Water Hazards

[Gavin]

Some funny stories! I needed a good laugh today, Thanks!

[Smalliebigs]

I forgot we also hit several nieghborhood lakes or subdivision lakes. Lake Arrowhead comes to mind out in Chesterfield as well as many others in the West County area. The thing was it was alot of trial and error to find which lakes had been stocked good.We would usually look for older nice subdivisions that had houses right on them that nobody would think of fishing because the houses were to close.

My really good friend lives in the Legends in Eureka and has a drainage pond behind his house.He is single, no kids and has plenty of money.He had the fish farm outside of Salem come and stock his pond with hybrid FL/IL bass in 2002, that place is really good fishing and I don't know if anyone knows theres fish in it.

[troutfiend1985]

No one has mentioned bribery here, and bribes are so good for access to golf courses that it's not funny. You want to get on that golf course to fish? (If answer is yes) Then you have three legal options.

1. Work at the golf course as a marshal. Not the coolest of ideas I know, and no there is no bribes involved in this, but it will work. And you get free golf + fishing and the courses are probably hiring right now. Go for the muni courses, and stay away from the overpriced Branson courses that care too much about image, just going to have to trust me on that one.

2. Bribe the Pro shop staff. Yeah, sounds out there, but trust me from experience it works. When I worked at a pro shop in KC I would get guys deals all the time on greens fees, and because I worked at an older course there was plenty in the way of fishing exchanges going on. But, there was a price. I would "discount" green fees to 7 dollars to people that were either my friends or that were my "friends" that gave me favors back. The golf industry is constantly changing services like this, I would call up course A and swap green fees with it. Or I would call up course B and get on their course to fly fish or golf on a Monday. It's not like these people aren't used to it already, but the key is getting in good with the guy behind the counter. People think the GM's have all the power, well when the GM or head pro is there then this is true. However, when I ran the shop by myself, usually 2:30 or 3 until dark, I was constantly bargaining with people. It was good for business, I get a guy on for free a few times and next thing you know that front door which was broken is magically fixed or the gutters cleaned etc. . .

My tips, go for the college aged kids that work behind the counter and don't start bribing until you know him/her. I usually accepted a 12 pack of Sam Adams in exchange for 9 holes of golf, or trespass fees. Better yet, if you have private access to a pond then swap. A lot of guys who golf also fly fish. And by the way, I never was once in trouble at any of the courses I worked for because I didn't steal items from the shop or give discounts on tangible items. Keep it to greens fees and fishing and you'll be fine.

3. Get in good with the maintenance staff and greens keeper. Might be a little easier than bribing a kid behind the counter, but also has less privileges than the guy behind the counter because the Greens Keeper, at least at the courses I worked on, had to go through me. But trust me, I was easy going because I knew that the greens keeping staff would repay the favor by getting me on other courses. They are usually up there early in the morning, and I would suggest the same.

If you can do either of these three things then you're gold, and I caught plenty of 4-5 lb bass on the fly rod by being connected in the golf world. It's not hard, just try it.