For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[GRABBINBASS]

Hello everyone.....happy fishing....I am going out fishing tm around 5 oclock around or close to overland park, ks . i was just seein if anyone my wanna join me to fish with someone new..We have several options close. Let me know if anyone's interested I'm easy going, fun loving , and , usually have a smile. Otherwise I'll say something to make me smile..Anyway I just wanna Hey out n try to catch some fish with someone different...let me know I'm open to suggestions

[Bluebasser86]

Not much to see here, but the few fish that I did catch at Melvern Friday. I wish I had shown a shot of how dirty the water was. No idea why it muddied up that bad. There's tons of sediment on the rocks right now. If you get up shallow, the TM kicks up clouds of mud like you're in the back of a cove at a state lake or something. I've never seen that at Melvern before. 

 

[Ondrejka]

Took a half day (barely) on Friday to go to Lone Star. Fished for an hour and a half, if that. Nothing worth talking about, sucked for me. 

Fished through 3 hours of rain on Saturday and 2 hours of snow on Sunday with trooper clients. We were rewarded with some really good fish though. It was a good weekend for guide trips.

Is it April 5th yet? Can it just be April already in general? BBB...can't wait. 

Oh, and Charles caught a 5-11 at LS yesterday afternoon with Brian W. on a chart Wobbler with no trailer. Pretty jealous/butthurt about it but he was way overdue for a big fish. 

I have a guide trip at Melvern on Saturday so I'm sure I'll see someone out there. 

[RangerDanger]

21 hours ago, ljd1971 said:

If this "Ned only" bite continues for me I just may sell off all my casting outfits and any tackle not manufactured by Z-Man. Check that-- I'll keep one casting outfit to fish C&C Custom and Buzz'z Baitz. 

Just gotta put the ned down and sacrifice quantity unless you just need to catch a fish. They'll eat way more than the ned. 

[Ondrejka]

5 minutes ago, RangerDanger said:

Just gotta put the ned down and sacrifice quantity unless you just need to catch a fish. They'll eat way more than the ned. 

Seconded. I have fished Melvern consistently enough that most days I don't even show up with it tied on, and that's solely for the fact that I just straight up did not want to continue catching fish on that one bait and one bait only. Expand your brown fish horizons and sacrifice quantity for quality. Use it when plans C-Y don't work. 

[Bluebasser86]

FWIW, my second largest Melvern smallmouth to date (4.80), was on a Ned rig. My first one over 4 from out there is still my largest from Melvern at 5lb even that ate a tiny CDBS Zero in American Shad color.

4 even on a Bull Shad

4.80 on Da Ned

4lb 8oz on a Buzz's 110+1

I've had a couple other 4's in the boat by other people too.

My wife's 4 on a Series 2 Luck E Strike in Sexy Shad.

Drew's 4 and change on a War Eagle Jigging Spoon (Drew also has a 4.95 I believe on a spinnerbait and I believe another one or two over 4.

 

[Ondrejka]

[cbass12]

My only fish on Ned last week, didn't make but about 10 casts with it.

This one ate a shakyhead with a finesse worm, it was probably about 3 1/2 and a stocky 18" fish

And this skinny fella destroyed a 78 pointer

Doesn't have to be a big bait to catch big fish. I think we can all catch them on a variety of baits out there, with the weather and water conditions dictating things for us. There are just times when the Ned works well.

 

[RangerDanger]

since we are swinging our baits around:

Bullshad:

Pompadour:

[Ondrejka]

4 hours ago, RangerDanger said:

since we are swinging our baits around:

 

[Bluebasser86]

19 minutes ago, Ondrejka said:

 

I caught a lot of fish on the 3" version and I'm sure the smallies at Melvern would be no different. 

[Ondrejka]

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I caught a lot of fish on the 3" version and I'm sure the smallies at Melvern would be no different. 

Would have to agree on that. I took my kit to Canada with me and it was game over. 

[gardnerjigman]

Fishing depression is starting to sink in... It's getting so close now I can hardly stand it. For the love of GOD!!!!! If fishing season doesn't hurry up and get here I'm gonna be LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!

[RangerDanger]

12 minutes ago, gardnerjigman said:

Fishing depression is starting to sink in... It's getting so close now I can hardly stand it. For the love of GOD!!!!! If fishing season doesn't hurry up and get here I'm gonna be LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!

What are you talking about?

[Ondrejka]

28 minutes ago, RangerDanger said:

What are you talking about?

I think he's talking about the weeknighters. Aka the beginning of Coty's actual fishing season, lol

[gardnerjigman]

2 hours ago, RangerDanger said:

What are you talking about?

 

1 hour ago, Ondrejka said:

I think he's talking about the weeknighters. Aka the beginning of Coty's actual fishing season, lol

Correct. Being bank bound, and and having 2 children getting to the point of swim lessons, sports, school programs, I'm extremely limited on the actual fishing I get to do. Particularly, competitive fishing (gets old kicking my own ass at celebration park, but I still do it lol). 

[ljd1971]

9 hours ago, RangerDanger said:

Just gotta put the ned down and sacrifice quantity unless you just need to catch a fish. They'll eat way more than the ned. 

 

9 hours ago, Ondrejka said:

Seconded. I have fished Melvern consistently enough that most days I don't even show up with it tied on, and that's solely for the fact that I just straight up did not want to continue catching fish on that one bait and one bait only. Expand your brown fish horizons and sacrifice quantity for quality. Use it when plans C-Y don't work. 

I know, I know, you're both right. But I went out today and caught 40 on the Ned. But the size wasn't as good today as it was Saturday. Only two of mine went over 2 lbs. Nothing over three.

The daughter has become a Ned devotee as well. She caught her first smallmouth (ever) today-- 2.5 lbs. She also caught three other smaller ones. 

