William Twitchell, a tournament angler who has fished the lake a number of times, is impressed.

"There are a lot of 3- to 5-pound bass in the lake," Twitchell said. "For a small lake, it has good numbers of bass. The biggest I've seen weighed in was close to 7 pounds."

"In June, I'd go to the area north of 56th Street and to the wetlands on the west side of the lake. The bass lie in the weedbeds or are holding near them. I've found that spinnerbaits are always the most productive baits. Early on, go with dark green or brown and a two-bladed willow-leaf spinnerbait. When the fish are hitting near the surface, topwater baits also work really well."

The 2003 DNR fisheries survey showed an impressive population of largemouths. Over 20 percent of the sampled bass were at least 16 inches or larger, and a whopping 8 percent of these fish were at least 18 inches. A few were even larger. The top fish was a 21-incher.

Eagle Creek is located on the northwest side of Indianapolis, just 10 minutes from the downtown area in Eagle Creek Park. It lies one mile west of Interstate 465 off 38th or 56th streets.

Eagle Creek covers 1,350 acres of water. The public launch ramp is on 42nd Street at Dandy Trail.

Canoes and rowboats can be rented at the city park. A 9.9-horsepower motor limit is in effect.

For more information, contact the Eagle Creek Park at (317) 327-7110 or call District 5 at (765) 342-5527.

For more information on urban-area bass fisheries, visit the Division of Fish and Wildlife Web site at www.in.gov/dnr.

Trip planning assistance and lodging can be found by contacting the Indiana Office of Tourism Development at (888) 365-6946, or visit online at www.in.gov/enjoyindiana.