TERRE HAUTE —
The yellow ribbon had barely been cut to officially open Maple Avenue Nature Park to the public on Monday morning before dozens of fishing lines were cast into the water, and several dogs led humans on leashes along the smooth pathway around the lake.
Less than 30 minutes later, Jim Shaw was pulling out the first legally caught channel catfish.
“He put up a nice fight,” Shaw said after tossing the fish back into the 11-acre lake.
Development of the nature park and the Historic Collett Park Pathway Trailhead has been five years in the making.
“The most-asked question is when will the park open,” Mayor Duke Bennett said as he cut the ribbon during the brief ceremony.
“This is a great addition to the trail system.”
A boat ramp and large shelterhouse are still to come for the park, which was developed using mostly state funding.
The new 24.3-acre recreational facility includes the 11-acre stocked trout fishing lake and a 0.6-mile paved trail and trailhead parking area.
Dave Kittaka, fisheries biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the park has become a kind of demonstration site as an urban fishery. A survey of the lake two years ago found bass and bluegill, as well as river fish.
Because the area is a backwater of the Wabash River, the level of the lake will rise and fall according to the river. On Monday, the lake was actually covering about nine acres, but when full it will cover about 11 acres.
About 200 largemouth bass were released into the lake last year, along with about 2,000 channel catfish last fall. In April, 550 trout were released into the lake.
“We’re moving fish closer to people,” Kittaka said of the DNR project. Each year, the state will continue to stock trout and channel catfish in the lake.
As he watched the activity going on around the newly opened park, despite the onset of a light drizzle, Kittaka noticed the first fish caught by Shaw on the western bank.
Shaw said he was fishing with trout bait, but he thought the catfish put up a good fight. He was ready for a good fight from a trout, however.
“It’s a beautiful lake,” Shaw said. “I think it’s gonna be real nice to fish here.”
More development remains at the nature park.
City Planner Pat Martin said a boat ramp will be added off the parking lot in August, along with two pullover areas for boat trailers. A green space is also set aside for restroom facilities. And an Eagle Scout already has his eye on developing a fitness area at the park.
To get the required license to fish at any public lake or waterway in Indiana, go online to www.in.gov/dnr and to apply for a fishing license. A special “trout stamp” is needed on the license to take trout out of Maple Avenue Nature Park.
Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @TribStarLisa.
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Maple Avenue Nature Park opens after five years in the making
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