For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, HaydenS said:

Went out to a lake about an hour and a half away from the house.  Got there at 6, and fished till 1.  It was one of the best/most fun days of fishing I've ever had. 

We flipped mats, frogged, threw the jackhammer around a little bit.  These fish are the hardest fighters I've encountered in Kansas.  3/4 people our group caught a 4+ pounder, and my buddies fishing from there boat said they had about a 20+ pound bag for best five.  I had a 12-15 pound bag.  We didn't catch a ton of fish(10-15 for me), but everyone of the fish I caught towed the yak, and tried there best to get away.  When we first got to the lake one of my buddies threw a Arashi Glide in 3 foot of water, from the bank, and hooked up on a fish, but lost it at the bank.  Shad were spawning.  Only caught one frog fish, which was the only dink of the day.  This is my new favorite lake in Kansas. 

My biggest was a four caught on a lizard^

  

 

There's a lot of people that love that place. Gets a lot of pressure though. 

[HaydenS]

49 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

There's a lot of people that love that place. Gets a lot of pressure though. 

Really?! I would have never guessed, the fishing was pretty easy, and we caught a lot of fish over 3/3.5.  Did we just have a really good day?

We all tried flipping and frogging the mats, but couldn't get bit.  There were even bluegill popping bugs in the mats.  I had a nice fish jump right next to me as I was paddling over a mat.  We only caught one fish on the dam.   The lay out and cover reminds me of bone creek, if the fishing at bone was easy and there were mats.  

[Bluebasser86]

11 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

Really?! I would have never guessed, the fishing was pretty easy, and we caught a lot of fish over 3/3.5.  Did we just have a really good day?

We all tried flipping and frogging the mats, but couldn't get bit.  There were even bluegill popping bugs in the mats.  I had a nice fish jump right next to me as I was paddling over a mat.  We only caught one fish on the dam.   The lay out and cover reminds me of bone creek, if the fishing at bone was easy and there were mats.  

Some small groups do tournaments during the heat of the summer and beat the heck out of it, kill a lot of fish doing it too. None of them are legal tournaments but KDWPT doesn't do anything about them. There's a ton of fish in there though and all the cover and food keeps a good population despite that. I've had a lot of 20lb days and it's got a ton of 3+lb fish. I love fishing a Slammer down there because they'll eat it all day long. I caught my first "big" Slammer fish down there with a 4.5lb fish I got to watch stalk and then blast the bait. The dam usually isn't that great, you kind of have to fan cast the grass flats and find the concentrations of fish a lot of days. 

[HaydenS]

4 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Some small groups do tournaments during the heat of the summer and beat the heck out of it, kill a lot of fish doing it too. None of them are legal tournaments but KDWPT doesn't do anything about them. There's a ton of fish in there though and all the cover and food keeps a good population despite that. I've had a lot of 20lb days and it's got a ton of 3+lb fish. I love fishing a Slammer down there because they'll eat it all day long. I caught my first "big" Slammer fish down there with a 4.5lb fish I got to watch stalk and then blast the bait. The dam usually isn't that great, you kind of have to fan cast the grass flats and find the concentrations of fish a lot of days. 

That sounds like an awesome catch!  Thanks for the advice.  Sucks to hear about those tourneys,.  More than 5 boats on that lake would be crowded.  Is there any offshore stuff?

[Bluebasser86]

5 minutes ago, HaydenS said:

That sounds like an awesome catch!  Thanks for the advice.  Sucks to hear about those tourneys,.  More than 5 boats on that lake would be crowded.  Is there any offshore stuff?

Several brushpiles, some long points, obviously the standing trees, the creek channel, the deep edge of the grass. I spend more time further than a cast length off the bank at that lake than any other in the state. 

 

[pauldconyers]

12 hours ago, HaydenS said:

Went out to a lake about an hour and a half away from the house.  Got there at 6, and fished till 1.  It was one of the best/most fun days of fishing I've ever had. 

We flipped mats, frogged, threw the jackhammer around a little bit.  These fish are the hardest fighters I've encountered in Kansas.  3/4 people our group caught a 4+ pounder, and my buddies fishing from there boat said they had about a 20+ pound bag for best five.  I had a 12-15 pound bag.  We didn't catch a ton of fish(10-15 for me), but everyone of the fish I caught towed the yak, and tried there best to get away.  When we first got to the lake one of my buddies threw a Arashi Glide in 3 foot of water, from the bank, and hooked up on a fish, but lost it at the bank.  Shad were spawning.  Only caught one frog fish, which was the only dink of the day.  This is my new favorite lake in Kansas. 

