Tuesday ...September 02, 2008....         

click on pic to enlarge

Bill,

  I caught this 66 lb. blue cat on July 29, 2008 from the bank below the Alton dam .

  Me and my sister have been trying to catch some big blues. I fish out of my boat a lot under the Alton Dam but with the water so high we tried to fish from the bank. This is the biggest fish I ever caught. A week earlier I caught a 53 pounder and I turned it loose as I did with the 66 pounder. We have been catching them on shad, this was just a lucky spot when the water was real high we stumbled onto it ( but not so hot now ) and I did have a fish fry with the older group with our church LIGHTHOUSE BAPTIST CHURCH.

Thanks again,
Kenny Oliver

RiverBill says...Congrats Kenny on your catch !

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Did You Know !

 The current State of Illinois record and angling world record is 124 pounds and was caught by Tim Pruitt on May 22, 2005, in the Mississippi River.

Blue catfish are opportunistic predators and will eat any species of fish they can catch, along with crayfish, freshwater mussels, frogs, and other readily available aquatic food sources (some blue catfish have reportedly attacked scuba divers.) Catching their prey becomes all the more easy if it is already wounded or dead, and blue cats are noted for feeding beneath marauding schools of striped bass in open water in reservoirs or feeding on wounded baitfish that have been washed through dam spillways or power generation turbines.

Source Wikipedia Encyclopedia
 

The current State of Missouri pole-and-line record for blue catfish is 103 pounds, was caught in the Missouri River by Clarence Kerr of Fairfax in 1991.

Source:  MissouriGameFish.com

 Wednesday ...August 8, 2007....         

56 lb Blue Cat

Click on picture to enlarge

Our River Picture of the Day ...And Catch of the Day........ was sent in by Darryl Vaughan of Winfield, Mo.  

What a catch it was !

Bill,

I caught this blue cat Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 near Alton on the Mississippi River. She was photographed and released.

It wasn’t a freight train hit. Pole just started going down and KEPT GOING! The battle was on. I am by myself. Oh Cr@P!

Fought for a while, finally got her to the boat, holy smokes! Tried twice to get her in net, she didn’t like that. Decided to give up on the net and chucked it to the floor of the boat. Fought fish a while longer to wear her down because I was going to have to lip her.

Looked downstream and here came Robert and Bev, a brother and sister that I didn’t know. They saw that I was in a predicament and were motoring over to help, keeping their distance till they got my attention. I motioned them to come on over. In the mean time the fish came to the side of the boat and I was able to get one hand in her mouth. She didn’t blow up so I put my rod down and got my other hand in her mouth. Placed both my feet on the gunwale and PULLED. The fish and I both slid onto the floor of the boat in one fluid motion.

I lay there for a few seconds, wore out, looked down at Robert and Bev. Then I stuck my hands in the air, whooped and hollered and they did the same. They were really happy for me.

They tied up to my boat and Robert came aboard, helped me weigh it and took photos for me.

If Robert and Bev read this I just want to say thanks for your help!

Darryl Vaughan, Winfield, MO

RiverBill says.....Wow Darryl ........ What a catch ! 

  I commend you for getting your trophy, taking a picture and releasing her. 

FYI:  Darryl caught this trophy on live shad in 50 ft of water.  Below is a picture of the release.   Darryl wrote:

Above is a picture of the release.   

Darryl wrote:

She swam off like a champ, kicked her tail and was gone!

 Sunday ...October 8, 2006....         

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Our River Picture and e-mail of the Day..... was sent in by Lonny Unverzagt.  It's a picture of a Mississippi River... Large Mouth Bass for our Catch of the Day page.

Lonnie wrote in his e-mail;

Bill,

  My brother Joe's B-day was today October 7, 2006.  He took this picture of the bass I caught off the Mississippi River near Hartford. We caught several this morning..... they must be feeding well getting ready for winter. 

  All bass were caught and released for future fun for our kids. 
Lonny
.

RiverBill says........Happy Birthday Joe....and....Nice catch Lonnie.  Thanks for releasing them for our kids to catch !

The Catch and Release Program  motto is:

“Limit your catch, don’t catch your limit” 

 Saturday ...September 30, 2006....         

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Our River Picture of the Day......... is one I snapped at Eagles Landing Marina..  It's Gary Fels and the flathead catfish he caught Friday on a trout-line in Dardenne Slough.  

RiverBill says....Looks like you get the "RiverBill's Catch Of the Day Award" ......When's the fish fry ?

Saturday.... February 11, 2006            

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Our River Pictures of the Day .....    are of Dale Williams , of the band Stripper Named Phoebe, and his son with some more big catfish.  They caught all of these guys on rod and reel in the Missouri River.   Wow !

  The top one is a 68 pound blue cat that Dale caught last year on February 18.  The 2nd is  57 pounds and 3rd is 37 pounds.  

The bottom pictures are of Dale's son, Eric, holding a 56 pound flathead.

River Bill says.....Lets go fishing for the big ones Dale !   

 Monday.... February 06, 2006           

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Our River Picture of the Day .....    is of Dale Williams and a 57 pound Blue Catfish he caught on a rod and reel a while back.  They are both smiling because Dale caught another big fish and the cat is smiling because he knows he is going back into the river !  Yes, Dale put this one back in to grow up a bit more.  Catch and Release.