SuperFluke

While the rest of the forum is stuck on super secret Wabaunsee probation with the prospect of fishing in 40-50 degree weather and 25 mph winds, I decided to head to Wyandotte after work. Wife and I each caught nice largemouth that were both barely short of 15". Mine on a jig and her's on a ned rig in about 15' on a ridge/point that I've caught a walleye on before on a tourney night. Got the new Lowrance electronics installed on the boat. I've got an HDS 7 on the dash and an HDS 5 coming for the bow. Pretty cool stuff. I have to admit that about half the fun of fishing for me is playing around with the electronics. First time I've had side scan, so pretty excited and you're all going to have to endure looking at some screenshots. Here's the "rock crusher" in Wilson Cove. A nice brush pile that I've known about for awhile and decided to see how it would look. Down imaging view of the brush...chart speed is a little too fast (or boat too slow) to get the best image. A school of fish...maybe whites...hanging out just off the edge of a ridge. You can see thermocline really well in this one. I've decided to quit fishing the bank at Wyandotte and see what I can find offshore. I've marked some good looking rock piles and some trees that I didn't know about before. Hopefully I can find some fish in some areas that get a little less pressure.

Fished Clinton for about 45 minutes yesterday after helping out with a sailing regatta as a chase boat. Threw the ned rig since it was still tied on from melvern. Was surprised to catch a couple of decent smallmouth. Got several whites, a drum and a tiny walleye, so it was a productive hour. Can't see Clinton really as a great smallmouth fishery due to the murky water but hopefully they continue to improve out there.

Back to Melvern again today. Let's just say the wind and the razor clams got the best of us today. Both my dad and I had good sized smallmouth on in the marina cove, but both pulled off. Mine was on a tube and my dad's on a Ned rig. Thought mine was a rock cause it was pretty shallow and then she rolled on top and I lost her. Caught over 20 bass in various places, but marina cove was best. Tube and Carolina rig lizard also produced until the razor clams claimed them...

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.

Berkely Havoc bottom bouncer with any watermelon color have been ok for me this year.

Have a question for you more experienced night-fisherman. Last night, my brother and I were debating as to whether a headlamp would affect topwater fishing in shallow water. I was thinking it wouldn't, plus it's really hard to cast towards the bank without a little light on it. Anybody have an opinion or more experienced view?

Wednesday nighter was really tough last night. Caught a keeper walleye on the end of a long point in 30' on the main lake. Caught a decent smallmouth on a frog. My brother caught a few nice smallmouth on a dropshot, but nothing close enough to measure. One fish weighed in out of 13 boats, but it was a nice 4.04lb largemouth.

Well, I thought I could, but I can't make Oct. 5. Got to work that day. Will make it to one of these eventually.

wife and I fished this morning from 6:45 - 10. We probably caught close to 15 smallmouth and a couple of largemouth thrown in as well. Ran into Chris and his son. They were out chasing crappie and nice enough to say hello. Hope you guys found 'em! Will probably be out this Wednesday night... need to quit catching smallmouth and try to focus on catching largemouth.

Checked it out today after work. Havoc plastics were $1.99 and Berkely Powerworms and Powercraws were $2.99. Selection was limited to just a few good brands, but if you like either of those plastics you can go and load up!

Fished this evening from 6 to 9 to see if I could get on any better fish. Tried some new stuff and some old stuff and boated a half dozen LM. No keepers. Lost a good sm on a jig. Dropshot was the only bait that I could get a bite on.

Fished the bass tourney last night for the first time with my brother, Kyle. Got to meet Bluebasser86 and Kansasfisher08, which was definitely the highlight. Living bassresource legends, those two, and they lived up to it by winning the event with a single 2.66lb LM. We caught about a half dozen smallmouth on a drop shot and wacky rigged worm. One was my PB Smallmouth for Wyandotte at 15" that I caught on a deep ledge with the dropshot. I also caught a 14.5" LM in the last 15 minutes on some kind of craw that I dug out of my box in the dark in the marina cove. Even though we didn't weigh in a fish, it was a lot of fun, and we'll be back once we figure out where some of those keeper LMs are hanging out.

