Kansas Fishing Report - Reports from Anglers - April

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KS and OK Corps of Engineers Lake Levels | Wichita Lake Info
Three Way Rig Instructions

See Comments and Commentary from Kansas Anglers
Fishing opportunities in Sedgwick County thru KW&P Urban Fishing Program

Mike Cook's Report | Source: Kansas Anglers like you. Send us a report, answer a question.

June 27, 2006 - Answer to Question on El Dorado - The submerged railroad bed is in the Walnut River arm (the west arm of the lake). It starts at the very northwest corner of the dam, very close to the boat ramp nearby, and runs along the NW shore, then gradually makes a turn to the NE. The depths of the tracks closer to the dam run 14'-16', about a mile north they get deeper 20'-22', then gradually get shallower the further northeast you go. Most people fish the north end of the tracks, but fish can be caught all along them. Fishing on them close to trees seems to produce more fish. Trolling hot-n-tots works well. Good luck.

Brian

June 21, 2006 - Cheney - - Submitted by Watkins Guide Service - On the water just before sunrise fishing the north end 9 to 12 feet of water, boated 3 wipers right off the bat. No monsters, all about four lbs. Found a good number of fish off wichita point 20 to 16 feet,anchored up and caught 3 more these being in the 9 to 11 lb. class. Water was slightly stained due to the rains which seemed to have slowed things down a little. listening to other anglers talk over the radio, not anyone was setting the world on fire. Ran in to Mike cook at the cleaning station who was cleaning a nice mess of channel cats. When the water claers a little the wiper fishing should get rolling again

June 23, 2006 - Question on El Dorado - I am pretty new at fishing El Dorado lake and was wondering if someone could point out where the Flooded Railroad tracks are located? I was going to take my father and nephew over there sometime, but wasn't quite sure of where they were exactly, or proximity they were located other then I am sure looking for all of the other boats. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

Tyson Woolsoncroft

June 21, 2006 - Cheney - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - - The heat is really on now. Cats can still be caught on their spawning patterns or feeding patterns. Still doing quite well at cheney and marion on cats. Walleye are great in numbers at El Dorado but you sure hace to catch a bunch to find a keeper. GGood luck.
Mike Cook
Four Lake Guides

June 20, 2006 - Fishing Milford or Places close to Salina - Hey guys....I will be over in Salina on the 4th weekend. I will be taking my father in law out fishing in my boat. He is not much of a fisherman....He is excited to go but not much experience and I was wondering if anyone new of any places we could go where I could put him on some fish. We planned to go to Milford, but I dont know much about that lake. Any help on Milford or if anyone else has any other suggestions that would be great!

Thanks,

Chad Dick

cmdick@winningstreaksports.com

June 20, 2006 - (June 17, 2006) Private pond in Oskaloosa, Jefferson County, Kansas

We fished my Dad's private pond in Oskaloosa on Saturday. He caught the two biggest including the 4.5 lb largemouth in the attached photograph. He caught several on a pre-rigged weedless, natural-colored plastic worm. He didn't change his lure all afternoon.

My daughters are holding up the stringer of keepers in the other photograph. They can't claim those pictured, but my youngest did manage to catch her biggest bass ever; a 1 lb, 14.5" long largemouth. She made certain that we weighed and measured it. We also captured it on film, but it is still trapped in the camera. She caught it on a suspended, live minnow. My oldest daughter caught a nice bass on a Wobblehead Jr. lure. I also landed a bass while demonstrating the same lure to my youngest daughter.

The other keepers were caught on live minnows by my oldest sister and her husband, who I can also thank for the photos.

The heavy moss kept Dad from trying out the chatterbait lures I built from a kit from Zeiners. I did get an immediate hit on one of the few casts I made into open water with it, but I did not set the hook securely. I tried some top water lures; a weedless Jitterbug and an Arbogast frog as the sun sat. I got four strikes, but only one that I should have been able to set had I let him take it.

Dean B.

June 15, 2006 - Cheney - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - - Do ya'll remember Ron Smyth? He was the winner of the drawing for the fishing trip with me back in the spring held at Zeiner's. Well we got our trip in on Sunday, June 11th. Our day started about 6:30 am on Cheney Reservoir for channel cats. Ron brought his good friend, John Soileaux to join in on the fun. It was a beautifully cool Kansas summer morning with mostly cloudy skies and a slight southeast wind. But we knew the heat was coming and decided to start and finish early.

Our first anchored position was off of a bank where the waves were gently rolling into several big cottonwood trees that had been blown over and the branches were lying in about 2 foot of water. It was a great looking spot with perfect conditions. Six lines in the water and it wasn't long before a rod in front of me bounced once. I took it out of the rod holder and the fish gave it a hard pull before I could get it into John's hands so I set the hook and handed it to him and the fight was on with the first fish of the day. John clearly had the upper hand on this fish until it neared the boat. The heavy, fast action rod took a serious bend then as the 30 pound test line sang as it sliced through the water. The fish obviously didn't like what was happening. It stayed down the whole time, never once coming to the surface until it was played out. The sign of a good size channel cat. I slipped the net under the cat as it started its' last fight signature channel cat spin on top of the water. A super nice six pound channel cat to start the day.

Hoops and hollers and out came the camera for some quick photos and just as quickly, back to fishing. That was the only fish to come out of that spot which was very surprising as good as it looked. The next spot was a big goose egg. The rest of the day was a fish here 2 fish there a fish here and so on. Except for one spot where a creek channel dumped into the river. There in about 8 foot of water we caught 6 or 7 fish real quick for the fastest action of the day.

It was a great morning of Kansas summertime channel cat fishing. But the Kansas summertime heat forced us to call it an early day. 16 very nice Cheney cats was the end tally. Everyone agreed, it was an excellent day spent fishing and with great company. So Ron and John, thank you both and I look forward to fishing with ya'll again real soon.

Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides

June 16, 2006 - 13 June 06 - Republican River btwn Wakefield & Clay Center

Conditions @ Salina @ 1438 hrs CDT:

Temp: 83 / Humidity: 44 % / Dewpoint: 59F / Barometric Pressure: 30.13 / Wind Direction / Speed: SSE @ 10 MPH

Water in river (more than I expected) but was rather murky (chartruese shad disappeared about 6 inches down.) No Catfish :-( 1 wiper (2.5 lbs) on yellow maribou roadrunner. Only one hit on nightcrawler & way it was pecking suspect either drum or golden-eye. Oh well was a beautiful day.

=================================
"Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."
James Madison
walt
38-54-14.601N / 097-14-09.074W
check out my railroad pictures

June 15, 2006 - Milford - This is my 1st time writing to Kansas Angler and want to let all of you know the reports are great. I have been living and fishing in Kansas since 1986. I have seen a couple of down years during this time, but nothing like the last couple of years at Milford. Have no problems catching walleyes, but, where has the quality gone. The pressure on this lake from tournaments, recreational boaters, perhaps mortality from new gill nets/handling spawners has taken its toll. I believe its time to take a real hard look at this fishery in particular and find a happy medium to bring walleye year classes back in balance. I did not mean to make this into a forum type question, but any insight would be greatly appreciated. Maybe all the pressure has changed the habits of the larger fish. Last trip out June 6 caught 22 walleye on the flats(jig and leech was the ticket) but not one fish measured. Fun day on the water but had to dip into the freezer for white bass fillets caught off dam mid in may. By the way, late summer/fall fishing for whites this year should be awesome judging by the size fish we caught off the dam this spring. Come out and give it a try. Bite is usually hot and heavy all the way through mid-october and not many folks on the lake. Well, thats all for now. Hope to read some replies soon and also hope to see some of you out enjoying the fall blitz. Thanks and Good Fishing,

EYECROSSER

June 15, 2006 - Cheney Question - Heading to Cheney this weekend and would like to know more about the trolling bite for walleye. Plan on pulling cranks on the Westside tomorrow due to the wind. Planned on using #5 size baits, shad raps, hot-n-tots (caught 2 to 1 on hot-n-tots at Eldorado last week), reef runner rip shads and a few others. Haven't been down there for several years and taking the kids and would like to put them on some walleye. What depth have walleye been caught the most? I use lead core and would like to pull the channel and some deeper areas, but I won't if they're all being caught up shallow. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Oh yea, if anyone is heading to El Dorado, I can help you out there. Fished the walleye tournament there last weekend. Caught lots of fish, mostly shorts, trolling cranks all along the tracks, but most from the dam to about 2 miles north (right before you get to the hedgerow). Most were caught on firetiger hot-n-tots in 20' pulling leadcore. The bigger fish were caught very shallow up north on a roadbed and in the trees adjacent to Duersten creek. I was catching 25 inchers next to the channel in the trees in 2' of water. Seems crazy, but they were there. Good luck to all heading out this weekend and lets hope the weather allows us time on the water.

