This site exists to allow anglers to post current fishing reports for Kansas waters. Views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. This is an Unofficial Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Fishing Report Blog.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
2009 - Region 3 "Dock Squawk" (Southwestern, KS)
Use this article to comment on any fishing issue in Region 3 or Southwestern Kansas. Keep discussions polite and appropriate. Any inappropriate comments will be deleted.
Concannon State Lake has been extremely low for a long time. At the end of march there was only about 1-2 feet of water tops in one of the corners of the lake. Before the recent snow, fish could be caught easily in this small "puddle". One night i caught over fifty fish many of them 8 inch long largemouth and large bluegill. I kept all of the bluegill i caught. Today i went to Concannon to check it out and all of the fish are dead and it is lower than it was before the snow even after the recent rain. Thousands of nice little bass were lost and some cats from 1-almost 10 pounds it looked like, as well as with countless bluegill/sunfish. It is pretty sad that these fish werent able to be rescued by putting the lake up for salvation. The call should have been made long ago but now the fish are all gone...
EXACTLY RIGHT! i saw the lake was almost dry last summer and called the fishery biologist to ask if it was up for salvation and he didnt even no it was low. It would be nice to see people care about our wildlife and their job.
to the first anonymous above... i also visit concannon even though it is very dry and i have asked the local game warden in finey county , officer sharp or whoever about the lake and salvation and he said that he had been on the biologist. But i went and looked at the lake and about 2 acres of water have dead fish all touching from the shore out about 4-5 feet into the water...try tens of thousands of fish lost...isnt there something that we could have done to better another lake or at least someones own pond or frying pan... what a waste.
You are right; Concannon has been low for a very long time, that’s the nature of the beast in southwest Kansas. Officer Sharp has been in contact with me about opening the lake to salvage for quite some time. I have also been in close contact with both the area manager of Concannon and his supervisor with whom I share an office here in Dodge City. As the fish that were still in the lake made it through the winter, the decision was made to give it a little more time this spring in the hope that we would get some sort of increase in water levels. If that had happened, it would have the population of fish available to anglers much quicker that starting from scratch again. In addition, the large amount of silt and organic matter in the bottom of the lake made public salvage both difficult and dangerous.
Generally we do not have many problems with dissolved oxygen (DO) depletions in our lakes this early in the spring but I’m afraid that that is what happened at Concannon last weekend. Several days of complete cloud cover with no wind caused the oxygen depletion and the subsequent fish kill.
We did actually salvage quite a few fish out of the lake. Last summer areas of the northwest Kansas received substantial rainfall and several lakes that had been dry for years were suddenly full. I met the two biologists from those areas at Concannon and several loads of bluegill and largemouth bass were sent to those areas. We were actually discussing this last week and were making tentative plans to try to obtain additional fish in the next week or so. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate.
When the lake does fill again, we will once again stock fish and try to develop a fishable population. That will make the fourth time we have done this in the fifteen years that I have been the biologist for Concannon. Believe me; nobody is more frustrated with the problems associated with the lack of water in this part of the world than I am.
Lowell Aberson Region 3 Fisheries Biologist Office 620-227-8609
Lowell Aberson, can you please tell me who does the fishing reports for region three and why they are always a week or two behind all of the other regions..
I am the one who does the fishing reports for Region 3. Generally what I submit on the fishing reports are seasonal patterns and expectations on these waters. I cover the 28 southwestern counties here in Kansas and being based out of Dodge City I simply can’t get to most of these waters on a frequent basis. Other than the occasional angler that I happen to talk to in my office, the only real reports that I ever get are from friends that visit one of the lakes or if I actually get a chance to go fishing myself. I do also check the public posted fishing reports and try to incorporate them into the reports that I post.
Lowell Aberson Region 3 Fisheries Biologist Office 620-227-8609
so are you saying that virtually all of the lakes in southwest kansas are going to have slow fishing this year with some lakes not having any fish at all.
last updated 4/8/09..so freakin tired of reading that
I think it's time I jump in here. First of all, as Lowell mentioned, he covers a tremendous amount of territory and it is impossible for him to know what's biting at each lake.
Second, to the anonymous poster who seems very upset about the Region 3 fishing reports...Please help us in getting that information out to the public. You can help by phoning in your fishing report information to the Dodge City Region 3 office at 620 227 8609 or posting it on this blog. I would encourage all anglers to do the same.
