St. Louis's Urban Winter Trout season is open

Twins Nicholas and Christopher Myers of St. Peters needed only a couple hours to catch their limit last month on opening day of St. Louis' Urban Winter Trout season.

From November through February, the Missouri Department of Conservation stocks St. Louis area lakes with rainbow trout. That provides ideal cold-weather fishing for local kids and their families.

This year, over 34,000 rainbow trout will be released into 10 St. Louis City and County lakes. Five other lakes in the Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County also will be stocked with trout. (For a complete list of parks where trout are stocked, see sidebar below.)

To make sure fishing will be good the whole winter season, the fish stocking will be done twice a month through February. Stocking dates aren't announced in advance but you can keep track by calling the Fish Stocking Hot Line at (636) 441-8014.

Nicholas, Christopher and dad James got up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, and drove directly to Lake 24 at the Busch Conservation Area. Nicholas said, "I didn't even eat breakfast." But, dad brought along some snacks so they could eat while fishing.

By 8:30 a.m., the two boys and their dad all had caught their daily limit of five trout.

Alex Eklund and his sister, Cecilia, came to Lake 24 with their dad later that morning. They didn't know the trout season was on and started using worms for bait to catch other fish.

But, as soon as they were told about the trout, the family moved to deeper water where the trout were. They also switched bait from worms to "trout marshmallows."

The Ecklunds had a big tackle box with all sorts of different fishing gear. That made it easy for them to change bait for trout.

The six-year-old Myers twins used a tiny plastic bait to catch their trout.

The boys have been fishing since they were one year old. Nicholas said, "I got a little fishing pole that was blue. My brother's was green."

The twins now have bigger fishing rods. Each of them also has a small folding canvas chair that they sit on while fishing. Dad also brought along a special board he used to clean the fish.

Nicholas said that this was the first time the boys fished for trout.

The brothers have an older sister, nine-year-old Megan. She has been fishing but didn't come this time. Christopher said, "She doesn't like the slime on the fish."

Christopher said he liked the lake fishing better than fishing in a creek. "The lake is square and had more fish in it," he said.

Both boys said they liked to put the fish they caught on a stringer to hold them until it was time to go home. The stringer holds the fish while they are put back into the water to be kept alive.

For eight-year-old Alex Eklund, the trip to the Busch Conservation Area marked a return to the place where he went fishing for the first time. "When I was little, I caught my first fish right here. I think it was a bluegill," he said.

Alex said he was born in St. Louis but has lived in Oregon and Texas. He said the family came back to the area two months ago. He said, when the family lived in Oregon, "I fished in a park that had a lake."

He said he wasn't really a fisherman. "I've caught only a couple fish but I like to be outside," he said.

The St. Louis Area Winter Trout Program started in 1989. The first stocking was done in St. Louis City. But, it now has been expanded to other areas in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

The trout season is only in the winter months. That's because trout need cold water to survive. During the summer, the water in the shallow city and county lakes gets too warm for the trout.

The stocked trout are in the 8-to-10-inch range. They are raised in Missouri Conservation Department hatcheries and trucked into the St. Louis area.

 

Fifteen area lakes stocked with trout for winter fishing There are 15 lakes in nine different St. Louis park areas in the 2001 St. Louis Area Winter Trout Program. That's an increase of two lakes from the 2000 program. The Missouri Department of Conservation also has doubled the number of fish to be stocked during the November, 2001, to February, 2002 season. Last year, 17,000 fish were stocked; this season, 34,000 fish will be available. The parks involved in the 2001 program are: August A. Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County (Lakes No. 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28) Suson Park in south St. Louis County (Lakes 1, 2 and 3) Tilles Park Lake in St. Louis County Walker Lake in City of Kirkwood O'Fallon Park Lake in City of St. Louis Boathouse Lake in Carondelet Park in City of St. Louis January-Wabash Lake in City of Ferguson Wild Acres Park Lake in City of Overland. Vlasis Park Lake in Ballwin. Lake 1 at Suson Park and Boathouse Lake were not in the 2000 program because they were being rebuilt. That renovation is done and the lakes were restocked for 2001. For information about the trout program, you can call the Fish Stocking Hot Line at (636) 441-8014.