Anglers don’t have to target deep water to find catfish in the hot summer months. Wing dams, feeder streams, sloughs and chutes can offer equal -- if not better -- action on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Photo by Keith Sutton.

There’s no better place to go catfishin’ in the dog days of summer than the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Some of the biggest cats in the Show-Me State are taken in these waters.

Most anglers target the deeper water during the hot summer months because they’re convinced that’s where the cats will be. They’re right. But those aren’t the only spots at which you can tangle with big blues, flatheads and channels. Wing dams, slack water, feeder streams, sloughs and chutes can all be productive. You just have to know when -- and where -- to look.

“You can certainly catch catfish deep in the main channel, but I’ve found that I catch a lot more of them -- and bigger ones -- in the shallows,” said guide and tournament organizer Brad Kilpatrick of Team Catfish. “In the hot weather, their metabolism is running high and they’re feeding heavily. Though most guys are fishing deep, even the big blues can be taken in water as shallow as 2 feet.”

The fishing can be good wherever you find the right conditions. For Kilpatrick, that even includes the city lights of downtown Kansas City.

Here’s a look at a few spots on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers that hold a surprising number of cats.

WING DAMS
Wing dams can be surprising honeyholes. Constructed of rocks and designed to keep the main channel free of debris and sand, they do their job by collecting sand into shallow flats on the downstream side of the dams. The result: a feeding shelf for big cats.

“In the Missouri River, the areas of quieter water are at the wing dams, and we fish them hard,” said Kilpatrick. “We look for a good, stable, hot-weather pattern with 90- to 100-degree days. The cats will move in shallow during the evening and stay there most of the night. At times you can even catch big blues in just a few feet of water in these spots during the daylight hours.”

Kilpatrick targets the sandbars downstream of the wing dams in the evening about 10 feet deep on the channel side; as the evening progresses, he fishes shallower until he’s right on top of the sand. He believes that most anglers concentrate on the deepest water and overlooking cats that are up close to the surface chasing shad and other prey fish. Kilpatrick has caught blues up to 60 pounds in a couple feet of water.

The baits of choice are big chunks of cut shad, slices of carp up to 12 inches in length or large skipjack. The skipjack is Kilpatrick’s personal favorite, but it’s hard to come by.

The best way to present a bait here is with a 6- to 8-ounce weight on a sinker slide. The rig looks a lot like a Carolina rig. A good swivel with a 12- to 18-inch leader and an 8/0 circle hook round out the offering. Set the pole on a tight line, reel up the slack and get ready. A big fish will hook itself on the circle hook, and if line can be taken, the rod will go overboard.

“Most people underestimate the gear you’ll need for these fish,” said Kilpatrick. “If you’re using the catfish gear you’d normally use in a small lake for eating-sized cats, you’ll never land a fish, and you’ll go home heartbroken. Fish from 20 to 30 pounds are common, and there are 40-, 50- and 60-pounders to be taken. One fish I know of topped 93 pounds. During a tournament last year, the largest cat was a 75-pounder with a 5-fish limit that totaled 178 pounds.”