Brian S.

June 15, 2006 - Marion - (6/14/6) Was on the lake by 7:30am. Trolled twisters South toward the dam along the points from Cottonwood point boat dock. Couldn't seem to find anything. Headed North and started picking up a few small Whites along the rocks by the campsites North of the swimming beach on Cottonwood. Trolled North to the clay bluffs catching a few here and there in 3-5' of water. Worked the area from the clay bluffs back to the swimming beach for about 4 hours. Heavy whitecaps with wind from the South Southeast around 20mph. Ran into some nice walleye with 4 keepers, the largest around 24". Ended up with 24 total (Walleye and White Bass). Never did find the Wipers. All fish were caught in 3-8' of water off of the points.

June 14, 2006 - Looking for a boat - Hello everyone,

I am looking for a bass boat and was curious if anyone knows of a Tracker or a fiberglass boat for sale around $3,000 to $4,500. Don't have very much to spend but I am really interested in a good used boat in that price range. Please contact me at ttunnell@cox.net if someone knows or has one for sale. Thanks! -Moose

June 14, 2006 - Cheney - I took my Sister and her hubby and kids to cheney the other day, we started fishing about 1pm, didnt last long, it was pretty warm. So we tubed for awhile and started fishing again about 6pm, and the bite was on. Mark caught this huge walleye and here is my sister with a few of her nice big wipers. We caught several and it turned out to be an awesome day! by the way I did sell my old boat, thanks for all the inquiries!
MIKE E.

June 14, 2006 - Milford - Hi im Donny Heart, and my fam and i went fishing at milford, and we hooked into some big cats 3 about 34 lbs, and others averaging 2-14

June 12, 2006 - Cheney - My dad and uncle went out to Cheney yesterday 6/11. They snagged into 15 catfish using white perch for bait. Three which weighed between 8-10 pounds. They said the bite was slow but then they did bite they tried to take it out of their hands. Also, they said the lake was busy with boaters. They didn't catch any fish up shallow.

My cousin and I went out 6/8 trolling up by the island and didn't catch much. We had a few hits but only snagged one walleye that was about 17.5". Burned a lot of gas but figured we would give it a shot. Better Luck next time I hope.

Light Tackle

June 12, 2006 - Cheney - Decided to try my luck at Cheney on 6/11. I got out there at about 8am and started trolling right of. Headed straight west out of marina and hooked and landed a 20" walleye using a jointed shad rap in shad color. Headed north and found nothing came back to I think it's M&M point and got another 20". Tried a few more passes and then turned north again and got a 24" walleye off of Wichita point (I think) Lake sure was crowded. No bites on firetiger they were all on the shad color. left the lake about 1:30pm. Saw Mike Cook out there with his clients for the day and they had caught 16 channels.

June 10, 2006 - Marion - 6/9/06 - FRIDAY MORNING, 6:30 AM, ON THE CHUM WHOLE AT MARION RESERVOIR. BAROMETRIC PRESSURE 30.00, WIND SSW ABOUT 15 MPH. PUT A LITTLE CHUM AROUND THE OL! PONTOON. PUT 4 CHUMMING SOYBEANS ON A BARB-LESS HOOK. DROPPED ER! TO THE BOTTOM. CAME UP JUST SO THE WEIGHT IS OFF THE BOTTOM AND WITHIN THE BLINK OF AN EYE "FIRE-IN-THE-HOLE". TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT WE (6 OF US) FILLED A 100 QT. COOLER IN ABOUT 30 MINUTES WITH 3 TO 8 LB CATFISH. AND THEN WHERE DID THEY GO. NOT ANOTHER BIT UNTIL WE LEFT AT 10:00 AM. I'M NOT A BIOLOGIST BUT NONE OF THESE FISH HAD EGGS IN THEM. COULD THE SPAWN BE OVER ALREADY??

PS: HAVE A 16'6" DEEP "V" FISHER MARINE WITH 45 HP MARINER. THE BOAT HAS ALL THE WHISTLES AND BELLS FOR ALL KINDS OF FISHING. $3,500. 620-837-3359.

SEE YOU ON THE LAKE

BILL "SPANKY" SPANGLER AND THE GANG

June 9, 2006 - Cheney - June 09,2006, Friday. Did some P.M. fishing. At first it was slow had to move around. Kept on the Westside do to the wind was high. Found them North a ways from Sailboat Cove and kept at it. Caught around 12 Wipers. Boys had fun. One other boat out with us just catching them left and right. Mark.

June 7, 2006 - West Mineral - bass are hitting good over at west mineral kansas seem to do the best in the early morning last weekend the 3 bigg ones i caught were two 5 pounders and a 3lb 2 oz. look for areas that don't look like there fishable and you will be amazed. i let them all go still trying to get ahold of the bigg hog. they seem to be hitting hard on the berkley powerbait.

June 7, 2006 - Cheney - El Dorado - Marion - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - I need more hours in the day. I'm sure some of ya'll know exactly what I mean. Anyway I'll get right to the fishing. Walleye has been excellent at El Dorado this past month. Boating 30-40 fish a day. Seem to have 4 different year classes for the most part. Every once in a while we will get that 30 inch fish but not often enough. 10 keeper fish a day are common but you have to work for them. Flatheads are active and moving around a bunch!

Cheney and Marion are consistantly allowing 40 fish days with fish ranging from littltle bitty to 14 pound monsters. No 20's this year yet. But still trying.

Well that is it in a nut shell. Thanks to all of you who used me this year and look forward to seeing some of you again real soon.
Mike Cook

The night fishing is on at Milford Lake had 71 whites in the 1&3/4 lb class
>From 9:00 to midnight for two people. Was the only boat on the lake is that
not nice??

June 6, 2006 - Milford - The night fishing is on at Milford Lake had 71 whites in the 1&3/4 lb class
From 9:00 to midnight for two people. Was the only boat on the lake is that not nice??

June 5, 2006 - Cheney - Monday. A little on the windy side. Was looking mainly for big Wipers but all i could find biting was Big Walleye. Hit many area's around the lake. Total catch was 5 Walleye. Three were huge keepers. Mark.

June 4, 2006 - Cheney Catfish Problem - There has been some recent conflicts concerning anglers at cheney taking to many of the big channels out. I personaly love fishing for the cats a cheney myself, but the fish that are over 8 pounds are with out a doubt, catch and release fish. the lake needs those fish in there. why do you think that there are so many new regulations there for the wipers and walleye. the channels need to be respected just as much as the other fish. keep the smaller ones but let the big ones go back. they help with the perch problem more than any other fish in there.

Walleye Back

June 3, 2006 - Tuttle Creek - The gar spawn just finished at Tuttle Creek and I would like to share a TRUE but hard to believe fish story. Every year in the month of May the gar spawn in the rocks like catfish do in June. The problem is that the rise and fall of the lake level and the wind blowing 30 mph usually you only get one or two days of fishing out of the week. It usually lasts 8 to 10 days, this year only 8 days. The weather was great for 6 days of fishing from 5 am to 9 am. When the gar are in the rocks spawning the channels are right in there eating all they can, 24 hours a day. They spawn in 2' of water or less and you will see a 100 or more in one small area. Using a bobber at the depth of 1' you throw right next to the rocks where the gar are. If you use minnows or cut bait you will have a gar bite 5 out of 10 throws. If you use leeches or worms you will improve one out of 10 will be a gar bite. This year was the best that I've had in the past 20 years due to the lake level being consistent and good weather. In 6 days of fishing by myself I caught 273 channels from 2 to 13 pounds. My best day was 61 in 4 hours, that's some serious fishing. Light tackle with 15 lb pro line, 30 lb leader. 50 was cleaning for a fish fry and the rest was returned for another day. I will tell you that if you wasn't fishing out of a boat you would be limited on the numbers. Sometime in the next 25 days the channels will be in the same spot doing the same thing and the only difference will be is you can use a variety of baits. Some great fishing is just a couple weeks away.

