ljd1971

I was out there Friday as well with pretty similar results-- a bunch of solid fish. I was doing pretty well with the Ned, a spinnerbait and a speed shad. Looking back on it, I probably should have tied on a dropshot. Fun day regardless. I went to Cowley State Fishing Lake Saturday morning. I haven't been on that lake in over 10 years. Eurasian milfoil has taken hold in the meantime. Had some mat blowups on a frog, but didn't hook any. Caught a bunch of dinks on a baby bass Pop-R. Only caught one decent fish (3 lbs or so) on a creature bait. Finished the weekend at Lake Shawnee this morning. The NE boat ramp only had two open parking spots at 6:30 a.m. Only caught two nice smallies but rest assured Clayton, the drum are still there in force. I gave up and got off the water by 9.

Took the wife out to Perry this evening. 13+ feet high and MUDDY. The gates are wide open though so the level should start falling. Slough Creek was the only open boat ramp we could find. Didn't even bother to wet a line.

Spent the weekend at Melvern in one of the cabins in Eisenhower. Lake level is up 1-2 feet after last week's rains. Water temps ranged from 59 to 61. Water was a little stained up the creeks but clear on the main lake. Had okay but not great numbers but only only one at 18" and one 17". Best places were main lake points. Did not try the dam-- looks like I missed out based on other reports. Caught more fish deeper over the weekend than I have since mid-March. All but a couple of the females still had eggs. Baits ranked in order: Ned, jerkbait, lipless crank, squarebill, tube, and Yum crawbug. Also caught a bunch of whites that looked spawned out, a few nice crappie, a few walters and the normal dink larries and spots. Got chased off early today by that brutal wind.

I used a 6'10" Castaway UL for the Ned. It had more backbone that any UL I've used before. I really liked it -- it pared well with a Size 25 President. I thought I had found a pretty solid Ned setup, until I broke it boat flipping a mere 1.5 lb smallie. Now I use a Quantum KVD 6'9" MH/F rod I picked up on clearance at Academy. Even though it's a MH, it's rated for 1/8 - 3/8 oz. So it works pretty well for the Ned. Not ideal, but it works. At least don't have to drag out the net for every fish I catch. I also sometimes use my daughter's 6'6" All-Star ML/MF rod for the Ned. It's from their panfish series, I can't remember if it is the "Target" rod or the "Dock Shooter." It works pretty well, too but it probably would be better with a F or XF taper.

I was there Saturday and it sure seemed like a tougher bite. I struggled with both numbers and size-- it was probably my worst outing there this spring. I think the wind made it so difficult to fish anywhere but the protected areas so that concentrated everyone on the water into those areas. I saw people on some areas I have pretty much had to myself most of the spring. Even had a bank angler sprint from his minnow bucket to the point I was getting positioned to cast on. He hadn't been fishing that point any of the 15 minutes I had been in the area working an offshore dropoff. That was probably the first time he sprinted in years. Anyway, the fish seemed pressured to me. Whereas I would normally find a small area that would give up 6-10 fish, I would only get one or two off each spot Saturday. Sounds like you at least found numbers of the males willing to bite.

I haven't seen any evidence that they've started spawning. Agree with Brian-- especially the part about the Ned. Some guys here have also done pretty well on a lipless crank at the 'Vern this spring. Not so much for me, though. I have just started catching them on a tube-- maybe it just took a while for the tube bite to get going this year but it seemed to turn for me when I rigged it with a jighead on the outside, not inserted in the tube. Rigged this way, it doesn't spiral down, it falls more straight. But I'm going to keep rigging it both ways to see which way they like each day. As far as spots go, I have done the best on secondary points so far this spring. Some of them are gravel, some are sand/mud, some are chunk rock and some are bigger rocks. Some of them look textbook and others look like nothing. So like Brian says, the best bet is to cover a bunch of water. I don't know about Brian, but my experience this spring is that if you find one, there will be more around. Good luck.

