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.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Region 3 "Dock Squawk" (Southwestern, KS) 2010
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.
Why is there some lakes in the fishing regulation booklet but not listed on the website? Ulysses City lake and horsetheif are examples of this? Why isn't the fishing reports updated more? Just curious. Thanks
My personal opinion is that updated reports are dependant on the innitiative and motivation of the bologists. A good bologist will have more accuate and timely reports. Positive examples are Tommie Berger(wilson, kanopolis) and the biologist(sorry, dont know name)in charge of Cedar Bluff.(He is exceptional). Read between the lines from one area to the next and you will see which reports are more current. Some lazy biologists dont update for weeks but I wont mention any names or areas.
In SW KS, we have one fisheries biologist covering 26 counties. He is responsible for many tasks throughout this large district, the largest district in the state. Obviously he cannot visit each water on a regular basis, and must rely on others for information for updating the reports. This works pretty well for waters where we have KDWP staff stationed, but is tougher for more remote waters. We ask the anglers to assist in providing this information – the statement: “If you would like to post a fishing report go to http://ksfishing.blogspot.com/ and post a report for Region 3 and the lake you have been fishing” is included in the General Comments section of the REG 3 lake reports for this purpose. Also, you can phone information in to the Dodge City Office 620-227-8609. Any information you can provide would be much appreciated.
We do not include all lakes in the KDWP fishing reports. In the case of HorseThief Reservoir and Ulysses City Lake in Region 3, both are new to our Community Fisheries Assistance Program and have not been included in our KDWP fishing reports in the past. HorseThief is not yet open to fishing – once it opens, we will likely begin posting reports for this water. Also, we no longer require our biologists to update the KDWP reports throughout the winter – if they have information, they can update during winter months, but this is not mandatory.
I would ask you to be considerate in how you relay your concerns in an open forum such as a public blog. If you would like to contact me directly to discuss your concerns, please feel free to do so.
Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
Thanks for the info, and I am sorry if I made anybody upset. I now understand why they aren't updated more. I thought it was broken down by counties. I usually post on here when i go fishing. I have another question. Why isn't Arkalon stocked with trout during the winter? Thanks.
why is the college pond at dc3 not patrolled more often by leo's. with the regional office here in dodge it would seem simple for any co coming to the office to swing by the pond and do some checks. over the limit, double dipping and no permit is rampant there.
We are limited by dollars and other factors regarding the number of put-and-take trout fisheries maintained throughout the state, however we are open to considering the addition of new waters when appropriate and when we are able. I’ll discuss this with the district fisheries biologist. Arkalon is Community Fisheries Assistance Program water and these are handled differently than our state owned/licensed waters in regards to the trout program.
I have passed the concern about patrolling of the college pond on to our Law Enforcement Captain and he will be making the appropriate contacts.
Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
Has anyone fished the "boy scout lake "west of Jetmore in the past? If so what kind of fish are in it.I was there over the weekend when we went to look at Horsetheif and it looked to be a nice little spot. Any info would be great.
Has any one fished pratt county or the kids pound , i am taking my kids and some friends out there on wednesday and was just wondering what might be good this time of year any info would be helpful,thanks
The Pratt kids pond is a little slow right now but the County Lake offers some good opportunity for catching a few crappie. Your best bet right now would be to take the kids trout fishing at Centennial pond, the kids dont need a trout permit at Centennial Pond as the limit is two and kids only need a trout permit if they want to keep 3-5 trout.
We've always had decent luck out at clark county lake off of the bank never have fished it in the early spring but always caught fish in the summer time out there
I was at Dodge City's Lake Charles again tonight and seen a ton of trout being taken out. Why aren't there any law enforcement officers patrolling this pond? Every night it is the same thing groups of people taking out WAY over their limit of Trout. I saw one group walk out with numerous Walmart bags of trout. I'm not talking 1or2 over the limit but 5-6 over the limit per person. There needs to be some type law enforcement there between 5 and dark. That place is crazy at that time. Any comments from KDWP would be great. Thanks
In a response to the post on 3-17-10. May i make a friendly suggestion? Maybe you could kindly assist the law enforcement officers in the area by reporting it to the local dispatch. Some helpful things you could do is get a description of the suspect(s) and their vehicle(s) and if possible writing down a tag number. I think it is great that you are taking the initiative to report these violations on here, but i feel it may help your concerns more by reporting it to the local department. As im sure you know we (law enforcement) cant be everywhere at the right time. With concerned citizens like you it can make our job easier by helping us out by simply getting a tag number and filling out a witness statement, so we can find the suspect(s) and have them prosecuted. I am a deputy in a surrounding county and know first hand how short handed KDWP is. We always try to do our part to help them out and it would be greatly appreciated if you could help us out by using those few pointers i just gave. Thanks in advance.
