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Submitted by Ned Kehde - April 26, 2000 This is a tale of two bass fishermen who have battled this spring's continuous onslaught of windy weather and caught some fish. One of their adventures occurred during the full moon of April, which can be a good piscatorial omen. But unfortunately it also took place two days after a massive cold front pummeled all of Kansas, which carried wind chills into the teens in some locales and plagued anglers with freezing rain in Norton County. Such a spell of cold weather often portends foul fishing for several days after its initial wallop. In addition to the aftereffects of that cold front, these two anglers were beleaguered by a harsh wind. It was that the same kind of sharp wind that had persistently blown across these parts during this spring's first 30 days. During this long blowy stretch, the wind howled out of the south at 20 to 30 mph for a day or two. Then after a respite of day or less, it turned and angled out of the north at 20 to 30 mph. Thereupon it switched again and blew out of the west at a torrid pace. And during the day of this adventure, the wind gradually picked up velocity. At dawn it registered only 5 mph from the south, but by 3:30 p.m. some gusts broached 30 mph and ranks of white caps rolled across the lakes. Eventually it became a warm wind, sending area thermometers into the 70s, while water temperatures hovered in the mid-50s. That is the temperature smallmouth start exhibiting a hankering to procreate and puts them in shallow water Anglers in these parts often attribute poor fishing to either an unrelenting wind or the consequences of a cold front. It is said that the wind inhibits anglers from working their lures and controlling their boats properly. And the by-products of a cold front are said to turn the fish sullen, causing them to shun the most skillfully offered lures. But even during the sorriest of times, some savvy fishermen can find a spot where a few fish can be caught, and in April one of the easiest species to allure even in the wind and immediately after a cold front is the smallmouth bass. That is why Scott Ribordy of Lawrence headed for Coffey County Lake and Bob Laskey of Lawrence went to Melvern Lake. Coffey contains a vast population of smallmouth perhaps the best in Kansas and Missouri. And since it is a warm-water lake, being heating by a power plant, it might be a more profitable waterway to ply during an early spring barrage of cold weather. In addition, its 5,000 acres aren't tainted by heavy influxes of agricultural chemicals, as is Melvern. But Coffey is an ungodly spot to fish in the wind; it is so dangerous that the lake is closed when the winds reach 30 mph. On this day, the lake closed at 3:30 p.m. On the other hand, some smallmouth coverts at Melvern can be fished when the wind blows briskly out of the south. However, its smallmouth population is scant but rapidly growing under the care of Leonard Jirak, a Kansas Wildlife and Parks' biologist. On this day Ribordy even scuffled with the wind on the lake's lee side. But his tenacity and ability to wield a 1/4-ounce spider grub on spinning tackle yielded some grand dividends, and by the time the lake became quarantined, he had tangled with 41 hefty smallmouth around shallow boulders. Unlike Ribordy, Laskey could hide from the wind on Melvern's leeward shores, and by employing an1/8-ounce black marabou jig on a spinning outfit, he caught and released 13 bass. By day's end, both anglers agreed that those bass made the wind much less wearisome. |
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