Catching STL "City stockers", any advice?

[GregSTC]

I went to Busch Wildlife today and fished lake #21 from 11:30 to 1:30. Too windy for fishing a Dry/Dropper. Tried several nymphs and mini-jigs. Caught three nice rainbows on a cream colored 1/100th mini-jig. 8 bites 6 hooked 3 Landed on debarbed hooks.

very satisfying since I didn't have to drive three hours to decent trout water

Greg

[MOFishwater]

Nice to hear the Busch lakes are producing. Struck out a couple times there last year, made a few trips down for some trout as well as a run to #33(?) that has Muskies stocked in it. No success in either lake, went on a really nasty day w/ tons of wind.

I've got a decent selection of the Bead head pheasant tails, so I'll prob give that a shot on my first run this year. Too busy whacking ducks in Dexter MO this past weekend and I'll be gone to Paris MO this coming weekend for more ducks and opening day of deer season. Hope to get on the water soon though:) Keep the ideas coming if you have any more to offer!

[mizzouflyfisher]

I fished the stocked lake in Columbia last winter. Wind is absolutely crucial. If no wind, do a short pull, pause retrieve. I caught most of my fish on an orange scud. Don't be afraid to fish shallow either, I caught 20+ fish one day fishing no deeper than 3 feet and as shallow as one foot and the whole edge of the lake had ice. I was even surprised by a couple of bluegill coming out of that cold water. Just take some time switching through flies and depths to get it figured out.

Mizzouflyfisher

[mhall02]

I had a chance to fish Busch lake 21 and 28 some last year. Fished 28 in late April early May and caught a brown!! When I went to 21 in Dec. or Jan had good luck off the dam w/ a small pink jig, set under the indicator at 10 or 11 feet, tough casting, man they were deep. Any indicator movement let to a strike that was usually a hook-up. It is nice to trout fish again only 20 minutes from home, grew up in SW Missouri and miss Roaring River, Capps, Crane and Taney.

[beadhead]

MoFish

you can call the fish stocking hotline (MDC)(636) 300-9651.

Gives dates locations and number of trout stocked.

I tried Valasis park a few years back and managed a few.

like others have said, go small, dark buggers/leeches in #12,#14

or breakdown and pull out the glowball.

tight lines

[mhall02]

Had a chance to hit Lake 21 at Busch Saturday morning, fished from about 0700 - 1030 and caught about 8-9 in the first 1.5-2 hours, then it went dead when the sun got a little higher. All rainbows, in mid-Nov. MDC put browns in and I saw a few in the shallows on the far side of the lake, they were spooky and showed little interest when I was able to get a good cast to 'em. Caught all on a small white jig under an indicator anywhere from 5-15 feet off shore off of the dam, about 5-6' down. Anytime the indicator bumped, I set the hook and most of the time it was a fish. Biggest was around 14", most were around 11-12".