My biggest was a four caught on a lizard^

  

 

Where did you go?

[Bluebasser86]

30 minutes ago, pauldconyers said:

Where did you go?

A lake an hour and a half south ?

[Dirtyeggroll]

8 hours ago, pauldconyers said:

Where did you go?

I tried to get you to there with me before on a day there was supposed to be some rain.

[Dirtyeggroll]

22 hours ago, HaydenS said:

Went out to a lake about an hour and a half away from the house.  Got there at 6, and fished till 1.  It was one of the best/most fun days of fishing I've ever had. 

We flipped mats, frogged, threw the jackhammer around a little bit.  These fish are the hardest fighters I've encountered in Kansas.  3/4 people our group caught a 4+ pounder, and my buddies fishing from there boat said they had about a 20+ pound bag for best five.  I had a 12-15 pound bag.  We didn't catch a ton of fish(10-15 for me), but everyone of the fish I caught towed the yak, and tried there best to get away.  When we first got to the lake one of my buddies threw a Arashi Glide in 3 foot of water, from the bank, and hooked up on a fish, but lost it at the bank.  Shad were spawning.  Only caught one frog fish, which was the only dink of the day.  This is my new favorite lake in Kansas. 

 

 

What color was the water? Pretty clear?

[HaydenS]

It was pretty clear in some spots, and stained in others. 

36 minutes ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

What color was the water? Pretty clear?

 

[pauldconyers]

On 6/2/2021 at 5:39 PM, Dirtyeggroll said:

I tried to get you to there with me before on a day there was supposed to be some rain.

Well name the day and time and we will do it!

[HaydenS]

7 hours ago, pauldconyers said:

Well name the day and time and we will do it!

*Cough* I have gas money too *Cough*

[HaydenS]

Might want to watch out for ticks, I've had three latched on me this week, and killed 4 more so far this year.

[Fir3hawk]

Quick little rip at the lake this morning then towed the boat home for some new goodies.

[HaydenS]

54 minutes ago, Fir3hawk said:

Quick little rip at the lake this morning then towed the boat home for some new goodies.

What lake and did you catch anything, or did you just drive the boat around?  The lowe is looking mighty fine!

 

[Fir3hawk]

15 hours ago, HaydenS said:

What lake and did you catch anything, or did you just drive the boat around?  The lowe is looking mighty fine!

 

I store it out by Hillsdale. Didnt stay out very long because I knew if I stayed out I wouldn't work on rigging up the Livescope. Typically target crappie or white bass out there. I was marking crappie but didnt reel any in before I called it quits.

 

I’m already over this humidity. Between the rain, work and personal I feel like Spring flew by. Gonna have to start doing early mornings or evenings from here until August. Hopefully we get a couple cool days scattered throughout.

 

Side note: Any tips on frogging? I took the kayak out to Lenexa on Thursday but couldn’t get a bite. Haven't ever caught a bass on a Frog but I understand its a pretty productive bait throughout the Spring, Summer, Fall. I assume its best early morning. Target lilly pads and vegetation shallow / close to shore?

[Dirtyeggroll]

4 hours ago, Fir3hawk said:

Side note: Any tips on frogging? I took the kayak out to Lenexa on Thursday but couldn’t get a bite. Haven't ever caught a bass on a Frog but I understand its a pretty productive bait throughout the Spring, Summer, Fall. I assume its best early morning. Target lilly pads and vegetation shallow / close to shore?

I have had my best frogging success early in the morning near cover as you described.
However, you can also catch them mid day around the thick stuff. I caught two today on my brief trip out doing just that.

[HaydenS]

4 hours ago, Fir3hawk said:

 

Side note: Any tips on frogging? I took the kayak out to Lenexa on Thursday but couldn’t get a bite. Haven't ever caught a bass on a Frog but I understand its a pretty productive bait throughout the Spring, Summer, Fall. I assume its best early morning. Target lilly pads and vegetation shallow / close to shore?

Throw it in the mats too, might try a popping frog when you're fishing open water, just kinda throw it at everything. ?‍♂️

[Bluebasser86]

I fish a frog all day long around grass. Water willows are my favorite. They work well on some lakes and not so great on others. I don't like Lake Lenexa, so I can't tell you how they are out there. Gardner has a good frog bite and Olathe can at times. Middle Creek gets a great frog bite at times too. 

