Bluebasser86

What jerks were they eating? Did you try any jigs/shakey heads/jigging spoons? I think I'm going to head down there late Feburary and give it a try.

I have the 7'3" LT carolina rig rod and it works very well for rigging, flipping, pitching, and a slop rod for frogs. I don't think I'd use it for spinnerbaits or buzzfrogs but it's a really nice rod for heavier baits and heavy cover or long casts and hooksets when you're rigging.

I have had a lot of success swimming a 3 inch Gulp minnow on an 1/8 jighead. I've caught almost everything on them. It's a great bait for walleyes, smallmouth, largemouth, whitebass, crappie, wipers, and less targeted fish like drum, catfish, and gar. I've been trying the regular 3 inch power minnow and I've had similar success without the problem of them drying up.

The last couple times I've been to La Cygne was on a monday or tuesday and they weren't generating at all so the water was cold and the fish were not biting well at all. It's still better than sitting at home though ;D. I have caught more numbers of fish this winter at La Cygne than recent years but the big fish have not been there for me.

One great thing about this area is you have 2 powerplant lakes that almost always have open water within an hour of here. If you feel like braving the weather you don't ever have to stop! I had a near 100 fish day on Wolf Creek powerplant lake last tuesday. If you find fish at Wolf Creek or La Cygne they may not be bass but a fish on the end of line is a a whole lot better than sitting at home wishing! Most of the lakes around here are fairly dirty water and not very deep. Lots of fish to be caught on cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs, and soft plastics with typical stained water colors and techniques.

:-? Isn't that a brownie in his avitar? I'm 99% sure that is a smelt from the pictures I can find. I'm sure like any other fish small enough for a bass to eat that is plays some kind of role in their diet.

Wolf Creek, Coffey County lake whichever you want to call it. It's right across the road from John Redmon. They have the strictest regulations I've ever seen as far as what fish you can keep and apparently it is working for the crappie in there. I've only ever caught one under 12 inches from there and it was 11 inches. I found the school I caught these out of flipping a Yum craw papi into the trees. I was getting hit every flip but they were just hitting it on the way down and dropping it. I've caught a couple crappies on full sized bass jigs there before so I figured that was what was happening to me.

Several years ago I was night fishing with a big black jitterbug when a huge Great Horned Owl swooped down and picked up my bait off the surface. All I heard was a big splash so I set the hook and thought I'd hooked a monster . Didn't know what to do when I figured out what I'd hooked but thankfully the owl crash landed in some brush along the bank and when he took back off the hooks got stuck in a vine and he pulled free. Called it a night after that.

The bass were almost all on spinnerbaits, flukes, pointers. The whites were mostly on an excaliber XR50 rattlebait. The crappies were all on minnows or a berkley power minnow jigging in 9 feet of water.

These both came out of a powerplant lake in about 9 feet of water in some standing timber. I'm not much of a crappie fisherman but these ones were fighting like crazy! I didn't have and of the rods I normally crappie fish with and I don't think I could have landed many of them if I had. I was using my medium light dropshot rod and 6lb test and it was all I could do to get them out of the trees.

And man they were nice ones! The lake I was fishing has a 2 fish 14 inch limit on crappie. I caught 32 of them in about 2 hours of fishing for them and only one was under 12 inches with most of them over 13 inches. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so the only 2 I got pictures of were the 2 that I brought home. Nothing like a set of bookend 14 1/2 inchers 8-). I got both of these on a 2 inch power minnow in smelt color on a 1/32 oz jighead in about 9 feet of water.

Tore them up at Wolf Creek today. Final count was 32 crappie, 30 largemouth, 29 white bass, 1 smallmouth, and 1 catfish. It was one of those rare days out there with no wind and this warm day really turned them on. There was another boat catching whites almost every cast but I got tired of unhooking them while trying not to get hooked . I got my 2 fish limit of crappie over 14 inches, crazy how many big crappie are in that lake.

I broke my carrot stick this last Monday almost exactly in the middle of the rod > . I was throwing a rattletrap and got bumped and just did a side sweep hookset and it just layed over like it was halfway cut through already. The company wants 40 for the replacement plus it's going to cost 20 for shipping. You can find them for 70 dollars discontinued around here so I think I'll just throw it away and stick to my St. Croix rods .

