For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[joefish]

Made back from Rainy Lake, Ontario. Caught a lot of Smallmouth, nothing huge, 3lb 15oz was the biggest that Pulled on my line. Was a great trip.

[Bluebasser86]

Well Chris and I got back from Hazel Creek this afternoon. We're tired and our thumbs are torn up and even a little cut up. We got out before dark Tuesday morning and tried some bowfishing. The wind was already bad and it was tough to see in the murky water. I shot 2 grass carp in the 40lb range but both of them pulled off. Once the sun started to get up we started getting to the main attraction. We caught several fish that were much smaller than I expected but it didn't take long before I got one of the healthy bass that we were after on a pit boss.

I was getting quite a few small ones on a LC RC 2 squarebill but on one small point the fish I thought was a little nicer bass turned out to be a pretty little muskie.

The fish of 10,000 casts proved to not be very finicky this trip. Moving on, I missed a good fish on a tube and we caught a few more small ones when I got the first keeper of the trip off a tree in about 8 feet of water. 18" and a little over 3 pounds.

It got tough from there as the sun came up. I caught another muskie on a spinnerbait about the same size as my first but it squirted out of my hands and back into the water before we got a picture. We decided to get off the lake until the afternoon when it cooled off a little.

Once we got back we started about the same speed. We got a few small ones flipping trees. I pitched to a laid down tree with a 7" Rage Andaconda and got thumped. Stuck a good fish that pulled like it was twice it's size. Chris lipped her for me, got a weight and a couple pictures and put her back. 19.5" and 5 pounds even.

We tossed some deep runners on a flat and caught a couple dinks and I had a muskie chase mine to the boat and follow for 3 or 4 figure 8's before it sank out of sight. It was starting to get dark and Chris was throwing a spinnerbait in a cove between some stumps while I was doing the same with a spinnerbait. Right as his buzzbait got to the boat it sounded like he tossed a brick in the water and mayhem set in at boatside as his first muskie ever strained his bass gear while he tried to keep it out of the trees. He did a great job keeper her away from all the obstacles and I slid the net under her. We didn't really plan on catching any muskie so we didn't have anything to measure any longer than my 22" measuring board but it was probably 30-32 inches and 7-9 pounds.

Not sure what had happened to its gills but it didn't seem to be hurting it any as it swam away with no problems.

There's 1 island on the lake I wanted to try as it was about dark because it has deep water all around and then gets really shallow quickly around it but doesn't have any cover. I was thinking maybe they'd be up there pushing shad towards the shallows and feeding. Sticking with the same baits, Chris tossed his buzzbait up shallow and a huge head and mouthful of teeth engulfed his bait and it was on again . This one was obviously bigger and much thicker than the first and Chris got to enjoy the fight a little more in the open water. This one was probably around 32-34 inches and 10-12 pounds.

Next day with the memory of Chris' buzzbait muskies fresh in my mind I decided to try a big chopper bait for muskies, I was not expecting the 6" bass that pulled my bait down at all.

We got some small ones when I picked my cranking rod back up. I was tossing a LC RC 1.5 when I got slammed. Thought it was a good bass, turned out to be this 28-30 inch, 7lb muskie.

We got back to the same area Chris caught his first muskie the night before when he tossed a 10" power worm at a stump and slammed into a good fish. She steam rolled to some other stumps and got his line around them. Luckily he had a great guy on the trolling motor that got him over there in time and we got her in the boat. Another stout fish that rang up 5lbs even. She looked like she had just done spawning with her bloody tail

Another long spell of a few small fish here and there when I pitched into a brushpile with a 7" BPS Stick-O and got thumped.

She wrapped me up in the brushpile and wouldn't budge. While I was pulling on her she came up and got wrapped higher in the brushpile. I took my hat and sunglasses on and laid on my stomach and reached as far as I could but all I could grab was her tail. She ca

me off of that limb and swam further down in the tree. I could lift the tree so I just started pulling the tree up and Chris lifted it high enough I could see her again. So I leaned in head first up to my chest and finally got a grip on her and pulled her out. Don't think I've ever worked that hard for a fish. 20 1/2 inches and 5 1/2 pounds was my biggest bass of the trip.

