St. Louis Metro lakes and ponds

[ShoutForTrout]

I've had some fun in the St. Louis area lately, here's what I did:

I wasted a lot of time in Busch Conservation Area.  A couple weeks ago I hit up one of the catch and release lakes, #31, hoping for some easy spring action.  I don't know the temps, but it wasn't too cold.  I tossed chatterbaits all over the place and didn't get a hit.  I've never caught anything on a chatterbait or any jig before, so I thought I'd focus on chatterbaits and jigs.  I bought myslef a jackhammer and lost it within 5 casts.  I didn't any fish big or small, but I had the same luck at Lake#28, Lake#34, and Lake #35.  Went there a few times, tried chatterbaits all over the place without a bite. My favorite t-rigged yum dinger got the same results.

I went out to Spanish Lake a couple weeks ago too, and got skunked again.  My son was fishing with nightcrawlers and he didn't get any bites either.

I hadn't caught a thing since stocked trout in early February, so I was losing confidence fast.  This is my first spring in the STL area, so I'm looking everywhere to find good spots.  I combed this forum and decided to try Queeney Park, Tilles Park, and Des Peres Park.  I went to Queeney Park a couple times and saw a bunch of turtles, but I threw yum dingers and bass jigs all over that lake and didn't find a fish.   Then I went to Des Peres Park, the one by city hall.   I saw so many fish!  Tiny fry, little bluegill, nice size green sunfish, and I even got a look at a couple maybe 1-2 lb bass in the clear water.  Of course I didn't catch anything, but I finally found some fish!

I caught a bunch of trout this winter at Lake Jefferson in Forest Park, so I went there with high hopes.  I hiked all the way around the lake throwing jigs and chatterbaits.  black/blue, green pumpkin, and white.  I tried curly tail, paddle tail, flukes, and every crawdad I had as a trailer.  I got sick of trying new things and tied a 1/4oz tungsten jighead (christmas present from the wife) on my leader and flipped a green pumpkin yum dinger into the lilly pads.   Not to far from shore, I thought I got stuck pretty bad on a log, but this wasn't a log, OH MY GOSH I FINALLY HOOKED HOOKED A FISH!  After lifting trout and dinky bass out of the water for the last year, I forgot what an actual fish felt like.  I didn't have my net, of course, so I got him close and SNAP, my seaguar knot broke when it hit the line guide on my rod.  My precious fell about six inches back into the water and I didn't want to let that fish get away.  I stepped into the water and grabbed that fish with two hands and secured it and just about kissed it as I stepped away from the water.  I don't know what my pb was before, but i've probably only caught one or two bass that were 2-3 lbs.  Now I know my personal best bass was caught in Missouri and was 4.1 lbs.  For a bank angler like myself, that's a huge fish.  I'm still super excited about it a couple weeks later.

Got skunked at Queeney Park again.

Got skunked at Chesterfield Central Park, but I saw fish!  Yuuuuuge numbers of tiny fish, and I spooked a couple bigger ones out of the shallow coves.  I knew there would be fish here, but didn't catch anything that day.

Got skunked at lake#33 USING EARTHWORMS.  For real, I went out with worms and didn't get a single bite.  

Had a great day catching bluegill, green sunfish, and even a couple small bass at Des Peres Park.  I was dropshotting nightcrawlers with #8 mosquito hooks on my UL setup.  Super fun, I went back the next day and caught a load of panfish.  I had a lot of fun.  It rained on and off the whole time I was there, but got some really cool green sunfish with orange-tipped fins.

Got skunked at New Ballwin Park, water was pretty muddy after a rain, but not too bad.  No sign of fish.

Got skunked at Tilles Park.  Walked around the whole lake and didn't get a bite.  A bunch of others were fishing on the dam with the same results.

Went back to the clear waters of Chesterfield Central Park and started pulling bluegill and sunfish out from next to the bridge one after another.  There are some good size sunfish in those very clear waters.  If I used bigger pieces of worms, I would hook the bigger ones.  I got a couple little bass as well, but nibble nibble bite bite bite all day.

Last night I went out to Vlassis Park before sunset and had plenty of tiny tiny bites.  I had to downsize to a trout magnet 1/64 oz jighead, size 10 hook I think.  That hook as still too big to catch most of these tiny tiny fish, but I manged to hook a half dozen on 1" gulp alive baits.  There were a bunch of these tiny 1-2-3 inch bluegill/sunfish hiding in the rocks along the bank.  Those rocky banks hold fish!  I'll have to remember that when I'm looking around, try the rip-rap and rocks!


I need to try my hand at river fishing too, I've never really fished rivers.  I know you can catch just about anything in the Missouri and the Mississippi, so I need to pick some spots to try.  Meramec River is just a couple minutes away from me, so I'm going to poke around in Castlewood State Park and around those parts.

Check out these fish I caught, I'm pretty happy with my first spring in Missouri so far:

 

[FishnDave]

This is my first Spring here also.

You're doing well!  Congrats on your bass!

I tell you what, the last couple weekends have been a struggle.  I fished most recently on Sunday.  I flyfished 5 bodies of water, scattered around the area...I'm sure I drove well over 100 miles.  Some waters are ones you mentioned.  I got skunked at 3 of them, picked up @8 small crappies from one, and the last one I fished produced @ 10 nice bluegills, @ 15 nice crappies, a bass, and a nice redear/hybrid sunfish.

[ShoutForTrout]

Nice fish!

[Haris122]

Looks like some trout have been stocked around the local parks. Yay! Went to Suson briefly, Thursday afternoon and got skunked. Continuing the general pattern of my urban trout fishing experiences from the past few years, lol. Plenty of time left though. 

[FishnDave]

On 11/6/2021 at 6:44 AM, Haris122 said:

Looks like some trout have been stocked around the local parks. Yay! Went to Suson briefly, Thursday afternoon and got skunked. Continuing the general pattern of my urban trout fishing experiences from the past few years, lol. Plenty of time left though. 

I went to one on Friday afternoon.  It was a struggle there as well.  1/3 of the lake is covered with duckweed.  I caught 2 trout about 3 minutes apart, then no more trout.  I had good strikes, especially on a micro Gamechanger fly, but no hookups.  Then as I reeled up to leave, I caught a largemouth bass right in front of me.