Fishing Krug Park Lagoon in St. Joseph, Missouri- Part 1

I have been on a quest to fish the lakes around the Kansas City, Missouri, area that are both stocked with rainbow trout in the winter and are catch and release until Feb. 1.  I have crossed Liberty Park Pond (Sedalia, Missouri) and Everyday Pond (St. Joseph, Missouri) off my list.  I only had Krug Park Lagoon (St. Joseph, Missouri) left before I have to venture a little further from home.  So when a December day with a high in the 50's presented itself, I felt compelled to hit the water.  

Two things jumped out at me prior to firing up my truck and starting the drive.  The first was that I knew this lake was in the middle of St. Joseph.  I had never ventured into the heart of St. Joe before so I was a little nervous about what a lagoon in the middle of St. Joseph was going to look like.  I prefer lakes further away from cities rather than ones in the middle of them.  With that being said, I have had some outstanding days at Lake Chaumiere which is in the middle of a neighborhood in North Kansas City.  The second fact was the the name.  First of all we have the name Krug.  It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue although I am sure Mr. or Mrs. Krug (I'm assuming there is a namesake) were upstanding citizens.  The name "lagoon" was also a little concerning.  The name lagoon (to me at least) evokes images of stagnant water with a green tinge surrounded by trees that readily steal flies.  As usual, my preconceived notions were nowhere remotely close to reality.  I apologize to all St. Josephenians for my unwarranted biases.  Hopefully by the end of these posts I will give the proper credit and justice to the gem that you have in your city!

When I arrived at Krug Park, the first thing I noticed was the nicely paved roads, Christmas decorations, and parking lot that was right on the water.  The tiered waterfall, walking trail, and four pronged fountain also grabbed my attention.  When I approached the water however, my heart sank when I saw the ice.  I would estimate that 75% of the lake was covered with ice.  The only spots there had open water were near the waterfall and the fountain.  This was a bit of a shame because there was a rock wall that went the length of a parking lot.  It reminded me of the concrete wall around the edge of the water at Liberty Park Pond.  I have caught a lot of fish along that wall and would have loved to see if this wall would have yielded similar results.  We will definitely find out the answer to that question another day.  

Like so many other times in life and especially with fishing, you play the cards your are dealt.  If the day gives you a waterfall and fountain to fish, then you move forward with gratitude that there was water to be fished and that there was structure that might hold fish.  Again, I drew upon the idea that I have had success fishing around the fountains at Liberty Park Pond, and around flowing water at Lake Chaumiere.  If it sounds like I was drawing on past experiences to boost my confidence and as a source of optimism, that is because I was frustrated by the ice and had zero experience on this body of water.  Those two things were pretty intimidating and I had to find some reinforcement from some source.  

I also had one other ace up my sleeve.  It was given to me by my good friend Tom.  It has helped me catch trout at multiple lakes that have been stocked with trout.  It is a source of confidence and when it comes to fishing (or any other sport/competition), confidence can mean the difference between success and frustration.  I am referring to a fly called The Standard.  At the risk of making this post sound like some sort of long-winded, self-promoting infomercial, this fly is a trout catching machine.  I'm just trying to pass along some information about a fly that has brought me a lot of success and I hope it does the same for you.  Tom was nice enough to readily share this fly with me, and I feel compelled to honor that tradition.  It has worked for me at Fountain Bluff, Liberty Park, and Everyday and didn't let me down at Krug!