After going back to the hotel to wait out the mid-day lull we were back at it. I started off fast, catching this this fish out of a culvert on a Yum Wooly Bug. It was 3lbs 6 ozs.

It was a slow evening for bigger fish after that. Chris was pitching a tube and got thumped when he tried to reel in. Thought it was a nice bass but turned out to be another little muskie. The fish had the line wrapped around it's teeth, not sure how it didn't cut him off.

That was it for bigger fish that night.

Last morning we were greeted by much nicer fishing weather. Clouds, drizzle, much less wind, and 10 degrees cooler than it had been had the fish biting. About 30 yards down from where I'd caught my first 5 pounder I pulled my Rage craw over a lay down and got popped. She was one the top almost instantly before she dug back down for the tree. It's crazy how strong the fish in that lake were but I still managed to keep her out of the tree. 20" and 4lbs 14ozs and super thick and healthy looking.

I still had my big muskie chopper bait when we got back to the flat that I'd had a muskie chase my crankbait to the boat the day before so I thought I'd toss it. First cast I cranked about 15 feet when it blasted. One of the coolest and most exciting strikes I've ever seen but it didn't connect with my bait, just knocked it about 10 feet in the air . With the perfect weather I wanted to go to the island where Chris had caught his biggest muskie and toss my topwater around it. We made a lap around with no love for my chopper. I knew there had to be fish up there so I switched to a black and orange bucktail. I made a few casts before I launched one up to the same spot Chris' fish was at. I looked away when I started my retrieve and right when I looked back a huge wake kicked up behind my bait. I sped up my retrieve and her dorsal and tail fin popped out of the water when she threw water and sped forward and smashed it. It was obviously the biggest one we'd seen this trip and my biggest I'd ever hooked. After an intense battle and some debating with each other if it would fit in the net, Chris got the net under her and just barely got her to fit. She was super thick and heavy, around 38-40 inches and 15 pounds. Finally my first legal sized muskie in Missouri! I haven't shaken that bad during and after the fight with a fish in a long time.

]

Shortly after that the sun came out and started to get humid again. I jumped off a bass around 4lbs and Chris finally got a good fish to eat a crankbait, probably the only one over 2 pounds of the dozens we caught on a cranks.

After that we started cranking and I got slammed, another little muskie, my 5th and our 8th of the 3 day trip.

I hooked and lost another muskie on the same crankbait that was a little bigger and Chris had another 30 incher chase his worm over a lay down and almost to the boat but didn't eat. It was a great trip despite the wind and hot weather.

[joefish]

Those are some nice fish. Is Hazel Creek lake near Kirksville MO? Did not know there were Muskie in thaat lake.

[Bluebasser86]

Made back from Rainy Lake, Ontario. Caught a lot of Smallmouth, nothing huge, 3lb 15oz was the biggest that Pulled on my line. Was a great trip.

4 pounder is a heck of a nice smallmouth in my book!

Those are some nice fish. Is Hazel Creek lake near Kirksville MO? Did not know there were Muskie in thaat lake.

Yeah it's just north of Kirksville a few miles. They stocked muskie in there in the 80's or 90's and have been stocking them since, that's originally what drew me to the lake in my quest to catch my first muskie. I'd been there 4 or 5 times and caught 2 in all those trips. Not sure if they've just been stocking a bunch or if they were just biting good this trip but it was sure a great bonus to catch them.

[retro basser]

Damm guys what a sweet trip. Those muskies are AMAZING...

Woulda been a riot to see you guys figguring out how to pull that 5.5er out of the tree. Helluva fish!

I looked up that lake, it looks to be a real good size and layout. What a sweet find.