RKH

May 31, 2006 - Ottawa SFL - 12:53 hrs CDT Conditions @ Salina, KS
Sky: Fair / Temp: 81F / Dewpoint: 63 / Barometric Pressure: 30.14 Dropping / Wind Direction/ Speed: North / 7 MPH

Took the grandkids up to Ottawa, hoping to tie into decent size Bluegill and maybe a legal size largemouth or some decent size channel catfish.
Most of what they caught were Bluegill smaller than 6 inches (did manage 1 @ 6 inch & I had 1 @ 8 inch but those were the exception vice the rule.) Grandson caught 2 largemouth (both under 10 inches). Tried to fish the south feeder from the earth pier for catfish. No joy for them as the southern feeder is now protected by sunken brush piles to hang your gear on (moved almost 45 degrees from where it was last year.)
Did manage 12 inch largemouth on # 3 Rapala Firetiger Original Minnow. Threw one of the frogs I have just for the heck of it into the lily pads and other weeds and had water blow-up underneath it (someone jerked the frog out of the fish's mouth before it was time.) Rather neat even if I did miss the bass.
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"Per Mare, Per Terras"
walt
38-54-14.601N / 097-14-09.074W

May 30, 2006 - Cheney - Monday was a beautiful day on Cheney. A new boat, family from afar and lots of huge Wipers made for an awesome day!! Here is a picture of some of the results. And if anyone wants to buy a boat I have mine for sale. It is a 93 raycraft 17 1/2' Bass Boat. That catches extremely large Wipers and Stripers really well. IT is equipped with a 150 johnson outboard, has mounted trolling motor, lots of storage space, a very large front deck, large livewell and runs GREAT!! price is only $2900.00. email me at mikeelliott@cox.net if interested.

May 30, 2006 - Cheney - Monday, went out early. Finally caught a day that was not windy. Only caught 2, 20" Walleye. Very slow. Got off the lake by 11am. Mark.

May 25, 2006 - Milford White Bass - Greetings!! Last night at Milford was a blast. After having a less than desirable evening a week or so ago with some friends, I decided to go by myself to "feel it out". I came back with a grin on my face!!! The whites, were on!!

Got there about 8:00, first 3 casts resulted in 3 fish on the stringer. Yes, I said stringer. I walk down the face of the dam and fish from the bank. (Boat money is tied up in 2 young children) Again, the lure of choice, as my last report states, was crappie jigs. Red head/black body/white tail OR red head/green body/yellow tail. The guys down the way from me were using crappie jigs in other colors with very little luck. They hollered down and asked what I was using. They put on my recommended colors and started reeling them in. I ended up cleaning 29 whites and one 3.5lb. wiper. At 10:00pm I had to quit as it was to be quite a struggle carrying what I had back up the face of the dam. Total estimated caught fish would be around 40-45 with 30 ending up on the stringer.

Went to the fish cleaning station in W. Rolling Hills with my load and started cleaning. 3 different boats came in to clean and had 12 at most and were amazed at my take. Apparently they too were using the black body/red head/white tail crappie jigs with minimal success. We all talked and wondered if the presentation from off shore to in shore was more desirable to the fish. Since 2 boats and myself were throwing the same thing, that is my only explanation. Anyone have any thoughts?

So I walked away from those "big fisherman" in their $15K boats at the cleaning station with a smile on my face. Not like I have a choice, but I'll take shore fishing this time of year over the boat!!! I will be hitting the dam again a couple times over the weekend but I haven't decided if I should bring along my buddies since they whined about the last trip not catching many. I told them this morning when they asked how the trip was..."well, I had a better chance catching more than you getting a line wet rather than sitting in front of the Play Station/ T.V." They didn't like that answer!! Until next time....

Phil

May 24, 2006 - Tuttle Creek - I went out to Tuttle Creek this morning around 8 and by 10 i was done. I had 20 Channel and 2 keeper crappie. I released every one. I couldn't keep 2 poles in the water. I think they were up chasing crappie or feeding on eggs, either way they're up on the bank. The biggest channel was about 8 lbs. but I didn't catch one smaller than 2 lbs. Better get out and catch'em while they're there.

Chris

May 23, 2006 - Marion - Marion Res.- 5-21-06- Went out with Justin Stroot, got a flat tire on the boat trailer about 8 miles south of Hillsboro, ended up drivin slow to the bait shop to borrow a 4-way tire iron. We were in the water at durham cove around noon. Had 2 nice channel in the boat off worms and crawdads. Lots of bites on minnows. Headed up the cottonwood river from durham, pretty neat place. Saw my dad at the boat ramp, he had a nice keeper walleye he hit off worms around cottonwood point. My 2 Channel were a nice 1st catch off the boat. Justin had 1 bullhead about 8 inches long he caught off worm under the bridge. It turned out to be a great day for fishing, for me anyways.

Jordan Beard

May 22, 2006 - Cheney - Submitted by Watkins Guide Service - Drove up from Oklahoma to meet my Dad(Chris Nichols) on Cheney. He has been catching lots of good fish at Cheney thru the years. We caught around 25 wipers only 4 where less than 7 lbs, the rest of them where 8-10.5 lbs. Here are a few pics of these great fish. If you want to book a trophy Hybrid trip contact me at 918-693-9015 or visit my web site!!

Shawn Watkins
Watkins Guide Service

May 22, 2006 - Wilson County Farm Ponds - Had a great time fishing with my ole buddy Paul in Wilson County farm ponds. Caught about 30 to 40 between us.The ponds finally filled back up and the bass were hungry. They hit everything from plastics to spinnerbaits, Johnson spoons to Zara spooks at 3:00 in the afternoon! Here's a picture of the largest, hit a tandem chartruse spinnerbait slow-rolled in the deepest part of the pond. Catch and release work's!

Denny G.

May 22, 2006 - Answer to Florida Bass question - You might try some garlic sent found at most tackle shops. It covers a lot of smells and bass seem to like it.
Bill Rose
Lincoln NE

May 22, 2006 - Melvern - We camped at Melvern Lake (Blackjack) this weekend what a storm we had Sat. PM!!! 3 hours of Wind, hail, torrential rain, lightning like I've never seen! (I kind of thought we should have been warned by the Lake personnel but no one was!) Anyway we caught 4 good catfish Fri. PM, at Blackjack campground. Sat. we fished at Blackjack, around the marina, and again just west of the dam, not a bite. We were fishing for crappie with minnows, and catfish with liver. After the storm Sat. PM, the lake seemed to be about a foot higher! We fished Sunday AM, for catfish. Got a couple bites, but no takers! It was windy and very muddy water all weekend.

Thanks, Karen

May 21, 2006 - Wilson State Fishing Lake - My son, Brody, and I caught three walleye and several bass on Sunday morning. The walleye were 20, 19, and 18 inches. The biggest bass weighed about 3lbs. We caught everything on plastic worms.

Shawn Hurt

May 19, 2006 - Cheney - Mike Cook - Four Lake Guides - Great fish, wish I had taken my sunglasses off. Linh Lenszuk fought this big ol' girl to the boat on Mother's day, May 14th ,06 while fishing with me and her husband Steve. We quickly weighed her and released her back into Cheney.

May 19, 2006 - Kanopolis - 5-17-06 Dad and I went to Kanopolis. We were able to get in on the south ramp which the Corp of Engineers dredged out last week. I didn't realize that Kanopolis had white perch too. Okay, maybe they were small whites but when fishing the flats with a jig and worm, we missed more fish than caught (naturally). We ended up catching 5 walleye (no keepers) and probably 15-20 whites, only 8 keepers. It was a nice day, but no wind towards the evening, hurt our drift, so we called it a day. We did cast along the dam looking for crappie and white bass. We managed to catch 5 or 6 whites and no crappie. Just a note, Carp were spawning on the dam.

Jeff P.

May 19, 2006 - Republican River North of Wakefield, KS - Conditions @ Salina, KS @ 161408 May 06:
Partly cloudy / Temp: 72 / Humidity: 41 % / Dewpoint: 47 / Barometric Pressure: 30.11
Wind Direction / Speed: North / 15 MPH gusting to 23 MPH
Went to try my luck in the river. Nobody was at the site I went to & there was water in the river so out went the lines. Danny King punch bait -- no luck Strike King blood paste -- 0 strikes Strike King Catapla paste -- 4 strikes 0 hook-ups nightcrawler -- a 1.5 lb channel catfish No wipers, no white bass, & no walleye. Wind was a small problem. However, fishing should get better as Cottonwood trees are blooming kicking off my allergies.

