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Fishing Stories from Ned Kehde |
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Submitted by Ned Kehde - April 15, 2000 Since March 7, a woe-is-I complex has afflicted the white bass anglers all across northeastern Kansas. The source of this affliction stems from the fact that the white bass at Clinton, Redmond, Pomona, Perry and Melvern lakes have virtually disappeared. If they haven't vanished, no angler has been able to figure out where they are or how to catch them. Gerald Keeting, a veteran white bass guide from Carbondale, called it the worst spring he has ever endured. According to Keeting, some of the problems might stem from the fact that Mother Nature unleashed a continuous blitzkrieg of cold fronts, hitting northeastern Kansas about twice, occasionally thrice, a week. And such unsettled weather tends to foul the white bass fishing in March and April. Despite all of those nasty cold fronts, the water temperature at the white bass' traditional spawning riffles was perfect for days on end, but Keeting couldn't find many white bass even on the balmiest of days. Moreover, several talented white bass fishers have endured similar scenarios from Mar. 6 to April 15 at the upper reaches of Clinton, Perry, Pomona and Redmond lakes, catching only six white bass on the best of days. That was quite a contrast to the fishing during last 10 springs, when these same anglers regularly tangled with 50 to l00 white bass a day. So Keeting and his fellow anglers have concluded that the white bass are gone, saying that the bacterial infection that plagued the white bass populations in northeastern Kansas last June was much worse than the biologists purported it to be. April 7-8 epitomized the depths of the misery that plagues local white bass fishermen. On April 7, Pok-Chi Lau of Lawrence ventured to the upper reaches of Perry Lake in search of some white bass, and he caught only one. Likewise, Lau's fellow white bass aficionado, Steve Ortiz of Lawrence, probed the upper end of Clinton Lake and caught only one. In addition, Lau and Ortiz's sonars failed to reveal any signs of white bass. Then on April 8 Eric Tang of Kansas City arose before dawn and drove to Lawrence to join Lau for a day at Melvern. Since the bacterial infection killed 50,000 white bass, according to official estimates, at Melvern last June, the odds were stacked against Tang and Lau before their day began. On top of that, Mother Nature plagued their endeavor by using wind gusts of 50 mph to usher in a batch of cold air. Once that wind died, frost covered Tang' s windshield, and his heater ran during most of the trek to Lawrence. The cold and frost were a gloomy sign. It is so inauspicious that there is adage about fishing being trying in April when frost covers windshields and heaters run during an early morning drive to the lake. Despite the frosty weather and slim white bass population, Lau and Tang thought that there was a possibility that some white bass could be found. A friend had caught and released four big females several days earlier, and Tang thought that those females might have attracted a small congregation of lustful males. But to Lau and Tang's chagrin, they could catch only walleye, sauger and smalllmouth bass, which are, in Lau and Tang's eyes, inferior species compared to the pugnacious white bass. On the return trip home, Lau and Tang talked about the sorry state of the white bass fishing. They came to the conclusion that now is a sensible time for Kansas Wildlife and Parks to establish a stringent creel limit for white bass. According to Tang, the KWP's lassie-faire approach to managing this valuable fish is pitiful. |
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