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August 28, 2007 - Question
on crappie at Toronto and Big Hill - HAS ANYBODY STARTED
CATCHING CRAPPIE AT TORONTO OR BIG HILL YET? I THINK IT MIGHT
BE A KITTKE EARLY, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW.
THANK YOU
CLAYTON
August 28, 2007 - Answer
to info request on rigging 9" shad - Not sure
on the oz. lead jig head I'm using on the 7" sassy shad.
Just use one big enough to match it. Zeiner's has both 7"
shad and the lead jig heads for sale. Might call first. Been
awhile since I've been in. Use it on a three way swivel in combination
of some sort of a deep diver or Rapala husky jerk, (4 < "or
bigger). Went out Monday morning to Cheney, (August 27, 2007).
Kind of slow. Caught 6 Wipers. All around 22-23". I've noticed
if it's kind of windy, (20 m.p.h +," Monday") I don't
do as well. Don't know why. Monday I had to remove the 7"
sassy shad and put back on the 4" to get them to bite. The
really huge wipers were not biting Monday for me. Keep
thinking Marion Lake's Wipers have got to be getting huge. There's
a ton in there. Maybe soon??? It's a real nice lake.
Mark.
August 27, 2007 - Butler
SFL - Submitted
by Mark Kirkpatrick - My
buddy and I decided to take a day off work and do a little fishing
at Butler Fishing lake. we had a great time being the only ones
at the lake. we caught fish all day, as you can see. My buddy
caught the biggest Bass of the day 4.5 on a Bluegill colored
Snack Daddy Split Stix, 12 LB Vicious Line. I was pitching a
Snack Daddy Pro Tube, on 15LB VICIOUS FLUOROCARBON.
August 27, 2007 - Chase
SFL - First time trying chase and it's a rather nice
lake. It was windy and water temps were 79 to 81. One end gets
very shallow and is a big mud flat... saw a big carp zooming
off from it. Lots of little bass were caught. I used a 3 inch
gulp ripping shad to catch all mine. I saw a walleye strike my
jointed shad rap as well, but I wasn't trying to catch anything
at the time. Fished for bass, but maybe next time try for the
deeper water species.
Went to a farm pond and caught many more bass using
a new pack of gulp ripping minnows. Seemed to work great, but
they tear very easily. Using two packs in one day costing ten
bucks can eat up the wallet. But definately got the bites going.
Seems that all fish were getting caught on the fall. Still have
to do some slower finesse fishing.
Dominic
August 26, 2007 - Info
request on rigging 9" shad - I was just wondering
how you were rigging your nine inch sassy shad, as we wanted
to try this technique on Cedar Bluff in search of some of the
bigger wipers? Thanks!
August 25, 2007 - Info
request on watersheds - I'm always looking for new
places to try that are not too far away. One site that was a
mapping site started showing tons of watershed dams. Many would
be Flint hills watershed dam number this and that. I have seen
reports of people fishing on them, but I can't find any info.
Are these dams just spots on private property? I would love to
have a few small places to fish that are not too much over an
hour to get to. Any information would be great.
Dominic
August 22, 2007 - Marion
- Was on the lake by 7:00am (8/21) trolled out of
Marion Cove and right away picked up a 3# wiper. Had a pretty
fair day with a nice mix of white bass, channel cat and a several
wipers big enough to keep. Quit at noon with 40 fish in the icebox.
All fish were caught trolling the points on the east side of
the lake 3-5' of water.
If you go BE SURE you can identify the difference
between White Bass and Wipers. They are running right together
and we caught a bunch of Wipers that needed to go back in the
lake to grow a couple more years. If we can leave those wipers
in there, Marion will be a phenomenal place to fish in a couple
of years. We caught several year classes of wipers and the numbers
look really good.
We saw one other boat and one Jet Ski on the lake.
Royce H.
August 20, 2007 - Cheney
- August 20, 2007 Monday morning. Went out Sunday
morning but too many boats and did poor. Monday was much nicer.
Weather was perfect, (hot). Not too many boats out. Started catching
fish right off the bat. Had to communicated with another boater
to keep from getting hot headed and it worked out fine. That
boater caught lots of fish too. (seems to be getting crowded).
