For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[Russ E]

21 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The plant is down for maintenance at La Cygne right now I believe. I've seen very little coming out of the stack the last couple days on my way home in the morning, even with the cold weather. I'm sure they can still be caught, but if they just shut it down it might take a few days to adjust. 

I was there today. It was a little slow. a lot of short strikers.

Spinnerbait got most of the bites.Every fish I caught was on the trailer hook. 

Caught 8 total. The largest was 3.25 lbs.

the stack had a little smoke but the outlet water was 53 degrees.

South end of the lake was 54 degrees.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Russ E said:

I was there today. It was a little slow. a lot of short strikers.

Spinnerbait got most of the bites.Every fish I caught was on the trailer hook. 

Caught 8 total. The largest was 3.25 lbs.

the stack had a little smoke but the outlet water was 53 degrees.

South end of the lake was 54 degrees.

Good to hear. I'll be out there twice this week regardless of how bad it may be. I did notice a little more smoke blowing this morning when I was finally getting home around 11am. 

[doughboy1979]

Good to know!! I'll be heading out there on Friday by myself.  This will be my first time out this year, so super eager to get going!!!!

 

[Bluebasser86]

10 hours ago, doughboy1979 said:

Good to know!! I'll be heading out there on Friday by myself.  This will be my first time out this year, so super eager to get going!!!!

 

See you out there.

[doughboy1979]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

See you out there.

Sweet!!!!

[Russ E]

Spent the morning at WYCO. Water temp was 47-48 degrees.

Junk fished most of the time , trying to find a big fish.

Caught Several dinks and 3 trout .

That lake has produced several nice largemouth and smallmouth, for me, over the years.

I have never caught a big bass there when the water temp was below 50 degrees.

Guess I will stick to Shawnee and La Cygne when the water is cold.

 

[Shawk63]

2 hours ago, Russ E said:

Spent the morning at WYCO. Water temp was 47-48 degrees.

Junk fished most of the time , trying to find a big fish.

Caught Several dinks and 3 trout .

That lake has produced several nice largemouth and smallmouth, for me, over the years.

I have never caught a big bass there when the water temp was below 50 degrees.

Guess I will stick to Shawnee and La Cygne when the water is cold.

 

I was out there last weekend with same results. Water was 44-48 and caught one dink a one trout. 

[Bluebasser86]

It's a little early for bass at Hillsdale I believe. I tried for about 1.5 this morning in the usual spring spots and usual spring baits with nothing to show for it. Water looks great, good stain and up past the water willows. It should be really good in a couple more weeks as long as we don't get any big rains or cold fronts. Water was 48.6* at the ramp, state guys were going out to check their walleye nets as I was taking out and said they'd been seeing some really nice ones. 

[Bluebasser86]

Went to La Cygne today, awful. The lake is lower than I've seen it in a long time, looks to have been drastically dropped very recently. They did seem to be generating again but that just recently started so I'm sure they hadn't acclimated to that yet. Then there was carp and gar EVERYWHERE! I couldn't make a cast without smacking one, snagged and fought 5 carp to the boat on jerkbaits, traps, and cranks. Never had anything I'm sure was a bite. Water was 48.5 at the dam, 67 at the outlet, 62 at the mouth of the river. Hoping for the best out there tomorrow. 

[Russ E]

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Went to La Cygne today, awful. The lake is lower than I've seen it in a long time, looks to have been drastically dropped very recently. They did seem to be generating again but that just recently started so I'm sure they hadn't acclimated to that yet. Then there was carp and gar EVERYWHERE! I couldn't make a cast without smacking one, snagged and fought 5 carp to the boat on jerkbaits, traps, and cranks. Never had anything I'm sure was a bite. Water was 48.5 at the dam, 67 at the outlet, 62 at the mouth of the river. Hoping for the best out there tomorrow. 

They must have dropped the lake level pretty fast. It was still high monday.

[Bluebasser86]

7 hours ago, Russ E said:

They must have dropped the lake level pretty fast. It was still high monday.

It was a long way from the walkway of the dock yesterday, lots of wet moss on the rocks. I'm sure that wasn't helping anything to go along with all the carp and gar that invaded every good shoreline. 

