D'lo Water Park, one of Mississippi's Best Kept Secrets"
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A buddy told me recently one day he was looking for his glasses and when he finally found them, they were perched on his nose! Well, that’s kind of the way I feel right now about the D’Lo Water Park. When I moved to Jackson as a young man, one of the first things I missed was the amber streams of South Mississippi, full of red bellies and spotted bass. For years I have driven back south to fish Little Black, Bogue Homa and others because I couldn't find a local stream that compared. Every time I drove to Hattiesburg I drove over the Strong River and right by the D’lo Water Park. I would always look at the dark water below me and wonder about it, but it just didn’t look like the amber streams of South Mississippi and I always figured that access would be a hassle. It wasn’t until the Mississippi Outdoors program contacted the club about helping out with some segments on their popular outdoor show that I learned about the D’lo Water Park. The club was asked for help in outfitting the two hosts of the show with fly-fishing gear and provide fly-fishing technical support. I met the crew at the water park and couldn’t help but notice the easy access to what appeared to be my kind of fly-water. I got the notion that I should come back and see if there were any fish that would take a fly living in the dark holes of the Strong. But, like things often go with me, I never made it back. Recently at a club meeting a couple of members mentioned catching stripers in the Strong River in the early summer. Stripers? Did someone say stripers? Then, only a month ago one of my good fishing buddies was looking for a place to spend his Friday off so I suggested the D’lo Water Park to check out the rumors we had been hearing. After his day at the D’lo Water Park he wrote this re-cap: Armed with my 4 wt. rod and reel, I was fishing for anything that had eyes. When I stepped into the river, I expected the water to be shallow, but instead I found the water to be waist deep in most places with drop offs here and there pushing the limits of my waders. There was a slight current, the bottom was firm, and the rocks and bushes along the edges provided what I thought would have been some good structure. The weather was perfect. It was a cool fall afternoon and I felt as though I was fishing in a trout stream somewhere else, like Arkansas. Squirrels were jumping in the trees and I briefly saw a deer standing on the bank. I drifted a wooly bugger for a while having a few taps but not connecting with anything. I switched to a dry fly resembling a crane fly and immediately began catching some sunfish and small bream. I was pleasantly surprised when a bass weighing about 3 lbs. sucked the fly under near the bank. The fish put up a great fight and when landed he had the appearance of a very healthy fish with a bright white belly and dark black markings on the side. He was released and I remember thinking that catching that fish in such a beautiful surrounding was almost as good a feeling as I have had catching any other fish. I ended up catching one other bass and a few more small bream. I didn't fish long or go far and I'm wondering what's around the next bend in the river. I hope to try it again someday. My friends’ visit to the D’lo Water Park sounded just like the many trips I have made to my beloved streams of South Mississippi. I was really starting to feel like I had been missing out on something. Missing it? I had been driving right by it! At last week’s fly-fishing meeting another buddy told me that he took a float trip in his kayak through the park, all by himself. All by himself? How did he put-in and and take-out all by himself? Well, the park provides a put-in and pick-up service. He said the area was as pretty as the streams in the Tennessee mountains and… he caught fish. Okay, a beautiful stream with red bellies and spotted bass, public access, a put-in and take-out service and it’s been right down the street for the past 25 years. Right under my nose. On a hunch, I did a Google search for "D’lo Water Park", oops, talk about under my nose, there it is, the D'lo Water Park web page. To add insult to injury the first sentence on the web page is “D'Lo Water Park is one of Mississippi's best kept secrets”. Dang right it is! That’s equivalent to somebody saying, “your glasses? They're right there on your nose!" That reminds me of a story about a local department store executive that, on a day when he had already been especially annoying to his secretary said “I lost my pencil, where’s my pencil? Where’s my pencil?” The secretary looked coolly at him and said “it’s behind your ear”. He said “well which ear is it! I’m a busy man, a busy man…”. Well, I’m a busy man, but you don’t have to tell me which ear, I didn’t waste any time getting the info off the web page and finding out all I could about the D’lo Water Park. Turns out that the Park Manager is a fly-fisher and the bait shop even sells flies tied by a local fly-fisher. Okay, I’m slow but give me time and I can catch on... eventually. You can be sure the Magnolia Fly Fishers will be asking for a program at a future fly-fishing meeting on the D’lo Water Park. That way I can learn how to tie the right flys for my upcoming trip and I can learn more about those early summer stripers… Tight loops, Glen