Lastly, I would ask all posters to please be considerate and civil in their postings. We don't want to have to remove postings unless it is absolutely necessary. This new format makes it easy for someone to say things anonymously that they would never say face to face. I'm asking everyone to write their comments in a fashion similar to what you would say if the individual you are targeting with your comment was looking you in the eye.
I have to agree with Doug on this one. It seems that you anonymous guys are so concerned about fishing reports maybe you should get out from in front of the computer and go hit the lake then submit your fishing report to the department so they can post it. Last time I checked our local biologist jobs were to manage the fisheries instead of fish them for 40hrs a week. So instead of pointing fingers try to help! Just my 2 cents worth. J Starks
Well, now that we've gone over the biologies of the fish, and lakes...I've been taking the family up to Scott almost every weekend for the last month or so, the kids were at first knocking the daylights out of the Trout. This weekend we went and there were a lot of people and gorgeous weather. We heard a few people hoop-n-holler about a catch, but really it seemed slow. I caught a small (6")cat, and a little bitty minnow that could barely grab the lure. Great day for fun, couldn't ask for better weather, but the fishing wasn't too hot. Cody
i hav a question for a biologist..... if any1 else has noticed goodman is overwhelmed w/ littlebitty under 10 inch crappie...ive fished ther for over 10 yrs and never caught anything hardly over ten... wud it b a good idea 2 keep a bunch of those little craooie so more can get bigger.... cuz last weekend i must hav caught 150 little bitty crappie?
Bass fishing in Hodgeman SFL is not very good. The lake only recieved water in the past few weeks. Although it never went completely dry, there was so little water left that the fish populations probably did not survive. Jetmore City Lake to the west has lots of bass and folks are catching them right now. Most of these fish are 12 - 14 inches with an occasional 18 or 19 inch fish being caught.
As to Goodman SFL and the stunted white crappie population, yes, it has been that way for quite some time. In our small lakes we do not stock white crappie. Unfortunately, anglers often "help" us by stocking them. White crappie are notorious for overpopulating small waters. In answer to your question, yes harvest of the many small fish will help.
okay thanks.............. and just to let u guys know... i think goodman has the best fishing around right now for channels.... u see most people only fish on the south side of the lake where its easy 2 acces it...i walk clear around the entire lake over on the north side and catch some tremendous cats and big bass on plastic worms... its also good if you hav a small boat 2 go and crappie fish along the differnt shelves on the north side
umm wow sum of the trash at the state fishing lakes is outragous.... as will sumone plz write this in spanish as it seems to be them that make it that way and who dont pick up their trash...and no im not being racist
WOW! i was thinking of posting the exact same comment! And it does seem to be a couple different cultures that just leave trash scattered everywhere along the banks and in the water. If someone could please post in spanish and german about keeping our wonderful state parks nice places to take our families, it would be great to get the message out!
Fished Clark county the 29th and 30th and had a blast. a lot of crappie and white bass from a boat near cattails on the north end using minnows. My husband caught a largewmouth bass in one of the coves off the sandbar, was the biggest he'd ever caught, almost felt guilty eating it-Almost! I nearly couldn't net it, didn't get to weigh it but camparable to netting a gallon of milk and filets were in inch and a half thick! At least 22 inches long! Male.also caught a few huge channels on minnows but gave them away. We had a great time except for one problem- where the heck was the park Ranger cause we had to listen to our neighbors generator off and on all night and it made for a very tired trip. I thought they were supposed to be off around 10 pm?! If all the campers had generators going then by all means enjoy the air conditioning all night, but if your neighbor isn't plugged in- Please be considerate! We had to sleep with the windows open to be cool and that generator was placed nearer to our camp than theirs.I wanted to go over and tell them about the park rules but I don't speak spanish. Besides, it wasn't my job to do that. Never seen a ranger the whole time we were there! I wish they could at least post a notice near the campsites.
i fished at ford county lake red neck style with with a can with a line and a wieght and a small worm hook and cought 30 crappie had a blast red neck style
wow some of you people need to stop bitching and just enjoy fishing. lay off on the biologist they do a hell of a lot more than you think trust me they cant satisfy everyone, and pratt trout pond has turned over but they treated it like last week so all the vegitation is gone and they are still catching trout. if the trash is so bad then help kdwp pick it up its not like they sit aound and do nothing all day. i fish kingman alot and i hardly ever see trash so i know they pick it up there very freqently. thanks to those that actually post some good fishing tips. o and i caught 4 pick at kingman between 28 and 32.
was at pratt county lake this morning and fishing wasnt to bad a little slow but all in all we had a good time enjoyed catching 4 smaller largemouth bass on firetiger crank,lots of fun
I heard a rumor that someone caught a big northern pike at clark about two weeks ago. can anyone verify this or is it just a rumor. Going to take my 4 year old to hains this afternoon and just try to catch bullheads.