Finally got a new rig and re-visited the Dotte last night, 08/10. Wife and I caught 5...all smallmouth and all dinks. Producing were plastic worms and tubes in most of the obvious areas. Will be out at the Wednesday nighter this week. First timer, and never caught a keeper bass at Wyandotte. Loving my chances If you see me out there in this: Catching these: Come say hi.

Are you talking about Mize Lake that is on Cedar Creek Valley Parkway? That's one of my favorite lakes to shore fish. It tends to get very clear in the summer. I've caught fish on spinnerbaits, crankbaits and topwater, but my favorite lure out there is my namesake (watermelon candy super fluke). You can tear them up on that bait in the brush. Really fun lake, easy to do a lap around the whole lake in about 90 minutes. It's also loaded with dink crappie if that's your thing.

Fished last night from 6 pm to about 8:30 pm. Water temp in low 70's. Was a pretty good night even with the dirty, high water from the rain. My brother and I probably put a dozen in the boat. Caught a few on a dropshot and a shakeyhead on the main lake, including our first smallmouth of the year at Wyandotte (a skinny 13 incher). Then, we spent the rest of the evening throwing topwater. The action was pretty steady in Boy Scout cove. Was a lot of fun until my brother jumped off the only keeper LM (2-3 lb) of the evening right by the ramp at the marina on the last cast of the day.

Kyle, I'm not an expert by any means, but I do fish Smithville a few times a year. All the areas I've circled are fairly well known, and will likely be crowded. However, they've all produced for me in the past. I struggled to catch any the two times I was out this year, but it was back when it was still pretty frigid out there. Red - Easy to get to Green - Harder to get to, be careful in the trees and look for the marked trees for a safe route. You might wait for somebody and then follow them in... Hopefully this image works:

Wasn't sure we were going to get a report from last night, so thanks! It sucks that its been so hard to catch keepers out there this year. This is my first year fishing the lake, but I feel like it has been better in past years based on this thread. Planning to make it out next week.

Fished for about three hours today in the middle of the afternoon. Way underestimated the amount of drinking water I would need...holy crap it was hot. Water is probably two feet higher than it was three weeks ago, which actually makes it hard to cast to a lot of the banks. Caught a couple small ones in boy scout cove, then jumped off a definite keeper fish at the boat on the main lake. Saw a couple of fish on beds in boy scout cove but nothing big. I ended up with six, so that means that 15 lbs will win tomorrow night. I would guess that there will be at least one limit caught...

Two more weeks and I'll be able to start participating...stupid MBA classes. I'll be sure to hit you up if my normal partner can't make it in the future.

Fished the Dotte this afternoon. Pretty strange to see only one other trailer in the lot when I pulled in. Anyway, I caught five in about three hours. All caught on a jerkbait. Used a smaller jerkbait today than I have in the past, and that seemed to make a huge difference. Two fish were 14.5"...caught one in about two feet of water that had a bloody tail. Looked for beds for awhile afterwards in the same area, but didn't see any. They'll be moving up very soon.

Good. It's not me.

You'll see me out there as soon as my Wednesday night class ends in mid-May.

Listen to Blue. I will say that the few bass I've caught at Wyandotte so far this spring have come on shakeyhead worms. If you throw one of those long enough, I can almost guarantee you'll catch something. Let me know what your boat looks like and I'll say hello if I see you out there.

Fished for a couple of hours after work. Caught two small ones. One on a double-bladed buzzbait and the other on a shakeyhead. Water temps up to 54-55, which I thought would really move the fish up. Nothing on a jerkbait or rattle trap and not a lot of activity up shallow.

Took a half day from work in order to beat the wind and rain. Caught 5, so shook the skunk off today. All 5 were LM and came on shakey head or jerkbait. Nothing bigger than 14". Water temps up to 50 degrees. Anybody know what the heck is out in the middle of the largest cove out there? Maybe a building or old bridge? Sharp break from 20' to 5' and returns on DI like I haven't seen before. Will try to grab a screenshot next time.