Fishermen, rejoice! What once was lost now is found. It took four years and $2 million, but the Powhatan Lakes are back.

The 66-acres of water (upper and lower lakes) in the Powhatan State Wildlife Management Area once were known as prime territory for fishermen seeking trophy largemouth bass. That hasn't been the case since June 2004, when a summer storm cell stalled out over the Stegers Creek watershed near Route 60 in Powhatan County. The squall brought more than 5 inches of rain in just two hours. First, the upper lake dam overflowed and eventually burst, then the lower one went.

The lakes were reintroduced to the public Thursday at a dedication ceremony held by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Not only are the lakes back, but improvements have been made to the area that will benefit fishermen for years to come. Two new piers are open, one on each lake, and the two boat-launch facilities have been improved. In addition, new trails and platforms for wildlife viewing are being constructed in the area and should be completed by the fall.

That's just the beginning of the good news for anglers who remember pulling lunkers of up to 8 pounds out of the lake.

Fred Leckie, assistant fisheries director at the DGIF, said, at the upper lake especially, they'll manage the fish populations with the intent of bringing back those trophy largemouth bass.

"The nice thing is that you have the new-lake effect," Leckie said. "The first five to eight years of the lake, because you've flooded all those nutrients, you usually have very good growth rates."

The plan is to start with smaller fish, such as bluegill and redear sunfish this fall, then introduce bass next spring. Eventually, they'll stock channel catfish as well, but getting the right balance in a fishery can be a delicate undertaking.

"It's already productive," said DGIF Fisheries Director Gary Martel, noting that there's a small remnant bass population in the lakes. "But the main thing is to make sure the stocking is done right - to get the right percentage of fish. If you have too many predators or too much prey, then you don't get the growth rate on anything."

Leckie and Martel urged patience from anglers. For the foreseeable future, the lakes will be catch-and-release only.

"It's gonna take three years before you're going to have any fishing where we can have harvest," Leckie said. "And it'll be 5-10 years to be trophy again."

The original dams, which date to the 1850s, were insured at the time they failed, so the department was able to secure much of the funding to rebuild from the insurance payment. The lakes were acquired by DGIF in 1954; the surrounding land, now part of the Powhatan WMA, was purchased later.

While fishermen wait to go after channel cats and trophy bass, the department is giving them and others another reason to visit the area, which is fewer than 20 miles from Midlothian. An interpretive trail ringing the lower lake is in the works. It will include wildlife watching platforms with information on the kinds of critters - aquatic, avian and other - that inhabit the area.

"Before the dam went, Powhatan Lakes wasn't visited by a lot of folks; [it was] just one of those great sites that not a lot of people knew about," said Lou Verner, a watchable wildlife biologist with the DGIF. "It was certainly off the charts for those who weren't anglers. We wanted to include a wildlife-watching trail as part of the new system."

Four years after a freak storm shut down the trophy bass fishery at Powhatan Lakes, the area is on the way to regaining its former glory while adding a few flourishes that outdoors lovers of all stripes will enjoy.