In Response to the resopnse about 3-17-10 post. I have reported things to the KDWP officers before, with tag and description of vehicle occupant the whole nine. I was then told that without the officer seeing the violation taking place with their own eyes there was nothing they could do. That has been a couple of years ago maybe that policy has changed. I would love to know.
Is Clark SFL still frozen? I can hardly wait to start fishing! We love it there> For the person who asked if fish can be caught off shore there- Absolutely! There is a fish attracter off of the east shore near a point, spring crappie can be caught there as well as white and black bass. We have had pretty fair results even mid summer.
Was over to the trout pond at the college Sunday evening fishing was slow but one fellow was sitting on a bucket of five trout. I watched him catch another and take it over to his wife’s bucket on the other side of the pond. I took my phone out and called ford county communications. I relayed the information to her as to what was going on and she notified a Dodge City officer to hold the subject till the local CO could get there. After some questioning of the subjects and receiving my testimony the subject was issued a NTA for over the limit. This is what needs to be done to stop the over fishing that goes on. The CO s can’t sit on the pond 24/7. There is a group of 10 or so individuals that are using this program as a primary food source. They are constantly double dipping and over fishing this resource. These individuals take probably 400 of the 860 trout we get a month. This program is to provide a winter recreational opportunity for a number of people not a food source for a select few. If this over fishing cannot be stopped this site should be moved to another location were it can be enjoyed by more people.
I see on here that someone wants to limb line at Clark SFL and someone else says it is not legal. Why? I would not mind limb lining there myself. What about log lines? they are both done with a single hook un like trot lines. Just wanted to know. Thanks
Clark SFL is approx 330 surface acres in size. Prior to this year, trotlines and setlines were not allowed on state managed waters less than 500 surface acres in size. This regulation changed effective Jan 1, 2010 to state trotlines and setlines may not be used on state managed impoundments smaller than 1,201 surface acres, including CFAP lakes. Setlines by definition include limb lines and “log” lines or basically all lines anchored or attached at one point with no more than 2 hooks and not associated with a hand operated mechanical reel. Catfish harvest restrictions imposed by KDWP on most small lakes tend to be more stringent than those for larger waters. Unlike most of our reservoirs where stocking is not necessary because natural reproduction/recruitment is adequate to maintain good numbers and support considerable harvest, small lake catfish fisheries are maintained primarily through stocking.
Hope this answers your questions. Good luck with your fishing.
Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
hi my name is tyler barnett i am going to SSFL this weekend i am takiing my nephews and sister fishing up ther if any one has any information on bass or catfish plz give me a call @ 620-966-2619
There have been a few channel catfish stocked in the sand pit at the buffalo refuge. Beymer sand pit has not been in the CFAP program for several years and therefore KDWP does not stock any fish there. Concannon recently got some rain and we are waiting for the water quality to improve and stabilize.
Where are the fish biting? Hope to take my 5 year old in the morning. dont care what we catch. Looking at the walk-in fishing book and possibly will try one of the ponds up north of ness city. Any info would be great.
What you could do for the illegal trout fishing is to set up a guard shack at the entrances/exits of the park and check everybody's creel when they come through. March and April would be all you need. After trout figure out how to hunt shad, they become tougher to catch. Violators that get caught would add more money to your city or county. Here in wyandotte county (k.c.)violators get the book thrown at them for illegal fishing practices. May as well do the same there.
