St. Cloud Catfishing

[NSP30]

Hi there! I'm a college student in St. Cloud and my passion is catfishing. I've been below and above the University dam by SCSU and had good success, but I'm wanting to try a new spot. I've seen on my way to Walmart, that the Sauk River runs into the Mississippi and that looks like a great spot for big cats. Has anybody fished that mouth before? If so, what all did you catch? Thanks, you guys!

[Rick G]

Welcome to HSO NSP30, the spot you are looking at can be a decent spot to fish when the water is high. You will catch just about everything that swim in the river there at one time or another. There are tons of good spots up and down the river. You said you have tried below the St. Cloud Dam, you realy need not venture much further if your looking for cats. There is a nice hole that can be accessed from the East side that hold good numbers of fish year round. There are also a dozen or more good spots within a mile of the dam on both sides of the river.

Also, check out the St. Cloud forum here on HSO to get all the local info on the St. Cloud area you could ever want.

[pushbutton]

That area looks a little better on paper than in reality......its pretty shallow there and right now the sauk is probably flowing at a pretty good clip making it a little tougher to fish the mouth, since the park provides the best access. Like Rick mentioned, when the water levels are higher it is better. When the flow slows and water warms, you can hike up you shorts, walk across, and fish the more slack water areas south of the bridge when the cats are more active up in the shallows.

[NSP30]

Awesome! Thank you, guys! This "hole" you talk about on the east side, how far below the dam is that? I've caught a bunch of little 6 pounders down there but want to catch a couple that are of bigger size. Is there a spot on the river that has some good sized channel cats? Or is there a different river in the St. Cloud area that holds some good sized cats?

[Rick G]

The Sauk and a couple smaller rivers holds some, but the sippi is your best bet at better size fish. Just have to find the right spot, I like above the dam in town myself, there are some beasts in that section. There is a big log jam just north of the water treament plant in town that awlays seems to have a few better than average ones hanging around

The hole I spoke of below the dam is right directly below it. You san stand on the bottom of the dam and cast right to it.