St. Louis County Park Lakes

[Smalliebigs]

Gentlemen:

Has anyone fished the lake in Unger Park? Just discovered it.

I've fished Simpson, Suson, and Tilles. Just looking for a good place to fish close to home. With the weather we're having I was expecting for activity. However, with the water up and looking like a bad cup of coffee, I'm fit to be tied as to where to have a productive day of fishing and what to throw. Any ideas are welcome.

Regards,

Hood, what's up???

Unger park holds a ton of every spieces that calls the Meramec home as it floods a couple times every spring from the river.It has a ton of Crappie and White bass and Largemouth I have even caught a few smallies out of there.The down fall it is hard to fish from the bank so you will want a small jon boat or do as a I do a canoe or kayak will help big time there.Right now is when you want to be slow rolling a 1/8 to a 1/4 ounce rooster tail, white with a gold blade and you will hammer White Bass, alot will be small but fun to catch.Unger has a huge population of shad and carp...way too many.If you want bass there you have to fish deep once the water warms up, I catch fish there with a nice size spoon jigged off the bottom. This time of year use a Stike King spinner bait, sexy shad triple blade, run it along the wind blown shoreline, which ever that one is that day. There is alot of flood timber from the river that settles in there so be ready to loose some baits. The Meramec right behind it, there is a nice hole that I catch Blues out of....you need cut skip jack herring for that.

I live right up Marshall Rd on the opposite side of the river from Unger...so I fish that whole area when I'm in need of a quick fix. P.M. me if you want a guided trip of the lower Meramec...anything from the Big River to the Mississippi River.In my big boat there has to sufficient flow though.I'm in dire need of a jet boat

[drath]

Smalliebigs,

I’ve heard that the ramp at Unger is permanently closed and that it’s bank fishing only there now. This was via a phone call to St. Louis County Parks and Rec. There is always the chance that she didn’t know what she was talking about. I was making a list of places to take my float tube and had this one scratched off. Are you sure it's still OK to put a canoe, yak, or in my case float tube, in there? If so this is good news.

Thanks

-D

[Smalliebigs]

Smalliebigs,

I've heard that the ramp at Unger is permanently closed and that it's bank fishing only there now. This was via a phone call to St. Louis County Parks and Rec. There is always the chance that she didn't know what she was talking about. I was making a list of places to take my float tube and had this one scratched off. Are you sure it's still OK to put a canoe, yak, or in my case float tube, in there? If so this is good news.

Thanks

-D

D,

You are correct, I guess I really never payed attention to whether or not St.Louis County cared if I put my little 9 foot yak in there.Hell, I put in on the Meramec @ the Kirkwood ramp and float down around the corner to right where Unger is and drag the yak up to the lake, fish leave and paddle back up stream to my truck.I guess I have been doing covertly enough that I have only seen a few hikers and frisbee golfers.I have never been questioned or asked about my fishing there once and that goes back about 8 years since I have been fishing Unger.I guess I've been lucky???? I have seen jon boats in there in the past...that's what prompted me to put the yak and canoe in there. It would suck to Flyfish from the bank there...lot's of roll casting if any at all.

[Gavin]

It looks like boats are OK on Unger...here's a link to their boating policy..Print it out and bring it with you.

http://ww5.stlouisco.com/parks/pdf/department-policies/boating-policy.pdf

[drath]

Nice work Gavin, thank you very much sir. That is exactly what I was looking for. I was all over the St. Louis County Parks web site looking for something like this. When I called the County Parks Department, the lady that I talked to didn’t sound very confident with her answers so I posted here when I saw this thread. I knew someone here could confirm. Thanks for the link.

-D

[Bill Jr.]

with all this snow and cold water runoff I'm going nuts!! Hopefully we get some consistant warmer weather so we all can get out to these local lakes where the fish are active. I for one can't to get out after work for an hour or 2.

[simsponlaker]

Hood, what's up???

Unger park holds a ton of every spieces that calls the Meramec home as it floods a couple times every spring from the river.It has a ton of Crappie and White bass and Largemouth I have even caught a few smallies out of there.The down fall it is hard to fish from the bank so you will want a small jon boat or do as a I do a canoe or kayak will help big time there.Right now is when you want to be slow rolling a 1/8 to a 1/4 ounce rooster tail, white with a gold blade and you will hammer White Bass, alot will be small but fun to catch.Unger has a huge population of shad and carp...way too many.If you want bass there you have to fish deep once the water warms up, I catch fish there with a nice size spoon jigged off the bottom. This time of year use a Stike King spinner bait, sexy shad triple blade, run it along the wind blown shoreline, which ever that one is that day. There is alot of flood timber from the river that settles in there so be ready to loose some baits. The Meramec right behind it, there is a nice hole that I catch Blues out of....you need cut skip jack herring for that.

I live right up Marshall Rd on the opposite side of the river from Unger...so I fish that whole area when I'm in need of a quick fix. P.M. me if you want a guided trip of the lower Meramec...anything from the Big River to the Mississippi River.In my big boat there has to sufficient flow though.I'm in dire need of a jet boat

Where is Unger park and just how difficult of a time would a shore fisherman have? I like to go to Simpson park a lot of people say you can't fish from shore there its not as consistent but I would not say its bad.

Any suggestions would be great, thank you.

-Ryan

[Gavin]

Unger is off the Meramec river road, behind Fenton Soccer park..Difficult to cover water from the bank because its surrounded on 3 sides by honeysuckle jungle & scrubby trees. A small boat would be the way to go down there. Cheers.

[Bill Jr.]

The lakes are finally starting to come alive! I'm looking forward to going to my local county park to catch a few. I took some pics when I first discovered it but haven't lately. Here are some from '09 around this time. I am amazed how thick and healthy they are in a less than pristine environment. Get out there and catch some! Just let them swim another day.

[T Hood]

I went out to Unger this morning and tried to fish from the bank. Nothing.

I did see a huge Bighead Carp carcass and several other dead fish on shore. What's going on with this place? The other dead fish were either shad or silver carp. Sorry, I'm not good with telling small silver carp from big shad.

I did see quite a few fish jumping, and, I know we don't want Asian Carp in our waters, but, when you see quite a few dead fish, it's got to raise a few questions. Anyone else noticing anything similar?