my whole life i have fished in the smaller rivers in mo mostly the meramac and done fairly good. my best was a 23lb flat the trick was i was only 14 at the time i am now 23 and i have a new boat so i want to fish on the missippi i figure bigger water bigger cats. i have been reading up about all the big blues and flats that have  been caught around alton il. even have a satlite view of the area. but the one thing that i have yet to be able to find is where at to fish in and around alton. as well as what bait to use so far i have heard shad which i am familar with, but most of people say that skip jack which i dont know what that is let alone how to cetch them. so if any of yall can give a young cat crazy guy some insite on all that and i dont mean giving up your fishing spots that would just be wrong. but to just give me a generic idea of where to fish at around there and maybe some bait tips with skipjacks i am hopefully going to go up there this sat 8/9/07 so any help before or after would be highly appreciated. thanks for your time