They were really bunched up today on wind-blown secondary points. Once we found one we would catch several.  We caught a dozen off of one 20 yard point in a half hour. We'd only get a few casts before the wind would blow us off the spot. But if we could make a specific cast, we were confident we would catch one. Then re-position the boat for another pass. Wash, rinse, repeat.  

Going back to our Facebook discussion on nets, I broke my main Ned rod boat-flipping a 1 lb dink. Sigh. That's the fourth rod I've broke this year. The good news is that 3 of the 4 rods were purchased at Academy. They've won my business.

Back to the topic at hand:  next time I go out I will only pick up the Ned if I'm desperate for a bite. 

 

13 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Not much to see here, but the few fish that I did catch at Melvern Friday. I wish I had shown a shot of how dirty the water was. No idea why it muddied up that bad. There's tons of sediment on the rocks right now. If you get up shallow, the TM kicks up clouds of mud like you're in the back of a cove at a state lake or something. I've never seen that at Melvern before. 

I think that is an algae or something. I noticed when I backed my trailer in the water, it kicked up a cloud of the stuff. The wind really riles it up, too. The fish didn't seem to mind too much, though as most of our fish were caught the wind. I wonder if it isn't as bad as mud. 

[RangerDanger]

13 hours ago, ljd1971 said:

The daughter has become a Ned devotee as well. She caught her first smallmouth (ever) today-- 2.5 lbs. She also caught three other smaller ones.

Going back to our Facebook discussion on nets, I broke my main Ned rod boat-flipping a 1 lb dink. Sigh. That's the fourth rod I've broke this year. The good news is that 3 of the 4 rods were purchased at Academy. They've won my business.

Back to the topic at hand:  next time I go out I will only pick up the Ned if I'm desperate for a bite. 

Let your daughter fish the ned, and get after em with a jerkbait, spinnerbait, lipless, or tube. Maybe even try a bitsy tube. Gardnerjigman can give you the top 5 baits for later in the season, lol.

Boat flipping is all about momentum. Yeah I broke a rod doing it, but the fish was already on the deck and cbass broke the exact same rod exactly the same way in the same place.  I'm convinced there was something wrong with those rods, maybe why the discontinued them.

[Ondrejka]

14 hours ago, ljd1971 said:

Back to the topic at hand:  next time I go out I will only pick up the Ned if I'm desperate for a bite. 

It's a great tool to have in your back pocket. Clients love fishing the Ned, 1) because it's a new technique they've never done before, 2) because catching Smallies on light tackle is just plain fun, and 3) because it produces numbers. My dad loves it now.

When I do get to fish for fun (which is few and far between so far this year), I'm fishing for big bites. It sounds spoiled to say, but it's true. I've caught enough 1-2 lb Smallies to last a few lifetimes. It's just nice to branch out and have confidence that you can go catch the same amount of fish, and bigger ones, using different techniques. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got off work about an hour early yesterday and took that opportunity to take the dog out to Lone Star for the first time this year (she absolutely loves being on the boat). I started in the homes cove, which in hindsight I should not have even bothered. Complete chocolate milk. Didn't see on fish in one pass down the docks, couldn't get bit on anything I had on the deck. Moved over to the east beach cove where the water was 100x more clear, and stumbled upon this guy. Fat, healthy, gorgeous fish. This makes the fifth Smallie I've caught from Lone Star in three years. The previous one I caught last summer on a jig and was 15". Every one before that was 6-9 inches. This one was 17 3/4" 3 lbs. 3 oz. I brought my GoPro bag...but didn't have the GoPro in it. Sure wish I had for this fish. I caught about 20 dinks in the last hour before it got dark and I left. Water temps were 54-55. That one made my night for sure.

 

[gardnerjigman]

Yup. Don't think anyone is knocking the Ned, and I would call bull if they did. Lol. It produces from tiny to large and will give you plenty of bites and action. Would I rather drag a tube, grind a squarebill or walk a spook... dang skippy, but I can promise I won't waste a trip with few bites and be to stubborn to pick up Ned. 

[cbass12]

39 minutes ago, RangerDanger said:

Boat flipping is all about momentum. Yeah I broke a rod doing it, but the fish was already on the deck and cbass broke the exact same rod exactly the same way in the same place.  I'm convinced there was something wrong with those rods, maybe why the discontinued them.

I definitely wasn't being careless with the rod, may have been a defect.

Anyone needing to send a rod in to St Croix for replacement let me know. I'll be sending this one in and it would save money to split the shipping costs.

[Ondrejka]

6 minutes ago, cbass12 said:

Anyone needing to send a rod in to St Croix for replacement let me know. I'll be sending this one in and it would save money to split the shipping costs.

I have a 7' 6" MH Rage I got from Bond that I don't know if I'll see myself using much. If I sent that in would they replace it with another rod of my choice for a fee?

[cbass12]

You could call them and ask, but if it's not damaged I'm not sure they would do anything for you. But it couldn't hurt to ask.

[Bluebasser86]

21 minutes ago, Ondrejka said:

I have a 7' 6" MH Rage I got from Bond that I don't know if I'll see myself using much. If I sent that in would they replace it with another rod of my choice for a fee?

Not for free but you can pay a little to upgrade it. FWIW, I have that rod, it's a nice pitching rod, although it's quite a bit heavier than my LTB's or Okuma. 

[Ondrejka]

Just now, Bluebasser86 said:

Not for free but you can pay a little to upgrade it. FWIW, I have that rod, it's a nice pitching rod, although it's quite a bit heavier than my LTB's or Okuma. 

Haha, I know, I said for a fee, not for free  That was my intention, to use it for flipping/punching. It's rated for up to 1 1/4 oz. I'll give it a shot, I might just prefer a 7-6 H somewhere down the line.