Trout Coming To Busch Soon

[brownieman]

Eric,

Cmon now...you can't count that 4 lb. carp you caught on a dough ball a few years back, lol.

We're talkin about a true native species...you need to get on the same page brother, lmao.

later on

[dgames]

for me, a place like Busch would be as incremental hour or two of fishing, never instead of going to a stream. For example, there is a city park pond 10 minutes away from my house that has a decent population of 10" bass. The only time I fish there is when I have an hour or two to kill and I have an itch to fish. That pond gives me a quick fishing fix, but certainly doesn't replace a trip to the north fork or to the white, or even a half day trip to the lower illinois. Rather,instead it is replacing an hour or two watching TV or surfing the net.

[ozark trout fisher]

Eric,

Cmon now...you can't count that 4 lb. carp you caught on a dough ball a few years back, lol.

We're talkin about a true native species...you need to get on the same page brother, lmao.

later on

Well, I'm happy to say I just realized that I won't be going to the opening weekend at Busch anyway...Turns out I'll be able to head south next weekend to do some real wild trout fishing.

I'm thinking Little Piney.

[Troutfishn]

Well I figured I could answer a few of those questions. I will be creeling the trout lakes at busch this year only as I did stocked catfish. I agree that the money could be spent better in other areas especially since the fish DO die June-ish when temps hit 70's. Most get eaten so fast by herons and turtles we never see them. I still find it an excellent place to play and sometimes work. Even into April there are TONS of trout, they school up in the deep water and are easy to catch. The thing is you must be using exactly what they want..... I will be there starting Wednesday, no particular reason. If your backyard is crane creek you are a lucky man, but to me busch looks pretty nice. Litter and poaching should be lower with an MDC vehicle driving from lake to lake every hour.

[ozark trout fisher]

Well I figured I could answer a few of those questions. I will be creeling the trout lakes at busch this year only as I did stocked catfish. I agree that the money could be spent better in other areas especially since the fish DO die June-ish when temps hit 70's. Most get eaten so fast by herons and turtles we never see them. I still find it an excellent place to play and sometimes work. Even into April there are TONS of trout, they school up in the deep water and are easy to catch. The thing is you must be using exactly what they want..... I will be there starting Wednesday, no particular reason. If your backyard is crane creek you are a lucky man, but to me busch looks pretty nice. Litter and poaching should be lower with an MDC vehicle driving from lake to lake every hour.

It's definitely true that the fish last longer than you might think. It the pond about a mile from my house (it's in a private lake community, but it still gets enormous pressure), I was catching trout fairly consistantly until late May. Still, I think next winter I might have to spend more time fishing Ozark streams, long drive or no.

[sms_alum]

I caught my first trout at Susan park on my 11th birthday taking part in these urban winter trout programs. It was alot easier getting Mom to drive me 5 minutes to Susan Park then an hour and 30 minutes to Meramec Springs.

Coming from a family that did not really fish this was a huge part in getting me into fishing and eventually hunting. Would I probably have gotten into it anyway, yes. But it definatley opened up fishing opportunities to me. Now I'm almost 27 and fish/hunt more then I probably should. I lease a farm for hunting, own a bass boat and spend alot of time and money persuing these life long hobbies. I can definatley see the value of the state spending money other ways (primary in more agents), but I do think these winter urban trout programs do get people started. I probably won't visit Busch, Susan Park, or any others this year because I have other opportunities, but its important to realize some people don't.

[eric1978]

I caught my first trout at Susan park on my 11th birthday taking part in these urban winter trout programs. It was alot easier getting Mom to drive me 5 minutes to Susan Park then an hour and 30 minutes to Meramec Springs.

Coming from a family that did not really fish this was a huge part in getting me into fishing and eventually hunting. Would I probably have gotten into it anyway, yes. But it definatley opened up fishing opportunities to me. Now I'm almost 27 and fish/hunt more then I probably should. I lease a farm for hunting, own a bass boat and spend alot of time and money persuing these life long hobbies. I can definatley see the value of the state spending money other ways (primary in more agents), but I do think these winter urban trout programs do get people started. I probably won't visit Busch, Susan Park, or any others this year because I have other opportunities, but its important to realize some people don't.

Some people don't have the opportunity to see the Grand Canyon. Should MO spend taxpayer's money on constructing a papier mache reproduction for those less fortunate?...I'm just messin' with ya man...I can't help it.

I, too, am from a non-fishing (immediate) family, so your point is well taken about the local availability for kids who are interested. I spent most of my time fishing the little neighborhood ponds I had access to, and spent the rest of my time marking the calendar down to the next LOZ visit to my uncle's lake house. I never did try one of the St. Louis trout programs, and maybe that's why I'm not a trout fisherman to this day.

I like your idea about spending the money on more MDC agents. Maybe they should give them bonuses based on the number of poaching and littering tickets issued.

[mhall02]

I'm going to chime in now. I've fished for trout for over 30 years now, and I now live about 15 minutes from Busch, grew up 15 minutes from Capps Creek, 30 minutes from Roaring River, and less then an hour from a couple other creeks with 'wild' trout (including Crane Creek). Later spent three years at College of the Ozarks, 10-15 minutes from the Taneycomo tailwater, before wrapping up my degree and MU. I mainly fish the catch and release lakes at Busch because I don't like to eat trout, but my experience has been pretty good, for what it is. It is 15 minutes from the house, I don't see more than 10 fishermen at each lake when I fish (angler spacing much better than you would see at any trout park or Taneycomo tailwater), and I don't burn 4-5 hours of driving time and ~$40 in gas to go. With the kids my fishing time is more limited in this season, so I get what I can. I would like to take my 8 year old daughter there this year since her only experience so far has been the kids fishing day at Meramec Spring (talk about a zoo!!). My experience for the catch and release lakes, minimal poaching, minimal litter and fairly polite anglers. No I don't expect to have to most scenic trip, no the trout are not born in the pond, and it is a pond versus a stream. I see it as on opportunity to catch trout on my fly rod only 15 minutes from home.

eirc1978, taxpayer dollars have been and will be spent on much, much worse things lately than putting some trout in the urban lakes....but that is another topic and not this forum.

[patfish]

Right on Troutfishn, sms_alum and mhall02!

[eric1978]

eirc1978, taxpayer dollars have been and will be spent on much, much worse things lately than putting some trout in the urban lakes....

Agreed. Again, Busch is not below me, I go there all the time for a quick fix, but usually leave unfulfilled.

I think the urban trout programs would be a great thing to spend money on if there weren't so many other more natural habitats in need of funding and conservation efforts. Really my only point is that MDC should rethink its priorities.