Conditions @ Salina, KS @ 181358 May 06: / Temp: 81 / Humidity: 24 % / Dewpoint: 41
Barometric Pressure: 29.92 dropping
Wind Direction / Speed: South South East / 9 MPH
Must be glutton for punishment cause went back to try my luck again. 2 strikes was it. 1 of which I never saw the fish and the 2nd was a 21 inch, 3.5 lb channel catfish caught on dip bait. Did witness a wiper of about 4 lbs get caught on nightcrawler as well.
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TIGHT LINES & SHARP HOOKS
"Per Mare, Per Terras"
walt

May 18, 2006 - Lake Perry - have fished everyday this week, you have my report from Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were AWESOME, the crappie are in the coves, both days Wednesday and Thursday caught over 75, but only 6 - 10 keepers, both days. This is a great time to take a kid fishing and have some fun with them, with out waiting on the fish!!!

Save a horse, ride a cowboy....
Mike

May 18, 2006 - Information request from Tennesse - Me and a couple of my buddies travel every year to a different location for about a week to Bass fish. We are looking at visiting some Kansas lakes in your area. I was browsing the net and came across this site, so I thought I would take a chance and send you an email. I am from Tennessee and we are looking to visit Olathe Lake first on June 3rd. I was wondering if you could give me any good information for some good Bass fishing during our stay. The lakes we intend to fish are Olathe, Gardner City, Madison City Lake, Eureka, Severy, Butler SFL, Moline New City lake, Sedan City lake-old and new, Chanute and Pleasanton.

Are these some lakes that will produce quality and quantity Bass? I would appreciate any input you may have. As I stated earlier we travel somewhere different every year. I hope Kansas will be a good destination. Last year we traveled to Minnesota, if you ever want to catch some awesome quality Bass, this place is incredible.

Again, thanks for any advice you may have. You can email me at rgaia@mlgw.org.

Thanks,

Robbie

May 18, 2006 - El Dorado - Fished El Dorado 5/12. Lake was flat, no wind. Didn't look to promising. Probably caught 40 Walleye. 30 between 8 and 16 inches, 5- 17 inchers, 3- 17 1/2, 2- 17 3/4, and 1- 21. Wally.

May 18, 2006 - Milford White Bass - I've anxiously been awaiting the white bass run on the dam. I went out a week ago and hit the dam hoping to just catch a half dozen or so. Actually ended up catching about 25 or so between 7-11p.m.. It was a nice surprise. After trying several combonations, crappie jigs-Red head, black body, white tail & Red head, green body, yellow tail were the lure of choice for that evening with a very slow presentation. It was so very windy that night blowing right at the dam. It made fishin difficult, but we did fairly well. Decided to try it again last night with high expectations as the elements outside were perfect. 83 degrees, little to no wind. Got there, and the water was awfully murkey. Caught 6-8 "bait-size" whites, and only 2 keepers. Did however catch 1 20" Walleye. Due to lack of enough fish to clean, I released it. I think it is only going to get better, but last night was a disappointment. Anyone have any insight? Am I wrong in assuming they are just getting going on the dam? What is working for others? Any tips would be appreciated. Good luck, and thanks!!
Phil Stein

May 17, 2006 - Marion Response - Read Brian's report from Marion Lake. I've been waiting patiently myself for this North wind and Low pressure system's to get the heck out of the region. I don't go when there is a North wind. Extended forecast looks promising. So, early next week I can quite shaking and get out and try my luck. All I can do now is enjoy the really nice weather in the evenings and mow the grass. I also noticed Cheney is done releasing water and its back to normal level. That's good. Maybe everything will come together then the bite will be on.

Mark.

May 17, 2006 - Lake Perry Crappie - Was out there fishing on Monday and caught over 130 crappies, but only 15 keepers. Tuesday caught about 75 crappies and had 10 keepers. The crappies are on the run!!!

Save a horse, ride a cowboy....
Mike

May 17, 2006 - West Mineral -last weekend i was fishing over at west mineral and i was amazed at the fish i was catching the blue gill and warmouths were coming in over 1.5 pounds and measured from 12 inches plus attached are some pictures. i might of hit a record blue gill too.

shanon

May 16, 2006 - Marion - Been after walleye the past few days and having a hard time. Boated 8 walleye Saturday at Milford and 1 keeper. Boated 2 shorts at Marion Sunday and 1 short Monday. The fish seemed to have shut off quite a bit from a couple weeks ago. Would be nice to have SOUTH winds for a change and for the most stubborn low pressure system I have ever seen to finally move east and get the heck on with it's business!!!!! Full moon, consistently poor weather is the only reasons besides not being an excellent fisherman for not finding the fish right now. Anyone had any luck this weekend? If so, where were the fish?

Brian

May 15, 2006 - Melvern -Fished Melvern Lake Saturday, May 13th didn't get a bite! Fished for Cat's with liver and worms not one bite, then fished for crappie with minnows & worms, about 10 foot of water off the bank nothing. We tried the boat dock area, the campground area, and the marina. Thanks. Karen

May 15, 2006 - El Dorado - It had been a few years since fishing Eldorado and we had a good time there again. The wind was out of the north and it really tested my trolling motor and my patience. My partner Paul hooked up with the first fish, a nice keeper walleye. He then added 3 nice whites trolling along the dam.We then began fishing a windy point and picked up some more whites and a tough fighting wiper. I set my boy up with a bobber and minnow and a very nice smallmouth nailed it. After that we all went to minnows and bobbers and had a great time catching everything. I forgot how much fun it was to bobber fish and my son had a blast! He wants to go again real soon.
Denny G.

May 15, 2006 - El Dorado - May, 11-12- El Dorado- Went settin lines with Brady Coile, left Wichita with about 50 perch around 5:00 p.m. had all lines set just before dark when the worst happened. The prop fell off due to a rusted cotter pin. We were only about a mile from the truck and we had 2 options. Option 1, we could run the troller back to the truck and go home, or option 2, we could go to the truck, get all the camp gear and run back up the walnut trying to use as little juice off our battery as possible. After a cheesy grin, I knew what the plan was. It took a while to get half-way between our lines and agreed on a spot to set up the tent. The night was cold but the fish were biting. We had no juice in the battery so we couldnt check lines till morning.

I caught 3 Flathead off rod-n-reel, all off perch. The moon was so bright, we really didn't need much light. We had lots of fun talking to the turkeys roosting up in the old trees. In the morning as we trolled along on a battery that was going to die any moment we saw some deer hanging out on an island, drinking some of the water off the Walnut's muddy bank. Just as we scared the deer off, (Brady's pretty good at that!) our battery was done.

We had 1 oar, a 5 gallon bucket and My girlfriends graduation to attend only a couple hours away. I would like to say thanks to an old man crappie fishin on a little bass boat that pulled us to our truck with his 8' crawdad and trolloing motor. Even though that prop set us back a bit, We still came home with a mess of fish, and I attended my girlfriends graduation smellin like an ol'box of worms........................................Jordan Beard

May 12, 2006 - Big Hill - Wednesday May 10 Time: 6:30-8:00 Water Temp: 66 stained
Haven't been on the lake in quite a while. Started out trying a little steeper rocky bank with some timber on it just inside a main lake
point. Caught and released several LM up to about 17 inches, also a few SM. Fish seemed to be anywhere from about 3 to 8 feet along these banks. All were caught on 5/16 Black and Blue jig with Zoom Critter Craw trailer black with blue claws. Tried some topwater out a little deeper hoping to catch a big female but no luck. Beautiful evening. Fished tournament on Bull Shoals AR last weekend, fish were in all three phases, pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn due to some funky weather. All my fish came waking a Red Fin, not a lot of bites, but it sure is a lot of fun when they come up and hit that thing. I'll try to report from Grand Lake in the next few weeks.

May 12, 2006 - NW Walter Reclamation Plant Pond - After work last night, Thursday, May 11, I fished the NW Water Reclamation Plant Pond; the pond furthest to the east. I caught two largemouth bass immediately after switching lures to a Silver Blue Rattlin' Rapala. Largest was about 12 or 13 inches. A nearby fisherman caught two other small bass within the same 15 or 20 minutes (after 6pm); all were caught near the shore. I overheard him tell his fishing buddy to switch from a spinner to a Rattletrap, likely what he was using. Another group that arrived after I did was on their way to a limit of channel cat; stocked through the KDWP Urban Fishing Program.

Dean B.

May 11, 2006 - Gardner - 05/06/2006. I took my boys, 13 & 8, fishing in the rain Saturday. We started at about noon and quit at 6. Both boys were troopers and didn't complain too much about the conditions.We went looking for post spawn walleyes but caught only two. The first was 16 inches long and was returned to the lake. The second, overly skinny at 19 inches long, was kept for the fry pan and won't be reproducing next year. I'm thinking we're still a week or two away from better action on walleyes. I only hope there's some "keepers" left in this lake. There seems to be fewer and fewer every year.