has anyone herd about what is going on at vetrans memorial lake. there is a toxic moss. they have the lake shut off to the public. I want to know who or what is responsible for this hater of fish. I think that it has something to do with the new housing addition they put up north of the park. i am so sad. i live 2 blocks away from the park and it is one of my favorite places to fish. there has never been a problem like this in the past that i know of. someone please fill me in !!!!!!! mike
yes that is news i dont want to hear im not sure exactly what could cause it , ive always wanted to visit and fish that lake have u ever caught any saugeye or smallmouth bass out of there , or any wiper please post back ...fishin pal jer
yes, i have caught a lot of saugeye at vets. the biggest one i caught was 8.32lbs. the state record is 9.8. i was so close! they did accidently stock 400 wipers in vets last year. i have caught 2. they are still small but there is no size limit to them because they are not suppose to be in there. the crappie are plentifull though. I sure hope they get the problem fixed soon. they have larg mouth bass in there. i never caught a smally though. there are plenty of catfish. they stock over 6000 trought in the winter there. that is a lot of fun! your fisin pal mike
i think he means trout ..lol ...wow that is some nice saugeye are there many of them in there i really want to check the lake out now , do u use a jig with nightcrawler or live minnows for the saugeye hope moss or algae bloom gets fixed with cooler weather, also is there a lake called stone lake in great bend i heard theres smallmouth bass and wiper in there or am i mistaking, there used to be big wiper in sterling city lake but they no longer stock them cause they eat the crappie they say ... thanks for any info ...fishin pal jer
Try to develop the "blade bait" technique. Using the gold colored might trigger the bigger crappie, particularly the 15-17" black crappie. I'd start with chrome/stainless colored bladebaits. Try starting now with blade baits and by November you'll probably nail them (saugeye/walleye) any time you need to. At the very least, add bladebaits to the fishing arsenal. There will be times when the jig/crawler, or even jig/minnow for that matter,will be tough to beat. Watch this fall (late Oct.) for the big fish busting shad or baitfish over deep water areas during daylight. A lot of those will be trophy smallmouth. For them to be that size I'd assume smallmouth would need to establish themselves in that particular lake for at least 5-6 years before those characteristics are seen. Live bait is the ticket there but you never know.
if he meant trout then make sure they receive all the trout they ordered instead of being short changed. Over a period of years that adds up to alot of pounds.
Ban all live minnow baits. Make a check-in for anybody who throws for livebait or make them buy one expensive permit with ANS certifi- cation. I think allowing the sun- fish for bait is acceptable. We need to quit jacking around, if we're serious, and do something rock solid or the carp problem will continue to explode. On the other hand it'll limit those jetskiers which is a diffinent plus
Ban all live minnow baits. Make a check-in for anybody who throws for livebait or make them buy one expensive permit with ANS certifi- cation. I think allowing the sun- fish for bait is acceptable. We need to quit jacking around, if we're serious, and do something rock solid or the carp problem will continue to explode. On the other hand it'll limit those jetskiers which is a diffinent plus
You can thank the wiper/striper guys for the zebra mussels in Wilson and Milford. And when the white perch finally get established in Milford you can thank them for that also. Ban the bait, it's obvious some of them are not responsible.
I thought it was walleye/bass fishermen responsible for the zebra muscle spread. Perry hasn't ever had striper and Hybrids came and went about 1987-1990. But Perry does have the zebra muscles now and had bass fishing tournaments in the last 10 years or so.
They were going to put them in stones but someone along the line messed up. I caught that big saugeye on a twisty tail jig with a 1/8 oz jig head. I was trieng for the crappie. yea i spelt trout wrong, opps. stones is a good place to fish. there are a lot of deep holes. some places up to 40 feet. I tried trolling for wipers but the only time i cought them was when i was fishing for catfish using chicken liver. they like chicken liver for some reason!!! they have some big crappie but they are hard to find with all the holes out there. I caught some small smallmouth out there. I herd they stocked them last year! If you love large mouth fishing Stones has trofy size large mouth. I had a big one on my line yesterday and got him all the way to the boat and he decided he did not want to come in. He swam under my boat and snaped my 8 lb test. that would have been my biggest bass ever.he had to be pushing 10+ lbs. fish on brothers and sisters of the lake! mike
ya i catch wiper on chicken liver at marion co. lake all the time , i think they like the oil thats in it, did they stock many saugeye in vets lake or just a few hundred do u know ..thanks for posting info back it helps..
so i take it stone lake in great bend is an old sandpit if its 40 feet deep , wow thats a big bass i would like to catch one around 8 pounds who wouldnt 8 and 10 pound bass in kansas is big , i think my biggest bass is around 7 pounds and biggest smallie was over 4 pounds, im just always searching for new and good places to fish that i havnt been to yet...fishin pal jer
KDWP region 3 fishing location page list Stone as maximum depth as only 20 ft. What I would do is take a trip there and hopefully there is a marina/baitshack right on waters edge. Go in if there is and look at the pictures of trophy bass from over the years. Pictures of big crappie and 35-45# flathead would also tell me about big bass being there or not. If none of that is happening, look around for bigger trees at waters edge and submerged weeds. (coontails weed areas) If it feels like it could produce a trophy and you could only make it a one time trip, go towards the end of May and throw red or orange colored cranks or rattletraps using trolling motor stealth and fast retrieves.