Stripers for me are showing up and caught (2), 15 lbers. Had
what felt like (2) Walleye on but they got off. I've been using
4" sassy shad but changed to 7" and yes, the bigger
Wipers hit those like mad. All around 7.5 to 8.5 lbs. few 9lbs.
Been having to use needles nose pliers, (long) due to the size
of the Wipers. My net,(expensive rubber) has been getting a work
out and it shows. It's been bowing like heck and i think it's
going to snap. I've noticed after the catch, the Wipers are looking
a little bit stressed in this hotter weather. (releasing all).
Total Wipers Monday around 15+. Mark.
...
I'm not a fish biologist. It's looking like Cheney might be under
rated on 21" plus on Wipers. I can't think of the last time
i caught one under 21" in the past 6-8 weeks. I'm sure my
EXTRA large baits helps, and NO white perch bit those.
August 16, 2007 - Clinton
- 8/12/07 - Catching Walleye early in the morning.
Trolling crank baits at around 10 15 feet across the flats.
Caught a nice 8 lb walleye around 24 ft deep coming
in to the flats.
As the water has wormed up now trolling at a depth
of 20 25 feet produces nice wipers and occasional channel
cats 3-5 lbs.
Crappie are everywhere, and when you find a school
on the depth finder they are easy pickings.
Wipers are to be had almost any where. Once you
find a school just keep going back over the same spot.
August 14, 2007 - Melvern
Question - Anyone fishing Melvern for Sauger/eyes
doing any good?
Tom K
August 11, 2007 - Brown
County Lake - Over the past several weeks
Catching several bass on jitterbugs early am and before dark.
Both from the bank and from the boat.
August 10, 2007 - Cheney
- August 10,2007. I was reading and looking at the
pictures on the reports and seen something funny on one of my
pictures that i did not realize that i posted. The August 4,
2007 report and pictures i sent in on night fishing. It was so
darn dark that night,(no moon) that we had to use a flashlight,
(red one lower right of picture with me with the Chief's shirt
on) for the digital camera to even pickup. The light from the
flashlight is on my nick. I tell ya. It was hard to do that,
with flashlight in one hand, pointing on my nick and fish in
another hand. Had to use G.P.S. to get back to the Eastside boat
ramp that night. Real dark, and kind of spooky. Never know what's
in front of you. I remember a few years back coming in at night
from fishing and it was real dark. I seen this light about 30
feet up high. Heck, it was a sail boat and scared the bejesus's
out of me. Mark.
August 8, 2007 - Cheney
- August 09, 2007 Thursday. Pretty much fishing in
the mornings now. Way too hot. I really try to fish during the
weekdays. Family on the weekends. Went out three times this week.
All fish caught over 21". Not one under. Walleye for me
slowing down. Catching about 1 per trip and those have been over
21". Wednesday morning was tops. Went by myself. Boys did
not want to get up early. Lost count, around 25 Wipers. Many,
many times both poles at once with fish. All i could do was reel
one in and watch the other pulling out drag. Must say, when i'm
by myself that's a blast. Few times two fish on one pole. Thursday
after the storm came up with 10 Wipers. My boat is really stinking
up the garage. Don't buy a fishing boat with carpet. Mark.
August 7, 2007 - Yates
Center Old Reservoir - FISHED THE OLD RESERVOIR IN
YATES CENTER SAT. NIGHT INTO LATE SUNDAY MOARNING. EVERYHTING
MUST HAVE BEEN SLEEPING. CAUGHT VERY FEW FISH THE WHOLE TIME.
MOST AFTER DARK. WATER WAS VERY WARM. 85 IS WHAT THE DEPTH FINDER
SAID ON THE SURFACE. THE FISH FEEDERS WENT OFF, BUT AS USAUL
NO FEED IN THEM. IT KINDA MAKES YOU WONDER WHY YOU BUY A PERMIT.
