Pomme de Terre Lake is located in southwest

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

at the confluence of

Lindley Creek Lindley Creek is a stream in Dallas, Hickory and Polk counties the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a tributary of the Pomme de Terre River. The stream headwaters arise on the east flank of Blue Mound in eastern Polk County at and an elevation of ...

and the Pomme de Terre River (for which it is named). The lake is located in southern Hickory and northern

Polk Polk may refer to: People * James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States * Polk (name), other people with the name Places * Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois * Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Polk, Missou ...

counties, about north of Springfield. Its name is the French language word for

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

(literally "earth-apple"). The lake is part of a series of lakes in the

Osage River The Osage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river ...

Basin designed and constructed by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

for flood control. Construction began in 1957 and was complete in 1961 at a cost of $14,946,784. Storage of water began on October 29, 1961 and the multipurpose pool was reached on June 15, 1963. The dam is adjacent to Pomme de Terre State Park and is crossed by Route 254. It consists of a circular tunnel with two 6.5 X hydraulic slide service gates and a single circular low flow gate. The dam is long, wide at the top and wide at the base (maximum). There are two arms of the lake that extend from the dam site. The Pomme de Terre arm follows the Pomme de Terre River and extends for . The Lindley arm follows Lindley Creek for .

Recreation

There are over 650 campsites along the lake as well as two public swimming beaches. Water skiing and many other forms of water recreation are common at the lake. Every 4th of July the local Chamber of Commerce sponsors a fireworks display launched from an island near the dam site. Pomme de Terre Lake is well known locally for its

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...

, crappie and

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white ...

fishing. It has wider acceptance as a premier Muskie lake.

Muskellunge The muskellunge ''(Esox masquinongy)'', often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name "muskell ...

have been stocked in the lake since 1966, and the lake boasts one of the best catch ratios in the country.

State Park

There are two sections of state park land near Pomme de Terre which total almost . The Pittsburg section is located on the south shore, and the Hermitage section is located on the east shore. Each area has 128 campsites, a public beach, picnic sites, and hiking trails. The Indian point hiking trail in the Pittsburg area ends at a rock platform overlooking the lake.

Fishing

Pomme De Terre is popular among anglers and the lake is well known for several different species of fish. The fish that the lake is most popular for, however, is the muskie. Muskies don't reproduce naturally in Pomme de Terre, so the Conservation Department nets fish each spring and milks them for eggs. After the eggs are fertilized at the lake, the fish are released. The eggs are then taken to the Lost Valley Fish Hatchery near Warsaw to be hatched. By October, when they are released into Pomme de Terre and several other lakes in Missouri.http://www.missourifishingguide.com/pomme.htm Lake Pomme De Terre Fishing

Statistics

* Surface area: 7,821 acres (multipurpose pool) / 16,100 acres (flood pool) * Shoreline: * Elevation: above sea level (multipurpose pool) / 874 feet (flood pool) * Dam: long earth and rockfill embankment; above streambed

References

External links

US Army Corps of Engineers Project Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomme De Terre Lake Lakes of the U.S. Interior Highlands Protected areas of Hickory County, Missouri Protected areas of Polk County, Missouri Buildings and structures in Hickory County, Missouri Buildings and structures in Polk County, Missouri Reservoirs in Missouri Bodies of water of the Ozarks Dams in Missouri United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Bodies of water of Hickory County, Missouri Bodies of water of Polk County, Missouri