For Us KC Area Guys - Fishing Reports

[joefish]

Well, I am officially an OLD man now.    Recieved my first Social Security payment today! 

[Chris S]

Well, I am officially an OLD man now.    Recieved my first Social Security payment today! 

I will be happy if it has not run dry when I am old enough to get one

[joefish]

Just wondering?      If anyone would share some GPS coordinates for Melvern Lake,  I have never fished that lake,  but the pics of those healthy brown bass really has me interested in going there.   I have no idea where to fish since I have never even been on the lake.   I would be going during the week, since I'm retired, so I wouldn't be in most of your way on the weekends.    Message me if you would,

[Chris S]

Just wondering?      If anyone would share some GPS coordinates for Melvern Lake,  I have never fished that lake,  but the pics of those healthy brown bass really has me interested in going there.   I have no idea where to fish since I have never even been on the lake.   I would be going during the week, since I'm retired, so I wouldn't be in most of your way on the weekends.    Message me if you would,

IMO fish the dam with a ned rig and they will find you

[Hi Salenity]

Put in at the marina and fish any bank that has rocks big enough for cover.

Not gravel.

[Bluebasser86]

I like the gravel banks   The dam is always a sure bet. Most of the points on the south side of the lake seem to hold fish. I've never done well on the north side of the lake except for a couple spots and I'm not at liberty to share those as they were disclosed to me only after I swore to secrecy

[cbass12]

Put in at the marina and fish any bank that has rocks big enough for cover.

Not gravel.

 

Gravel banks were good to us this spring. You just have to find the right ones 

[Hi Salenity]

For me The gradually sloping gravel banks normally have a fish or 2 on them but its a last ditch effort for me to fish them as its normaly a grind and I can never get more than a fish every 100 yards ... And that's on a good day.

That's just my opinion on the way I fish the lake.

Money marbles or chalk says the bigger brown fish are out deep looking for a dropshot, but that's a big lake to fish and probably would send me and my poor electronics home with my tale between my leggs a lot before I'd ever get an idea ware to look

[cbass12]

We just found a couple spots this spring that had pea gravel that held bigger fish. The times we fished them we didn't catch many but what we did catch was very good quality. Not saying that is what we look for, just that we had a little success with it this spring.

[Mr_Scrogg]

I can tell you where you WONT catch fish.   I know those places by heart. 

[Hi Salenity]

I can tell you where you WONT catch fish. I know those places by heart.

I fished those spots last Sunday

[pbrussell]

I found a spot on the north end that held both numbers and a few that had size. As some have noted, the rock was "chunky" in this area. 

A side note, it appears that the biffle hard head (chompers also makes a ripoff) can catch fish pretty good at melvern if you have the right bait behind it.

I've fished the gambler ugly otter in pbj with pretty good success. Fish it around rock and real it in slow and you will catch fish (multiple species I might add).

 

Heading to wabunsee early tomorrow to try and get an idea of what the lake fishes like. 

Gameplan is to hit the docks, and rocky areas. Gonna fish a buzzbait early to see what happens around some docks. Of course, I'll be throwing a jig as well as this seems to be a money bait. Chances are some cranks will be mixed in as these are my confidence bait. Weather looks like it should be nice. A report will follow tomorrow. I'd like to just get into one big fish (5+). If that happens, I will be happy. 

[Bluebasser86]

Olathe had really good water color this morning, more stain than it has had most of the year and the cooler weather seems to have pushed the shad down so the bass have moved back to the banks better. I took my swimbait rod and 2 baits, my new baby hardgill and my slammer in the hour I fished. Missed 3 on the hardgill, 1 on the Slammer, one of the baby hardgill fish swiped at the boat and was a really nice fish. The one I got on the gill was nothing to get excited about but any fish on a swimbait is a good fish, especially at a tough lake.

[pbrussell]

Been hearing some rumors about bilby ranch lake up in ne mo. 

Supposed to be populations of big green fish in there. Anyone know anything about this place?

[Bluebasser86]

Been hearing some rumors about bilby ranch lake up in ne mo. 

Supposed to be populations of big green fish in there. Anyone know anything about this place?

I've heard the same, it's a haul to get there though. Best population of big fish in a small lake in Missouri is still supposed to be in Lake Paho. I haven't been back since my first trip but I'd sure like to get up there again sometime. No gravel the whole way either 

[pbrussell]

for me, it's 2 hours for both paho and bilby ranch. It's a little less time for mozingo. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to maybe put in on one of those three before the season is over.