ALSO FOR ANYBODY WHO FISHES THOSE RESERVOIRS, THE CITY HAS "DEPUTIZED"
CITY WORKERS TO CHECK LICENSES AND PERMITS. SO WATCH YOUR P'S
& Q'S GOOD LUCK
CLAYTON
August 7, 2007 - Answer
to trolling question at Cheney I have to give Chirs
(Watkins Guide Service) much needed credit on using live or cut
bait. In order to have any guide service you know your business.
I've been out fishing catching maybe 2 fish and listening to
Chris, (marine radio) catching fish left and right and not having
enough hands to pull all of them in. And big one's.
I would not suggest going out and buying expensive
downriggers right off the bat. Try the other method. Might take
you some time but I know it works. The gas consumption is terrible
in my boat trolling and trolling. I just hate driving up and
putting in $130 in the boat and truck. (I can see Chis laughing
at that one) I know other lakes, Wilson, Beaver Lake, live bait
is KING for them.
A little off the subject, but I know there's some
MONSTER Stripers in Cheney, (very few), but I have not been able
to snatch up on any yet this year. There in there.
And by the way, thanks, "Jim", (Zeiner)
for letting us use you site. It's great.
Mark.
August 6, 2007 - Question
for Mark at Cheney -
Mark,
What kind of lures are you using and at what depths
for these walleye?
Brian from McPherson
August 6, 2007 - Answer
to Cheney Trolling Question -I'm fishing the same
way the guy was in the Sport section of Sundays Wichita Eagle,
(Aug. 05, 2007). But different location's of lake. Look at picture
of downriggers. 3-5 M.P.H. Mark.
August 5, 2007 - Answer
to Cheney Trolling Question - Submitted by Watkins Guide Service -Jeff-here's your
answer to the trolling question--Start using live or cut natural
baits, shad or white perch and you will constantly catch fish
all year and not just a few months in the summer. This last spring
when the trollers were calling Cheney the "dead sea"
we were putting 15 to 25 wipers in the boat every day. Minn-Kota
auto pilot trolling motors allows you to QUIETLY move over drops
and ledges where you find the fish. We have been extremely productive
this year anchoring and casting bait into them. These dog days
of July and August, we don't catch as many but 7 to 10 lbers
are average. 8 sat the 4th and 6 Sunday the 5th nothing under
6lbs. The numbers always increase in mid sept. on. The other
big benefit is all the money you save on gas and engine maintenance
from running at slow speeds all day. Just a little advise! Chris
Nichols-Watkins Guide service.
August 5, 2007 - Cheney
- My wife and I got out to Cheney about 4:30 on Friday
afternoon. We started trolling and right away we were marking
a lot of bait fish and a lot of fish. We ended up catching 2
keeper walleye. One was 23 and the other was 25 inches. I dont
know Mark but I read about his fishing trips on the Kansas Angler
all the time. There was a boat out on Friday and since they were
using downriggers I was thinking this might be Mark. After watching
them catch several fish I was ready to boat over and make an
offer on buying one of his downriggers. This is a guy who can
put some fish in the boat. I am now looking thru my Cabelas catalog
at downriggers and am thinking about getting one. I just think
being able to really control the depth you lure is would be a
great help.
Randy and Martha
August 4, 2007
- Cheney - August 03, 2007 Friday
evening. Did good. Had twice 2, 7 lbs. Wipers on one pole. Once
had both poles go down. Had a few fish, Walleye, get off. Did
catch 4, Walleye over 21". Fished till 10pm. Without that
G.P.S. at night would not have been able to fish. Wipers and
Walleye are very healthy and fat. Think they been eating at Home
Town Buffet. Very enjoyable evening fishing. Not much diffencence
fishing on catches at dark. But did catch fish after sunset.
All fish back into the lake for another day.
Mark.
August 3, 2007 - Cheney
Question -
Mark,
Are you drifting or trolling? Just curious. My
boat actually trolls too fast. I need to get a kicker motor.
Good luck fishing,
Jeff
August 2, 2007 - Cheney
- August 01, 2007 Wednesday. Afternoon, evening fishing
was slow. Thunder boomers popping up here and there. Lake never
got any but they were close by. Pretty breezy too. 10 Wipers.
3 right at 21" rest under. No Walleye. Talked to many fishermen.
Catfish were biting quite well 18' of water. Mark.