Haven't fished the fat money minnows but the regular ones catch fish really well at times. Pretty much anywhere you would fish a spinnerbait, swimjig, or shallow running crankbait you can catch fish on them. I've done my best fishing them in fairly clear water around weeds and docks like I would a spinnerbait.

I'm just a little north in Shawnee, just moved up here from Gardner. It was nice living down there because it's a little closer drive to most of the lakes I like to fish! Hope you're enjoying the wonderful Kansas weather! :

You can call Linn County Parks and probably get that information. I'm not sure what the number is but I'm sure you could find it online or go to Kansas Department of Wildlifes website, it's listed there under La Cygnes fishing report. The water at the outlet was only 40 degrees Monday and if they haven't picked up since then there may not be a boatramp open right now. The only one open Monday was the one straight across from the outlet that is extremly shallow right now. I had to use my trolling motor for the first 100 yards before I could even put my big motor down far enough to motor the rest of the way over. The warmest water I saw all day was 46 degrees.

X2. I'm also not a fan of vertical jigging spoons or deep cranking, just never had much luck doing either.

I would fit into that group! I fish all winter long as long as the water stays soft, the wind isn't blowing really hard, and the highs make it over about 25. I fish La Cygne and Wolf Creek just depending on the wind and where the bite is supposed to be going! La Cygne had more ice on it than I've ever seen last Monday. The main ramp in Linn County park was iced in and the ice line went about straight across the lake from there. Water at the outlet just barely hit 40, highest temp I saw was 46 along the rock bank by the island for some reason?

I love that top bait! One of my favorite lakes they love gold and red cranks and that's the perfect combination!

I bought a 200E7 from David P also and it looks brand new. Those Cumaras feel like really nice rods and should be just right for pitching a small bait like that!

Don't know about the buzzjet but the LC Kelly J is a really good bait. I've got one in chartruese shad that's caught a lot of fish for me. The old standby Heddon Torpedo is always catching fish for people too.

Anyone do much night fishing for smallies? I night fish for largemouth and have lots of success but I tried for smallmouth last year and couldn't buy a strike from a smallie. The lake I was fishing for them isn't heavily pressured so maybe they don't feel the need to avoid the heavy pressure during the day to feed at night. I've heard you can catch some monster smallies at night and there's supposed to be some in the lake I was fishing. I catch lots of smallmouth out of this lake so I know they're in there and in the spots I was fishing. I mainly fishing a black and blue jig, a black single colorado bladed spinnerbait, a black sapphire trick worm on a shakey head, a black buzzbait, and an aurora black sammy. Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on what I might do differently? The water has about 3 foot of visibility and is mainly rock structure with very little brushpiles or any cover. I was fishing in the middle of summer with night time temps in the 70's and daytime temps in the 90's to 100's.

I have one of the purple RCX reels and like it really well. Mine is the 7.1 version and I use it for fishing plastics and buzzbaits. It casts really well and a very solid feeling reel. I've only had it since late summer so I can't say much about it's durability. A friend of mine has a few of the older blue ones and loves them.

I love catching wipers, I'll fish for them over bass whenever I see them busting shad or I get on a school of them, they fight like crazy! I catch them dang buffalo all winter long fishing jigging spoons right below the outlet. I guess they sit there because the water keeps everything stirred up and makes it easy for them to find food. Normally with the jigging spoons they're snagged in the tail or under the chin. This one had the roadrunner in his mouth. Might have just timed a lift just right but either way it was a heck of a fight! I was only fishing 14lb mono and medium baitcasting rod so I spent some time wearing him out. I wouldn't make fun of anyone for catching a big carp on bass gear, they are about as strong as any fish in freshwater, it's just really disappointing when you realize what you have!

Decided to brave the wind and cold today to do a little fishing at a powerplant lake. Got to the lake to discover half of it frozen over >. Apparently they haven't been generated for the last few weeks very much and water temps have dropped like a rock. I launched from the only open ramp and started to motor across to some diving seagulls. With water temps in the low 40's I wasn't very hopeful but my second cast I got this nice wiper. Nothing else under the birds so I went to the outlet and started casting a 1oz roadrunner and slowrolling it in the current hoping for a big wiper or flathead. I got a solid thump and set into a big fish. The way it was bulldogging around and staying down I thought I might have my flathead on. 5 minutes later this came up. Pretty disappointing when your big flathead turns out to be a 20+ pound buffalo. It was a fun fight though and better than staying home I guess!