Urban catfishing in st. Louis

Urban Catfishing In St. Louis

​Many people in the St. Louis area believe that good fishing is too far away from home, but this is not the case. There are several park ponds spread throughout St. Louis city and county that offer fishing for species such as bluegill, bass, and catfish. The Missouri Department of Conservation enhances these fishing opportunities by stocking channel catfish during the summer months. You can call a hotline (636-300-9651) to see when they last stocked your local pond. The hotline will tell you the number of fish stocked and the average length of the fish, which is usually around 12-14 inches.

​I met up with one of my friends at Wilmore Park Pond to do some catfishing. They had stocked both lakes five days beforehand, so I was prepared for the action to be hot. When we arrived, I put a single piece of corn on a small trout sized hook and dropped it down underneath a bridge. I soon had a small bluegill, which I planned to use for bait. I cut the bluegill into small pieces and put it on a size one circle hook. My rig was composed of a one eighth ounce egg sinker above a swivel with a twelve-inch monofilament leader attached to the hook. Since it was sunny and relatively hot, I expected the catfish to be in the shade, so I casted into the shadow of a large tree. I let the rig sink until it hit the bottom, then reeled in my slack and propped the pole up against my tackle box to watch for a bite. Within ten minutes the tip of my pole began to bob aggressively, signaling a fish was biting. I picked up the pole, set the hook, and reeled in my first catfish of the day.

​After that bite I had several more, but I was unable to hook them, probably because they were either small or just nibbling. The bite began to slow down, so my friend suggested we move to the other pond. The other pond ended up fishing pretty similar, with lots of small bites. I was able to land one more catfish, but lost several while reeling them in. As it got later in the day, the bite slowed down, so we decided to call it quits. All in all it was a good day of fishing, and we didn’t have to leave the county to find a good bite.

For more information, check out the St. Louis Urban Fishing Program  page.