For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[retro basser]

Chris and I fished Wabaunsee Thursday. It was his first time on the lake and fishing was steady but never real fast. I think the bigger fish are still in a post spawn funk but we still had our chances and failed to convert big bites into big fish. I lost a big one off the dock before the boat was even in the water on a swimbait. I had a big one come off on a senko under a dock, got my line cut on the edge of a pontoon on what felt like a big one ona jig, Chris had the hook on his ned rig broken and had a nice smallmouth toss his ned rig. We both had fish that felt solid on the hookset run straight to the boat and just come off. Worse one was a pig smallmouth that wrapped me up in a dock and as soon as I got it loose it came off my jig. It was at least in the 4-5 pound and was up in the mud in less than 2' of water for some reason. Chris caught his biggest of the day on a deep running crankbait and was a crappie catching machine with the same bait.

 

 

That's why springtime is the best: the big ones dont have as much energy to pull off those kinds of getaways.

 

Battle makes ya better... that's what I tell myself at least..

[retro basser]

Well gents my towing hassles are over for about 10 years..

 

The old rig needed filled up every hundred miles but i already towed the boat over that this weekend and the Toyota is still over a half tank of gas.  Hoo rah.

 

The thing is seriously fun to drive without the boat.  I didnt push it that hard on the test drive cause i didnt want to scare the salesman but you can do some real stupid offroad driving if your were into that sort of thing

 

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Well gents my towing hassles are over for about 10 years..

 

The old rig needed filled up every hundred miles but i already towed the boat over that this weekend and the Toyota is still over a half tank of gas.  Hoo rah.

 

The thing is seriously fun to drive without the boat.  I didnt push it that hard on the test drive cause i didnt want to scare the salesman but you can do some real stupid offroad driving if your were into that sort of thing

 

IMG_20130630_114154.jpg

I was just about to text you about a truck I saw for sale the other day, right up your alley. '94 F-150 extended cab 4x4 with 110K miles for $2,400. Would have been a pretty decent pulling rig as long as that was all you were using it for. I'm sure it would have been just as bad on gas though. Pretty good looking old truck, the one you got ain't bad either 

[Mr_Scrogg]

Nice truck, Matt. As soon as I can sell the WRX, Ill be in the market for a truck.

[Bluebasser86]

The wife and I will be at Melvern with all the crazies on Thursday. Hoping to get a little fishing in but will depend a lot on how rough the lake gets. If anyone else is going to be out there let me know and maybe we can all find a cove to hide in out of the waves!

[Hi Salenity]

I'm thinking about going to paola. It's a great time, we drink and swim and at dark the city has a firework display over the lake.

The only thing that sucks is the line at the boat ramp after its over.

OOPS I GOT MY DAYS WRONG!!!

Paola's fireworks display is Wednesday the third.

[Chris S]

The wife and I will be at Melvern with all the crazies on Thursday. Hoping to get a little fishing in but will depend a lot on how rough the lake gets. If anyone else is going to be out there let me know and maybe we can all find a cove to hide in out of the waves!

The weather looks great only shows wind at max 35mph, that's nothing on melvern! Just kidding it does say wind max at 11mph

[thatoneksguy]

Hey guys.  New here.  Wanted to add about some of the local lakes that I've been to.

 

Lake Olathe; I still hold out hope for this lake and I'll give it a few more tries before I give up.  I'm hoping this can be a decent flathead lake for me.  I went last week and pullout out a few small bass, a saugeye and a channel before giving up.

 

Gardner; I got a 16" the other day, not much else though.  It was hot as hell though.

 

Kill Creek, I was fighting the wind too much to do anything, I need to pick up a drift sock.....

 

Hillsdale, I've caught nothing but channel cat and crappie there, although I haven't tried for bass too much there as I'm still new to the lake.

 

Heritage, going to give it a try tonight for a few hours after work and see what happens.

[skunked_again]

The wife and I will be at Melvern with all the crazies on Thursday. Hoping to get a little fishing in but will depend a lot on how rough the lake gets. If anyone else is going to be out there let me know and maybe we can all find a cove to hide in out of the waves!

my father an i will be down there. were going to fish a few places weve never hit for the most part of the day. were going to sleep thursday in the good ol Wyatt Earp and fish Coffee County friday.

[fknlo]

 

 

I need to pick up a drift sock.....

 

 

 

Me too.  It will make things so much easier.  I just need to stop being lazy.  

 

I did get quite a bit of fishing done this weekend though.  Sunday I went down to my dads and fished the lake he lives on near Knob Noster, MO.  Didn't have much luck, but caught this guy.  My best of the year so far.  

 

 

On monday we went to a 17 acre farm pond that we've been fishing for about 25 years.  Nothing over 18 or so inches, but between the two of us we caught about 100 fish, so you can't really complain about that.  Today I made it out to Leavenworth State lake and caught about a dozen fish including a catfish on a ned rig.  Definitely a good weekend.  

