For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[pbrussell]

I doubt it is in a big lake like that. I haven't seen any beds in the ponds yet and a friend of mine said Melvern was 55-58 a couple days ago. But the big females should be feeding up and getting ready to move up soon.

Thanks for all the pointers. I bought a lake map last night, and I'll probably call the marina today to see what water temps are. Last question on perry is this, was there a recent bass kill in the lake? I got reading various lake reports and one guy said last year was awful for perry because the bass population disappeared (then mentioned something about a virus, etc). Did this guy just have trouble finding them or was there a legitimate bass kill in the lake?

[retro basser]

Thanks for all the pointers. I bought a lake map last night, and I'll probably call the marina today to see what water temps are. Last question on perry is this, was there a recent bass kill in the lake? I got reading various lake reports and one guy said last year was awful for perry because the bass population disappeared (then mentioned something about a virus, etc). Did this guy just have trouble finding them or was there a legitimate bass kill in the lake?

The bass virus hit Lonestar I think but not Perry. The schools of fish out there are just amazing. I regularly saw schools of shad as big as my boat out there last summer, and I know people catch 6+ pounders regularly out of Perry. It is big water though so if you dont really get serious about targeting structure it's easy to be out of the strikezone. Blue's spots are real good, proven spots. Hell I didnt even know about the one by the slough ramp and i've probably cruised right over it a dozen times. Funny how hard it is to fish right by the ramp when all you want to do is get out there.

This time of year i'd be hard pressed not to try those two main lake points that are narrow necked pennsulas on the map. The main channel swings right by them and they are likely to be massive early season bass magnets. Of course the wind will probably make you earn it out there...

Blue: I have never heard of spring creek but will certainly look it up. I love the out of the way places like that... Going to head up to Nebo St next weekend to see about 8lb bass, hopefully with nowhere to hide in that little lake. hehe

[Bluebasser86]

Thanks for all the pointers. I bought a lake map last night, and I'll probably call the marina today to see what water temps are. Last question on perry is this, was there a recent bass kill in the lake? I got reading various lake reports and one guy said last year was awful for perry because the bass population disappeared (then mentioned something about a virus, etc). Did this guy just have trouble finding them or was there a legitimate bass kill in the lake?

He must have been having a hard time finding them. Perry was flooded for a lot of last year so they had a lot of room to spread around. We had 2 20-25 pound 5 fish limits from Perry last year and didn't fish it many times. Both those limits were caught on days that were cut short by the 100+ degree heat too.

The bass virus hit Lonestar I think but not Perry. The schools of fish out there are just amazing. I regularly saw schools of shad as big as my boat out there last summer, and I know people catch 6+ pounders regularly out of Perry. It is big water though so if you dont really get serious about targeting structure it's easy to be out of the strikezone. Blue's spots are real good, proven spots. Hell I didnt even know about the one by the slough ramp and i've probably cruised right over it a dozen times. Funny how hard it is to fish right by the ramp when all you want to do is get out there.

This time of year i'd be hard pressed not to try those two main lake points that are narrow necked pennsulas on the map. The main channel swings right by them and they are likely to be massive early season bass magnets. Of course the wind will probably make you earn it out there...

Blue: I have never heard of spring creek but will certainly look it up. I love the out of the way places like that... Going to head up to Nebo St next weekend to see about 8lb bass, hopefully with nowhere to hide in that little lake. hehe

Don't bother going to Nebo, they're making that stuff up about 8lb bass in that tiny lake Acutally if you catch her she'll look something like this.

That's from a couple years ago out there. Don't expect to catch many but there are some big ones swimming in there. It's a shallow, muddy little lake with several brush piles and lots of lilly pads in the north end. That one ate a red shad Yum wolley bug in a brushpile straight across from the boat ramp. If you do catch her or one of her sisters, please put them back. Those fish are my Kansas version of Dottie. That one is missing part of the bottom of her tail and I've caught her a couple times and watched her get bigger from catching her and from pictures of when KDWP shocks that lake and rolls her up. I'd be heartbroken to know she went on someone's wall

[Hi Salenity]

^^^Nice fish^^^

I went back to the state lake this morning for 2 hours. I had them going from the first cast. in fact I either caught a fish or missed a hook set on the first 15 casts!!! I was fishing a Big-O jig and was having a bit of trouble with the hook sets on my 7' Kistler after the insert fell out of my7'6'' Veritas! I am having Siebert Outdoors make me some jigs with Trokar hooks that I think will help out.

2 Hours and probably 24 fish Today. Nothing quite went 3 pounds but it was still a great day. Typical day they turn on and off like a light switch.

I saw my first snake of the season (close up)! I'll post a pic of it if it turned out.

The rain made over 1000000 potholes in the gravel roads on the way to the lake I wouldn't drive anything nice out there.

[retro basser]

Don't bother going to Nebo, they're making that stuff up about 8lb bass in that tiny lake Acutally if you catch her she'll look something like this.

