For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[Dirtyeggroll]

13 hours ago, Robinhood21 said:

Is there a lake around that fishes a jig really well?  I need to gain some confidence in my jig fishing.  

 

personally, I’ve had limited consistent success with a jig, and a jig was my preferred bait prior to moving to the Kansas City area.

 

i’ve caught a few here and there, but really nothing consistent, dragging brush or rock piles.

[Bluebasser86]

If you have a boat small enough to get on it, Crystal Lake in Garnett always has a good jig bite. Bourbon State Lake and Wilson County Lale both have good jig bites also. 

[Robinhood21]

3 hours ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

 

personally, I’ve had limited consistent success with a jig, and a jig was my preferred bait prior to moving to the Kansas City area.

 

i’ve caught a few here and there, but really nothing consistent, dragging brush or rock piles.

 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

If you have a boat small enough to get on it, Crystal Lake in Garnett always has a good jig bite. Bourbon State Lake and Wilson County Lale both have good jig bites also. 

 

Thanks Fellas!  Does Crystal have a boat restriction?  I've just got a Tracker 175

[Bluebasser86]

25 minutes ago, Robinhood21 said:

 

 

Thanks Fellas!  Does Crystal have a boat restriction?  I've just got a Tracker 175

No gas motors and it's a very small lake. The main issue is the ramp. It has concrete walls on both sides you have to back through and it's not very wide. I use to put my 16' Lowe Roughneck on it, so I'd guess your Tracker would fit fine. Black and blue or a junebug jig will get you lots of bites. 

[Robinhood21]

Right on, thanks.  I think I'm going to check out Wilson county lake.  It's just 40 min south of me and I've driven by it a million times and never gave it a shot. 

[BTSyndrome]

On 5/6/2024 at 8:38 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I tried to go to Mound yesterday but there must have been a tournament, 12-15 boats were already there and fishing when I got there at 6:30. Hate to see it on such a small lake. 

Think that's bad, they (whoever they are) showed up at Sedan city Lake which is all of 70 acres, today. How sad that many boats of people have to go to such a small lake so they can actually catch a fish to feel good about there abilities or lack there of. 

We turned around, went to a different lake, caught 38 bass and was the only boat on the water.

[Robinhood21]

On 5/11/2024 at 10:20 PM, BTSyndrome said:

Think that's bad, they (whoever they are) showed up at Sedan city Lake which is all of 70 acres, today. How sad that many boats of people have to go to such a small lake so they can actually catch a fish to feel good about there abilities or lack there of. 

We turned around, went to a different lake, caught 38 bass and was the only boat on the water.

 

Yeah the last lake I fished, had a tournament going on (not a big lake) and I made the mistake of wanting to leave right as the tournament finished.  I let everyone load up their boats and waited to get out after everyone else did.  The way those guys treated their fish after weigh in was disturbing.  The water was high so none of them wanted to get their feet too close to the water so most were throwing the fish in cannon ball style or the older guys were basically dumping them on the shore and kicking them in because they didn't want to bend over.  Wish I knew what club it was but I didn't catch it.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Robinhood21 said:

 

Yeah the last lake I fished, had a tournament going on (not a big lake) and I made the mistake of wanting to leave right as the tournament finished.  I let everyone load up their boats and waited to get out after everyone else did.  The way those guys treated their fish after weigh in was disturbing.  The water was high so none of them wanted to get their feet too close to the water so most were throwing the fish in cannon ball style or the older guys were basically dumping them on the shore and kicking them in because they didn't want to bend over.  Wish I knew what club it was but I didn't catch it.

There shouldn't be tournaments where they're bringing fish in to weigh on lakes that small. One bad day where they lose a bunch of big fish could really screw up a lake that size. We do a roadrunner style kayak tournament and it's all small lakes (usually about 10 to chose from), but at least we're just taking a picture and putting them right back, just like a normal recreational guy would be if he caught a nice fish they wanted to take a picture of. 