On a brighter note, we did have fun catching lots of 4-6 lb wipers in very shallow water. A small jig and a crawler below a bobber did the best. We drifted through 3 to 5 feet of water outside French Creek towards the dam. Too bad wipers have that nasty mud line and fishy taste. We didn't keep any, so there should be plenty for you sportsman out there to battle.
Good fishing all,
D., D, and D.

May 11, 2006 - Gardner Lake technique response - I agree with the technique used in the report on Gardner Lake. Too many people this time of year are moving their baits too fast or don't ever get it to the bottom. I fished Milford dam for about 2 hrs Sat. evening from 9-11 and caught 8 white bass. Everyone else caught 1 or 2 fish.

Another factor that helps is to use light tackle. A lot of times the fish will bite very lightly and I think other people were missing bites because they could not feel them. I like an ultralight rod with 6 pound test. I've found that bouncing off the bottom is the way to go, even on the rocks. Use a roadrunner and you can avoid some of the snags. Orange head Dark body and chartreuse tail (roadrunner) was the lure of choice on Sat.

May 10, 2006 - Gardner Lake - 2006.05.09- Went fishing at Gardner Lake with my buddy at his lake house as I have for many years. The last couple of years have been relatively dry there since it was made a state lake. I have seen a lot of anglers taking anything and everything they catch out of the lake- legal size or not. This have been pretty sad. Luckily, the fish have overcome. The white bass and wipers are biting pretty aggressively- as are the crappie. Most of the fish have been taken in 14 feet or less. I am using strictly pink YUM plugs on bright orange weighted jig head hooks. The method I have been finding to work the best the last couple of weeks is to cast out about 20 feet, let the plug hit bottom, raise the tip of my pole to keep the plug just off bottom and reel in slow with light cranking and pumping. I hope this helps!

May 8, 2006 - El Dorado - I went to El Dorado on Sunday looking to fish for crappie. We caught a few mid morning in 4 feet of water fishing with a bobber and minnows. There were very scattered and hard to find. We ended up catching 10 crappie. The muddier the water the more fish we caught. We boated over by the rock quarry and caught 9 white bass, a catfish, a drum, and a large mouth. The white bass were hungry and aggressive. Take your kids out this time of year with minnows and a bobber and they are bound to have fun. Good luck and great fishing.
Light Tackle

Save a horse, ride a cowboy....
Mike

Mark.

May 7, 2006 - Anthony area private pond - On April 20th this year my oldest boy (Tanner, 8 years old) and I were doing some after work fishing on a private pond here in Anthony, KS and were just about done for the evening. We were on our way back towards the vehicle and casting in as we were leaving. He was using a 4" long plastic lizard for a lure and cast in one last time. I saw his pole bend and a big ball of moss, so I just assumed he was stuck on it. I had told him to get it unhooked, until I saw all the splashing. I knew he'd caught something other than debris. I cranked in my poll, ran to him, but let him reel it in all by himself. Here's the picture of the proud angler with his catch weighing in at 6 pounds. I was very proud of him, and we've frozen the fish and plan on having it mounted for him.

May 7, 2006 - Cheney - I Fished Cheney Res. on Friday the 5th of May. It was pretty cold with winds 5-15mph. Trolled a while and caught 2 wipers 12-16" long. We didn't get a bite for a while after that so we stopped to jig with worm for Walleye, and we caught White perch, after white perch, after white perch. We then caught 2 more wipers 14-16" that fought like crazy. I guess after catching the white white perch, anything would feel like it fought real hard. PS, the white perch were real small. Finally, my buddy caught a 21 " walleye that fought for a long time. Anyone who says walleye don't fight hard don't know much about bigger walleye's. It was cold but we had a blast. Caught plenty of fish. Scott

May 5, 2006 - Wichita Chisholm North Lake Response -There are good people out here, but it's just easier to experience the bad ones. That's sad to hear about your rod. I too have had an experience, but mine was even worse. I was down at Lake Fork in Texas. My dad and I rented a boat and were about to launch when my dad needed to make a pit stop really quick. We drove to a station not too far away from the launch site. I had my three rods in a rod carrier that I had on the boat since we were about to launch. One rod had my lucky craft pointer lure on it as well. Well sure enough the small trip to the station my carrier bounced out of the boat and within minutes of turning around it was gone. We went to the little posts and asked if anyone turned it in. So I lost three rods/reels, a lucky craft lure, and the carrier and we were just about to start fishing. I ended up buying a rather cruddy baitcasting reel with some big game line that I really don't use. It was frustrating, but that's how life teaches us. Once we were on the lake it really didn't matter any more. It just wasn't worth staying upset over. My dad felt really bad and blamed himself, but I had to tell him everything was fine. It was material possessions. Heck buy a new car and drive it off the lot and you just lost a few thousand dollars you just spent. I have caught a trout at Philmont New Mexico with a stick and some fishing line and hook that I found on the ground so no biggy about loosing my fancy fishing stuff. Just know that if you stay being a good person that you will get your pay back with something nice.

Happy fishing all,

Dominic.

May 2, 2006 - Big Hill - A 19" small mouth bass from the banks of Big Hill Lake, last Thursday (4-25-06) near dusk. Caught by Stacy Reeves using a Storm 4" chartreuse "Wildeye" minnow. Except for a few crappie, this fellow was all that was caught for an after work run to the lake that evening. Of course there was also one that got away.... and he was "this big!"

May 2, 2006 - Wichita Chisholm North Lake -Went fishing with my 3 year old son on Friday the 28th at "Wichita Chishom North Lake" for a hour or two, it was cloudy with the possibility of rain. But I had the "fishing itch" so we went to try to catch some Crappie. After about 20 min it started to rain (hard) and I was so worried about getting my son back to the car and into a new change of cloths I left my rod ($150) outside my car and left!!!!!! When I remembered (about 30 min) I came back and it was gone. Now I know this was my fault but gee wiz are there no honorable people out there????? If it was me I would left it or taken it to KDWP office across K-96. If the person who took it is reading this report I'm not calling you a thief but man that isn't not cool. Mark

May 1, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Discussion has been pretty active and future comments will be posted only on the Comments page in order to keep this page open for reports starting with any comments after today.

May 1, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Discussion - I have fished walleye now in this state for a dozen years now and I agree the 18inch limit must be changed somewhat based on what is happening to most of the bigger fish currently. You can catch 100 fish under 18 inches on almost any day in almost any of the lakes in the eastern part of the state. 6 years back prior to the massive gill net project the game and parks are doing you could catch 4 to 6 lb walleye every trip out. Now your lucky to get 1 or 2 a day. Limits should be changed to be able to keep at least 2 fish from 16-18 and maybe a few over 18 inches. Or ensure the games and parks do not continue to kill all the big fish after the milk them dry of all the egss that usually support the fish after spawning. I have documented proof of many dead large walleye after the gill net operations. I have to give the game and parks tremendous credit however for ensuring the success of the walleye populations. You cant find any better walleye fishing unless maybe you go to lake erie in late June

As far as the comment that walleye don't fight is probably because your using a pool cue for a rod and 15 lb test. Or you haven't caught many big walleye.

May 1, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Discussion - I disagree with all of you that want to keep the small walleye. You guys are being selfish. Think of that 8.5 lb. fish that got caught on a spinner bait. What if that was your son, grandson, a kid's first time fishing or even that guys girlfriend that was out there spending time doing something they normally wouldn't be doing. That would have mad their day. Even if the fish doesn't fight that well for people that fish all the time. It will fight for someone that doesn't get all the opportunities that some of us are fortunate to get. Guys there are plenty of fish out there and don't get that big that is good eating. I am all for closing down the walleye season during the spawn, keep these fish in the Kansas waters for people within the state to catch and have fun. Have fun with catching a lot of fish rather than being greedy and just want to eat every fish that your catch.

Light Tackle

May 1, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Discussion - I accidentally caught a walleye that weighed nearly 8.5lbs the other day. It hit a spinner bait on an the outside of a weedline in about 4ft of water. It was like reeling in a wet sack. About as much sport as folding towels. And didn't taste that great either, kind of muddy. Crappie beat it tenfold. I wish KDWP would concentrate more (at least some) on black bass management. Central Kansas needs a destination bass fishery, and all of the reservoirs should at least be "decent" for bass. Kansas is losing a lot of revenue to surrounding states as bass clubs venture out for productive waters. ALso, a 10-in minimum on crappie would do wonders for crappie fishing. Black bass for sport, crappie for meat. Both reproduce naturally, without having to spend a bunch of time and money to ensure successful reproduction like for walleye. And one is more sporting, the other better to eat. I agree with "Wally" whole heartedly.

