People regularly ask me, “Where can I go fishing?” and “How can I learn more?” Jefferson County has a few public fishing lakes in city parks and several stream access points along its creeks and rivers.
In my experience, those options offer limited success for bank anglers, except for during and immediately after the park ponds are stocked for special fishing events. Boaters who can get up- or down-stream from the boat ramps have much better luck than those restricted to the immediate vicinity.
My best advice is to make friends with someone who has a pond on their property or access to a subdivision lake. Those locations usually provide the best opportunities for fish catching. (Fishing is easy; the catching part can be trickier.)
For the “how to” question, the state Department of Conservation plans to provide classes throughout 2024 for individuals and families in the St. Louis region to learn more about fishing, hunting and shooting sports. It’s called the “Year of New Beginnings in Hunting, Angling and Shooting” series.
“Our St. Louis Education team is excited to highlight programs each month for 2024 on hunting, shooting and angling,” said Jake Hindman, education supervisor for the area, including Jefferson County. “While these programs are designed for beginners and will be introductory in nature, anyone is welcome to attend.”
The conservation department supplies all needed equipment for each program. Beginning anglers will get the chance to discover the art of casting for trout, sunfish, bass and catfish, or learn about kayak and flyfishing options. Classes for those interested in shooting sports will include handguns, modern rifles, shotguns, basic firearm care, and archery.
In January, classes featured backyard bass fishing at the Forest Park Hatchery in St. Louis and winter trout fishing information at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood. Shooting and hunting classes were held at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles County and the Jay Henges Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center near Eureka.
The classes are all free but do require advanced registration online. To review upcoming programs and events in the St. Louis region, go to http:// short.mdc.mo.gov/4sg.
Fishing classes planned for February include an Introduction to Fly Fishing from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Busch Conservation Area. Held at Lake 2, participants will learn about fly-fishing rods, reels, line, leaders knots and basic casting.
The All About Trout class will convene in two separate lessons from 8 to 10 a.m. Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 at the Forest Park Hatchery. Budding anglers will use ultralight spinning reels and rods. Warm clothes are recommended and a fishing license is required. The same two introductory trout fishing lessons will be taught together from 7 a.m. to noon Feb. 14.
For those who would prefer an indoor activity this time of year, three consecutive, 30-minute equipment maintenance virtual programs are scheduled online from 9:30 a.m. to noon Friday, Feb. 16. Instruction will focus on spinning reels at 9:30, bait-casting reels at 10:30 and fishing rods at 11:30. Webex links will be emailed to participants the day before the classes.
Beginners who would like to try tying their own flies for fishing can register for a two-hour workshop from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at the St. Louis Regional Office in the Busch Conservation Area. All equipment and materials for tying several types of flies will be provided for free.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.