[Bluebasser86]

Hey guys.  New here.  Wanted to add about some of the local lakes that I've been to.

 

Lake Olathe; I still hold out hope for this lake and I'll give it a few more tries before I give up.  I'm hoping this can be a decent flathead lake for me.  I went last week and pullout out a few small bass, a saugeye and a channel before giving up.

 

Gardner; I got a 16" the other day, not much else though.  It was hot as hell though.

 

Kill Creek, I was fighting the wind too much to do anything, I need to pick up a drift sock.....

 

Hillsdale, I've caught nothing but channel cat and crappie there, although I haven't tried for bass too much there as I'm still new to the lake.

 

Heritage, going to give it a try tonight for a few hours after work and see what happens.

 

Olathe is a pretty decent bass lake. It has flathead in it but they're tough to catch if you're fishing for them. Biggest trick for me has just been to fish for bass and then they'll bite. Gardner sucks, Kill Creek can be good, not sure a drift sock would be a good idea in a bunch of standing timber? Hillsdale sucks, and so does Heritage. Basically all the lakes around here are a big pile of suck! 

 

Oh yeah, and welcome to the forum 

my father an i will be down there. were going to fish a few places weve never hit for the most part of the day. were going to sleep thursday in the good ol Wyatt Earp and fish Coffee County friday.

Well we'll be out there in my little Lowe bobbing around and a golden retriever barking at everyone I'm sure. Holler at us if you happen to see us. 

[thatoneksguy]

Olathe is a pretty decent bass lake. It has flathead in it but they're tough to catch if you're fishing for them. Biggest trick for me has just been to fish for bass and then they'll bite. Gardner sucks, Kill Creek can be good, not sure a drift sock would be a good idea in a bunch of standing timber? Hillsdale sucks, and so does Heritage. Basically all the lakes around here are a big pile of suck! 

 

 

 

Any recommendations for this weekend?  My dad is in town and I was going to take him out on the boat.  I'm still fairly new to the area and trying to find a decent place to fish for bass.  My go to lake is Hillsdale for now because I can at least catch white bass or catfish if I can't find the bass.  Although I picked up some topo maps and have been youtubing how to read my fish finders better.

 

Went to heritage last night.  Caught a few channel cats and a 20 pound snapping turtle on a large spinner.....  I was also shore fishing too so I didn't get too much coverage of the lake.

[sizzlefry]

wyandotte county lake might be good  olathe also I wouls say melvern but It depend how far you wanna go

[retro basser]

I was just about to text you about a truck I saw for sale the other day, right up your alley. '94 F-150 extended cab 4x4 with 110K miles for $2,400. Would have been a pretty decent pulling rig as long as that was all you were using it for. I'm sure it would have been just as bad on gas though. Pretty good looking old truck, the one you got ain't bad either 

 

Thanks for looking out.  The Ford was a darn good truck.  The transmission probably wouldnt have gone out if i hadnt been clever and put in a quart of transmission fluid with additive when i changed the filter.

 

It wasnt afraid of some gravel either

 

 

Nice truck, Matt. As soon as I can sell the WRX, Ill be in the market for a truck.

 

Thanks.  My WRX was the same color... I liked it alot more when i was 26 years old lol.

[Ku Xiong]

Well, my cousin and I hit three (Pleasanton, Critzer, and Mound City) different lakes on the 4th of July.  Decided to stay at smaller impoundments to avoid the pleasure boaters. 

 

It was our first time at Pleasanton and GEEZ was it tough.  We managed 8 largemouth bass but my first fish was the biggest of the day on a Booyah poppin frog.  It was my first time there, but it seems like that lake has no type of structure to fish at all except those dang water willows.  We did manage a few bass on deep diving cranks.

 

22 inches at 5.9 pounds.

 

It was also my first time on Critzer.  If you enjoy pitching, that is the lake to be at.  If you hate navigating through thick brush and trees, thats not the lake to be at.  We caught about 15 bass all on jig and pig on standing timber.  Not much of a finesse type of lake at all.  Bass ranged from 12-16 inches.

 

Mound City was our last destination.  We wanted to hit the topwater bite out there and we did alright on buzzbaits and poppers.  Most of my catch was on a weightless texas rigged senko thrown close to grass beds and the banks in about 2-3 foot of water.  Mound City is starting to become one of my favorite bass lakes.  We caught about 20 or so bass there.

[Bluebasser86]

Pleasanton has structure to fish but very little cover other than the water willows. Normally catch a bunch flipping into the water willows out there. It does have some nice ones if you can get them to bite though. Looks like you found one of them!