I think old fishin pal Mike will pull your leg.I thinks he's been caught for double dipping and illegal fishing. Just ask is old buddy Brain Hanzlick conservation officer of KDWP.
i am not pulling anyones leg. yes, patty and i were out at vets lake and we got into the catfish. we had not checked how many we had in our basket and we had 12 cats insted of 10. it was a stupid mistake and it caust 75 dollars a fish. that is all that has ever happend to me. i HAVE NEVER FISHED ILLEGALLY. there is always someone out there trying to make people out to be bad. i guess it takes all kinds. i got the ticket because i was in controle of the boat. yes i know brian and if anyone wants to ask about me go ahead. mike loughner look me up. i want to know who is spreading the childish rumors about me! you must be a woman!
haha...mike i know ur not pullin my leg , i dont listen to others gossip i think they were playin , i only listen to fishing advice and information ..lol ...fishin pal jer
stone lake is a old sand pit. it is very clean. there are a lot of bass in there. it is hard to not catch them. every year there are new bass that reproduce in stones. when you use a luer you will have schooles of baby bass chasing it. the shad are very uneasy in this lake. they have some big flathead that come out of there. i have seen there heads nailed to a nearby fence post. i usually catch the 3-5lb channel cat out of there. they make for some good eating. there are some regulars that go out there with some really big gear. They are after the big fish. if you look on dalton gang hidouts websight there should be a pic of my saugeye. i know they have it on the wall at there store in great bend. they just stocked some really small channel cats in stones. you have to feed quit a bit of them before you hook into a good one. it is a lot of fun though. my spelling might not be the greatest but i love to talk about fishing. fish on brothers and sisters. mike
hey thanks for the good info ,just one question are there good numbers of saugeye in vets, or are they few and far between ,they must have been there for a while if there that big ..oh yea and is vets lake still closed due to algae
vets lake is still closed. I havent caught very many saugeye out there this year. I think it might have something to do with the bloom. I have seen some dead ones on the banks. they were nice in size. it was a sad thing. I hope they survive the outbreak. the last time they netted the lake i herd they pulled some 10 pounders out of there. I hope they are still in there alive and swimming!!! they are sure fun to catch. about two years ago i caught some 7 inchers. i just hope they make it.they sure are tasty. i love fishing that lake it is only a couple of blocks from my house. i wish someone would do something to fix it. live and love fishing mike.
o ok ..thanks for repling back ,thats some big saugeye there it sounds like , thats good if there were some 7 inchers that should mean some up and coming fish if they survive ,but if those big ones are surving im sure alot of those small will to, ive never fished that lake im just lookin for new places were i can catch walleye/saugeye , should i try stone lake in great bend ..
stone lake does not have walleye or saugeye. The lake just to the west of it does but it is a membership only. I herd they have a lot of fish in there though. I might get a membership some day. stones is a real clean lake though. there are plenty of bass, wiper, crappie, catfish and blue guill.
Fishin pal jer and others- I found a website that has 2 good pictures identifying sauger and saugeye. It shows the differences/similarities well. Type in: Indiana fishing Ohio river sauger. Keep scrolling down until you get to Bayou Bill's monthly column,recent rambles. Go to the 6th paragraph and hit sauger for the sauger picture and saugeye for the saugeye picture. The saugeye picture shows the slight red/orange tinge I was talking about on another kwpd post. These images will help assuming the saugeye there haven't crossed back with a parental species and produced offspring. If that happens, things are a little more complicated. The bumps on the heads of the fish you were catching really are clams Jer, as someone else suggested, but are present only a few months of the year. Sauger turn on up north when the first killing frost occurs. I'll do some investigating here to see if that's true in Kansas, although it may take a few seasons to do so. About asian carp- Illinois hired commercial netters and are converting the carp into livestock feed supplement. Sounded like they weren't getting any government funding/help up there and they can't afford to wait for it.
they must have just stocked stones lake with wiper. I had fun catching them with my throw net! I did not know what they were at first. that is why i threw out my throw net. They were right by the bank it was coool! thanks for stocking!!!! mike
Why have the maintainers of Stone Lake in Great Bend allowed the fishing to deteriorate so badly? Fishing has been absolutely horrible for two years now. The channel catfishing is at an all time low catch rate and what is caught are less than 8 inches. This lake has been overstocked with small fish with no regard to balance. The Crappie fishing is almost nonexsistant in what used to be a tremendous crappie fishery. This lake is in serious need of attention. It could use a large stocking of 3-5 lb catfish to restore the balance of size and quality. Great Bend has no other decent fishery for locals and kids to fish and one wonders why their is a lack of new fishing enthusiasts. Veterans lake has issues and McArthur has been let go to decline into a wasted fishery by authortities. Why not use Stone Lake for future Trout plants? It is deeper than any other local lake with a natural aquafier of cold water flowing into it from underneath. It is time for whoever maintains these local lakes and ponds to step up and provide positive leadership for this area. Not all of us are able to travel to out of the area lakes.
