KansasBASS9948

Anyone been out to Melvern here lately? I'm heading down there the next two weekends to prefish for a tournament on the 4th of April. I'm sure that lake has to be getting close to turning on if it hasn't already!

Yep...know where you are talking about. That is a pretty good area in there...if you like to fish for cats from time to time I've not done bad with catching a channel cat or two in there as well.

I've only fished them once, but Im pretty sure I know the area you are talking about. Funny thing is when we were fishing them I was fishing FOR white bass lol. This weekend I might give it a run if I'm not catching them off my spots. I've got a benefit tournament going on up there on Saturday.

Well the most productive way to fish Perry this time of year is flipping the docks. Generally I'll put in at Rock Creek and work that area pretty well....also hammer the rip rap around the marina. All these areas get pounded of course, but I still will pull a few fish out of Rock Creek. Then fire up the big motor and run down to Perry Marina. Again beat up the rip rap and fish the docks...I like fishing Perry Marina MUCH more than Rock Creek. My partner pulled a nice 7 pounder off a cable in Perry marina about 2 years ago. Again once you've worked that area head down the lake and cross under Slough Creek bridge and fish the rip rap....you'll catch them. As far as smallies are concerned I've never caught anything worth bragging about, but the one you caught doesn't come as a surprise. I know the owner of Ozawkie Boat Company right there at the marina and he caught a giant smallie about the same size as yours straight across from Rock Creek. As far as what to use....9 times out of 10 I've got either a crank bait or spinner bait in my hand, but you just cant beat a 1/2 ounce or 3/4 ounce black and blue jig out there.

I live about 2 miles from Wyco Lake and that sir is a quality fish out of there. It's tough to get those fish to bite out there sometimes! Since I told you my secret Hillsdale spot....(which might be a fluke considering it IS Hillsdale) where did you pull that one from?

If you put in at the main ramp take an immediate left hand turn and start fishing those trees. Honestly we didn't even have to put the boat on plane that day. You're right though....if someone had told me that Hillsdale had that many fish in it I'd have told them they are a liar haha. The majority of what we caught came in about 5-10 feet of water in the wood. Like I mentioned the bigger one I caught came out of about a foot of water...in fact when he hit I wasn't paying attention and just looked up and saw my line going sideways. That is a bummer about Gardner lake too....it LOOKS so dang good, but it seems like the more people I talk to the more I hear it isn't that great of a fishery. I have been told it has some giant crappie in it, but the only time I catch crappie is by accident. Maybe I need to take it up lol.

Nah not every fish we caught was worth talking about...of course we had our fair share of dinks. Plus the day came with a snapped rod after I was a goober and tried sling shotting my rod to get it unsnagged. We only had maybe 5 fish that were near the 15 inch mark. The rest were all short fish....I used to HATE Hillsdale with a passion. That was the first day that I've ever done well on that lake. Most of the time I'm on Perry which even lately with all the rain we've had has been tough. About two weeks ago we went out and the only fish I caught was a little 15 incher off the new brush they put in by Rock Creek marina.

I've been meaning to ask you about this....I've recently discovered the mini Ozarks oh I mean Gardner Lake. I went out there and had some fun catching a ton of small fish, but nothing really to write home about. Seeing you're from Gardner I figured you had to have a good fish story from that lake! I did see a guy pull a nice 4 pounder off deep structure. I saw him out off the bank chucking what looked like a jig....I need to get better at reading my electronics. It would be nice to fish some of that stuff.

Made it out to Hillsdale yesterday for about 6 hours....holy smokes we clobbered them! We took off from the ramp about 6 and caught a few on topwaters. Black buzzbait was the ticket up in the front of the boat and I burnt a white and gold War Eagle spinner bait early in the morning. As the day went on we caught them in the timber mainly on beavers and 7 inch worms. All in all we boated just over 30 fish with our best being a good 17 inch fish I caught on a green pumpkin Yum Dinger. Feels good to go out there and just whack them!

I'll have to post a couple of pictures, but this past weekend we had a tourney out on Wilson. With everyone talking about smallies on here we absolutely slayed them. Over a two day period we caught and released over 50 fish with 10 of them being 17 inches plus. Caught the majority of them on a drop shot of all things.

Most of the fish I've caught are chock full of eggs....this warm rain we are expecting tomorrow should put us right around that 50 degree mark. I thought these dang fish were never going to move up shallow. Heck last March I've got a picture of me catching a smallie off a bed on the 15th! I was also wearing shorts and a tshirt.....

Phoenix 920 with a 250 Mercury Pro XS. She flies!

Last fall I pounded WYCO as I live about 5 minutes from the lake...did pretty well on smallies and a few good largemouths. I'm thinking about heading out there more this year and was planning on fishing deeper structure. I'll post some pics of anything I catch out there.

I'd vote for Melvern....the toad in my profile picture on here came from Melvern. The water will still be pretty cool so I'm sure the smallies will be active!

La Cygne hasn't done well at all lately. Heck even last year main lake didn't produce hardly at all...I did boat a few nice fish up the river though. Here is a hint....old bridge across the river.