April 29, 2006 - El Dorado - My girlfriend and I have been catching some good fish this week on the dam at El Dorado. We have been fishing at the dam starting at 6:00 in the evening until we can't see our bobbers anymore. The first night, 4/23/06, we fished right before the big thunderstorm and caught a total of 22 fish. We caught crappie, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, white bass, and a channel catfish. I guarantee if we weren't doing so bad hooking the fish, we would have caught 40...it was a good day. We also fished at the same spot on 4/27/06. After the cold front, the crappie must have moved to deeper waters because we didn't catch any at all. We did end up catching 15 fish total though. The smallmouth bass were really hitting hard right when we got there and right before dark, the white bass hit really well. The walleye and drum must have moved up near the bank also because we caught a couple of each. You can go to the dam at El Dorado this time of year and catch about 8 differe! nt kinds of fish on the same bait (minnows). This is a great place and time to take your kids to fish (little brother in my case). They are almost guaranteed to hook a fish that will give them the fight of their life! Good luck to ya all!

April 29, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Length Discussion - I've been following this discussion since it started and would like to throw in my two cents. Definately not intended to start a argument or offend anyone. One of the wonderful things about living in this country is that we are all offered free thought and to have our own opinion. That being said, the 21" length limit is a good thing. Drop that length or put a slot in and in a few years we'll all be asking where the fish went. Remember about five years ago when Cheney was 5 fish at 18"? We all caught fish like there was no tomorrow and look at us now. Walleye are sportfish. Ask the guys that go out to deep open water and pick the monsters off structure. As far as wipers go, look at the hugh mudline you have to trim out of those. Great fish to catch, but not much of an eater. I know some guys disagree, but I just think there's better tasting fish in the water. Why not release those fish to put a dent in the perch? Kind of like people complaining about no more stripers in the lake. Wrapping this up, why does KDWP allow fishing the dam during the spawn? Everyone knows what goes on there. It makes me want to puke to hear guys bragging around town about the big fish they snagged. I didn't write this to piss anyone off, so take it as my opinion. Good fishing, Eric

April 28, 2006 - Republican River between Wakefield, KS & Clay Center, KS - 1458 hrs conditions @ Salina, KS:
temp: 73 degrees / humidity: 39 % / dewpoint: 47 degrees
barometric pressure: 29.96 / wind direction / speed: South / 20 MPH gusting to 29 MPH
Got to the river approx 1545 hrs. Nobody anywhere in sight (guess the wind was too strong). No wipers, no white bass, no walleye, no catfish. Only thing caught were 2 drum on nightcrawlers. Only one other person showed up where I was and he did not have any luck either. Wind had churned the water up pretty good and was blowing upstream rather strong. There is always next week.
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TIGHT LINES & SHARP HOOKS
"Per Mare, Per Terras"
walt

April 28, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Length Discussion - April, 28, 2006. Responds to Eldorado Walleye/Controversy. Cheney has a length limit of 21" on both Walleye/Wipers. I catch well over 100 of them combined between the two of them a year at that lake. Most over 21". I'd say through out the year 85 percent I throw back. Why, Wipers I don't like to eat. Walleye I love to eat. I'd rather eat at Long John Silvers or Red Lobster for my fish. One huge benefit fisherman have they can catch and release. I Deer hunt with my boys each year and get one or two a year but don't like the Deer meat. Hunting you don't have that benefit of catch and release. But I love to Deer hunt. So, I end up giving the Deer away each year. I just love to catch those big fish and enjoy the experiences each trip. KEEP THE LENGTH LIMIT AT CHENEY AT 21". It will provide HUGE fish for years to come.

April 28, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Length Discussion - I for one fully agree with "Wally" and would like to add my two cents worth. A few years ago I was so fed up with throwing back 171/2 inch walleye at Marion that I sat down and wrote a gripe letter to the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks. In response, I got a nice letter and a visit from their fisheries biologist for Marion. I cannot remember his name, but he proceeded to try to convince me that what they were doing would eventually pay off with more "keepers", not less. Well, its been several years and I'm still waiting. Amazingly, his argument was centered on walleyes needing to be about 18" long before they can reproduce. I pointed out that this then forced us to keep the only fish capable of replenishing our waters, but I guess that makes too much sense. Now they increased the length limit at Cheney to supposedly help control the white perch population. This makes a "keeper" walleye at Cheney extremely rare and is the main reason I won't fish there anymore.

Another thought is that whenever there is an overabundance of crappies, they become stunted. The state then wants us to keep as many as possible to thin them out. (Remember Howard city lake about 10 years ago) In closing, Wally, if you ever run for state commissioner of KDWP, you've got my vote.
Denny

April 27, 2006 - El Dorado Walleye Length Discussion - Fished El Dorado 04-26. Caught a mixed bag of Walleye, Wipers, and Drum. It was frustating, pertaining to the Walleye. 1- 17 3/4 inch, 2- 17 1/2 inch, 2 17 inch, 5- 16 inch, 5 between 12-15 inch, and 1- cigar. Now I am going to probably stir up some controversary. To me the Walleye is the most mis-managed fish in Kansas. Let;s face it. It is not much of a fighter. It is however the second best eating fish in Kansas, coming in behind the Crappie. However, the Walleye starts getting a mud-line, when it gets much over 16 inches. So if it is not much of a fighter, and is great table fare, why must they have to be 18 inches before you can keep them? It does not take much finess to catch them, much like a catfish, or a carp. So if you want a good fight, get back in the coves, out of the wind, and pretend you are fishing for Walleye, and catch some carp, that fight twice as much as a Walleye. What I am getting at is, the Walleye is a eating fish, not much of a sport fish. So why not put on a slot length limit, 5 fish between 14-17. Anything bigger must be released. That way, you would still preserve the big ones, for those that think the Walleye is such a great sport fish. I threw back more meat today that I could have got off of five Walleye, than I could hace got off of 30 10-12 inch Crappie. "Wally"

April 27, 2006 - Missouri River - Fisherman catches 62-pound catfish

It sounds like a tall tale, or a retelling of "The Old Man and the Sea" - Only this time, it involves a river and a giant catfish, instead of the ocean and a giant marlin.

Rick Olsen has been fishing since he was a boy, and in the last few years he has learned every bend and ripple on a 10-mile stretch of the Missouri River north of Leavenworth while fishing for large catfish.

For more of this story and a photograph (it's a copyrighted story in a newspaper), click here.

April 26, 2006 - Republican River between Wakefield, KS & Clay Center, KS - Conditions @ Salina, KS @ 1418 hrs CDT:
Skies: clear below 12000 / Temp: 58 / Humidity: 37% / Dewpoint: 32
Barometric Pressure: 30.12 / Wind Direction / Speed: North @ 6 MPH
Arrived at the Republican River about 1530 hrs + or - 15 minutes. Nobody in the area I went to. River flowing slow (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ks/nwis/current/?type=flow&group_key=basin_cd ) shows 50 cfs & it is quasi-murky. Managed to catch 1 wiper of 2. 5 lbs on a chartruese & metal flake Stike King Diamond Shad. Other catch was a Zebco GPS30 spinning reel on a Zebco PSC 59MH baitcasting rod. As for Catfish..........nothing they ignored nightcrawlers, dip bait & garlic bait.

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TIGHT LINES & SHARPER HOOKS
"Per Mare, Per Terras"
walt

April 26, 2006 - Lake Wilson - Lake Wilson Stripers are on the feed and in there early pre-spawn pattern. So far this year the largest has been a 37# brute not pictured but those pictured weighed in at 30# held by Hank and a 20# and 15 pounds held by my wife Gina, with many stripers between 10 and 20# mark being caught. The next few weeks will start them into their spawn and the bite will just improve.

Right now just about any main lake point is holding stripers especially early and late in the day. We are catching them on live shad in 2 to 4 feet of water. I expect to see a few more fish in the 30# class being caught in the next month.