I wish. I had to sign in and get a visitor's badge and flag for my truck window. I had to show them my fishing license and leave my DL at the guard booth. When I checked out, I filled out a little fish survey that the guy said would be forwarded to KDWPT. They guard seemed new so it probably took longer than usual even though they weren't busy-- maybe 10-15 minutes each way. The lakes are about 20 minutes closer to me than Melvern but I'll probably still mainly stick to 'Vern for brown fish because the time to get on the water is about the same when you consider check in/out. Not to mention that the scenery and roads/facilities are better at Melvern. Those access roads at Jeffrey are ROUGH. Even though it was getting late, I was compelled to take the boat to the car wash on the way home. That said, last night did wonders for my confidence in jerkbaits. So I will probably fish them every third smallmouth trip or so. Especially when I'm taking someone with me that doesn't fish much. Does anyone know if the lakes get very busy on the weekends? I could see check in becoming a chore if there is a line of boats. . .

Tried the lower lake at Jeffrey Energy Center this evening. Once I figured them out, I wore them out on a jerkbait, lipless crank and the ned. Probably caught 75 smallies, 2 wipers, 3 whites and even 2 walters. Not much size though; only two smallmouth were over 16". One wiper that nearly yanked the rod out of my hands was probably 4 lbs but I didn't have time to measure and weigh it because the wind was blowing me onto the rocks. Definitely will return on days when the forecast doesn't call for much wind.

Went out to Melvern Sunday afternoon while the wind died down a little. I saw water temps up to 59 in the creeks and mostly 53-55 elsewhere. All the recent wind has stirred the algae up most places so the water was pretty stained. I was only able to find three spots where I could pull out more than 3 smallies and none where I could get 6+ like I've been able to do on some of my other trips this spring. Ended up with 30, 20 of those were smallmouth. The biggest was 18" and 3.5 lbs. I caught three others that were 16-17". Slow moving baits (tube, hula grub, Ned) were all that worked. Most were shallow but I did catch a few a little deeper today than I've seen in awhile-- probably 4 to 6 FOW.

Indeed I did, sir-- at the little car wash in Lyndon. I didn't have any spray bleach to hit the bilge or livewell, though. I kept the main power off at Osage to make sure the auto bilge didn't puke in the lake. When I was in college I picked up a hitchhiker in Topeka on my way back to Kansas City. Tried to sell me Amway the entire ride. Right then and there I vowed to never pick up a hitchhiker again. Not even aquatic nuisance species.

Went to Melvern Sunday. Immediately went up Turkey Creek and caught four solid 2+ smallies right off the bat. Then decided to explore the west end of the lake. Scouted some areas but did not catch anything but drum and white bass. During that hour, the wind came up, almost straight from the west. The ride back to Eisenhower was brutal- first (and second) time I've ever taken water over the front of the Javelin. Caught one in Eisenhower west and then trailered the boat to Eisenhower east where I caught four more solid but unimpressive smallmouth, a short spot and a couple dink larries. Lipless crank, shad rap and the Ned were all that worked. Spent the rest of the day fixing everything that rattled loose on the boat. A day I'd rather forget. Went back today and did a little better. Only one approaching three, though. My first area yielded several quick fish on a one knocker lipless crankbait. After that flurry, I couldn't find any aggressive fish. I finally got a little bit of a tube bite going by rigging it on a mushroom head on the outside instead of inserting a head or T-rigging it. Then it was drag and deadstick time. Right brefore I left, I marked a ton of fish in 5-7 feet of water way up Eisenhower east. Threw everything in the box before catching a few white bass on a Roadrunner with a 2" paddle tail. Cut the trip short to try Osage County State fishing lake where they are apparently celebrating dink fest. Water temp was 55 to 57. Caught a few on a spinnerbait before I started really catching them burning a bluegill colored trap. Not a keeper among them, though. Neat little lake.

I know, I know, you're both right. But I went out today and caught 40 on the Ned. But the size wasn't as good today as it was Saturday. Only two of mine went over 2 lbs. Nothing over three. The daughter has become a Ned devotee as well. She caught her first smallmouth (ever) today-- 2.5 lbs. She also caught three other smaller ones. They were really bunched up today on wind-blown secondary points. Once we found one we would catch several. We caught a dozen off of one 20 yard point in a half hour. We'd only get a few casts before the wind would blow us off the spot. But if we could make a specific cast, we were confident we would catch one. Then re-position the boat for another pass. Wash, rinse, repeat. Going back to our Facebook discussion on nets, I broke my main Ned rod boat-flipping a 1 lb dink. Sigh. That's the fourth rod I've broke this year. The good news is that 3 of the 4 rods were purchased at Academy. They've won my business. Back to the topic at hand: next time I go out I will only pick up the Ned if I'm desperate for a bite. I think that is an algae or something. I noticed when I backed my trailer in the water, it kicked up a cloud of the stuff. The wind really riles it up, too. The fish didn't seem to mind too much, though as most of our fish were caught the wind. I wonder if it isn't as bad as mud.

