Terre Du Lac

[Rynofasho]

Anyone fished here? I know it is private. For having such a large community, I'm surprised that I can't find information about fishing there.

[laker67]

Anyone fished here? I know it is private. For having such a large community, I'm surprised that I can't find information about fishing there.

I have a friend living there but don't know much about the lake. I do know that he fishes the rivers instead.

[Jerry Rapp]

fished there last summer on one of the lakes. Tons of little bass. The Terre du Lac bass club use to fish at least two events there each year. Now they don't. That should tell you something.

[jdmidwest]

Which lake, there are 5 big ones and several small ones. I have a friend that lives on Capri, we fish it often. We fish Shane and Carmel from time to time. We fished a tourney last fall on Shane in a blowing wind and front coming thru, did not fair well.

You have to live there to fish or be with a resident. Fees and tags on every boat and trailer. They stock many of the lakes every year.

[Al Agnew]

I've fished there a few times in the past. Back in the 1970s, not many years after the development began and the lakes were built, they were trying to drum up interest in the development and had an open bass tournament, which I fished along with a bunch of my friends. I'd never seen the lakes before. I don't remember the names or which lake was which, but that morning before the tournament was supposed to start, I drove around to the lakes and looked at them, trying to decide which one to fish. At the time, there were only three big lakes open, and one of them had only been stocked about three years before, so I ruled it out as unlikely to hold any big fish. Of the other two, one was muddy. I thought about fishing the muddy one, reasoning that I'd have less competition on it, but finally decided to fish the one that was clear. I remember it being kinda bowl-like, with little cover and not much variation along the banks. I figured I'd just use a crankbait and fish the heck out of it. So that's what I did. I must have gone completely around that lake four or five times during the eight hour tournament, just combing the banks with a deep diving crankbait. I caught a limit of fairly nice fish, as I remember about a three pound average, and since there were about 30 other boats on the lake and it wasn't all that big, I was pretty sure I had the best bag of anybody on the lake. Sure enough, at the weigh-in, I was about two pounds heavier than anybody else on that lake and was winning...until a buddy of mine who had fished the muddy lake weighed in with a bag that was about four pounds heavier than mine, nearly a five pound average! He won, I got second, and kicked myself for weeks afterward about not following my instincts and fishing the muddy lake.

[Midwest troutbum]

I fished one of the larger lakes that restricts craft to 5-10 horsepower motors approx 10 years ago (can't remember the name of the lake). We caught some smaller bass, but were limited to a paddleboat and shore fishing along their plot. The water was quite clear visibility good, and the lake seemed to be deep for its relatively small size. A number of docks were around, and I suspect the bass population would be decent. However a distant relative of the family that owns property in Terre Du Lac as well as the Ozarks, seems to prefer Lake of the Ozarks over Terre du Lac when bass fishing. I'm not sure if his preference is biased for the bass fishing or for the bar crowd weekend shenanigan's though...

The real beauty of Terre du Lac is it is 100% private and therefore does not have some of the festering problems such as over development, heavy use, concentrated pollution, etc that Lake of the Ozarks has, and there's literally no wake from other craft due to horsepower and speed restrictions. Terre Du Lac it's about 1/2 the driving distance or less for us eastern MO residents than Lake of the Ozarks. It's a perfect destination weekend getaway from city life.

[Smalliebigs]

We have a lot there on Shane and are continplating a build and my parents live on Marseilles, right next Capri. There are fish in there but, it is much better in the spring and very good in the fall. As Troutbum stated it's private unless you own a lot or live there. My parents lake has been stocked with Smallmouth from Mill Creek and the Big River.....some freak did it in 2008 and they have really done well as I caught a 18 inch football this spring. The lakes are stocked every other year with Catfish, Bass and small amounts of Crappie and Bluegill and the local meat hunters will attack them at will so it's a bummer. I catch several Largemouth in the 3 to 6 pound class every year on the olde Wiggle Wart in the fall and the area provides me an excellent starting point for my river journey's. There is a local police force that tends to be a little agressive which I find appealing....actually wish they were more, so we could keep everyone out that doesn't live there but, it's just about impossible.......so beware if you don't have a sticker or a pass....we had a meeting at the country club last week and all board members agreed it's time to put the long arm of the law down....we hired three more cops to keep the methheads OUT.

[MOsmallies]

My parents lake has been stocked with Smallmouth from Mill Creek and the Big River.....some freak did it in 2008 and they have really done well as I caught a 18 inch football this spring.

Who would that "freak" happen to be?

[exiledguide]

I've owned a lot at Lake Sherwood in St Charles county when I lived in St.Louis county and in Hots Springs Village when I lived in Arkansas, usually you can pick up a lot pretty cheap, people arealways trying to sell when they move away for retirement or work transfers. Depending on the attitude of the residents and the POA these can be fantastic fishing or really poor fishing. Most of the time an active fishing club can help improve the fishing by putting in brushpiles, maintaing common areas etc. The downside can be the lack of interstructure, water & sewer mainly. But I enjoyed owning property and fishing at both places and if I could find a decent lake development around Springfield that didn't cost me an arm and a leg I'd look into buying property there

[Rynofasho]

Thank you for the great replies everyone. My story is that I live in St. Louis county and I'm tired of being a weekend warrior with 50 other boats and 1,000 shore fisherman at the likes of Busch Wildlife. I have the opportunity to pick up a lot for cheap, but I was wondering if it was worth having to pay the dues and assessment if the fishing was terrible. I've got a small boat (just trolling motors up front and in back), so I could definitely putt around on the smaller ones.

Thanks again and if you have more stories, keep them coming!