# snyder park



## bowhunter9017 (Jul 20, 2007)

has anyone done any good at snyder park for walley catfish bass or crappies


----------



## polarcraft178 (Aug 10, 2008)

not that i have heard . i live close to there and fish it ofted in the spring . its pretty low know .


----------



## Whiskers (Aug 11, 2004)

I never heard of and would be really surprised if walleye were in there. I've never fished it...so I could be wrong. 

I did drive by part of the park last weekend. One of the ponds was covered pretty heavy with vegetation on top. Would make for some difficult retrieving even with weedless.


----------



## wader (Dec 9, 2004)

Ditto the lack of walleye. If somone were to dump a few in from the creek or CJ, I doubt they would last very long. I doubt there are any crappies as well. If someone can provide proof otherwise I will stand humbled. I personally don't know why anyone fishes those holes, other than you don't need a license.


----------



## Chuck P. (Apr 8, 2004)

The Lagoon at Snyder park has some good fish in it, mostly channels and carp. There are Flatheads in there, I know some were dumped in from local pay ponds over the years and every so often, someone ties into one of them.

There are bluegill and crappie also, not to forget the bass are there too.


----------



## Wesley Parker (Jun 13, 2010)

The water level is really low in Snyder Park Lagoons right now due to the white water rapids put in at Buck Creek cut off the water supply. There are Large Carp. There are actually some decent size bass. Catfish too, some are big from pay lakes. Some fish from the river have been put into the lagoon. I let about 50 3-6 inch gold fish loose in there about a year ago as well as several koi. Who knows if they are still around.


----------



## spfldbassguy (Mar 23, 2009)

I'm another one that's never heard of walleyes or crappies being in there.It does have some nice carp n cats though.As well as some "decent" largemouths.Biggest i've personally seen went around 1 3/4lbs-2lbs.Who knows if that one is still even in there.Yeah the weeds are bad but a spro or snag proof frog will work.


----------



## wonka (Feb 27, 2012)

There are crappies an tones of flathead cats in the lagoon. I evan caught a gar out of there last year.


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

the deepest water in the main lagoon is by the duck house, it used to be about 14 fow 30` from the shore . Many yrs ago (15 ?) caught 2 decent sized crappie about 12" on a slip bobber in the spring fishing on that side. Later that summer caught a cream colored flathead that went close to 20 lb that inhaled a bluegill I hooked in the tail, it broke off at the bank and flopped back in. Back then the far side was heavily over grown with honey suckle, had to break a path to get to the bank; it was hard to even cast. In 2006 (?) a 15 yr old caught a 15 lb carp there and had his picture in the paper.


----------



## wonka (Feb 27, 2012)

Me an a buddy caught eight flatheads in one night that were all over twenty pounds. That was the same day i caught the gar. I should give that pic to the paper. Dont think that gar should be in there.


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

Otus Kirby who used to own and operate Beaver Paylake on Pumphouse Rd had a contract with the City of Springfield to stock fish in Snyder Park and the Old Reid Park ponds untill the mid 1980s. He was supposed to stock a mix of bass, cat and carp. He was accused of stocking only carp towards the end of the contract and the contract wasn`t renewwed. Have also seen various persons put cats of various types into the Snyder Park lagoon over the yrs. Otus also briefly stocked the Northridge ponds.


----------



## walleyejigger (Sep 29, 2009)

there is bigger fish in that pond than you wold think . the biggest bass i ever hooked was in snyderpark . it was huge . and have caught several largr cats and carp in there .


----------



## Curtis937 (Sep 17, 2010)

yea ive heard stories of big flat heads in snyder...never fished there its kinda like northridge pond the only thing they bite on is hot dogs....go figure...


----------



## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

My Grandmother had a neighbor who retired from the Springfield City Parks. Liked the old guy, and visited with him several times while on military leave in the early 80`s. This guy had very old photos from the area where the lagoon is now from the 1880`s, when the Snyder family still owned it. The area was a mass of boulders with very little level ground. Apparently the actual lagoon area was a channel cut thru the limestone where part of the creek flowwed with several DEEP holes. The older guy also had several hand drawn maps his dad did as a young man. For a period of time the City used the area as a dump to help fill in the deeper ravines and quarried quite a bit of the better limestone to help flatten it out. Remember the old image of prisoners turning big rocks into little rocks? Back in the day, getting sentenced to 90 days of "community service' had a WHOLE different meaning ! He also showwed me pictures when what is now Old Reid Park was the North end sewage treatment and settling facilities. He said every 5 yrs the water would be shut off and lowered and jail inmates would hand shovel the accumulated muck out of the ponds into trucks for the local farmers who spread it onto their fields. YUK!


----------



## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

I love it down there...alot of fond memories! 
Maybe next years "Project" could be to see if someone could have the Lagoon dredged and we could add structure and turn it into a very nice "City Limits" Fishing experience again!


----------



## spfldbassguy (Mar 23, 2009)

If I'm really short on time and can only get in about 30min of fishing I'll go there. Usually I'll take a Bitsy Pond crank for the gills and either a topwater or senko for the bass. No really huge bass or gills but still fun to catch. Plus like Intimidator posted there's fond memories of Snyder Park. I can still remember fishing it a few times when I was probably 7-10 with my brother. Hell he probably rode us there on his ten speed. Every now and then I'll hit the creek, finally fished the "rapids". I must say one thing,whoopteedoo. Still don't see where all that money is coming in from them doing that. Still have my lifetime skunk on that stretch of BC BTW, caught in other parts but never anything down that far. Now I've heard of guys doing pretty well there but not myself so far.


----------



## Curtis937 (Sep 17, 2010)

Lowell H Turner said:


> My Grandmother had a neighbor who retired from the Springfield City Parks. Liked the old guy, and visited with him several times while on military leave in the early 80`s. This guy had very old photos from the area where the lagoon is now from the 1880`s, when the Snyder family still owned it. The area was a mass of boulders with very little level ground. Apparently the actual lagoon area was a channel cut thru the limestone where part of the creek flowwed with several DEEP holes. The older guy also had several hand drawn maps his dad did as a young man. For a period of time the City used the area as a dump to help fill in the deeper ravines and quarried quite a bit of the better limestone to help flatten it out. Remember the old image of prisoners turning big rocks into little rocks? Back in the day, getting sentenced to 90 days of "community service' had a WHOLE different meaning ! He also showwed me pictures when what is now Old Reid Park was the North end sewage treatment and settling facilities. He said every 5 yrs the water would be shut off and lowered and jail inmates would hand shovel the accumulated muck out of the ponds into trucks for the local farmers who spread it onto their fields. YUK!



Did the old guy tell you where the buried snyder treasure is out there? I have heard there is a lot of gold buried out there somewhere...got to love the old legends...


----------



## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

Curtis937 said:


> Did the old guy tell you where the buried snyder treasure is out there? I have heard there is a lot of gold buried out there somewhere...got to love the old legends...


You know what...I've been down there fishing and no one else is around and you kinda "Feel" the history! It amazes me how industrialized Spfld was at that time and the "Money" that lived here! The Cliff Park and Snyder Park areas are beautiful!
Just think...that was someones "Backyard Pond" in the middle of town....I would like to see it restored, during my lifetime!


----------

