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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.
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?
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
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
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.
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?
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
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.
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 .
Sounds like a plan. We'll keep in touch through the board.
Hey twain/mid i`m not sure about the crappie but i use to fish Busch quite often on lake 35 and do real well with the Green Carp , and i think i remember some folks taking some good #`s of crappie but i`m not sure about size. Don`t know if you`ve fished 35 but there are a bunch of trees on the far side that might produce.
Never fished the Quivre or in the Mo or Mississippi rivers! I think it's a shame since they are all very close to home. Plan on trying some crappie and catfishing on them this spring and summer. Much closer than driving up to Mark Twain or Lake Ozarks even though I really enjoy those lakes. Sometimes my time is limited on the weekends and I want some action close to home. I live very close to Busch's Wildlife and fishing there can be good at times. Nice to know there are a few of us in O'Fallon area! Maybe we can get together and compare notes (over a few cold beers)? I am headed down to N. Mississippi in late April to do some crappie fishing on the Oxbow lakes (Enid, Sardis, Arkabutla) and I'm pretty excited:) ! Also have a trip planned to Beaver Lake, ARK in March for some striper action. Anyone going to STL Boat Show?
Hey Rattler and N2,
Tell me more about this Cuirve River access from HWY 79 (and the bikini's on sand bars!).
Hi there! I am pretty familiar with the Cuivre Slough area and the ramp off of Dalbow rd. I duck hunt just down the street from there. The ramp is definately not the best ramp to put in a nice boat or even a fiberglass boat. The main use for the ramp is for the deer hunters to get to Cuivre Island. I would suggest launching from John's boat harbor in straight out of old town St. Peters. You are only about a half mile from the southern outlet of the slough. You also need to be careful about the water level of the slough since they put a wing dam acroos the top ind of the slough really causing it to silt in the last couple of years. I have never fished in the slough itself much but have fished alot in the Cuivre River. Its relaxing and I feel that it can be easier to fish the whites in sometimes. I have never had much luck bass or crappie fishing in there. I'm sure someone else has though. I haven't spent much time in there the last year. I've been trying to pattern the whites on the main channel. Their some of my favorate fishin when their on! I fyou guys have any questions about other parts of the river, I'd be happy to let you know what I've learned.
Thanks for the tips! I'll have to give Cuivre a try. Whites are fun to fish for when they turn on, it's non stop action!
hmmmmm never really fished the Cuivre never had good luck .took a drive out to busch today just looking.lake 35 is really low so are most of the lakes.nows a good time to go look at them you can really see where the brush pilles are. just thought id let you know we took lots of pictures so when the water comes back up we will know where they are hideing
Good information here.