July 31, 2007 - Cheney
- July 31, 2007 Tuesday. 60% chance of rain but went
anyway. We had a blast. Took my two son's, 14 and 15 years old.
Put three poles out and it was not more than 5 mins. all went
down with nice 23-25" Wipers. One pole had two on. This
went on for 1.5 hrs. then things kind of slowed down. Final catch
was 15 Wipers, almost all over 21". Three Walleye all over
21". Did catch a few Wipers under 21". Was getting
ready to leave at 7:15pm., boys were starving for Pizza hut,
and made one more pass. We had one HUGE fish on. It took all
the line out, 350', from the reel. With drag set kind of tight.
That was it. Fish and line gone. Mark.
July 27, 2007 - Cheney
- July 27, 2007 Friday afternoon. Had another excellent
day. Last three trips the Walleye are really biting. Most of
these fish are huge. Some are throw back but most keepers. All
we caught today were keepers, four of them. 7 lbs. 6 lbs. and
2, 5 lbs. Caught 5 Wipers but they were all throw backs. Must
say this years catches on Walleye are the biggest I've ever experienced.
I do like the 21" length limit that's been in effect for
many years. It's paying off with mostly large Walleye in the
lake. From now on this summer all i catch are going back into
the lake. Freezer is full. Most of the Walleye we caught today
were caught during the hottest part of the day. 4:30pm. Mark.
July 24, 2007
- Cheney - July 23, 2007 Monday.
Took three boys. They had a ball. All caught fish. Had several
get off. Then a storm hit the edge of the lake and the wind switched
to the North and the fish pretty much stopped biting. Mark.
July 23, 2007 - El Dorado
- Last two weekends at Eldorado next to the Rock Quarrey
have been a blast catching fish underneath submergeable lights.
Caught over 150 white bass in 3 nights of fishing. Best time
is after midnight. All whites have been 1lb-1/2 to 2lb. Catching
them on jigs.
July 22, 2007 - Kingman
SFL - Decided to try Kingman State lake on Sunday
(22nd). BIG MISTAKE. Put boat in and moved all around lake. Threw
spinnerbaits,buzzbaits, and topwater. Nothing. Only thing caught
in 2 wasted hours was dying vegetation in the prop. Dying weeds
and lilypads everywhere in lake. Had been a couple of years since
being there but don't think I will be back. The deepest water
marked on depthfinder was 4 ft.
July 22, 2007 - Cheney
- Went out to Cheney today the 22nd. marked large
concentartions of fish but had no luck in getting them in the
boat. Saw & talked to others trolling and they shared same
story. Mostly along west side from launch ramp to sailboat cove.
Nice chop on water though,but no fish.
July 21, 2007 - Cheney
- July 20, 2007 Friday. Headed to the lake by myself
in the evening. Called a friend but he was heading to a Catfish
tournament up North. My son said no, the fish are not biting
at Cheney. Took him out twice and only a few fish. Finally had
a excellent day. I'd get one pole out and working on the other
and wham. Fish on. That happened a bunch. The Walleye were really
biting. Caught 8 and kept 2. All well over 21". The Wipers
were biting too. Caught many in the 18" area and four well
over 21". So, I limited out on Walleye and Wipers. Lost
count on the Wipers. Must have been around 15. One other boat
out with me in one area. So since I was limited out and he was
watching my catches I motioned him where the spot was when I
was over it and let him have it. Did see him bring two Walleye
in. Mark.
July 14, 2007 - Cheney
- Submitted by Watkins
Guide Service - Surface temp at Cheney is 82 degrees
and the wipers are slowing down a little.The algae bloom is increasing
and I'm sure that doesn't help matters.Caught 5 shorts and one
26 incher between 5:00 am and 8:30 am, mostly at sunrise after
that they get pretty lazy. Chris Nichols-Watkins guide
Service
July 9, 2007 - Cheney
& Blue Cats - I am glad someone said something
about the common misidentification of blues & male channels
with their spawning color. I have heard it all my life. I believe
it is because they look so different than the average channel
cat, and are a dark blue in color, people assume they are a different
species. Most true blues are actually light in color and have
a very small head and humped back. I believe people will get
more familiar with blues as they become more common as KWPD is
stocking them all over just recently, Cheney included, although
these will still be very small. Until recently, the only place
I knew of blues in Kansas was Ks. River, Mo. River, & Milford
Lake. In a conversation with a biologist I learned that several
earlier attempts at establishing blue cats in Kansas had failed.