 

Side note to the frogging discussion, tried the new 6th Sense Vega frog, one of the most disappointing baits I've tried from 6th Sense. Difficult to walk and the hookup to landing ratio was even worse. Out of probably a dozen bites and hookups, 2 made it to the boat/kayak. They weren't little fish just nipping at it either, these were 15+ inch fish that were inhaling the frog and those hooks just don't do their job. Wish I'd have bought 2 Popping Pad Crashers instead. 

[Fir3hawk]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:48 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I fish a frog all day long around grass. Water willows are my favorite. They work well on some lakes and not so great on others. I don't like Lake Lenexa, so I can't tell you how they are out there. Gardner has a good frog bite and Olathe can at times. Middle Creek gets a great frog bite at times too. 

 

Side note to the frogging discussion, tried the new 6th Sense Vega frog, one of the most disappointing baits I've tried from 6th Sense. Difficult to walk and the hookup to landing ratio was even worse. Out of probably a dozen bites and hookups, 2 made it to the boat/kayak. They weren't little fish just nipping at it either, these were 15+ inch fish that were inhaling the frog and those hooks just don't do their job. Wish I'd have bought 2 Popping Pad Crashers instead. 

Ironically I went out to Gardner tonight. And I've heard Frog is productive there but never caught one on a Frog. Threw a black frog with a prop (might be a Booyah Toadrunner?) a few times but nothing hit it. I even saw a couple times where a bass hit the topwater in about 8' of water and tossed it over them and reeled it by a couple times. Tried a slow reel, steady reel, fast reel. A couple occasional pauses, etc.

 

They seemed to love the crankbait I was throwing though. Caught a couple dink 12-14" LMB and lost another at the kayak. Still a fun evening.

 

On the 6th Sense Venga, I haven't done it but I've heard people say they need to bend the hooks out on a frog or cut the skirt. Might be something worth trying? You likely already know that.

[skunked_again]

Anyone willing to drive a bit, Truman and Stockton are both fishing well. The high water has made both lakes a jig pitching paradise. For Truman take your DT-14, and scrounger type baits for when the sun gets real high. I had the HD Swimmer as the trailer. Look for gravel banks. The Ned rig was money on Stockton when the sun got high. I would bet a tube on 1/16 oz would be hot too.

On 6/10/2021 at 2:10 AM, Fir3hawk said:

Ironically I went out to Gardner tonight. And I've heard Frog is productive there but never caught one on a Frog. Threw a black frog with a prop (might be a Booyah Toadrunner?) a few times but nothing hit it. I even saw a couple times where a bass hit the topwater in about 8' of water and tossed it over them and reeled it by a couple times. Tried a slow reel, steady reel, fast reel. A couple occasional pauses, etc.

 

They seemed to love the crankbait I was throwing though. Caught a couple dink 12-14" LMB and lost another at the kayak. Still a fun evening.

 

On the 6th Sense Venga, I haven't done it but I've heard people say they need to bend the hooks out on a frog or cut the skirt. Might be something worth trying? You likely already know that.

 

Something is up with Gardner. The lake is off.

[HaydenS]

13 minutes ago, skunked_again said:

Something is up with Gardner. The lake is off.

What do you think is going on?  @Bluebasser86 do you have any input?

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, skunked_again said:

 

Something is up with Gardner. The lake is off.

Hmm, I've only been twice but didn't have any issue catching fish either time.

 

4 hours ago, HaydenS said:

What do you think is going on?  @Bluebasser86 do you have any input?

 

[joefish]

I need help...now right now, but eventually I will.   I've taken my Evinrude Etec to US Boatworks for several years to be worked on.  The Etec Technician they had recently retired and no replacement has been found yet.  So, where do you take your Evinrude engines to be worked on?

[geedavid]

To anyone that regularly fishes Kill Creek or Shawnee Mission have you ever been asked to show your Trout permit? I was going to take my new boat out to Kill Creek for its first trip when I read about the Boat permit and then the Trout permit. That adds up to an additional $50 to fish a Johnson county lake that has Trout stocking. I blew it off and went to Middle Creek and caught 8 or 10 Largemouth, several nice Crappie and a 3lb Walleye.

 

Thank you