[doughboy1979]

12 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Went to La Cygne today, awful. The lake is lower than I've seen it in a long time, looks to have been drastically dropped very recently. They did seem to be generating again but that just recently started so I'm sure they hadn't acclimated to that yet. Then there was carp and gar EVERYWHERE! I couldn't make a cast without smacking one, snagged and fought 5 carp to the boat on jerkbaits, traps, and cranks. Never had anything I'm sure was a bite. Water was 48.5 at the dam, 67 at the outlet, 62 at the mouth of the river. Hoping for the best out there tomorrow. 

Hopefully it will be better today as I am heading out there in a couple of hours!!! 

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, doughboy1979 said:

Hopefully it will be better today as I am heading out there in a couple of hours!!! 

So far it's been much better, 6 bass and 3 drum plus a few misses in 4 hours. No big ones but a whole lot better than the goose egg i caught yesterday. 

[Russ E]

Went to Shawnee today. Caught a couple dozen  bass. all largemouth. One was just shy of 18 inches the rest were a lot smaller. Most were on a jerkbait and a ned rig.

Also caught 8 drum. They would not leave the ned rig alone.

 

Thinking about hitting Smithville Monday. Hoping the water warms up enough to get a jerkbait bite going.

[Bluebasser86]

La Cygne was completely opposite today. We caught probably 30 bass, at least 10 drum, and a channel cat. No big bass but just catching something on a guide trip is a big objective. Ned rig was by far the best option. 

[doughboy1979]

On 4/5/2019 at 7:38 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

La Cygne was completely opposite today. We caught probably 30 bass, at least 10 drum, and a channel cat. No big bass but just catching something on a guide trip is a big objective. Ned rig was by far the best option. 

Well done!! I did not fair so well there.  Only caught 4 LM bass under 13 inches, and oddly enough I could only catch them on a Mepps Black Fury Size 3, so go figure!!!! I need to learn how to fish Ned rigs, worms, jigs, and other "soft baits" because right now I suck at all of those!! I only grew up on crank baits and buzz baits, so I have a lot to learn..

[pauldconyers]

Super windy today. Was bank fishing today at James Reed and all the bites I got were right at the bank, literally as I was about to pull the bait out of the water! It has been in the low 80's this morning and it sounds like until 1 it will be about 70 and then it starts plummeting to the high 50's around 8 AM and such. If this happens is it even worth trying to do a little fishing tomorrow morning and if so how would you go about it?

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, pauldconyers said:

Super windy today. Was bank fishing today at James Reed and all the bites I got were right at the bank, literally as I was about to pull the bait out of the water! It has been in the low 80's this morning and it sounds like until 1 it will be about 70 and then it starts plummeting to the high 50's around 8 AM and such. If this happens is it even worth trying to do a little fishing tomorrow morning and if so how would you go about it?

Fishing while the cold front is moving through can be great, it's after it's passed that it gets difficult. 

[pauldconyers]

On 4/10/2019 at 5:50 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Fishing while the cold front is moving through can be great, it's after it's passed that it gets difficult. 

Think I might go back to James Reed in the morning. I don't if you have ever been there but they have 8-9 ponds/lakes that are pretty good in size. They do not allow boats our there and a lot of people have posted pics of big females caught that are normally not accessible but are now with them moving in for the spawn. A few weeks ago I did well with white spinner baits. Then all my friends swore up and down last week that I needed to move to square bills and red colored lipless. Well I had NO luck and only managed to lose a ton of brand new baits! If I go in the morning I assume you'd advise me to go to the north end of whatever pond I choose as it should hold the warmest water? Any particular presentation you would suggest?

[Bluebasser86]

7 minutes ago, pauldconyers said:

Think I might go back to James Reed in the morning. I don't if you have ever been there but they have 8-9 ponds/lakes that are pretty good in size. They do not allow boats our there and a lot of people on Fishbrain have posted pics of big females caught that are normally not accessible but are now with them moving in for the spawn. A few weeks ago I did well with white spinner baits. Then all my friends swore up and down last week that I needed to move to square bills and red colored lipless. Well I had NO luck and only managed to lose a ton of brand new baits! If I go in the morning I assume you'd advise me to go to the north end of whatever pond I choose as it should hold the warmest water? Any particular presentation you would suggest?

The side the wind is blowing to is usually the warmest right now but those ponds are all going to be over 50 degrees so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Spinnerbaits and bladed jigs are usually good out there.

[pauldconyers]

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The side the wind is blowing to is usually the warmest right now but those ponds are all going to be over 50 degrees so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Spinnerbaits and bladed jigs are usually good out there.

