McTucker ponds.

[Biglew]

Does anybody here fish open water at McTucker ponds, early in the year? Are they fed by springs that allow for open water early on? What's your experience there? What kinds of fish are available to target? I'm a flyfisher, so pattern suggestions would be appreciated as well.
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[poky-mon]

more than likely frozen over. they are more planter family fishing small ponds the creek runs past them and can be flyfished most all year.
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[BrianID]

I've fished the McTucker Ponds a fair amount over the years. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 the ice came off around mid March. In 2005 I iced fished the far east pond in early March.

Poky mon already said they were treated with rotenone a few years ago.

The F&G plant most of the trout in the two ponds that are farthest to the east. Last year the F&G was able to acquire the Crystal Springs pond a few miles away. As a result they have not planted as many rainbows in the McTucker ponds last year.

In the last three years I've caught bluegill, green sunfish, largemouth bass, channel catfish, bullhead and rainbow trout out of the McTucker Ponds. I've caught the warm water species on a regular basis as early as April but the warm water fishing will be much better after the water has warmed up in May and June. You can catch large numbers of green sunfish and bluegills but most of them are very small(less than 5”). Any small nymph should work. Almost all of the fly fishing I do at the McTucker ponds is site fishing. If I was trying to catch only bluegills and green sunfish I wouldn’t even make a caste until I saw the fish.

If you are looking for open still water fly fishing you may want to check out Springfield and Crystal Springs Pond. They are only a few miles from the McTucker Ponds. They are both trout lakes though. I heard of a largemouth caught out of Springfield recently and know of smallmouths being caught out of Springfield a few years ago. The bass in Springfield would be the work of bucket biologists.
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[Biglew]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try to restrain myself until it warms a bit. I'm starting to like this warm water stuff on a light rod.[]
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[jbaldwinblkft]

Yes, the fishery at McTucker ponds has turned out to be a disappointment. During the school year I have a chance to have lots of IDF&Gs as guest speakers to my students. Dick Sculley is our area's fish supervisor. He mentioned that all the trout they have ever stocked in the ponds there haven't done well. In fact they have done so poorly they aren't putting any more in. Because IDF&G has really been wanting to promote fishing to kids, I wanted to take all my students there ice fishing, in fact I thought I could talk them into stocking one of the ponds for just that purpose. But according to them McTucker isn't even good enough to stock a few through the ice.
The warm water varieties of fish that are there now have pretty much over run the habitat, and there are so many that they aren't getting very big. It has been that way for several years now. During the summer it's a good place to take little kids, they can easily catch lots of very small panfish.
I agree with Brian, Springfield is the place now. I fly fished a few hours yesterday and did quite well. So well in fact I can't wait to get there tomorrow for another try.
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[Biglew]

Thanks Jeff. I've been trying to work up the nerve to hit Springfield, but the Lazeeboy looks too good right now.
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