[bkohlman]

Over the last few days I fished at Chase County State Fishing Lake and caught a few dinky spotted bass on my cavitron buzzbait, they loved blasting it. The my brother and I went to a walk in pond near strong city and he caught his first bass using soft plastics (baby brush hog), 2.5lbs not too bad.  

[Bluebasser86]

Went to Hillsdale this morning after the glowing report last week. I could have fished for 2 hours and left and it would have been fine. I ended up with 11 bass and 1 crappie. It was nice to catch more than one or two bass and actually catch them on purpose. They were biting pretty fast the first 10 minutes I was there, I think I may have even been having fun while bass fishing at Hillsdale   A black and blue Zoom Mag II worm did most of the damage, followed by a Cavitron, then a jig, squarebill, and chatterbait all accounted for 1 apiece. The crappie hit a jigging spoon when I tried to replicate what I was doing when I caught my two really nice walleye at Melvern yesterday. Biggest bass was a very skinny 17 incher that hit the buzzbait in less than a foot of water. 

[thatoneksguy]

Went to Hillsdale this morning after the glowing report last week. I could have fished for 2 hours and left and it would have been fine. I ended up with 11 bass and 1 crappie. It was nice to catch more than one or two bass and actually catch them on purpose. They were biting pretty fast the first 10 minutes I was there, I think I may have even been having fun while bass fishing at Hillsdale   A black and blue Zoom Mag II worm did most of the damage, followed by a Cavitron, then a jig, squarebill, and chatterbait all accounted for 1 apiece. The crappie hit a jigging spoon when I tried to replicate what I was doing when I caught my two really nice walleye at Melvern yesterday. Biggest bass was a very skinny 17 incher that hit the buzzbait in less than a foot of water. 

 

Were you fishing the big bull side?  I haven't tried over there yet, mainly fishing little blue.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Does Pleasonton still have a very primitive ramp and no dock?  I fished it quite few years ago from my two man boat and liked it and it always seems to slip my mind when I want to go someplace different.  As I recall I fished it early winter and there was no dock by the ramp.  Maybe they remove it in the off season?  Just wondering if I can launch my glass boat there.

[Bluebasser86]

Were you fishing the big bull side?  I haven't tried over there yet, mainly fishing little blue.

I don't have any idea. I launched from Jayhawk/state park/west side of the dam and caught most of my fish right there in the timber by the ramp.

 

Does Pleasonton still have a very primitive ramp and no dock?  I fished it quite few years ago from my two man boat and liked it and it always seems to slip my mind when I want to go someplace different.  As I recall I fished it early winter and there was no dock by the ramp.  Maybe they remove it in the off season?  Just wondering if I can launch my glass boat there.

It's still a pretty primitive ramp but there's 2 ramps, both on the north side of the lake. The east ramp has a dock but the ramp leaves a lot to be desired. The west ramp is a little nicer but no dock. If I was launching a nicer boat there I'd launch at the west ramp and have my partner drive the truck to the east ramp to use the dock. 

[Bluebasser86]

The wife and I spent the 4th on Melvern. It was a great day, fishing was good, weather was excellent, not too many boats, water felt nice, and not too much wind. It almost started out bad though. I had a nice smallmouth my second cast in the boat ramp cove on a ned rig. I was trying to grab it when the hook popped out and buried almost to the barb in my forearm, dodged a bullet there. I guess it wouldn't have been hard to push through and cut it but glad I didn't have to. 

We went straight to the dam and started fishing the 10-12 foot range but all I was getting was sunfish and tiny smallmouth bites. Backed off a little further into 15' and started marking lots of fish. Right as the only other boat on the dam drifted up to us and asked how we were doing I stuck a 17 3/4 inch smallmouth on a shakyhead.

Next cast was an almost blacked out 17 1/2 incher

Next cast I got a 17" smallmouth then I stuck what I thought was going to be a new state record. It was just a quick tap tap bite and rock solid on the hookset. Never pulled a ton of line, just stayed down and pulled hard like big smallies do. Surprised I got him in the boat on 10lb test after dragging it through the razor clams but after about 5 minutes I pulled 12.23lbs of grunting and growling channel cat into the boat.

Nicole caught some good ones too, this 16 1/2 was her best of the day.

I got another 17 3/4 on the shakyhead

And I got a couple of these things on jigging spoons in about 40' of water, 20 and 22 inches.

[Ku Xiong]

Pleasanton's ramps are still primitive.  The west ramp appeared to have a concrete slab in the water and was not very level with the gravel at the sides.  Be careful backing it in and not going over the sides with your trailer.  I did not see a dock at either ramps and had to beach my boat.  Glad I have an aluminum. 

[MXHalofan]

Dang bluebasser. 

[Mr_Scrogg]

I tell ya, Clayton could toss a jig in a mud puddle and pull out a 3lb fish. Lol