Who targets wiper (hybrids) in Kansas?

[Michaelangelo]

I fish for wiper mostly at Herington and Milford.  Anyone else on here fish for them?  Trying to share my techniques and gain some also.

[Bluebasser86]

Yeah, they're a blast to catch. I mainly target them during the colder months but I'll fish for them whenever I find them. Tons of them in Milford. 

[Russ E]

chase them around Clinton occasionally. about the hardest fighting fish I have caught.

usually take a black bass break a couple times in late summer and fall to chase the wipers.

have to be honest, I am not the most consistent when it comes to finding the wipers, but Clinton has a lot of 2 lb white bass that can keep you busy if the wipers can't be found.

vertical Jigging the schools, around old submerged road beds have caught most of my Wipers.

 

[Michaelangelo]

On 9/22/2017 at 8:05 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Yeah, they're a blast to catch. I mainly target them during the colder months but I'll fish for them whenever I find them. Tons of them in Milford. 

What's your technique when they're not surface feeding?  We can chase with the best of em, but have no good techniques for catching them if they're not on the surface.

 

One thing we've done recently is use the side imaging on my Lowrance Elite 9Ti and that has been working really good, especially to find the shad.  When I see individual fish or schools I call out which side of the boat and the distance and we cast that direction.  We've caught about 40 wiper between 3-6 pounds at Herington per trip doing this, but we want to catch them when they aren't shallow and that's where we don't have a good technique.

[Bluebasser86]

21 hours ago, Michaelangelo said:

What's your technique when they're not surface feeding?  We can chase with the best of em, but have no good techniques for catching them if they're not on the surface.

 

One thing we've done recently is use the side imaging on my Lowrance Elite 9Ti and that has been working really good, especially to find the shad.  When I see individual fish or schools I call out which side of the boat and the distance and we cast that direction.  We've caught about 40 wiper between 3-6 pounds at Herington per trip doing this, but we want to catch them when they aren't shallow and that's where we don't have a good technique.

Depends on the time of year but I catch a lot of them on jigging spoons and swimbaits in the winter, along with traps and jerkbaits. I find places that shad like to congregate and then find the little ditches and edges that the wipers will cruise trying to ambush shad. I spend a lot of time with my eyes glued to my electronics. Watching for birds is always a blast when that's going on. 

[Michaelangelo]

11 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Depends on the time of year but I catch a lot of them on jigging spoons and swimbaits in the winter, along with traps and jerkbaits. I find places that shad like to congregate and then find the little ditches and edges that the wipers will cruise trying to ambush shad. I spend a lot of time with my eyes glued to my electronics. Watching for birds is always a blast when that's going on. 

How deep do you fish in the winter? What do you look for? Do you slow troll, or cast? 

[Bluebasser86]

5 hours ago, Michaelangelo said:

How deep do you fish in the winter? What do you look for? Do you slow troll, or cast? 

I live less than an hour from the 2 power plant lakes, so I mainly target them in shallow water, but the cold water lakes I fish they'll usually be 15-30 feet down. It seems like when I find them in 18-24 feet they're the easiest to catch for whatever reason. Number one thing to look for is bait, number 2 for the deep fish is that they're positioned withing a couple feet of the bottom, suspended fish are tough customers unless they're under bait. I mainly cast but I'll vertical jig with spoons as well, my 150 doesn't like to troll. 

[Michaelangelo]

Good info. I work at Wolf Creek and fish it more than anywhere else in the winter. Catch a lot of fish in the hot water and on the flats coming out of the hot water. 

 

What do you use when you fish for them deep as far as crankbaits? Do you slow roll? 

[Bluebasser86]

1 minute ago, Michaelangelo said:

Good info. I work at Wolf Creek and fish it more than anywhere else in the winter. Catch a lot of fish in the hot water and on the flats coming out of the hot water. 

 

What do you use when you fish for them deep as far as crankbaits? Do you slow roll? 

Wolf and La Cygne are the main lakes I fish for them in the winter. I don't fish lipped cranks for them hardly every. I do well ripping a Redeye Shad and letting it drop though. I was catching them in 12-15 feet at Wolf doing that a couple days last winter. 

 

[Michaelangelo]

Nice. I know the lake pretty well. Lots of schools in around 20 feet of water straight N of the pier in the hot water. We troll from there to the flats up N and catch fish. 

 

 

[Michaelangelo]

Nice. I know the lake pretty well. Lots of schools in around 20 feet of water straight N of the pier in the hot water. We troll from there to the flats up N and catch fish. 

 

 

Top picture is Wolf Creek, bottom one is a 27 inch fish from Milford around this time of year 2015.

[Bluebasser86]

I wish they got bigger in Wolf. Tons of 4-6 pound fish, but rarely see any bigger than 6 and never seen one over 8. Milford has monsters in it though. I've seen them up to 15 out there. One of the little, local lakes has some big ones in it.

I caught my biggest out of La Cygne this spring though. Not sure how long because my board only goes to 18", but it was 11.2 pounds.

This was my 3rd largest every at 9lb 1oz, also from a small lake.

[Michaelangelo]

Those are fat. Look like Wolf Creek wipers which usually seem shorter length but taller and fat. Milford they seem to be long and lean. Herington has a lot of 4-6 and they are built similar to Milford. 