[gastler]

Hi, I have been lurking this thread for the last year and just decided to join up. Bilby is an awesome lake for big bass. It is only 110 acres, but receives very little bass fishing pressure with big brother Mozingo just down the road. Most of the pressure on Bilby comes from the cat fishermen, as it is a terrific channel cat and flathead fishery. If you like throwing a frog, Bilby has a ton of pads and the frog bite was on a couple of weeks ago. I am lucky enough to live 10 minutes from Mozingo and 20 min from Bilby, so those are the main lakes I fish throughout the year.

 

Here is a pic of a bass my buddy caught at Bilby last year:

 

[kanasbassfisher08]

wow what did that one go 6 or 7 nice!

[Chris S]

That's a toad!

[gastler]

It only went 5lbs. I think I weighed it 4 times, cause I thought it should have been alot heavier. It was post spawn and pretty skinny.

[Chris S]

Saylorville Lake Iowa just north of Des Monies.

 

Anyone ever fish here?

[Decatur Staley]

I live about 5 minutes from Olathe Lake so I fish it fairly often. It's tough right now because of the abundance of shad but it will get better later in the fall after they've eaten a bunch of those shad and have to stop roaming and get back on the banks to chase bluegills and craws again. Shakyheads, squarebills, chatterbaits, and traps are usually good in the fall. Last couple times I've been out flipping a beaver into the water willows was the way to go but numbers were nowhere to be found. 

As far as other lakes close by it's pretty slim pickings, not in numbers of lakes, but lakes worth going to. Cedar Lake in Olathe has good quality but they're tough to catch and if you get 10 you had a great outing. Gardner used to be good but since it got LBV the quality fish are not there. Killcreek is pretty decent but make sure you get your JOCO permits before you go, same with Shawnee Mission if you want to waste your time out there. Lenexa has lots of dinks and a couple bigger fish. Wyandotte is tough most of the time but catch it on the right day and it's a good lake that has bonus smallmouth, make sure you get your Wyco permits out there. Douglas State Lake has tons of dinks and a couple bigger fish, it's my favorite "practice lake" because I can catch fish on about anything. Welcome to the site and the thread. Read up all the info in this thread and check out the pictures and you should get an idea of where to start!

Just happened upon this forum, l love it - thanks to all of you who post ideas / experiences...

 

Blue Basser, just bought my first boat..... 1970's V - bottom 14 footer.... very simple for a beginner (me!).  However, live in Olathe and was also wondering about Olathe Lake.  At this time of the fall, is there an area that seems better than others?  down by the d**n, south end of the lake - south of the golf course, or somewhere else?  just curious... thanks for any help - Dave

[Bluebasser86]

Just happened upon this forum, l love it - thanks to all of you who post ideas / experiences...

 

Blue Basser, just bought my first boat..... 1970's V - bottom 14 footer.... very simple for a beginner (me!).  However, live in Olathe and was also wondering about Olathe Lake.  At this time of the fall, is there an area that seems better than others?  down by the d**n, south end of the lake - south of the golf course, or somewhere else?  just curious... thanks for any help - Dave

That lake is pretty tough in the fall a lot of the time. There's tons of shad in the lake right now so the fish don't have to work very hard to get food. Really about the only area I don't occasionally catch fish is the flat shoreline by the golf course and southeast of the island where it gets really shallow. We fished there Wednesday morning and it was pretty tough. Most of our fish were on a 8" redbug colored worm but a small squarebill and a pitboss caught fish also. 

[SuperFluke]

Made my first trip to Melvern yesterday with my brother.    I was surprised by how windy it was, although after fishing in kansas for the last several years, I shouldn't be.  Thanks to the board, we knew where to start...rocky areas around the marina and the dam.  Caught a bunch of fish to start out with (including a "slam") around those areas using tube and ned rig.  As we were fishing the dam, my brother hooked one of those little bluegill that live up shallow with the ned rig and was reeling it in when a large bass came up from behind and took the fish right off the hook.   Hmmm.  After that, I started throwing a KVD square bill in kind of the crawdad/orange color to see if I couldn't get one to chase that.  Caught my personal best smallmouth at 3.4 lbs on the squarebill.  The location will be familar to most of you.

 

Tubes and shallow crankbaits produced best fish but fewer bites.  Ned rig was dominant on the dinks.

 

[Decatur Staley]

That lake is pretty tough in the fall a lot of the time. There's tons of shad in the lake right now so the fish don't have to work very hard to get food. Really about the only area I don't occasionally catch fish is the flat shoreline by the golf course and southeast of the island where it gets really shallow. We fished there Wednesday morning and it was pretty tough. Most of our fish were on a 8" redbug colored worm but a small squarebill and a pitboss caught fish also. 

Thanks for the insight, i will give the lake a try.  If nothing else, i will enjoy casting.... thanks!