My grandfather was the designer for the gardens, and instead of payment, my family got to stay at the lodge for free, as long as some member was still alive. We went there throughout my youth, for 7-10 days at a time. When the Hodges' donated the park to the state, this ended, but, we still went a few years back.
Best fishing spots are easy to find, but the boats with trolling motors are slow at best. For sac a lait, use a jigging pole and crickets, go to the 2 water towers, one is located on the north end, one on the south, water is about 35-45' deep, tie up to the towers, watch for wasps, drop down deep. HUGE fish there, we caught until we were tired. As for bream, we always had luck fishing near the little light house by the gardens, there are plenty of beds there.
The last time we went, the grass had really taken over the lake, and the gardens had put some carp in the lake to try and clean it all up.
My suggestions, walk the gardens, it really is a cool place, pending it's not all over grown. Trails to hike, good for a bike ride around the lake, think it's like 13-14 miles long, lots of hills. Fish... All the banks that have trees hanging, hold bass. When we used to go back in the 80's-90's, we would be 35-50 people, big family, and it would literally take us a solid 6 hours to clean all the fish we caught over the time we were there.
I loved that place growing up, wish my kids could spend as much time there as we did, sometimes we would go 2-3 times a summer. No phones, no TV, just a lot of togetherness, sometimes it worked, sometimes everyone fought, wouldn't change it for the world.
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