That's from a couple years ago out there. Don't expect to catch many but there are some big ones swimming in there. It's a shallow, muddy little lake with several brush piles and lots of lilly pads in the north end. That one ate a red shad Yum wolley bug in a brushpile straight across from the boat ramp. If you do catch her or one of her sisters, please put them back. Those fish are my Kansas version of Dottie. That one is missing part of the bottom of her tail and I've caught her a couple times and watched her get bigger from catching her and from pictures of when KDWP shocks that lake and rolls her up. I'd be heartbroken to know she went on someone's wall

Wow! what a momma bass... I need to know what it's like to fight one of those into the boat! If i'm lucky enough to land her I promise to put her back...hell, I could buy an awful lot of lures for the couple hundred bucks it costs to get a fish like that stuffed...

This is gonna be a good week...

[Bluebasser86]

She was 7lbs 14ozs that time. It's the last time I caught her but I've seen her in pictures on KDWP's website since then when they shocked it. She'd be a great replica if you get her measurements, I think she was close to 25 inches long, don't know the girth. They like big, heavy, dark colored jigs that make lots of noise, brush hogs, and beaver style baits. I've done well with a square bill also but be careful running them through brush, they're all full of fishing line since they can pretty much all be reached from the shore.

On a side note, I'll be on Melvern Monday if the forecasted winds don't go up too much. I need some wind for a good bite this kind of year, but there's a fine line between some and too much on that lake.

[pbrussell]

Went to perry yesterday. Water was pretty muddy, at least by my standards. Maybe that's just perry, but I'm sure the rain didn't help.

Caught 2 whites, 2 largies, and 3 drum. Talk about a weird day.

All of my bass came out of Rock creek, on the thin rock point by the marina.

Went to slough creek and fished some rocky points, and caught three drum, two of them on a jig. Once I started catching drum, that's all I could catch. Guess I got cursed at the end of the day.

Not a great day by any standards, but I guess I did alright for tackling big water for the first time.

[Bluebasser86]

Perry tends to be pretty dirty. That may change with the zebra mussels in there but that is still to be seen. What did that first largemouth weigh? Hard to tell by the camera angle. Perry is tough in the spring, I like it a lot better once it gets hot out. There is tons of drum in that lake and they aren't hard to catch. They slam a jig though don't they? Really gets your blood pumping until you see the ugly thing you've just hooked.

[pbrussell]

Unsure on the weight of the largemouth. I can only speculate. Heavy three, or low four maybe?

I would've weighed her, but the wind was blowing me right in the point so I just threw her back.

Here's a picture at a different angle that doesnt make her look so huge, but man she was fat.

But yeah, my heart sure was pounding with those drum. I thought that I had a some huge largies on, but only weird purple and white fish that knocked at me and smelled bad. Oh well.

[Hi Salenity]

I made it back to the state lake for a couple hours this evening to try out the new Kayak. I think the lake was probably fished pretty hard over the weekend. It was one here one there for a while until I found them then the bite was on! They had moved in a little shallower than last time and it was just the smaller males and no big girls.

This is a pic of the first fish out of the new yack. not big but a pretty fish.

[bassinKS]

I also made it back to Miami County but that was on Saturday and we did pretty good again caught 2 or 3 nice fish and a bunch of small ones ill upload pics later. All my nice ones came off of my hand tied jigs which made it that much better (i just started tying like 3 weeks ago) and a rage craw as a trailer.

[bassinKS]

These were the two biggest of the day. I wish I had batteries for my scale figured out it was dead after we got out there

[retro basser]

I took my first trip over to the rock creek side of Perry yesterday and paid my dues. Water was above 60 in the water above the bridge, guys were all over the bank catching crappie but not in great numbers yet, mos people said they had about 5 or so...

I fished all morning all over that arm without a bite to show for it until about 1 'oclock I ran a trap across the end of that skinny rock point which was facing the wind. It was a bonanza. Almost every cast i was catching a good sized striped or largemouth bass. The smaller whites were 1.5 lbs so i finally broke down and threw some in the livewell. Figured I might as well do it up like Chris and take home some free dinner if i'm going to be out there fightin wind anyway...Score!

Finally bought a scale, this guy was just shy of 3lbs

[retro basser]

Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you guys. A couple of the striped bass were kinda blueish colored on the lower fins, is that a disease or something? Safe to eat?

[Chris S]

Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you guys. A couple of the striped bass were kinda blueish colored on the lower fins, is that a disease or something? Safe to eat?

Guessing those fish found some nice crawfish to munch on!

[Bluebasser86]

I took my first trip over to the rock creek side of Perry yesterday and paid my dues. Water was above 60 in the water above the bridge, guys were all over the bank catching crappie but not in great numbers yet, mos people said they had about 5 or so...

