Kansas smallmouth lakes

[Sturgeon]

Hey forum friends looking for best lake option close to Wichita.  I have only caught one in my life looking to target them a few times this year. Wilson, Melvern, Milford? I'm only 30 min from Oklahoma too. Most of these lakes I listed are a 2-3hr drive. Well worth it though.

[Molay1292]

El Dorado has a good SM population but they can be hard to target at times. Between Wilson, Melvern, and Milford, I would choose Melvern for numbers, and it also has some bigger fish as well.  Skiatook, NE of Tulsa has a good SM population as well.

[Sturgeon]

So I went up to Melvern Sunday first hour wasn't too bad then winds picked up to 40+ mph. Made fishing impossible, it wasn't a complete waste though we caught 6 white bass and I got to scope the lake out and it's huge compared too lakes I fish around Wichita. So where is a good place to start searching for smalls at Melvern? I plan on going back up again soon so any locations on the lake would be greatly appreciated. Thanks 

[Molay1292]

If you're in a boat, try the ned rig and small swimbaits on the dam.   Jerkbaits can be very productive also when the water is clear and warm enough.  Try the Lucky Strike  jerkbait in French Pearl.

 

Good Luck.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Sturgeon said:

So I went up to Melvern Sunday first hour wasn't too bad then winds picked up to 40+ mph. Made fishing impossible, it wasn't a complete waste though we caught 6 white bass and I got to scope the lake out and it's huge compared too lakes I fish around Wichita. So where is a good place to start searching for smalls at Melvern? I plan on going back up again soon so any locations on the lake would be greatly appreciated. Thanks 

Throw a Ned rig at the blue stuff anywhere between Turkey Point and the dam and you'll run into some smallmouth eventually.

The water is probably still a touch on the cold side at Melvern since it takes those bigger lakes longer to warm up, but it should get there in the next couple weeks. When it does, I'll be there whacking smallies in the smaller pockets with a jerkbait. 

I've also heard that El Dorado is growing into a good smallmouth lake with some nice fish in it already. Milford is an excellent lake if it's closer than Melvern. Wabaunsee has a very good smallmouth population as well if you'd prefer to fish a smaller lake but you have to pay to fish it and it's only open during daylight hours from April through October. It has some very big smallmouth though. 

[Sturgeon]

Thanks for the info guys!  Eldorado is the closest lake to me. Melvern is about 20 minutes closer than Milford, but my goal being fairly new to fishing is to get out to as many lakes as much as possible this year. I subscribed to your channel bluebasser86 you got some great videos just hammering bass....like to eventually be able to have productive days on the water like yourself.  This forum is amazing and eventually with time on the water and great info from guys here on the forum I'll be becoming a better fisherman in no time.  Thanks again for the tips!

[Doc-Drew]

2 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

Melvern is about 20 minutes closer than Milford

If that were my situation, I would go to Milford 9 times out of 10 if I had to pick between the two.  

[Sturgeon]

Thanks guys! Of course now I want to go to Milford as well...lol   I took advice last year off here in search of catching a bigger PB than my local Wichita area had given me and I broke my PB 3 times that weekend.  Speaking of I will definitely be going back to bone creek(suggested lake) that place was amazing!  Not giving up on catching some smallmouth though.....Ill try Melvern again and after I put a couple in the boat maybe Ill give Milford a try.

[G.Webb]

OK guys, I know Melvern is one of the best lakes, but my question is, where is the best place for Bass fishing from the bank. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a boat. My friend and I are pushing 75, but still love fishing. We live in the Andover area but are willing to travel in order to find good Bass.

[gardnerjigman]

The rock point that comes out just down a cove from the marina (where the camping part is) is always hot later in the year. There are a couple hundred yards of bank fishing there if you can handle rocks. Fyi... there are copper heads at melvern. 

[Bluebasser86]

Around most any of the boat ramps are good areas with relatively easy access. The zebra mussels make bank fishing at Melvern a difficult task though. 

[GLK]

The lake below the dam can be pretty decent

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, GLK said:

The lake below the dam can be pretty decent

The river pond below Melvern? 

It has some good largemouth, crappie, and monster channel cats. I've never seen a smallmouth out of there though. 

[GLK]

my mistake I should pay more attention to the topic.Was thinking large mouth

[Bluebasser86]

On 3/24/2016 at 7:14 AM, GLK said:

my mistake I should pay more attention to the topic.Was thinking large mouth

No problem. I thought maybe there was some smallmouth in there that I didn't know about. 

[wpwarhawk]

I was thinking about smallmouth bass and remembering all the time my dad and I spent catching them on El Dorado.  This was shortly after the reservoir was built and opened for fishing. We used to joke that the only thing they stocked was smallmouth and walleye. We caught loads of both, sometimes literally hundreds a day. Of course they were all young fish and we never kept anything but walleyes. 

 

In later years the white bass seemed to get a foothold and they were the most common fish to catch. I was wondering if he smallies had survived in El Dorado, sounds like they did, cool.