Annual Prospects Report
Meet me in Saint Louis for the Urban Fishing Program (UFP) and Winter Trout Program (WTP), which includes eighteen St. Louis metro area lakes (See Busch CA Fishing Prospects for additional area UFP and WTP Lakes and regulations), providing close-to-home fishing opportunities to anglers in the St. Louis region, since 1969. Nine lakes are located within the City of St. Louis (Benton Park Lake, Carondelet Park: Boathouse Lake and Horseshoe Lake, Fairgrounds Park Lake, Forest Park: Jefferson Lake, Lafayette Park Lake, O’Fallon Park Lake, Willmore Park: North Lake and South Lake). Five Lakes within St. Louis County Parks (Bellefontaine Park: Fountain Lake, Suson Park: Carp Lake and Island Lake, Tilles Park Lake, Veteran's Memorial Park: Blackjack Lake), one lake in the City of St. Ann (Tiemeyer Park: Gendron Lake), one lake in the City of Ferguson (January-Wabash Park Lake), and two lakes in the City of Ballwin (New Ballwin Park Lake and Vlasis Park Lake) which will be stocked with channel catfish (one-pound average) throughout the summer months (April through September). Anglers should note the daily limit is 4 catfish in the aggregate. Anglers should try using baits such as nightcrawlers, stink baits, and cut bait to catch catfish. Anglers are successfully fishing these baits on the bottom in the spring and fall, or under a bobber in the hot summer months. Generally, anglers should expect the bite to be best when fish are feeding most, during the cool of the day in the early mornings and evenings.
Hybrid sunfish, which are a hybridized cross between Green Sunfish and Bluegill (six-inch average), will be stocked in Benton Park Lake, Carondelet Park: Boathouse Lake and Horseshoe Lake, Fairgrounds Park Lake, Forest Park: Jefferson Lake, Lafayette Park Lake, O’Fallon Park Lake, Willmore Park: North Lake and South Lake, New Ballwin Park Lake, Vlasis Park Lake, Gendron Lake, Blackjack Lake, Suson Park: Carp Lake and Island Lake, Tilles Park Lake, and January-Wabash Park Lake as part of the UFP in the summer (April-September). Anglers should try using baits such as nightcrawlers, crickets, meal worms, and red wigglers on small hooks under a bobber. Larger baits such as nightcrawlers can be cut to smaller pieces so fit on the hook better. Sunfish like to have structure or cover around them but can be caught in open water as well, especially in the summer months.
Rainbow trout (3/4 pound average) will be stocked several times throughout winter months as part of the WTP (November thru March) at January-Wabash Park Lake, Koeneman Park Lake, Kirkwood Park: Walker Lake, Carondelet Park: Boathouse Lake, Forest Park: Jefferson Lake, O’Fallon Park Lake, Vlasis Park Lake, Gendron Lake, Suson Park: Carp Lake and Island Lake, Tilles Park Lake. Please see the following fishing regulation summery which applies to all anglers and varies by specific waterbody.
Spring largemouth bass fishing should continue to be good at Horseshoe Lake in Carondelet Park, Island Lake in Suson Park, January-Wabash Park Lake, Blackjack Lake in the North Recreation Complex and Bee Tree Park Lake with bass up to 20 inches. Fish dawn and dusk around the edges of rock piles, concrete shorelines, near vegetation or brush piles and under docks while using a topwater lure to locate and gauge fish activity. Fish slower bites with mid-day with soft plastic worms, and jigs using techniques like a Texas-rig or Carolina-rig or wacky-rig when temperatures and fish activity is low.
Other Opportunities
The Missouri Department of Conservation helps to fund and provide close-to-home fishing opportunities like the UFP and WTP and includes the construction and maintenance of river accesses along local rivers and streams in the St. Louis Region including New Haven Access on Mile 82 of the Missouri River and Meramec Landing Park in Valley Park.
New Haven Access offers fair bank fishing opportunities from the adjacent bank, and the Meramec Landing Access is a great way to launch a canoe or kayak, as well as larger jet and outboard equipped watercraft.
Consider enjoying a new type of fishing and help support improving water quality and native fisheries by targeting new varieties of fish species such as Common Carp, Silver Carp, Bighead Carp, and Grass Carp local floodplain lakes and rivers near St. Louis Region. Carp such as Silver Carp and Grass Carp make an excellent meal when cleaned and prepared correctly and have been raised and prized for their flavor for millineia accross the globe (see MDC carp recipes: Carp Cajun | Missouri Department of Conservation), species such as Common Carp can be taken on a variety of baits, including dough balls, whole kernel corn, and worms using a small hook. Bighead Carp can grow to huge sizes as Missouri holds recent World Record and Missouri State Record's for carp bowfishing at 125lbs. 5oz. in 2021, and the current pole-and-line record 97lbs. caught by a Festus angler in 2024 on the Mississippi. Lakes and nearby rivers that host excellent carp fisheries include floodplain lakes such as Creve Coeur Lake, and Simpson Lake. Invasive carp are also abundant in the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Meramec River and their tributaries such as River Des Peres and adjacent streams.
Best Bets
