St. Charles Lakes

[TwainGang]

Does anyone in the St. Charles area know if the lakes off 370 and Elm Street (Fountain Lakes) have crappie stocked in them? The signs gives limit info for bass (>= 18"; 2 fish) , channel catfish (no size limit; 4 fish) and "all other fish combined"( no size info; 10 fish). These are bank-fishing only lakes and aren't really big, but I was thinking they might warm up earlier than the big water. Plus they are fairly close to where I live. Thanks.

[STL-slabman]

Not sure about the lakes off HWY 370? I pass by it quite a bit (i live in O'Fallon) but never stopped to look.

Do you know of any good MO river sloughs that are good to fish around St Charles County?

[fishin562]

I am not for sure on this but an apprentice at work told me his neighbor catches crappie at the lake next to Millstone Bangerts shop. If you go there now the water is low and you con see some brush pile sticking out of water

[N2Crappie]

STL Slabman
I picked up a hotspots map at BPS for the Alton Pool this Monday. It shows several sloughs on the Mississippi that are supposed to be good for Crappie.
I don't know if you are familiar with conservation ramp off Dalbow Rd (off of Hwy 79) but it will put you in the Quiver slough which is near a good spot.
I also live in O'Fallon and plan on checking out some of the sloughs this spring. Maybe we can try them together some time.
Good Luck
N2

[TwainGang]

Looks like several of us live in O'Fallon. I thought about exploring the big rivers myself sometime since it is the closest big water to me. I just never developed a lot of confidence in fishing the big river systems.

You guys ever check out Bullseye Tackle on Vet. Memorial? Nice little tackle shop to get what you need- the guys that run it are good guys too.

[Rattler]

I fish the Miss. quite often in the summertime. As far as the hotspots maps are concerned, you wont have much of a boat left if you listen to them. I am very familear with the Cuivre slough that you are talking about. I used to fish the Cuivre river a lot years ago and used the slough as a means to get there after they closed the ramp in Old Monroe. I have not been able to catch crappie on the river but the white bass fishing can get really good in the early spring when they start running the creeks and then again in the summer when you find them schooling on the channel ledges. It's easy to get distracted by the bikinis on the sandbars when the fishing isn't good also:D . Have any of you fished out there regularly, I'm open to any new advise myself?

[midriv]

i all so live in ofallon and are looking for new places to fish.we spend alot of time at busch wildlife but the fish are small it seems. any new places to go would be great or anybody want someone to go just let me know .and yes Bullseye Tackle is a great place there allways there to help you out and are great people

[TwainGang]

Welcome to the board midriv. I fished a Busch lake tonight, as a matter of fact. A coworker's husband showed me the technique of catching stocked trout out there. I even caught three of 'em! I fished Bennet Springs with flies and fly-rod, but never fished for pond trout using power bait and spinning gear. It seems like a good way to put some meat in the freezer- at least until the trout get all caught! I saw a nice 4.5 pounder that a guy caught too.

Have you done any good crappie fishing at the Busch lakes? I work about a mile and a half from there, and I am planning on hitting them harder this year than last year. I got a portable depthfinder and trolling motor, so I'm pretty set to go out there. We should meet up sometime and try to see what damage we can do. Weldon Springs has a lake that I hear has some crappie in it too, but no boats to rent there, like there are at Busch.

[midriv]

thanks for the welcome twaingang. we fish bush alot most of the time you can limit out but there small . busch wildlife wants you to keep the all no matter the size . i think to catch the bigger ones youll need a boat. let me knowwhen you planning to go out there and will try to hook up with you. ill show you the places we fish and have good luck .

[TwainGang]

Sounds like a plan. We'll keep in touch through the board.