 

My biggest was 27 inches, forgot the girth, but a striper chart put a striper that size just over 10 pounds. I have not forgot my scale since haha. That was Milford. 

 

I've tried LaCygne but they were still deep and we didn't have a good technique, but I know they get big there.

 

What is the small lake you're talking about? There's no secrets from me.

Clinton? I know there's a few others. 

[Bluebasser86]

Clinton is bigger than La Cygne and Wolf both by quite a bit. One of the better small wiper lakes in KC area is Olathe. Jeffery Energy Center lakes have tons of wiper too but they close during waterfowl season I believe. 

[Michaelangelo]

Yeah I was just wondering if you have ever fished it. I've never made it out there. 

 

Never heard of a lake in Olathe. Is it a city lake? 

 

Never been to the other lake either. 

 

So what's your favorite lake for wiper? Ever fished Herington? 

[Bluebasser86]

I've never fished Clinton for wipers. Olathe is a city lake, about 180 acres. 

 

La Cygne is my favorite for big ones, Wolf for numbers. 

[Michaelangelo]

I'll have to check it out.  We should meet at the lake sometime and go fishing. I fish by myself mostly, and it'd be nice to fish with someone who is into wiper also. 

[Looch]

I want to take a trip there, seems like Kansas grow em just a little bigger. Biggest wipers I have ever seen were Kansas caught on youtube. Olathe?

 

Lake Arthur here in PA has a ton of big ones, they eat alewife all day, maybe it's a genetics thing but they seem to top out at 12 pounds, never seen one get much heavier than that. It's super easy to catch a 5-8 pounder. I really enjoy fishing them in rivers, they seem to be just a bit stronger than lake fatties

[Michaelangelo]

Yeah state record off top of my head is like 23 pounds. Only a couple off the world record which I think came from Arkansas. Don't quote me on that. 

 

As far as freshwater, only thing I've caught that fights harder is Peacock Bass. 

[Bluebasser86]

13 hours ago, Michaelangelo said:

I'll have to check it out.  We should meet at the lake sometime and go fishing. I fish by myself mostly, and it'd be nice to fish with someone who is into wiper also. 

I fish by myself a lot because I don't have weekends off. I target bass a majority of the time, but wiper are more fun to catch when they're biting, they can sure turn off and be impossible to catch sometimes though.

10 hours ago, Looch said:

I want to take a trip there, seems like Kansas grow em just a little bigger. Biggest wipers I have ever seen were Kansas caught on youtube. Olathe?

 

Lake Arthur here in PA has a ton of big ones, they eat alewife all day, maybe it's a genetics thing but they seem to top out at 12 pounds, never seen one get much heavier than that. It's super easy to catch a 5-8 pounder. I really enjoy fishing them in rivers, they seem to be just a bit stronger than lake fatties

I'd say Illinois/Indiana has bigger ones, but I'm not sure they have the population. Kansas stocks lots of wipers so there's tons of them. 4-8 pounds is pretty much the normal size range of what we have, but fish over 10 aren't real uncommon if you fish for them. This video is mostly a wiper video from Olathe. The biggest one I know of personally caught on video from Kansas was 12.2 but I can't post it because of language in the video. I do have video of my 11.2 I caught back in April though.

 

 

[Michaelangelo]

What'd you get your wiper on? Gear? 

[Bluebasser86]

23 minutes ago, Michaelangelo said:

What'd you get your wiper on? Gear? 

My big one was on a Lucky Craft Flash Pointer 127 on a 6' 10" MH/F Ethos rod and Okuma Helios reel spooled with 12lb Seaguar flourocarbon. My 9lb 1oz wiper was on a jerkbait, and so was that 12.2lb wiper. 

[Michaelangelo]

See I prefer a little heavier gear. We have had days where we have caught around 100 fish in a matter of an hour or two, all wiper, and light tackle just wears me out. I throw almost all lipless and the gear I use easily throws 5/8oz lipless. I haven't made it to Cabelas to get the rods, but will tomorrow most likely:

 

7'6 St Croix Avid Inshore H/F with Calcutta Conquest 400, 20lb Red Label

 

7'6 Avid Inshore MH/F with Ultegra 4000XG, 30lb Maxcuattro

 

These handle my wiper and striper needs. 

[Looch]

15 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I fish by myself a lot because I don't have weekends off. I target bass a majority of the time, but wiper are more fun to catch when they're biting, they can sure turn off and be impossible to catch sometimes though.

I'd say Illinois/Indiana has bigger ones, but I'm not sure they have the population. Kansas stocks lots of wipers so there's tons of them. 4-8 pounds is pretty much the normal size range of what we have, but fish over 10 aren't real uncommon if you fish for them. This video is mostly a wiper video from Olathe. The biggest one I know of personally caught on video from Kansas was 12.2 but I can't post it because of language in the video. I do have video of my 11.2 I caught back in April though.

 

 

The guy I saw on youtube is Kansas Angling Experience. On one of his vids he catches one that has to be near 15, fattest wiper I've ever seen.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Looch said:

The guy I saw on youtube is Kansas Angling Experience. On one of his vids he catches one that has to be near 15, fattest wiper I've ever seen.

That's Brian's 12.2. I'm with Kansas Angling Experience as one of his Co-Guides. Same lake I caught my 9.1 from.