Bank fishing for Catfish Baton Rouge

I don't know a damn thing about BR but yeah I wouldn't keep anything from the Mississippi. Way back in the day, we used to catch monsters up around St. Louis, MO out of the river but threw them back.

Look for medium size lakes or a small-medium river for bank fishing. If you were up this way, I'd have you on more catfish than you cared to clean. Don't discount colder water rivers. There's a river around here that I can go catch a bunch of blues around 20" and it holds trout 6 months of the year and the blues taste great.

I don’t know about catfish but I know lots of people fish the BREC and Lamar Dixon ponds. You just missed the rainbow trout release. Probably have a few left.

The east levee of the atchafalaya near Ramah has places to Bank fish

Don't listen to these numb nuts. There is nothing wrong with the fish that come out of the Mississippi. There are ZERO fish consumption advisories for the Mississippi River. Fish from the Mississippi are served in restaurants all over the country. The SE Louisiana consumption advisories are as follows: LDEQ Consumptionand LDWF SE Louisiana

Old large fish from any water system are more likely to carry toxins and don't taste as good anyway.

I would just scout out some spots on google earth where it looks like it would be easy to get to the bank. I bank fish a lot for catfish and gou in the summer with my kids. They have a blast. After some trial and error you will find a few good and safe fishing spots.

I spend a lot of time drifting for trophy blue cats. You shouldn't be keeping catfish over 20 lbs from anywhere, much less the Mississippi. They can carry toxins, but those are the mature adults with good genetics that need to reproduce.

quote:

---

If you looking for a place to catch, clean and have a fish fry... i would not fish in the Mississippi River.

---

The Mississippi is one of the "cleanest" water bodies in the state. Go to the DHH fish consumption advisories - it's not listed anywhere - but many other places are.

The river is cleaner now than at any time in the last 100 years

quote:

---

The Mississippi is one of the "cleanest" water bodies in the state.

---

I've been catching and eating catfish out of that river since I was a kid------and it's been a long time since I was a kid. The first time I can remember being on the river fishing was with my dad in the late 50's.

If I had to take a guess, I'd say I've probably eaten a few hundred pounds of catfish filets from the Mississippi River, all caught from Luling to past English Turn.

quote:

---

I would just scout out some spots on google earth where it looks like it would be easy to get to the bank.

---

I too fish from the bank and you're right, certain times of the year I can't access some of my favorite spots due to the river being high.

This happens mostly in the spring during the thaw up north raising river levels and generally subsides by summer and into the fall months.

I will go to City Park and catch me some perch and keep them in a live bait bucket with an aerator and use them for bait the next day. Live bait really increases your chances of catching nice size cats.

BREC was stocked on 2/8.

LINK