Avid Anglers

Johnson County residents have been enjoying food and fun from the county’s numerous streams and lakes throughout its history. Native Americans utilized area streams and rivers for food and water. Overland trails’ travelers planned their routes around food and water sources, and many made stops in Johnson County at the Shawnee Methodist Mission and Lone Elm Campground near Olathe.

Once the county became more settled, local residents and city dwellers wiled away sunny afternoons along the banks of area creeks and ponds. Many fished for perch and catfish from Bull and Kill Creeks. Other popular fishing holes included South Lake in Overland Park, Lake Olathe, and Nelson Island. The Backstrom brothers recalled catching good-sized bass in the lake on their family property, which later became Antioch Park in 1956. In the mid-1960s, Shawnee Mission Park Lake was stocked with trout, catfish, bass, and crappie. Officials at the Shawnee Mission Park estimate that 10% of their 2.5 million visitors fish in the lake or nearby streams each year. Although today’s hiker-biker trails connect the county’s water ways with parkland, many people continue instead to fish in the small streams and creeks that wind their way through the area.

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