I fished all morning all over that arm without a bite to show for it until about 1 'oclock I ran a trap across the end of that skinny rock point which was facing the wind. It was a bonanza. Almost every cast i was catching a good sized striped or largemouth bass. The smaller whites were 1.5 lbs so i finally broke down and threw some in the livewell. Figured I might as well do it up like Chris and take home some free dinner if i'm going to be out there fightin wind anyway...Score!

Finally bought a scale, this guy was just shy of 3lbs

Very healthy looking, solid Perry lake bass! I still think that is one of the most underrated bass lakes in the state.

[Bluebasser86]

Went with a couple buddies to Melvern Monday to see if anything was going on. I caught a fish on my 4th cast of the morning, probably over 100 casts in between, and my last cast of the day. There was not many times throughout the day that one of us was not fighting a fish. We didn't take many pictures because nobody wanted to stop to run the camera. I had 43 smallmouth/spotted bass just by myself, not counting the tons of white bass, 3 crappie, and 7 walleye I also caught. I would feel safe estimating we caught between 150 and 200 fish, just crazy all day. Nothing real big, I caught a walleye that was 21" was the biggest fish of the day. We took home a gallon bag and a quart freezer bag with 3 crappie, 8 walleye, and a dozen or so white bass, by far the most fish I've kept in a long time but I'm sure my grandparents will love them!

2012 bass count=420

[retro basser]

Guessing those fish found some nice crawfish to munch on!

Well that's a relief cause we just got done eating them lol... Knew you'd know. Thanks!

By the way, I gutted and scaled them and roasted them whole. Heads on and all. They were just as tender as fried and way more flavor cause we packed them in a bunch of herbs and stuff before we cooked em.

Well sounds like they were eating everything down at Melvern, day must have flown by... Did that week of rain fill it up any?

[pbrussell]

Sounds like I need to get down to melvern and catch some smallmouth. Believe it or not, I've never caught one

[Bluebasser86]

Well that's a relief cause we just got done eating them lol... Knew you'd know. Thanks!

By the way, I gutted and scaled them and roasted them whole. Heads on and all. They were just as tender as fried and way more flavor cause we packed them in a bunch of herbs and stuff before we cooked em.

Well sounds like they were eating everything down at Melvern, day must have flown by... Did that week of rain fill it up any?

They were actually only eating jerkbaits, specifically slender pointer 97's, pointer 78's, and vision 110's. We had a few on shakeyheads and gulp minnows but nothing like the jerkbaits. The day did go by unfortunately fast. The rain filled it up a little but it is still way down.

Sounds like I need to get down to melvern and catch some smallmouth. Believe it or not, I've never caught one

You should give it a shot. Melvern is one of my favorite lakes to fish and smallmouth bass are an absolute blast to catch and very pretty fish.

[Hi Salenity]

Sounds like I need to get down to melvern and catch some smallmouth. Believe it or not, I've never caught one

x2

That looked like a fun day to say the least!

[Doc-Drew]

Hey guys I am planning on taking my girlfriend fishing in my 2-man inflatable boat if the weather is nice. I would like to be able yo tag into some fish so she doesn't get bored. I would prefer bass but she doesn't care what she catches as long as she catches fish. From what I have read Miami sounds like it is producing decent quantities of fish. I would appreciate any advice on where to go or what to use on Miami or any other smaller lake. Thanks a bunch.

[Hi Salenity]

I went to 2 lakes Yesterday with Miami being one of them. After a bout 4 hours of fishing my total of fish caught for the day was .................1

Yep I said 1

[bassinKS]

I caught my bigger ones on jigs 2 cast in a row and then A LOT of small ones on a single tail grub like a rage grub if little power bait ones in green and white or green pumpkin just fished with a slow retrieve. Where we were u would need a boat...we went from theboat ramp straight across to the "cove" where I caught the two in the pic then we fished that whole bank on the other side of the cove.

I hope this helps!

[Bluebasser86]

Hey guys I am planning on taking my girlfriend fishing in my 2-man inflatable boat if the weather is nice. I would like to be able yo tag into some fish so she doesn't get bored. I would prefer bass but she doesn't care what she catches as long as she catches fish. From what I have read Miami sounds like it is producing decent quantities of fish. I would appreciate any advice on where to go or what to use on Miami or any other smaller lake. Thanks a bunch.

If you are willing to make the drive Lyon State Lake, Douglas County, Bourban State Lake, or Atchison State Lake would be my picks if you're taking your girlfriend and want to make sure she catches something. Douglas would be the closest but you aren't going to catch anything bigger than a couple ponds out there. Lyon has tons of fish and some bigger ones but you have to go through lots of small ones, Bourban and Atchison are pretty much the same way I guess. A 3 or 4 inch grub on an 1/8oz jighead cast out and reeled in slowly is how my wife catches a lot of her fish and just about anything will eat it. Miami is a good lake most of the time but I've been out there when they just won't bite anything before too.