Fishing in Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch National Park sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis, where the river runs wide, deep, and fast through one of the most historically significant stretches of the upper Mississippi corridor.

The park itself is compact and urban — the Arch, its grounds, and the Old Courthouse — but its eastern edge runs directly along the river, and that's where the fishing happens. The Mississippi here is the only fishable water inside the park.

Access is straightforward: the cobblestone riverfront below the Arch is a well-known bank fishing spot, and people fish it regularly.

The CityArchRiver improvements added pathways down the east slope to the riverfront, making that access easier than it used to be.

Boats can be put in as well, though the current is strong and the river demands respect from anyone unfamiliar with big-water conditions. Missouri fishing regulations apply.

Check with the Missouri Department of Conservation for current licensing requirements and any rules specific to this stretch of the river before you go. This is not a destination park for fishing the way a wilderness park might be.

It's a place where you can wet a line in a genuinely significant river, in the shadow of a landmark, in the middle of a city.

That's its own kind of thing — not remote, not quiet, but real water with real fish moving through it, the same river Lewis and Clark pushed off from not far upstream.