Took a solo trip to Melvern Saturday. Surface temp. ranged from 48 to 51. The weather sucked but the fishing was a little better than Friday. I caught 19 smallmouth including my personal best 4 lb., 5 oz. and two that were just under 3. I also caught a pretty nice 1.5 lb. spotted bass and a few smaller largemouths. All but 2 came on the Ned. The others were on a shad rap. Shallow water off secondary points was still my primary pattern but I caught a few in deeper water off of the shelf rock at the marina campground when I just had to get out of the wind for awhile. I talked with a fellow wind refugee who was doing pretty good on a crankbait. He said he had caught a couple over 18". At around 2 p.m. the wind went dead calm for about an hour as it was shifting to the north and I was able to fish the primary points in Eisenhower where I caught a few 14 inchers. If this "Ned only" bite continues for me I just may sell off all my casting outfits and any tackle not manufactured by Z-Man. Check that-- I'll keep one casting outfit to fish C&C Custom and Buzz'z Baitz.

Went to Melvern Friday with the kids. Right out of the gate, my son started catching them on the Ned. He had 5 smallmouth in the boat before I had caught my first. I grabbed my Ned rod, but still no fish. I changed to his color (PB&J) but I still couldn't get bit. Then I watched him retrieve it a few times and realized that he was working it pretty fast and was really shaking it. Once I made that adjustment, I started catching them, too. Color didn't matter after all. Then the wind kicked up and blew us off our two best spots. It took me awhile but I fished new water and found some new spots that are better protected from the south wind. Not a great day but we managed 20 smallmouth, 15 whites and a few small green ones. My son caught as many as me, and he took a 2 hour nap in the middle of the trip! He also edged me out for big bass of the day with one going 2 lbs. 9 oz. The smallmouth were mostly caught shallow (3 FOW or less) on secondary points. When we found them we would catch more than one.

Yeah, it was a little colder than she expected so it was all hands, er coats and gloves, on deck. Of course, that raises the question of why on earth would she just happen to have a faux fur coat stored in her back seat? In mid-March. Here's a tip for all you young parents: some questions are best left unanswered.

Unlike the others, neither the jerbait nor the crankbait worked for me and the daughter Sunday morning. We managed a dozen smallies ranging from 13" to 16" on the Ned in green pumpkin and watermelon seed. All but three came from two 20-30 yard spots on two secondary points. Also caught ten white bass and two big drum. The whites were grouped up in 4-5 FOW and liked the small BPS speed shad. We probably should have caught more of them based on the action on the depthfinder. It was a wierd day; we had a few periods of fairly fast action separated by periods of nothing.

Went to Shawnee State Fishing Lake after work. Water temp. ranged from 50 to 53. About an hour in, I only had a few dinks on the Ned. Then I tried one of the jettys that had a little clearer and deeper water around it and it was like flipping a switch. I caught a bunch on a BPS XPS jerkbait on one pass and then turned around and caught a bunch on the Ned the next pass. I tried some other spots to let that one rest and caught a few, including the biggest of the evening, a 16.5 incher that hit while I let the jerkbait sit mid-cast while I adjusted my depthfinder. I then went back to my good spot and caught a bunch more. I probably ended up with 40-50 fish, but only 3 went over 15 inches.

East end is about as clear as I've seen it over the past year except on the shores where the south wind riled up the shallows. Heading west, the water starts getting stained at Turkey Creek. I have not ventured west of the Turkey Creek boat ramp yet this year.

Took the afternoon off and spent it at Melvern. Water temps ranged from 49 at the Arrow Rock campground cove to 61 in a NE-facing pocket in Turkey Creek late in the day. Mostly 51-55, though. Only caught 4 brown fish; none over 2 lbs. 3 came on the Ned and one on a one-knocker. Caught probably a dozen larries on a jerkbait and the Ned. One 16" sauger and the obligatory whites and drum rounded out the day. Pretty slow but it sure beat work.