Are There Any Public Ponds Or Small Lakes Around?

[jbtiwns30]

Hey all.... I was wondering of there are any small lakes or ponds that are for the public to fish that are not listed on the dnr website? Im from Minnesota and I would love to find something small with a good amount to fish to catch that my kids would love to go to. If there any what kind of fish are there to catch. I would love to find a good crappie place but Im not going to be picky about it. I know there are tons of public ponds where Im from that the dnr doesn't put on their site. Any ideas would be great, thanks a bunch guys!

[Haris122]

You might want to check the MDC (Missouri Department of Conservation) site if you haven't. I personally never even knew the Department of Natural Resources site listed anything fishing related at all. If you're living near St. Louis or St. Charles, the August Bush Lakes are pretty nice though they're pretty well known. If you already tried those and want to try your luck at something really obscure, I suggest checking out which hunting focused conservation areas have the odd fishing pond there as well. I know the Indian Creek Conservation area in Washington County is supposed to have one, and I might be wrong, but places like that which cater more to hunting probably don't get much fishing pressure, as they tend to be a bit of a drive, and probably don't offer the same opportunities as more well known rivers, and larger lakes closer nearby. I've been tempted of trying my luck at that type of pond once in a while, but it's not too frequent that I get the luxury of going hunting, with a 60 mile drive needed to get anywhere a rifle can be used, so I figure once I'm there, I may as well stick to my usual sorry attempt at hunting something.

[Wayne SW/MO]

That's a tough question, Missouri is a big state. Go to the MDC site and find the Atlas. You will be able to search specifically for fishing ponds by county.

[jbtiwns30]

Thanks for the info so far, I should say even though you can check that atlas out on that site and I bet anything there are more public ponds out there that are not on that atlas. I guess I just need to go drive around and explore until I find stuff.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Where are you?

[jbtiwns30]

ozark area..........

[ozarkgunner]

There are very few public ponds in sw mo. I think it has more to due with the terrain than anything else. Only pond I know within 30 miles of ozark is at Andy dalton central mo has tons of them.

[UnCivE]

Define "public"... if you are willing to drive down around Ft. Leonard Wood, I can put you on a couple public ponds, and if you are willing to pay for a post fishing license, I can show you a bunch of ponds with good fish in them.

[Wayne SW/MO]

If you're talking about the immediate area we're not blessed with ponds , I wish we were. For the kids the park in Ozark and the accesses on the Finley and the James would probably work. A big portion of Fellows lake is very assessable on the north side. If it is as low as I imagine it is, you can walk the bank farther then you'll want to.