 

The state doesn't allow guiding on small lakes because people start to feel like they own a lake and will run other people off, but it seems like having a 12-15 boat tournament on a >200 acre lake is effectively the same thing. I can't imagine many people pulling up to the ramp and seeing that many boats on a small lake and being excited about it. Not to mention, we know there's going to be a few guys in that group that have the tournament mentality, where it's okay to cut someone off or fish right on top of someone who is fun fishing "because they're in a tournament".  I've never had an issue with a guide on a small body of water, but I have had multiple issues with tournaments on small lakes. 

[Robinhood21]

@Bluebasser86  for sure, I think on small lakes like that they should do length with pictures instead of weigh-ins...  just makes sense.  Oh, and tournament mentality was in full effect 🙄

[SeanKC15]

Hey @Bluebasser86 I am curious to hear your thoughts on fishing La Cygne this time of year. Is it worth spending some time on, or do they typically turn off when it gets warmer?

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, SeanKC15 said:

Hey @Bluebasser86 I am curious to hear your thoughts on fishing La Cygne this time of year. Is it worth spending some time on, or do they typically turn off when it gets warmer?

It can be really good now before the heat really sets in.

[SeanKC15]

👍

[Robinhood21]

The wife got me a GoPro for my birthday so I did my first recording.  It's my first one so be easy on me

 

I really enjoy watching others fishing the lakes around the area so I figured I'd try to contribute.

 

Spent the morning and afternoon at Melvern on Memorial day.  Fun day... a lot of small fish and ended up finishing the day livescoping a bunch of crappie (not in the video).  Even sent a shout out to @Bluebasser86 at the 18:50 mark lol

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

@Robinhood21 I caught several smallmouth and 2 walleye off that point on Monday. We were wondering how that 2wd F150 was going to get that monster old boat that just launched back out of the water.

 

 

[Robinhood21]

12 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

@Robinhood21 I caught several smallmouth and 2 walleye off that point on Monday. We were wondering how that 2wd F150 was going to get that monster old boat that just launched back out of the water.

 

 

Nice!  There's so many walleye in that lake it's crazy.  95% of them are between 10-17" though lol!  Good for the near future though I guess

 

Yeah, cool boat though.

 

It was the first time this year my feet saw the sun.  I forgot the sunscreen at home and they're paying for it now lol!

 

[Bluebasser86]

6 minutes ago, Robinhood21 said:

Nice!  There's so many walleye in that lake it's crazy.  95% of them are between 10-17" though lol!  Good for the near future though I guess

 

Yeah, cool boat though.

 

It was the first time this year my feet saw the sun.  I forgot the sunscreen at home and they're paying for it now lol!

 

We caught a bunch of small walleye, a few sauger, and one walleye that was 21.5", all on Neds. They're always welcome surprises, way better than the constant drum I catch some days.

 

My legs were the same way except they didn't get it too bad.

[Robinhood21]

I ended up fishing the Big Bass Bash on Grand Lake this weekend.  My sister has a place on the lake and we had already planned on going this weekend, then I remembered it was going on and ended up entering the last minute.  I only fished Saturday but had a lot of fun and caught a lot of fish. 

 

I've never seen that many bass boats on that lake.  I don't really know that lake very well but I learned a lot and fished a lot of new areas. 

 

Had a typical bass fishing story, "shoulda, woulda, coulda"... I hooked a good one and had to pull him through some brush.  He jumped once and my heart started pounding knowing it was a fish I could weigh in.  I grabbed the net and when I went to scoop him he jumped again and broke me off.  I'm about sure he would have weighed in one of the 20 slots and I would have at least got my money back.  Sadly enough, it wasn't the only good fish I broke off. 

 

I need to do a better job re-tying more often.  That was obviously the problem.  

 

All my good fish came on a 10.5" Junebug Zoom Ol' Monster around bluffs and secondary points.  A bunch of small fish on a wacky weighted senko around docks.  Also caught some on a freerig with a Bellows Shad and an OSP blitz max crankbait.  I don't think I'll invest in anymore bellows shad.  They only last 1 fish and are too pricey.

