An Urban Lake I Hate to Love

Not far from my place though it's in St Louis County, is an urban lake that really doesn't lie in an urban area. Unless you count the neighborhoods of bazillion dollar homes that border the north and are just a hike up a hill and through the woods, "urban". It's so close to the Mississippi River I believe I've seen AI make mistakes the the river influences the lake. It doesn't.

So, why do I hate to love it so much? The lake is mowed more often than I ever mowed my lawns. There's a walking trail completely surrounding the lake. A restroom. Benches for sitting-some with a small roof over them for protection from the rain. A typical day is a constant dog parade. And walkers/runners that sometimes look at me like I'm a poor, homeless man just trying to catch supper. Other people fish the lake-but other than peak fishing season (to the casual fisherman), even a nice day I may only see 2-3 others fishing. Point being-it's too nice! Of course somehow I manage to find the nooks and crannies that a mower can't reach, and I'll often be tucked away in those places but that's usually where the-best fishing is.

The lake is well managed-for fish! Here, the winter fish cover renovation has just been completed. There's a Christmas tree dumping site at the southeast edge of the lake.

While red ear are even more sparse on this lake than the usual "red ear are sparse compared to their other panfish cousins", I don't believe I've ever caught one under 7 inches on this lake. The bluegill have grown impressively over the years I've fished the lake. Good management. I always catch a "feed a family of four" catfish, yearly. At least one-sometimes more.

It's a great lake to guide/ instruct other anglers. The fish have read the book on where they should usually be and how to act, by season. This young lady caught her PB (personal best) largemouth bass one hot, July day. Less than an hour after she'd caught her PB bluegill. And most fish she'd ever caught an entire day, of fishing.

Let's talk about the crappie. I hadn't been exploring the lakes up here that long when one November day I-for some reason-decided to go to this lake that I'd fished a few times for the first time, that year. It was raining. The temperature was dropping into the 30's. The wind was blowing like the gales that sunk the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. I hadn't yet begun restocking/adjusting/carrying with me the outdoor survival gear that accompany me everywhere I go, now. I had a rain poncho. You know, the people tent you slip over your head as I did that afternoon. And I headed to the logical place that crappie would be piled up as winds blew baitfish into the mouth of a cove. The first thing that happened was priceless. The winds hit the ground and did a U-turn and into my rain poncho. I kid you not, the poncho lifted off my body and rose high into the air and holding its shape, began moving with the wind as if a supernatural event was occurring. Now exposed to the elements, I was calculating how long I had to fish before the driving rain and frigid temperature penetrated the still a favorite until the depth of winter, Dickies insulated and hooded coat. And the fishing-it was mayhem. Every cast. And sometimes the bite was so fast I'd miss the first one for it only to be followed up in a nano-second by the second crazed crappie.

I've caught among one of my top 10 sized crappie on this lake. The last two days, I caught 25 and 36 crappie, respectively. In only three hours both days. And 34 other species of fish. But big crappie are what we need to talk about. They're rare. Unusual. In fact, a statistic that remains fairly consistent is you'll catch an eater about every 10 crappie caught. The crappie population got away from the managers of the lake. As they easily can on any body of water and especially smaller bodies of water. I go through periods where I try to throw everything I catch onto the bank. Coon food. But my soft side gets the best of me most of the time. I can't dispose of something that just gave me a lot of joy, in such a cruel manner.

One thing about crappie is they feel about the same when they strike, regardless of size. That's awesome. And for a fisherman like me that studies everything possible about fishing nuances, that's awesome. I use this lake as a test lake for, "What's new or a new idea that may work for crappie?" This year, something has happened to these small body waters crappie. They have been mission impossible, save for about two weeks in June I cleaned up on big ones better than I could have out of a boat on one of the major Missouri recreational lakes. When the crappie went AWOL, I came to this lake to determine one thing. "Is something wrong with my other crappie lakes? Or have the crappie really moved out of reach of a bank fisherman. Closed their mouths for the summer. Been kidnapped by a massive flock of Herons." It's the crappie, this year. Not the certain lakes up here. These crappie too...were "non-existent" from about July, to now.

Crappie are going to be crappie regardless of size. I had so much fun the last two days figuring out that I was wasting my time to fish anything but shade in the back of coves. And I'd better not cast into the sun and swim the jig into the shade. Like I visualize baitfish doing. I had to gently pitch the jig to the edge of the shade, and then begin the retrieve. Seemed to me not much difference, but something about that approach was a big difference to the crappie. And because there's always crappie a plenty, it's a great testing ground. I keep telling myself I could carry marabou jigs for everything, 12 months of the year. And my ginger jig has been a hot ticket for two years, now. I stuck a couple of those ginger jigs in my pocket this morning, and tied one on once I reached about 30 crappie, in number. While I could detect that maybe it wasn't quite as effective as the Slab Hunt'r jig I'd been using, I caught my only "keeper" crappie and several other smaller crappie, on the ginger micro marabou that I tie.

So I hate to love the lake so much only because it's "prissy". But I love the lake because honestly, I've had at least as many good fishing days here as I have in the wilder areas and that often require considerable hiking, and "survival" if you're going to make a day of it. It's a great place to teach, fishing. And a great place to field test ideas and equipment. Besides, at my age my doctor may soon give me a choice. "No fishing"-or go "prissy" with your fishing.