[PSUGorilla]

My friend and I will be heading out to hillsdale tomorrow around sunrise with my Xterra with our canoe strapped up top to avoid the worst of the heat immediately well be going that early. Well be trying the deeper south end we fished the north end 2 weeks ago and caught a couple carp and cats no bass. Its only about 10 ft deep on the north end with plenty of much shallower portions

Hoping for some big bass any suggestions on what to use from a canoe at hillsdale for bass?

[Bluebasser86]

My friend and I will be heading out to hillsdale tomorrow around sunrise with my Xterra with our canoe strapped up top to avoid the worst of the heat immediately well be going that early. Well be trying the deeper south end we fished the north end 2 weeks ago and caught a couple carp and cats no bass. Its only about 10 ft deep on the north end with plenty of much shallower portions

Hoping for some big bass any suggestions on what to use from a canoe at hillsdale for bass?

If you have some Dynamite handy you might have a chance to get a big bass at Hillsdale I've had my best luck there this time of year with a 10" blue fleck worm or blueberry colored brush hog. Friend of mine fishes the weeknight tournaments out there and fishes a rusty colored finesse jig with a green pumpkin colored trailer and wins them pretty often with it.

[PSUGorilla]

Any good spots?

[Bluebasser86]

Damm guys what a sweet trip. Those muskies are AMAZING...

Woulda been a riot to see you guys figguring out how to pull that 5.5er out of the tree. Helluva fish!

I looked up that lake, it looks to be a real good size and layout. What a sweet find.

Wish I would have had a camera several times on that trip. Chris' first muskie hit his buzzbait about 2 feet from his rod tip and threw water on both of us from the initial strike, just incredible. Me dead lifting a big tree and then dunking myself to get ahold of that bass would have been funny. I bet that whole ordeal lasted between 1 and 2 minutes, a long time to try to get a fish unstuck from a tree. The muskie that missed my topwater the last day was one of the coolest strikes I've ever seen. That chopper bait is like a 7" bucktail with a big wooden head and a single blade on the back of the head that makes a "plop plop plop" noise as you reel it. The fish must have rocketed straight up from the bottom in 7 feet because it almost came clear out of the water and knocked my bait over our heads in the process.

If you ever get the chance to fish it I would highly recommend it. Be ready to drive some nasty, dusty dirt roads and then fish a 500+ acre lake that you can only use your trolling motor on though.

[Bluebasser86]

Any good spots?

Points and treelines along channels should be good. My friend catches his on clay points in about 4-10 feet of water most of the time it seems. He fishes places I'd never guess there would be bass but that's probably why I don't catch bass at Hillsdale, along with the fact that I rarely fish it.

[PSUGorilla]

Friend got sick this morning 45 minutes before we left so day is cancelled

[retro basser]

Milford already has algae warnings, don't think it's blue-green algae but still harmful stuff I guess. I'm afraid that Perry may not be far behind. The water out there was bright green last time I was there, like a golf course green green. That was only in the marina by the dam that it was that green but we only had 1 bite back there so it must have been affect the fish too.

Read an article on this cause I was curious. The algae takes all the oxygen out of the water so that's why the fish leave. Who can blame them? especially if it's blocking the access to the bank so they cant feed off that side. Sounds like a pretty serious problem that aint going away.

Here's the article, about the effect on the Mississippi delta fishery

http://www.economist.com/node/21557365?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/bloominghorrible

[Chris S]

My friend and I will be heading out to hillsdale tomorrow around sunrise with my Xterra with our canoe strapped up top to avoid the worst of the heat immediately well be going that early. Well be trying the deeper south end we fished the north end 2 weeks ago and caught a couple carp and cats no bass. Its only about 10 ft deep on the north end with plenty of much shallower portions

Hoping for some big bass any suggestions on what to use from a canoe at hillsdale for bass?

There are bass in Hillsdale?

[Bluebasser86]

Nobody been out fishing? You'd think it's been 100 degrees everyday for the past 2 weeks or something?

[Hi Salenity]

I've went a couple of times with almost nothing to show for it. Did you make to the river the other day?

[Chris S]

Nobody been out fishing? You'd think it's been 100 degrees everyday for the past 2 weeks or something?