It is interesting you say that about the wind because that is something I was thinking about today while out there. The wind was coming BIG TIME out of the south. I was wondering if it would normally be best to hit "targets" from the south so the wind was at my back aiding with casting OR if it would be better to be on the north side which would make it tougher because I would be casting into the win BUT if it's true the wind can push bait fish does that mean there is a pretty good chance fish might be on the north side, facing south waiting for bait to come at them? Or is this all hog wash LOL?

[Bluebasser86]

1 minute ago, pauldconyers said:

It is interesting you say that about the wind because that is something I was thinking about today while out there. The wind was coming BIG TIME out of the south. I was wondering if it would normally be best to hit "targets" from the south so the wind was at my back aiding with casting OR if it would be better to be on the north side which would make it tougher because I would be casting into the win BUT if it's true the wind can push bait fish does that mean there is a pretty good chance fish might be on the north side, facing south waiting for bait to come at them? Or is this all hog wash LOL?

The wind does not push bait fish, it pushes plankton that bait fish feed on and the bait fish follow it. 

 

This time of year when the water is warming, the surface warms the fastest. The surface water is also the water that is pushed around the most by the wind, so when you get a strong wind blowing it will blow the warm surface water to one side of the pond/lake and make it warmer than everywhere else. It can be more difficult to fish because of wind but the fish will often be noticeably more active. 

 

I'm going to try to make it out for a couple hours to a smaller lake at some point tomorrow in hopes of finding a big, prespawner. Got another guide trip on La Cygne Friday that the wind is probably going to make interesting to say the least. 

[Bluebasser86]

La Cygne was really good Friday, at least what we could fish. Taking waves over the nose of the boat most of the morning until the wind laid down to "only" about 20mph. No big ones but lots of healthy fish near keeper sized if not keepers (didn't measure or weigh any because I had to stay on the motor almost nonstop). Craziest part was catching a SMALLMOUTH on a jerkbait. In almost 2 decades of fishing the lake, I've heard rumors, but never seen any confirmation to them. I've thrown so many Ned rigs at the dam and other rock banks, as well as jerkbaits, cranks, topwaters, all kinds of things a smallmouth will eat, I'd pretty much written them off as nonexistent. Hard to argue with it when one is flopping around on the end of your line though.

[expostdelirium]

Off-topic only sort of. I came here looking for advice on KC area lakes that are fishable from the bank.  I am taking an older gentleman out to try to catch some crappie (he's from the West Coast, and is dying to catch/clean/cook/eat some crappie).  I'm not sure how mobile he is, and we don't have access to a boat/kayak/float tube right now, and I'd like to get him on some water where he doesn't have to walk far nor that has a bunch of obstacles.  I am also here to watch fishing reports and hopefully to be able to contribute what I catch, how, and when. I live in Topeka, but he's vacationing in Blue Springs, and I'd like to find an easy-to fish place near him if possible.  I'm thinking La Cygne, but I'VE never even fished there, but I've wanted to for a long time, so any advice or suggestions of another lake would be appreciated. TYIA.

[Russ E]

1 hour ago, expostdelirium said:

Off-topic only sort of. I came here looking for advice on KC area lakes that are fishable from the bank.  I am taking an older gentleman out to try to catch some crappie (he's from the West Coast, and is dying to catch/clean/cook/eat some crappie).  I'm not sure how mobile he is, and we don't have access to a boat/kayak/float tube right now, and I'd like to get him on some water where he doesn't have to walk far nor that has a bunch of obstacles.  I am also here to watch fishing reports and hopefully to be able to contribute what I catch, how, and when. I live in Topeka, but he's vacationing in Blue Springs, and I'd like to find an easy-to fish place near him if possible.  I'm thinking La Cygne, but I'VE never even fished there, but I've wanted to for a long time, so any advice or suggestions of another lake would be appreciated. TYIA.

I spend a lot of time at La Cygne. It has  big fish, but it can be one of the toughest lakes around to fish. Most of the better spots are not accessible by bank. One exception is the hot water outlet, when the water is cold.

lake Shawnee in Topeka can be good. There is a lot of bank access.

In Lenexa, Lake Lenexa can be decent from shore.

In Olathe Lake Olathe and Cedar Lake can be good. Cedar lake is probably better from shore.

If you want to pay for the permit, Shawnee Mission lake is ok.

there are a few decent places on the Missouri side, near Blue springs. I don't have any experience on them. Someone else can chime in.