It's 100+ degrees, what do you think is biting? Get your lazy butt off the computer, go fishing and then YOU can call them and let them know how much fun it is to fish this time of the year!!!
I'm no meteorologist but I'll bet that it is 100+ degrees in the other regions of the state and they seem to have no issues updating every week or ten days!!
Qiut bitching and get off your lazy rear and go fishing and then you can put what you caught on here. Fished hains and caught a BUNCH of little bullhead. They wont stay off of a worm. Could not catch any channel with any size. Quit bitching and go fishing!!!!
I heard a rumor that the Beymer sandpits are not open to fishing anymore, possibly because there were numerous people keeping over their limit of channel cat. Can someone tell me if this is true, and if so if they will ever re-open to fishing in the future
Can someone tell me if kdwp plans to stock trout in Horsethief reservoir, also at Scott sfl in the main lake or in the trout pond or both? Any info appreciated.
At this point, there are no plans to stock trout in HorseThief Reservoir that I'm aware of - KDWP has not proposed this to date and neither has the HorseThief Reservoir Benefit District as far as I know.
The October trout stocking at Scott SFL will be in the main lake only - the trout pond will be stocked later when the vegetation dies back, probably in Nov.
Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
43 comments:
Concannon State Lake has been extremely low for a long time. At the end of march there was only about 1-2 feet of water tops in one of the corners of the lake. Before the recent snow, fish could be caught easily in this small "puddle". One night i caught over fifty fish many of them 8 inch long largemouth and large bluegill. I kept all of the bluegill i caught. Today i went to Concannon to check it out and all of the fish are dead and it is lower than it was before the snow even after the recent rain. Thousands of nice little bass were lost and some cats from 1-almost 10 pounds it looked like, as well as with countless bluegill/sunfish. It is pretty sad that these fish werent able to be rescued by putting the lake up for salvation. The call should have been made long ago but now the fish are all gone...
EXACTLY RIGHT! i saw the lake was almost dry last summer and called the fishery biologist to ask if it was up for salvation and he didnt even no it was low. It would be nice to see people care about our wildlife and their job.
to the first anonymous above...
i also visit concannon even though it is very dry and i have asked the local game warden in finey county , officer sharp or whoever about the lake and salvation and he said that he had been on the biologist. But i went and looked at the lake and about 2 acres of water have dead fish all touching from the shore out about 4-5 feet into the water...try tens of thousands of fish lost...isnt there something that we could have done to better another lake or at least someones own pond or frying pan...
what a waste.
RB
You are right; Concannon has been low for a very long time, that’s the nature of the beast in southwest Kansas. Officer Sharp has been in contact with me about opening the lake to salvage for quite some time. I have also been in close contact with both the area manager of Concannon and his supervisor with whom I share an office here in Dodge City. As the fish that were still in the lake made it through the winter, the decision was made to give it a little more time this spring in the hope that we would get some sort of increase in water levels. If that had happened, it would have the population of fish available to anglers much quicker that starting from scratch again. In addition, the large amount of silt and organic matter in the bottom of the lake made public salvage both difficult and dangerous.
Generally we do not have many problems with dissolved oxygen (DO) depletions in our lakes this early in the spring but I’m afraid that that is what happened at Concannon last weekend. Several days of complete cloud cover with no wind caused the oxygen depletion and the subsequent fish kill.
We did actually salvage quite a few fish out of the lake. Last summer areas of the northwest Kansas received substantial rainfall and several lakes that had been dry for years were suddenly full. I met the two biologists from those areas at Concannon and several loads of bluegill and largemouth bass were sent to those areas. We were actually discussing this last week and were making tentative plans to try to obtain additional fish in the next week or so. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate.
When the lake does fill again, we will once again stock fish and try to develop a fishable population. That will make the fourth time we have done this in the fifteen years that I have been the biologist for Concannon. Believe me; nobody is more frustrated with the problems associated with the lack of water in this part of the world than I am.