Good Luck,
Madd Jack

April 25, 2006 - Butler SFL - Fished Butler Sunday and a little too windy and too less time to change tactics. The lake was very low. It was easier to go to shore to get off the boat since the water is about three feet low. It was surprising. So the slope area which is fair to boat through was too difficult. It was hot and had some fishing pressure. Saw some small bass and crappie being caught by people in my usual fishing spot. A little frustrated since I couldn't fish my area where numbers of bass are caught. Lake being so low needs a different approach. Another boat was leaving the same time as I and sure enough an angler just getting started on the dock caught a nice bass on some submerged trees. I think it is taking some time to get the main body discovered and less fishing the shoreline. There is a underwater hump, but that was even difficult to locate with the water so low. Nice to get some rain, but we need lots more. Might try Kingman or Mcpherson this coming Sunday.
Happy fishing,
Dominic

April 25, 2006 - Walnut River - Hi, my name is Chris Morgan and me and a friend went on the Walnut this past weekend and this is one of the Flatheads we caught, I caught this 15 LBS around bout 8:30 pm, hope you enjoy,

chris morgan
douglass, ks

April 24, 2006 - Melvern - Went on the 22nd with four dozen minnows and only used about two. We caught ten crappie in a matter of an hour once we found them. Most were small and only had three keepers. Even they were released for another day. Fishing up by Eisenhower swim beach. There were a lot of people fishing and I did see a few more caught. Nobody was tearing it up but its still a little early I think. The females were pot bellied and ready to explode. Good Luck. Return the females so we can catch them again.
Light Tackle

April 23, 2006 - Cheney - Made it to Cheney friday afternoon and managed to pull one walleye and a handful of perch. Went to my favorite brush piles, but couldn't manage anything there. They usually hold some big perch, but nothing friday. Water temp was 68 and the fishing should only get better as it warms. Unless you have the rock island on your gps or know where it is at, watch out if you go up north. There are no buoys out marking it. Finding it the hard way(with your lower end) wouldn't be good. Like MH said in his post, selective harvest is a good thing. Perhaps with aggressive stocking and some catch and release, Cheney might put a dent in the perch population. Good fishing, Eric

April 23, 2006 - El Dorado - Sat. April 22, 2006- El dorado- Went fishin with Brady Coile. Unloaded the boat at 5:30 P.M. stayed until 11:00 a.m. Sunday. Came home with 4 channel cat 4-6 lbs. and a nice 30 lbs. flat head , all on perch. Water at the lake is about 3-4 feet low. I saw many anglers out on the water both days. Many fishing for crappie. Thats all for now. Jordan Beard

April 23, 2006 - Cheney/El Dorado - Sounds as if the wiper fishing is doing good at Cheney. El Dorado has been hit and miss. Pick up 6 at lookout point last week, kept 1 to grill. Keep in mind there is a posession limit on most species of 3 times daily limit so lets' pratice a little catch and release so this good fishing will continue into the future. MH

April 22, 2006 - Wilson Lake - Fished today off a private boat dock at Minooka Park at Wilson Lake from about 12:30 to 1:30 this afternoon. Caught one nice size striped bass and largemouth bass with white jig with spinner, and about 5 white bass with worms off the bottom.
Had earlier fished a rocky point just west of Minooka Park with no success. We did however catch a striped bass and several white bass at that location earlier this week using worms off bottom and casting jigs.

Larry Calvery
Russell, Ks.

April 21, 2006 - Cheney - April, 20 2006 Cheney. Cold and a little choppy Thursday morning. With the wind out of the north, didn't figure to catch anything. Trolled 3 ways on points, across flats, along the dam and in the deep. Caught our limit of wipers. Some were shallow some were deep. No real rime or reason. But the schools kept moving. Bite went away when the wind quit.

Kept a 6 lbs, 8lbs 9lbs and 10lbs. Good Day. I think retirement will work out.

Jim

April 20, 2006 - Cheney - One week 04/13 - 04/20. Fished off the dam every morning starting at 7:00am. Caught our limit on wipers every day. Also caught some white bass and 1 walleye. We used crappie jigs and set our drag very loose or they would break the line. Terry

April 20, 2006 - Cheney answer to white perch problem - try using leeches instead of crawlers on your drift. I heard that the white perch do not like leeches.

April 18, 2006 - Cheney - April 17 -Went out to Cheney and fished all afternoon and into the night until 10 p.m. with my cousin Tom Addison. Fished the flats for Walleye, they were not there. White perch was a nuisance. Trolled the flat they weren't there either. Threw stick baits for a few hours at the dam in the evening. No luck. There were very few water boils while we there. I think that the walleye spawn at Cheney is officially over. I heard that El Dorado the spawn is on but nobody has updated any thing lately they must be to busy pulling the monsters in. When does the walley hit the flats after the spawn 2-3 weeks? I would like to get into some lazy walley fishing with jig and minnow/worn but the white perch are robbing all the live bait that I throw in the water. Any suggestions out there how to fish for walleye on the flats with live bait? Trolling gets old after a while. What is normally the best points to fish off of when the walleyes hit the flats.

April 18, 2006 - Cheney - April 15, 2006 - Here's my story and I'm sticking to it. My son & I went saturday morning and fished until about 2:45pm. that's when the waves got to be too much.    We trolled for awhile along the dam and didn't get any bites so I thought we try to get up into the river. To try and get some white bas and maybe some spawning walleye. Dumb Idea. Not a single bite but, saw a nice cat on a set line. (our lure got caught in it). We did fish a 10 pack of coors beer out of the water. (kinda gives a new meaning to beer batter fish.) We went back to the dam and tried tolling somemore and sure enough. My son hooked into a half blind wiper. (left eye looked real nasty) came in at about 24 inches(maybe more we didn't measure) about 380 lbs ( not sure we didn't weigh him either) actually closer to 8 or so. Decided then that it was time to troll to dock and call it a day as the wind and waves were really starting to pile up.
    Now comes the gosple according to Ron. When you head to the lake on a day like that make sure your boat is in good working order. On the way back to the ramp We saw a Bass Tracker washed up against the shore with the waves breaking over the gunwales. We tried to lend assistance from the boat but the stranded fishermen didn't have a strong or long enough rope. Plus the boat was already filled with water. After we got my boat on the trailer we went over to see if we could lend a hand from shore but it was no use the water was too rough and the boat was to heavy. Turns out their water pump went out and the engine quit.
anyway, I feel for those guys.
    Happy fishing for the rest of you
Ron K

April 17, 2006 - Cheney - April 17, 2006. Monday, had close to a excellent day. Hit the lake at 7:30am. Had a light Southeast wind. Started at the Red Bluffs close to the Eastside swimming area. There i caught 4 Walleye and 4 Wipers. Then went to the face of the dame and caught 2 more Walleye and 6 more Wipers. The Walleye looked like they had spawned or they were males. The Wipers we full of eggs. This is the earlist i've ever trolled in April. I did not hit any of my summer hot spots. The bite is on. Mark.

April 17, 2006 - Council Grove/El Dorado crappie question - Does anyone have any reports for Council Grove or El Dorado? I am looking to catch some crappie. Any help is appreciated.

April 16, 2006 - Farm Pond - Matt Winchester of Wichita, KS 9 pound 11 ounce largemouth bass caught from a farm pond in Dexter KS

April 16, 2006 - Marion - Sat. April 15, 2006 Marion Res.- Great morning of fishing, started at 7:00 a.m. Had three Channel cat off shad and a heck of a sunburn in before the wind came in. I cant believe all those fish in 2-3 feet of water. I even heard of a boat tip over off the damn around 5:00 or so. Heading to El Dorado with Brady Coile Sunday, talk to you then. Jordan Beard

April 10, 2006 - Marion - Marion Res.- Sat. April 8th. Headed out with Nate Wiens to Marion. Had poles in the water At 7:00 a.m. The ol' man showed up at 5:00. Stayed until sundown. Came home with 7 Cats, biggest was 8 lbs, Hit em all on shad. Awesome time. Having a hard time finding shad to keep up with my hardcore fishin schedule. We will be camping out there next weekend, fishing with my uncle Rod Conquest, from Peabody. would like to see some reports from Milford or Tuttle Creek, thinking of entering some tourny's up there...............................................Jordan Beard

April 10, 2006 - Hillsdale - On April 10th from around 6-8pm my uncle, cousin, father and I went out to Hillsdale Lake for some more crappie fishing. The wind was blowing pretty good out of the south, and we were having decent luck in deeper water along the rocks of the bank (near the Waverly Road boat dock). Then my uncle tried going out along the flat and fishing in maybe 3-4 ft of water, near the standing dead wood, with the minnow about 1' down from the bobber. This is when the action really began. We began catching crappie as soon as our lines hit the water. We think that the 20mph wind out of the south created feeding conditions near the shore. We probably caught around 60 fish between the 4 of us. The following night 4/11 my friend Nick and I went out again. The wind was also out of the south, 20 mph, and we went to the exact same spot. Sure enough we caught our limit within an hour. Good luck!