 

All in all a good time and would definitely do it again in the future.

 

1st place was 6.29 & 2nd place was 6.28!!!

[Bluebasser86]

I fished a BBB at LOZ once, don't think I caught a keeper either day. It was not my jam at all, not sure I'd ever do it again. My buddy sight fished a spot off a bed that we weighed in. She was 3.01lbs, missed that $500 by .01lbs 😬

[Robinhood21]

23 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I fished a BBB at LOZ once, don't think I caught a keeper either day. It was not my jam at all, not sure I'd ever do it again. My buddy sight fished a spot off a bed that we weighed in. She was 3.01lbs, missed that $500 by .01lbs 😬

What was it you didn't like about it?

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Robinhood21 said:

What was it you didn't like about it?

The crowds are insane and so many of them were very rude. I fish to try to get away from the crowds, so it wasn't a lot of fun for me. 

[Robinhood21]

43 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The crowds are insane and so many of them were very rude. I fish to try to get away from the crowds, so it wasn't a lot of fun for me. 

That was definitely a negative about it.  The amount of bass fishermen out there was unreal.

[geedavid]

I had no idea there were Smallmouth in Shawnee Mission Park Lake. I caught this #3 on Saturday the 1^st. We got worried about SMP last year when we didn’t catch many Elmos over #2 and most were less than a pound. Two trips over the weekend (Saturday and Monday) restored hope. The Smallie was my 2^nd fish and I had 11 Largemouth over three. Broke off a dandy that looked to be in the 5 to 6 range (should have retied). Monday wasn’t quite as good for numbers but the size held up. Saturday was a zoo with so many rental kayaks and paddle boats. They didn’t bother the fishing though!

 

[Bluebasser86]

31 minutes ago, geedavid said:

I had no idea there were Smallmouth in Shawnee Mission Park Lake. I caught this #3 on Saturday the 1^st. We got worried about SMP last year when we didn’t catch many Elmos over #2 and most were less than a pound. Two trips over the weekend (Saturday and Monday) restored hope. The Smallie was my 2^nd fish and I had 11 Largemouth over three. Broke off a dandy that looked to be in the 5 to 6 range (should have retied). Monday wasn’t quite as good for numbers but the size held up. Saturday was a zoo with so many rental kayaks and paddle boats. They didn’t bother the fishing though!

 

I've caught 2 smallies out there. Lake record is a little over 4 unless someone caught a bigger one. I've had the opposite issue of catching tons of fish but not many bigger ones the last couple trips out there.

[geedavid]

I was very surprised by the size of the fish after what we saw last year. My wife didn’t believe me till I took her out on Monday. They bit everything I threw at them on Saturday. All the big ones bit a Shaky Head with a Z man TRD worm. The Smallie took a Ned.

[Robinhood21]

Went to Melvern on Fathers day for a little while.  I put in on the west side as I haven't fished that side much at all this year.  Was raining a little with some wind that didn't get too bad until later in the morning. 

 

Fishing was super slow starting out.  Threw a spinnerbait thinking with overcast and wind, that would be the ticket.  They didn't want it.  Caught a couple on a 10" power worm, 1 was pretty nice for Melvern..  Found a little point where I sat in 2' of water with a 16' drop off one side.  Not sure if bait was pushed up there or what but I proceeded to catch 10 right in that one little spot and surprisingly half of them were smallies.  I never catch smallmouth on the west side.  Most were hammering the super spook jr which was a blast and also caught a couple on a squarebill.  Caught a few more that day but if it wasn't for that small point, it would have been a rough.  Got out of there when the wind got brutal.  Kind of a weird day..

 

Unfortunately I'm an idiot and didn't have my settings correct on my gopro.  I was zoomed in too much, which I guess I could live with, but then I realized it recorded in a file that's not compatible with my video editor.    Trial and error I guess