LAKES IN REGION OFFER RECREATION, RELAXATION

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Summer is a great time to get away and that is apparently the case so far this summer at three area lakes.

Wappapello Lake in Wappapello, Clearwater Lake in Piedmont and Horseshoe Lake in Miller City, Ill. have all reported increased attendance over last year.

Doug Nichols, a park ranger at Wappapello, said that park attendance is up 11 percent from last year.

"High water did affect attendance at first," said Nichols, "but we ended up having a 31 percent increase over last May. Memorial Day weekend was really busy for us."

Park Supervisor Michael McClendon said that the beaches are getting full and the lake is in good shape for the summer.

"We have really controlled the algae this year," said McClendon. "I think the money the Missouri Department of Conservation has put into improving the lake is really starting to pay off.

"The lake is as good as you'll ever see it right now. I can't think of a better time to come out to the lake."

McClendon said that fishing on the lake has been way up for all species.

"People have been catching a lot of crappie and bass off of trolling lines," said McClendon. "A lot of bluegill have been caught also."

Camping at the lake is in designated areas, said McClendon, and it too has been up since last year.

Clearwater Lake has also been enjoying a successful summer as well.

"It's really been great," said Renee Bouchard, a park ranger at Clearwater. "A lot of people have come out and enjoyed themselves so far this summer.

"Clearwater is starting to become more known in the area. People are coming out and they are really impressed with what they see here."

Bouchard said that camping and fishing have been excellent.

"This is one of our best years for fishing that we have had," said Bouchard. "Large mouth bass and crappie are the species being caught the most.

"For camping, the weather has cooperated and been nice for visitors. Memorial Day weekend was big for us but so far the weekends have been busy, too."

At Horseshoe Lake, Jimmy Melton, owner of Melton's Fishing Camp, said that this may be the best year that the lake has seen in 25 to 30 years. He said that May was a busy month at the lake.

"Crappie fishing is at the best it has ever been but they are running a little small in size," said Melton. "Bluegill are still spawning but they will probably stop in another week to 10 days. There have also been some nice bass caught so far.

"We hope we can keep getting more rain in here because it is really good for the fishing."

The only thing hurting the lake this year, said Melton, is an ample supply of surface vegetation on the lake.

"We have a lot of moss and the state really hasn't done much to control it," said Melton. "The lake itself, though, is in good shape. The water level is just a few inches higher than normal but that has helped because the lake is shallow to begin with."

Melton said that camping at the lake is a little better than last year.

Melton also gave a word of advice to boaters on the lake: "I really try to tell people going out on the lake not to run their motors in the spillway area of the lake.

"There are a lot of stumps in that area and they are just a few inches underwater. They can mess up an outboard motor real quickly in that spillway."

For more information about these lakes, persons can call Wappapello at (314) 223-7777, Clearwater at (314) 222-8562 or Horseshoe at (618) 776-5689.