Matt Bailiff

April 10, 2006 - Fall River - Went fishing on Sunday April 9, 2006 and didn't get one bite. The week earlier the wife and I caught a few white bass, crappie, and large mouth. I think the cold lows in the evening slowed the fish down abit. Does anyone else fish fall river regularly? Have any tips on catching fish in the lake and up the rivers? I bet the white bass will be running real soon. I personally have not had a lot of luck on the lake mostly on the river. I would appreciate any tips for lake fishing on Fall River Lake for crappies, bass and catfish.

April 10, 2006 - Marion - April, 09, 2006. Went out at 5pm. till 6:30pm. Four of us. Only caught one small wiper along the dam walking. A little early I suppose. I'll try it next week. Mark.

April 8, 2006 - Marion - Have been fishing at Marion a little the last week, and have caught a few wipers along the dam. So far I haven't caught any whites, but they should be showing up theer soon. Not sure if any whites are being caught in the river, but water is sure muddy. Also to answer the question asked earlier about wipers at Marion, there are most definately plenty of wipers in the lake in the 1.5 to 4 lb. range, but as for bigger fish, they are far fewer and much more difficult to find. I fish the lake uite often, and seldom hear about any large ones(over8 lbs.) being caught. I am sure there must be some in the lake. As far as places to fish there isn't much structure beyond the obvious points, and the river channel. There is three humps on the edge of the channel that can be found by lookimng for the dozen(or more) boats that are sure to be fishing them in the center of the lake. You might be better off to try and find a more unusual spot or fish at night. At any rate you should catch plenty of smaller ones while you look. Good luck! Gary

April 7, 2006 - Cheney - I went to Cheney on Wednesday and the wind was blowing and the fish were biting. Fished off the end of a point, don't know the name of it, but I tried live bait and wasn't working so I used a chartreuse mister twister. Caught two keeper walleye and two keep wipers by 9:00. It was a lot of casting but it paid off. Good luck battling the people on the dam. Good fishing.

Light Tackle

April 6, 2006 - Answer to question on Wyandotte County Lake - Tim, Wyandotte County Lake can produce some good fish, whether its Crappie you are after or Bass. Right now, the lake is currently being stocked with Rainbow Trout. I have seen trout being caught that are atleast 6-8 lbs being taken out of there. They do not stock them tiny ones like at the Pitts. These trout are VERY NICE. Black Crappie, they are biting, but you are gonna have to find them. If you do go for Crappie, I heard people catching them with jigs and minnows at Turtle Cove and Stotler Cove along the trees in the water. Walleye can be good at times if you have a boat trolling but most of the ones we are catching are below the length limit requirement.

While I was attending PSU in Pittsburg, I fished the Pitts a lot, especially the ones close to Pittsburg. I found some nice Crappie Pitts, and some nice Bass Pitts. I caught a nice 17.5 inch Crappie out of one of them pitts 2 years ago on a chartreuse bass assassin and another 15 incher. Some of those pitts can be gold mines if you find the right one. If you want to know some of my hotspots, email me at kux99@hotmail.com. I do miss them pitts though!!

Hillsdale seems to be producing crappie along the banks, but only at night is when they are biting. We got 32 keepers between 3 of us on Monday April 3rd and many small ones. Most of the crappie we are catching are males, and couple of females mixed in. The biggest being 12 inches. They are biting on crappie jigs and minnows under a bobber set at 1.5 feet.
Looks like they are starting to move in.

Ku Xiong

April 4, 2006 - Cruiser Lake, Wichita and Marioun - Sat. April 1, Went to Cruiser lake with my buddy Brady Coil. Caught 4 channel on shad sides, really aggressive hits. Ive been waiting to hear my bait clickers like that all winter. His ol-lady caught a nice 15-16 inch crappie on a minnow, we stayed till the storm came in. Sunday April 2, Went to Marion res. with the old-man had to show him how the young bucks do it. I slayed 'em. In fact the only fish he caught I set the hook on. Then he tried to drag it up the bank like a 2 year old, and the hook came out when the fish was in 6 inches of water, If I wasnt a die hard angler I would have let it swam, but being dads only fish of the day I lunged at it, dove through the cold water and retrieved dads cat. I ended up with 4 and his 1 to clean. Spoke with my buddy Brady and he did well at Eldorado with shad on some channel where the walnut comes in. Also Justin Stroot and Jeeps Baker pullin Walleyes out of Cheney off the damn on crankbaits and rattletraps. April is really a great fishing month take advantage before it gets too hot.....................Jordan Beard

April 4, 2006 - Lowrance Question - I have a Lowrance LX-19 Color sonar. Two years old. Factory has a improvement add on to owners for the background light. This is to improve direct sunlight viewing. Has anyone had this addition done and if so is it worth the $100 Lowrance is changing for the upgrade? I believe now all new Lowrance color sonar's have this new feature. As it stands now in direct sunlight my visibility is very poor. At times unviewible.

April 4, 2006 - El Dorado - Here is an update on El dorado. Fishing is pretty slow at the dam, but they are catching a few. If you know where to go on the main lake you can catch a few like this one. Good luck!
SNAG

April 3, 2006 - Question on Wyandotte County Lake - OK I am hogging the Forum! Question-----what can anyone tell me about Wyandotte County lake? Never fished it ,, But (as a MO guy) discovered how close it was to my house!
Looks like a beautiful lake,,any fish?
Thanks in advance
Tim (again)

April 3, 2006 - SE Kansas pit question - (Photo posted further down on this page) What Pit were you in when you caught that crappie? Cmon and share where when and on what !!!!
Thanks
Tim

April 3, 2006 - Pittsburg KS Strip Pits - Fished about 12 hours Sat the 1rst. tried several Pits with water temp ranging from 51 to 55 degrees (storm front moveing in). The less clear lakes were the warmer BUT supriseingly less productive.

The bass seemed to be stageing in about 6 to 10 ft of water suspended on the edge of the weedbeds (almost a summer pattern). Some small bass in the coves begining to spawn. The best bite came on 8inch Red/Black plastic worms fished slow without any weight. The hits were pretty soft,,almost like they grabbed it and VERY slowly swum off but they did seem to want to move with the bait. Caught a few useing crankbaits (shiny with a perch finish) tossed deep and brought back to weedbeds or (again summer pattern) fished 6 to 10 ft deep along weedbeds.

About 30 fish total with most being 13 to 15' and skinny,,largest being about 4lbs (skinny without eggs) Fished for catfish for about an hour,,,THAT was the way to go! Got an 8 pounder and tons of bites in the 30 mins we "played" after it started getting dark,,I am not really "into" catfish (I had all but one line rigged with 2 lb test) But ,,if Catfish are your thing you really gotta try the Pitts! (Shrimp for bait) hopes this helps somebody!
Tim
ps---Pitts are down at least 4 to 6ft,,,be extreamly careful lauching boats!
pss--Beware the Lizards!

April 3, 2006 - Cheney - Nice to see couple guys had some luck Friday nite. I noticed he stated he and his buddy fished stick baits parallel to the damn. Glad to see good ole fashion fishing the way I was raised instead of jerks walking along the damn and getting in everyone's way. Damn walking should be illegal if you ask me. Not sure if this helps, but I have caught a few at El Dorado, west end on white grub tails. They are starting if you ask me, but not in full swing. Seen a few being caught as well that were keeps. Good luck. My buddy and I got our four fish in one hour Friday night.

April 2, 2006 - El Dorado - Went to El Dorado lake Sat afternoon, a typical WINDY early spring day. Air temp hit 80, water temp was 49. Still pretty chilly. We started thumping 1/4 oz Red Jig heads tipped with fat healthy Nightcrawlers out on the cemetary point, I had 2 nice but short Walleye to the boat and lost both of them, within the first hour. Then nothing else. We moved to the east end of the dam, and Chris hooked up with a short Walleye and a Nice Small mouth bass. An hour later I landed a Fat little Wiper, then a 19" keeper eye, followed by 3 more shorties. The bank was beginning to fill with eager night fishermen looking for the spawners, and we left. Water still a bit cool for the after the spawn feed, but if the weather stays warm, give it a couple of weeks, it should be fun!
MIKE E.

April 1, 2006 - Cheney - Went out Friday evening along the dam and threw stick baits parallel to the dam face and picked up 3 keepers between us 2-4lbs and 1-8 pound monster biggest my fishing buddy and me ever caught. I wish someone would update El Dorado

April 1, 2006 - Answer to Milford Walleye question - if the corps of engineers has been releasing water (usually 500 cf/s) for an extended amount of then the outlet can be excellent, as with all bodies of water. you can check at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt , it's a cool site that you check all 50 states on, some of the stations have a lot of testing info on them and are usually the info is 4 hrs old. good luck, sean

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