Fishing Stories from Ned Kehde

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Copyright 1999-2002

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Submitted by Ned Kehde - July 29, 2002
Meteorologists reported that the past winter was the warmest on record.
Yet for a long spell after the March equinox, spring's arrival was
continually forestalled by winter's steadfastness. Then once winter
reluctantly released its grasp, spring was upon us in a rush.

Spring attempted to make amends for its tardy appearance by
orchestrating a heat wave, which sent area thermometers to summerlike
readings and quickly faded the redbuds and plums thickets that graced the
reservoirs' riparian borders. Water temperatures rose rapidly and fish by
the thousands invaded the shorelines of area lakes.

This heat also propelled massive hatches of mayflies and other aquatic
insects at the reservoirs, and the fish that gamboled along the reservoirs'
rocky and shallow shorelines feasted upon the larvae as they ascended to the
surface to hatch.

Likewise, fishermen who were afloat during these hatches and probing
the right shoreline with the correct lures and presentations enjoyed
bountiful catches of crappie, channel catfish, drum, largemouth bass,
sauger, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, walleye, white bass and wipers.

Spring's bounty can be grand. But at times anglers can become tormented
and even bedraggled by the radical and constant fluctuations of the weather.

A mere shift in the angle and speed of the wind has been known to send
anglers from Avalon to absolute despair.

And often this spring the wind howled, surpassing 30 mph and sending some
anglers from the big reservoirs to the safe and fishable harbors of Lone
Star Lake.

Eventually, the drought broke, and by the 40th day of spring, Lawrence's
total precipitation surpassed normal levels. These rains filled and riled
some of the reservoirs, fouling some folks' piscatorial pursuits.

Moreover, there was a run in late April and early May when the weather
turned windy, cold and damp. For instance, thermometers hover at 41 degrees
at daybreak on May 2 and by noon they struggled to reach 52 degrees. The
cold struck again on May 9. And these days of unseasonably cool weather
forced the diehard anglers to don some pieces of their winter garb again.

Despite these vicissitudes, several area fishermen caught fish galore.

During the first two weeks of spring, some species exhibited a
preference for a delicately twitched Smithwick Rogue or a Lucky Craft
Pointer. On windy days or calm ones, cloudy or clear, warm or cold, these
lures inveigled lots of big largemouth bass, spotted bass and smallmouth
bass on shallow rocky points and shorelines of Melvern and Lone Star lakes.
For instance, Steve Ortiz of Lawrence and two friends caught and released 17
smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass that weighed more than 60 pounds at
Melvern. And on another Melvern outing, a Rogue lured a five-pound,
six-ounce smallmouth.

After the Rogue and Pointer's effectiveness waned, anglers switched to a
lightweight jighead adorned with either a three-inch tube or twister-tailed
grub. These lures were affixed to a spinning outfit spooled with eight-pound
line.

At Coffey County, Lone Star, Melvern, and Pomona lakes, anglers wielded
these two lures along many miles of rocky shorelines by casting them to the
water's edge and slowly retrieving them back to the boat. On occasions the
fish wanted the anglers to stop the retrieve for a second and give the lure
a subtly twitch. At other times, especially when the wind was brisk and
exceeding 15 mph, the best tactic was to work the lure at a steady pace as
the wind pushed the boat along the shoreline.

Even during the windiest and most unsettled weather conditions, the tube
and grub enticed an incredible number and variety of species.

Here's an abridged list of what several area anglers caught by using a
tube and grub during the first 62 days of spring:

Alan Geiss of Lawrence and a friend caught and released 5l white bass and
27 wipers at Pomona on April 13; the biggest weighed five pounds.

On an exceedingly windy April day Bob Laskey and a friend caught and
released 66 largemouth bass and 33 crappie at Lone Star. Ten of the bass
weighed a total of 30 pounds and all of the crappie measured over 10 inches
in length. Two days later the wind continued to howl, and Dick Bessey of
Shawnee and a friend caught 44 bass and scads of crappie at Lone Star. The
biggest bass weighed six pounds, 11 ounces.

Four days later the wind blew at only 16 mph, allowing Bessey and his
friend to venture to Melvern, where they tangled with 32 smallmouth. The
biggest weighed four pounds, 11 ounces.

Several days after Bessey's catch, Marc Sherrell of Overland Park and a
friend caught 125 fish and seven different species at Melvern.

On the day Coffey County reopened, Walt Tegtmeier of Kansas City, Mo., and
a friend caught 89 smallmouth, 11 walleye, 10 big crappie, two channel
catfish, two largemouth, one drum and one white bass. And on the next day
the wind roared, but that didn't stymie Cameron Roth of Lawrence and two of
his friends; they caught and released a potpourri of species, totaling 175
fish.

Since all of these catches occurred before the bulk of the crappie and
channel cats invaded the rocky shorelines, anglers speculate that the tube
and grub will remain effective for another three weeks.

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