Area anglers have new ponds to fish

Southeast Missouri anglers have many places to wet a line. Besides the Mississippi River, and many streams and lakes, there are several small ponds located on public lands that provide angling opportunities.

These ponds provide fishing to those bank anglers who either do not have a boat or who choose the convenience of fishing from shore. Pond fishing often offers solitude and wildlife viewing opportunities not found in larger lakes, along with quality fishing for sunfish, catfish and bass.

To improve pond fishing opportunities for area anglers, the Missouri Department of Conservation embarked upon a pond project in the spring. Biologists built a new pond and renovated two existing ponds. The new pond was constructed at the Apple Creek Conservation Area off County Highway CC in north Cape Girardeau County. This 1.4-acre pond, located only a few yards from a parking lot, is nestled between two smaller, older ponds.

The existing ponds are shallow and have thick brush and understory surrounding each, features that reduce their productivity and make them difficult to fish. In addition, the spillway tubes needed to be replaced in each one. Rather than attempt to renovate the aging ponds, biologists built a new pond with a new spillway tube and improved fish habitat. The new pond doubles the amount of fishing water at the site.

The pond will have a maximum depth of 18 feet and contains a large area of less than 6 feet of water. The pond basin contains several large brush piles that should provide excellent fish habitat for many years.

Approximately 70 percent of the shoreline will be maintained in grass to facilitate bank angling. The MDC plans to stock bluegill, red-ear sunfish, channel catfish and largemouth bass beginning in the fall. The lake will be open to fishing as soon as fish are stocked; however, anglers should anticipate fish large enough to catch by 2006.

Biologists completed another pond project at the General Watkins Conservation Area on State Highway 61 south of Benton in Scott County. This area contains six small ponds, the largest a 12-acre body of water known as Lookout Mountain Lake. This large pond offers quality angling for white crappie, bluegill and channel catfish in the solitude of some of the most beautiful forest in Southeast Missouri.

Unfortunately, the pond has suffered from age as well as a busy population of nature's engineer, the beaver. These critters took a liking to the pond and began plugging the spillway tube. Their activities resulted in the water rising significantly during heavy rains and eroded the emergency spillway.

This project involved reshaping the pond dam to flatten the slope on the back side. Also, the front was sloped and rock added along the water line. This will not only greatly minimize wave-driven erosion but also make fishing easier along the dam face.

A new emergency spillway also was constructed. In addition, a new spillway tube was placed in the dam. This tube was designed to frustrate the beaver's innovative tendency to plug conventional spillway tubes.

Although the pond size remains the same, these improvements will greatly improve bank access along the dam and help ensure a long life for this fishing pond.

The third pond project is on the Castor River Conservation Area off County Road MM, west of Marble Hill in Bollinger County. The pond is a popular fishing spot with local anglers. This 4-acre pond had many problems, including a leak, a dam too steep to mow, an undersized emergency spillway and an undersized spillway tube that was routinely plugged by beavers.

This project involved draining the pond to allow installation of a drawdown tube and removing soil necessary to reslope the dam. Most of the pond's fish were salvaged, going home with local anglers. After improvements were made the lake size increased to approximately 11 acres.

Over the next few weeks, MDC will place brush piles in the pond and sculpt underwater benches to improve fish habitat. When the lake is full, biologists will introduce a variety of aquatic plants like pickerel weed and wild celery to provide for quality fish habitat.

The lake will be stocked with bluegill, red-ear sunfish, fathead minnows, largemouth bass and channel catfish. In addition, black crappie may also be stocked as they become available from the state's hatcheries. As with the Apple Creek CA pond, catchable-size fish will be available by 2006.

For more information on these ponds and others in the area, contact me at the MDC southeast segional office at 290-5730.

Mike Reed is a fisheries management biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.