Missouri River Fishing Report-October 16th, 2022

Written by Mike Peluso

October 16, 2022

Things are slowly getting better. These winds we had last week forced me to reschedule my guide trips at Devils Lake to this coming week, but I did however fish a couple days on the river near Bismarck.

The water is low. Before you decide to follow and old trail make sure you are ready to delete that one and start a new one. Otherwise you are gonna need to call the National guard to bring in the helicopters to get you off a sandbar. The boat ramps are sketchy at best. Ramps like Misty Waters, Fort Rice, Desert are basically out of commission and a couple of others are right on the verge on not being able to launch.

Once on the water it’s a bit difficult to find fishable water. Not a lot of spots left with decent depth and slower current. Once you do locate a spot, you will find lots of baitfish and rough fish occupying the spots. You just have to battle through them. Walleyes are around and the ones I’ve been catching are full of those baitfish I’m talking about which is a awesome thing to see!

Last week we caught a lot of our fish pulling number 5 shad raps. This week since the water temps have finally dipped into the low 50’s they are punching a jig and a minnow. Be prepared to catch catfish, white bass, and a gar or two. With the low water those fish got kicked out of the normal slack water areas they like and they are now in the main river spots where walleyes normally are.

I do have a few trips on Devils this week and a couple trips on the river. If you are looking to fish the river and don’t want to hassle trying to find a trail to navigate and a place to fish get a hold of me! Plenty of opening now until end of November!

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