Took out the rods and dropped in the ladder and the anchor. Swimming is a little to hot by 3pm!

[Busy]

I'd like to go out tonight but it's looking like that is a long shot. Too hot for me lately though!

[Bluebasser86]

I've went a couple of times with almost nothing to show for it. Did you make to the river the other day?

Yeah went with a buddy and by the time we got out there all the good spots were taken. I tried a new spot and it was loaded with fish, unfortunately they were all gar. We stayed for about 3 hours until I got tired of messing with the dang things.

Dad and I fished Wyco this morning. It was a tough bite from the get go. I might have caught 10 or 12, I think dad caught 4. I had 2 keepers on shakeyheads and we each had a couple nice smallmouth but they've got to be 18" out there so it takes a really nice fish to be a keeper smallmouth.

[joefish]

Been to Wyco a couple times early morning then home around 10:00 trying to beat the heat. Hasn't been great but got a few mostly smallmouth.

[retro basser]

I must be getting used to the heat: when I saw it was only going to be a high of 97 Monday I jumped on it and made the trip down to Bourbon County. Second time there, first with a boat though and i gotta admit that's one of the nicer bass lakes i've been on in KS... Good depth all over the place, cover, vegetation, low pressure (i'm guessing), healthy, ticked-off, fish too.

It used to be 5 miles of gravel to get there from 59 highway but they've paved it up all the way till about the last half mile now...

The bite was real slow monday evening and i fished about an hour past dark... but I was covering water with fast moving baits and those werent the trick for me... only caught a few, but i get my first spotted bass ever.

Morning bite was alot better, it was a bit overcast and pretty windy, but slowed-down, dark colors still worked best for me. I had good luck with a 7'' junebug ribbontail on a shakeyhead. I caught at least a dozen without really working all that hard, nothing huge, but the dinks were almost pounders and i caught a couple nice 2+ lbers as well to spice it up a bit.

It seemed to me at least that there were alot more bass on the inlet side of the lake than I was expecting... There is a pretty nice feeder stream and good depth on that top quarter of the lake compared to most i've fished... It was real fun and easy to fish.

I took some pics of the lake since it's kind of trip to go and see for yourself:

A great island in the stream to fish:

great spot for bank beaters about half way up on the west side:

A 2.5 lber from out there:

[Bluebasser86]

I really like fishing that little lake, it actually fishes a lot bigger than it is because you can literally catch fish anywhere in that lake. I know there's bigger ones in there but I think the little ones just beat them to the bait most of the time. I've caught a couple 4-41/2 pounders but I know they sample them up to 6 out of there, the spots are a nice bonus too, plus there's some huge crappie in there. That was another lake I'd considered for the get together because I was sure that everyone could catch fish but the dirt roads are rough getting out there and I knew some of the guys wouldn't be willing to pull their boats out there. Might have to try to get a fall get together put together, that lake is a blast once it cools off and they start slamming cranks and topwater

[Doc-Drew]

Is this the same lake as the Bourbon State Fishing Lake on the kdwp website?

[Busy]

Might have to try to get a fall get together put together

+1

[Bluebasser86]

Is this the same lake as the Bourbon State Fishing Lake on the kdwp website?

Yep, it's a good little lake. About a 60/40 mix of largemouth to spots. Mainly rocky structure but there's some brushpiles and laydowns and the far south arms there are 2 pretty good sized creeks you can get back into a ways. There's Bourban State Lake, Bourban County Lake Cedar Creek, and Bourban County Lake Elm Creek. The state lake is by far the best.

[retro basser]

It is the 103 acre one on KDWP.. I guess it does fish alot bigger than 103 because almost the entire thing is fishable.. makes sense to me...

To me that style of lake is just what i'm looking for... Not too big of water, free camping, easy to fish (and catch), and it's just far enough away to feel like your getting away from it all...

Some guy was trying to convince me that Cedar Creek was better for bass... maybe those folks down in Ol Bourbon County dont know how lucky they are...