Missouri River/Tailrace Fishing Report- June 20th, 2019

Written by Mike Peluso

June 22, 2019

With our recent winds and rains I switched it up on Wednesday and ran up to the Garrison Dam Tailrace to try and get in on the spillway action with the corps of engineers opening up the gates.
With the excitement of getting back in there with running water like the years 2011, 2018 and present I figured it wouldn’t take the fish long to find their way.
When we arrived I was looking for the cleaner water and just like last year the cleaner water was on the west shoreline. There was one other boat fishing it when we arrived and the action was good right out of the gates no pun intended.
We located a stretch where the walleyes were biting. Nothing fast and furious but steady. As we made about a half dozen drifts I noticed the flows were getting slower. As I looked up at the spillway, I noticed the water had gone to a trickle. This if course completely shut the walleyes off.
Trying to relocate the walleyes we moved right to the base of the concrete and holy was it loaded with catfish! We must have caught a 100 of them. Catfish of all shapes, sizes and colors were in there. Extremely fun to catch and if you haven’t tried them before they are really good table fare.
We did slide downstream and found some nice walleyes at the cable crossings area pitching jigs.
I head back to Lake Sakakawea and also Devils Lake this week so more fishing reports to follow! Also I have openings the end of July and August for the Van Hook Arm area! She’s starting to heat up and should only get better! Email me at mikepelusooutdoors@gmail.com

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