Saturday was cloudy, intermittent rain, breezy. Had the pond all to myself. Caught 10 Rainbow Trout, 1 Largemouth Bass, 2 White Crappies.
I heard an owl in a big pine tree I was fishing under, but I couldn’t spot him.
Sunday I had the park all to myself for awhile…it eventually got pretty crowded. Caught 6 Rainbows. This gives me 40 so far, of the 400 that were stocked…so I’ve caught 10%. The rain and wind we had has stirred up the water quite a bit. Most of the duckweed that was covering the surface in large areas disappeared, and so did most of the floating leaves (I think they just sank)…but the leaves are still falling and blowing around.
Some kids showed up and spooked an owl out of a tree. The owl flew low towards me and then passed about 20’ to my left. Pretty cool.
One fish is shown 3 times in the pics below. It had cool markings, measured 14".
David, looks like you had some nice outings. How many lakes in the St. Louis area did they stock?
I live in Mexico,Mo and they stock one city park lake here. Fortunately the lake is only about 500 yards from my house. Haven’t made it there yet as my wife had ankle replacement surgery three weeks ago and can’t put any weight on it yet, so I’ve been staying in.
Dave,
The St. Louis Area Winter Trout Program brochure I have says the MDC stocks 12 lakes in St. Louis city and St. Louis County…as well as 5 lakes at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area.
Which lake do they stock where you are? Lakeview Park? That’s a pretty big piece of water! Do you fish the South Fork of the Salt River at the east edge of town?
They don’t stock Lakeview-it’s too big and kind of difficult to get to the water’s edge in a lot of places. They stock Kiwanis Park lake on Hendricks street. Unfortunately it has a lot of moss around the edges this year making fishing difficult. A few cold snaps should fix it.
I’ve never fished the South Fork branch near town. Wasn’t aware there were many fish in it. Have you fished it?
I used to keep a bass boat near Mark Twain Lake so have fished it a lot over the years. Sold the boat last year as I’m getting old and not as agile as I used to be.
I haven’t fished it. I would bet there’s fish in the South Fork…looks like it runs unimpeded all the way to Mark Twain Lake. Water looks murky in the aerials…hard to know how deep the creek might be.
What did you catch at Mark Twain?
The Salt river is almost always muddy as it drains so much plowed land. The lake always had a mud problem too although it tended to clear up considerably in dry weather. I was mostly a bass fisherman using baitcasting gear on the lake but did do some crapppie fishing from time to time. MTL could have some excellent crappie fishing at times.
Fished on Saturday for about 5.5 hours. I was thoroughly chilled by the time I left, even though it was supposedly 48 degrees. Maybe the drizzle, breeze and overcast skies prevented me from warming up…
Catching was very slow…about 1 fish every 1/2 hour…and the last fish came 2 hours after the previous! Ended up landing 2 Bluegills, 2 White Crapppies, and 12 Rainbow Trout.
These were some of the better trout. Some had pretty good kypes (the hooking of the tips of the jaws on breeding male trout and salmon)…especially the middle one!
Fished a few hours each of 3 days over the T-day holiday. Caught just 4 fish.
Thursday’s fish were 2 trout. Nice ones…14" and 16".
Friday I tried a public lake for bass and crappies in the afternoon. Got skunked. What? Ouch!
Sunday was warmer than originally forecast. Tried for trout again. Caught just 2. One was really small. This was the other.
And…here’s a raccoon taking his final rest on (in) a waterbed:
If you can’t tell what you are looking at…you can see an ear towards the bottom, and a hind leg near the top left.
Very nice fish and a great report David… Thanks I enjoy reading these!
Thanks Dale!
Nice fish. Got some crappie on Saturday. Hares ears under a hopper. Wind at my back and cast out. Let it drift out and when the hopper moved a fish was on.
Rick
That’s great, Rick! How deep did you set your dropper?
down about 2 feet.
Rick
Hit a new-to-me lake Saturday. Got skunked. Then I went to a lake that skunked me the last time I visited it. Caught 2 trout and 4 crappies.
Nice report. Ice on the water here now. My sinking line does not work onit.
Rick
Guys north of you in Ankeny were icefishing on 2"-3" of ice this weekend. I’ve been on 2.5"…that was not smart. 3" of good ice is ok to fish on. My buddy said 3 guys were standing all together on that ice. Again, not smart.
Down here south of you, we will have 5 consecutive days with high temps in the 50’s…ending after Wednesday this week. Then it’ll get colder here.
Pretty sure this was the last fishing trip of 2020 for me. Went to a nearby park with a trout-stocked pond. The pond was about 65% covered with a thin layer of ice.
The open areas were mostly near submerged aerators. Managed to land 5 trout. Mostly pretty chunky, I wonder what they are eating?
Decided to go look at the creek that was high and muddy last time I fished it. This time it was low and more clear. Caught a nice creek chub.
Nice fish. Looks like you had fun.
Rick