also from Farmington. If your afraid of banging up your prop then you do not want to launch on the enough ramp. You want the main ramp off of DD hwy. there is no way I would drive all the way from St. Louis to fish council bluff though. It's a beautiful lake but like Brad said there is not much size to be offered. I took second place and won big bass in a tournament there just because we caught one over 2lbs. It is a no wake lake but the enough arm of that lake is full of trees!!! It'd b worth the drive to go a little farther!

[Brad70]

The Enough Ramp is just that, enough to get a boat in. Most the boats launched there are 14-16 ft aluminum jon boats with a small outboard motor but I've also seen some Tracker 175 launch there. The ramp at the campground area is paved and easier to launch at but also costs $3 last time I put in there. Like Micheal said, it may be worth your time to go a little further and give Lake Wappapello and Clearwater Lake a shot. 

[Cyklops99]

it was an aluminum prop, checked everything out and it's all good.. 

 

i've considered Wappapello, haven't fished there in years. will probably hit it this year as well. 

[Cyklops99]

i've considered Wappapello, but not being a very experienced boater, or boat launcher I'm honestly avoiding larger lakes right now.  I may hit it later this year tho... how are the boat ramps there? where's the best place to launch/fish? any help would be great!

[MichaelJ7]

The boat ramp at wappapello isn't the problem. It's getting outside of the Chanel that is. If you don't pay attention when your running your in trouble. It's a good lake though.