Lowell Aberson
Region 3 Fisheries Biologist
Office 620-227-8609
Lowell Aberson, can you please tell me who does the fishing reports for region three and why they are always a week or two behind all of the other regions..
I am the one who does the fishing reports for Region 3. Generally what I submit on the fishing reports are seasonal patterns and expectations on these waters. I cover the 28 southwestern counties here in Kansas and being based out of Dodge City I simply can’t get to most of these waters on a frequent basis. Other than the occasional angler that I happen to talk to in my office, the only real reports that I ever get are from friends that visit one of the lakes or if I actually get a chance to go fishing myself. I do also check the public posted fishing reports and try to incorporate them into the reports that I post.
Lowell Aberson
Region 3 Fisheries Biologist
Office 620-227-8609
so are you saying that virtually all of the lakes in southwest kansas are going to have slow fishing this year with some lakes not having any fish at all.
last updated 4/8/09..so freakin tired of reading that
No Report
No Report
No Report
And so on.
I think it's time I jump in here. First of all, as Lowell mentioned, he covers a tremendous amount of territory and it is impossible for him to know what's biting at each lake.
Second, to the anonymous poster who seems very upset about the Region 3 fishing reports...Please help us in getting that information out to the public. You can help by phoning in your fishing report information to the Dodge City Region 3 office at 620 227 8609 or posting it on this blog. I would encourage all anglers to do the same.
Lastly, I would ask all posters to please be considerate and civil in their postings. We don't want to have to remove postings unless it is absolutely necessary. This new format makes it easy for someone to say things anonymously that they would never say face to face. I'm asking everyone to write their comments in a fashion similar to what you would say if the individual you are targeting with your comment was looking you in the eye.
Thanks,
Doug Nygren
Fisheries Section Chief
I have to agree with Doug on this one. It seems that you anonymous guys are so concerned about fishing reports maybe you should get out from in front of the computer and go hit the lake then submit your fishing report to the department so they can post it. Last time I checked our local biologist jobs were to manage the fisheries instead of fish them for 40hrs a week. So instead of pointing fingers try to help! Just my 2 cents worth. J Starks
Well, now that we've gone over the biologies of the fish, and lakes...I've been taking the family up to Scott almost every weekend for the last month or so, the kids were at first knocking the daylights out of the Trout. This weekend we went and there were a lot of people and gorgeous weather. We heard a few people hoop-n-holler about a catch, but really it seemed slow. I caught a small (6")cat, and a little bitty minnow that could barely grab the lure. Great day for fun, couldn't ask for better weather, but the fishing wasn't too hot.
Cody
does any1 no if there is good bass fishing at hodgeman?
i hav a question for a biologist..... if any1 else has noticed goodman is overwhelmed w/ littlebitty under 10 inch crappie...ive fished ther for over 10 yrs and never caught anything hardly over ten... wud it b a good idea 2 keep a bunch of those little craooie so more can get bigger.... cuz last weekend i must hav caught 150 little bitty crappie?
Bass fishing in Hodgeman SFL is not very good. The lake only recieved water in the past few weeks. Although it never went completely dry, there was so little water left that the fish populations probably did not survive. Jetmore City Lake to the west has lots of bass and folks are catching them right now. Most of these fish are 12 - 14 inches with an occasional 18 or 19 inch fish being caught.
As to Goodman SFL and the stunted white crappie population, yes, it has been that way for quite some time. In our small lakes we do not stock white crappie. Unfortunately, anglers often "help" us by stocking them. White crappie are notorious for overpopulating small waters. In answer to your question, yes harvest of the many small fish will help.
Lowell Aberson
okay thanks.............. and just to let u guys know... i think goodman has the best fishing around right now for channels.... u see most people only fish on the south side of the lake where its easy 2 acces it...i walk clear around the entire lake over on the north side and catch some tremendous cats and big bass on plastic worms... its also good if you hav a small boat 2 go and crappie fish along the differnt shelves on the north side
yea i love 2 take my boat up the creek that feeds it and bass fish
Has anyone tried for bluegill at Scott lately?
Is the Pratt Centennial pond turning over or is it just full of water plants
umm wow sum of the trash at the state fishing lakes is outragous.... as will sumone plz write this in spanish as it seems to be them that make it that way and who dont pick up their trash...and no im not being racist
if there is a slot limit in place for bass like 13-18 release and you catch a 12 incher is it legal to keep that fish or not?