Hopefully these recent attempts will not. By the way, many people
in Oklahoma call male spawning channels blues because they are
blue, and they call blues white cats (a small east coast catfish)
or Mississippi whites most likely because they are so light in
color. Very large blues, like channels, do often get darker with
age causing more confusion. KDWP has detailed info on how to
identify both on their site.
Mark G
July 7, 2007 - Cheney
- July 07, 2007 Saturday. Fished in the a.m. Real nice day
with light South wind. Found more shad schooled up in spots.
But the fish were not feeding on them. Only came up with one
21" Wiper and one 21" Walleye. Heard a few the live
bait fisherman had excellent success on Wipers. While bring boat
out of water Fish and Game thoroughly, i mean thoroughly inspected
everything. Second time this year for me. They spent at least
25 mins. with me. Tape measures and all. Mark.
July 6, 2007 - Milford
- Submitted by Curt Graves
- Milford Lake, July 6, 2007
Water stained with lots of green tint, 80-83 degrees,
south wind 0-5 mph
When the water is calm, it is hard to catch smallmouth. But I
went to the lake to practice some new techniques and test some
new products I had just purchased. After launching my 200 ProCraft
and idling to the nearest rocky point with my optimax, I began
throwing a sammy around 8:30 AM. I quickly switched to a deep
diving crankbait and c-rig. No luck. As I went past a pocket
point, I ventured in to flip a laydown. After several pitches
trying out the viscious 20 lb flourocarbon, I was rewarded with
a familiar thump and saw my line swim off. The heavy action PT
rod and 20 lb line was a little too much for a 13" smallmouth!
After several more laydowns and points only yielded a few other
small fish, I switched to the spinning rod of which I've not
been very proficient with. On one main lake point, I found them.
5 keeper smallies in 30 minutes from the same rock pile. Best
fish was 18 1/2 ". I'm guessing 10 lbs or so for my best
limit for the day. With the 10 lb viscious flourocarbon and PT
rod-reel, I was able to feel the subtle bites.
Lessons learned for the day? Keep an open mind as the fish were
much shallower than I'd have thought. Also, don't cuss the boat
traffic on calm days! I believe the boat action kept the fish
active as I was actually looking for points with wind and waves
the rest of the day. Finally, find the spot within the spot.
The area those keeper smallies were in was only about 10' of
bank. Casting above or below that area resulted in hauling water.
July 6, 2007
- Cheney - Submitted by Watkins Guide Service - The month of
June was fantastic wiper fishing to say the least. 15 to 20 per
am was pretty much the norm. did have couple slow days but overall
we boated well over 150 fish. Sunday July 1st was rainy and very
slow,only 3 fish. July 4th we made up for it with 18. really
having hard time finding fish over the 21 inch mark. most are
18 to 20,but a 8 or 10 pounder every once in awhile. Cheney lakes
wiper fisheries just continues to improve every year.
Chris Nichols-Watkins guide service. Cheney
July 3, 2007 - Cheney
- July 02, 2007 Monday. More evening fishing. Lake
still muddy. Not one fish. Fished for several hours and nothing.
Might have been due to the East wind. I'm finding myself this
year going out of state more on guided fishing trips. Heck, can't
really fish all that much due to the weather here in Kansas.
Only can hope HOT August will produce more fish. Been to Beaver
Lake already this June and did excellent. Going again in two
weeks for those monster Stripers. Always have a great time there.
Was planning a weekend trip to Fall River for Whites but that
lake is at lest 35' high. That lake will take forever to get
back to normal. Might not be able to fish that lake all summer.
Mark.
July 1, 2007 - Cheney
- About June 22nd Cheney. There are no Blue Cats in
Cheney. What you caught was a male channel cat that will turn
blueish in color at spawning time.
TTH
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