HAVE ANY OF U BIOGOLGISTS EVER THOUGHT OF MAYB STOCKING SUM BIG OL FLATHEADS OR BIG CATFISH AT GOODMAN 2 CONTROL THE CRAPPIE POPULATION????
WOW! i was thinking of posting the exact same comment! And it does seem to be a couple different cultures that just leave trash scattered everywhere along the banks and in the water. If someone could please post in spanish and german about keeping our wonderful state parks nice places to take our families, it would be great to get the message out!
yea especially goodman and jetmore!!!
Fished Clark county the 29th and 30th and had a blast. a lot of crappie and white bass from a boat near cattails on the north end using minnows. My husband caught a largewmouth bass in one of the coves off the sandbar, was the biggest he'd ever caught, almost felt guilty eating it-Almost! I nearly couldn't net it, didn't get to weigh it but camparable to netting a gallon of milk and filets were in inch and a half thick! At least 22 inches long! Male.also caught a few huge channels on minnows but gave them away. We had a great time except for one problem- where the heck was the park Ranger cause we had to listen to our neighbors generator off and on all night and it made for a very tired trip. I thought they were supposed to be off around 10 pm?! If all the campers had generators going then by all means enjoy the air conditioning all night, but if your neighbor isn't plugged in- Please be considerate! We had to sleep with the windows open to be cool and that generator was placed nearer to our camp than theirs.I wanted to go over and tell them about the park rules but I don't speak spanish. Besides, it wasn't my job to do that. Never seen a ranger the whole time we were there! I wish they could at least post a notice near the campsites.
i fished at ford county lake red neck style with with a can with a line and a wieght and a small worm hook and cought 30 crappie had a blast red neck style
man fishing sure is more fun when you do it RED-NECK style!! try using a lighted bobber above your hook and worm next time!!
wow some of you people need to stop bitching and just enjoy fishing. lay off on the biologist they do a hell of a lot more than you think trust me they cant satisfy everyone, and pratt trout pond has turned over but they treated it like last week so all the vegitation is gone and they are still catching trout. if the trash is so bad then help kdwp pick it up its not like they sit aound and do nothing all day. i fish kingman alot and i hardly ever see trash so i know they pick it up there very freqently. thanks to those that actually post some good fishing tips. o and i caught 4 pick at kingman between 28 and 32.
was at pratt county lake this morning and fishing wasnt to bad a little slow but all in all we had a good time enjoyed catching 4 smaller largemouth bass on firetiger crank,lots of fun
I heard a rumor that someone caught a big northern pike at clark about two weeks ago. can anyone verify this or is it just a rumor.
Going to take my 4 year old to hains this afternoon and just try to catch bullheads.
fished at clark cought a little bit of every thing espechelly blue gil and crappie
well it is anyone's guess on what's biting in region three. Haven't seen an update in three weeks.
It's 100+ degrees, what do you think is biting?
Get your lazy butt off the computer, go fishing and then YOU can call them and let them know how much fun it is to fish this time of the year!!!
I'm no meteorologist but I'll bet that it is 100+ degrees in the other regions of the state and they seem to have no issues updating every week or ten days!!
Qiut bitching and get off your lazy rear and go fishing and then you can put what you caught on here. Fished hains and caught a BUNCH of little bullhead. They wont stay off of a worm. Could not catch any channel with any size. Quit bitching and go fishing!!!!
I heard a rumor that the Beymer sandpits are not open to fishing anymore, possibly because there were numerous people keeping over their limit of channel cat. Can someone tell me if this is true, and if so if they will ever re-open to fishing in the future
Beymer is open.
Any news about Sand Sage Bison Range SandPit? I hear rumors about it being dry again?
For all intents and purposes SandSage is pretty much dry.
Can someone tell me if kdwp plans to stock trout in Horsethief reservoir, also at Scott sfl in the main lake or in the trout pond or both? Any info appreciated.
At this point, there are no plans to stock trout in HorseThief Reservoir that I'm aware of - KDWP has not proposed this to date and neither has the HorseThief Reservoir Benefit District as far as I know.
The October trout stocking at Scott SFL will be in the main lake only - the trout pond will be stocked later when the vegetation dies back, probably in Nov.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
Went to Pratt Sun 11/1. Caught a 5lb 4oz wiper on a small husky jerk.
Wanted to know if trout were stocked at Beymer Sandpits in Lakin, heard a rumor they were?
Check with the County folks, KDWP did not stock any there.
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