One reason for not stocking trout there in Stone Lake is the acreage of the water. More water means it will hold more trout. Meaning the fish will cost more money to stock. Your city will realize this and you'll more than likely pay for extra permit(s). Where I fish for trout I need a state license(ks), lake permit, and trout permit. It's almost $50.00 a season. Keep the trout in the small lake there in Great Bend. It will be cheaper. I wonder what KWPD thinks of the scam Wyandotte County pulls every year by stocking rainbow trout. No need to answer that. Looking at a picture of Stone lake I found, it looks like a place a person could catch a lot of largemouth bass. If there are flathead there, find the place that comes from deep water to a feeding shelf-flat area and hit the edge area with a green sunfish or a shad.
That would be awsome if stones had saugeye or walleye. They would deffinatly survive there. There are millions of small fish to feed on. I herd they are going to put those big catfish from the zoo in stones. I want to know when that is suppose to happen. That would be fun to get a hold of one of those big kittys !!! yes they do need to stop stocking stones with little cats. I think the big cats eat the little cats and us fishermen and women feed the little cats. all i know is that after they stock the little cats it is almost impossible to catch a nice 3-5 pounder. now stones is the only public fishing hole in great bend. It is a really clean lake and has good potential for awsome fishing. weeee have fun fishing mike L.
I think stones will hold trout year round! That means no wasted fish. It is definatly deep enough. what does not last will make good catfish food! for all those baby kittens.
If they are going to drain the zoo pond, see if they will offer public fish salvage while the pond is draining. If they do, then tie a bunch of limb/bank lines. Use natural bait. If you feel like setting 30 lines, then set 30 lines. If the pond is private or in the range of tigers or other felines there in the zoo, then this was just a good thought.
And don't forget about those smallmouth that are there in Stones. They do a lot of herding of small panfish. Wait 2 or 3 years at least for results. Right at dusk/twilight is the best time. (my opinion from fishing other lakes) By that time you might get saugeye if you guys ask KWPD and the little wiper there will be ready to do battle.
thats right they did put in some small mouth. I did forget about that THANK YOU! I have caught a couple allready but they were only 4 inches I hope the wiper dont get them. small mouth are fun to catch!!! Thanks for all the good fishing advice!!! mike L
if stone is deeper and bigger than veterans park lake and it has saugeye, it makes more sense to put saugeye in stone lakeif its deeper that might be a good idea , isnt there smallmouth in stone lake now .. thanks for all the good comments...fishin pal jer
pratt county lake is one of my favorite places to fish! I have never got skunked there. The quality and size of the fish there is awsome. that sounds like you had a blast jer. I love to here cool fishing storys. They just stocked stones lake with 4000 catfish!!!! I was there and got to perticipate in the release of them into the lake. Man it was awsome to see all those cats go into stones. to bad they wernt bigger they were only any where from 1/3 - 1 lb. o well they will grow some by next year. Wish they would stock some 3-5 lbers like someone mentioned earlier. I guess those wipers i neted earlier were not stocked recently. i was told by the fish stocker that they only stock the minnow size wiper. I dont know the proper name for that size of fish. It is nice to see that people are perticipating more in giving advice. fish on brothers and sisters. mike
Stone lake has a max depth of about 23ft, lots of humps and variations. There are indeed some lunker largemouth in there, hard to fish them from the bank, they like it in front of the cattails. In Kansas the pre-spawn occurs in March and April, it varies from year to year just when the best time is. That's when the lunkers are most available if you're willing to put in the time. They'll be moving around close to the bank, rapala 7's work well then. You can drift all summer at stone and rarely catch a 5lb cat, the #'s are evidently pretty low. Too many of the big ones have gone into the pan and it takes a long time to build up a population like that. The dinkies will keep you busy but that's about it.
Does Stone lake have a rock strewn dam? If so, that's where to fish for bigger catfish. The summer months are the best time right at morning twilight. Can you fish there 24 hrs. a day or are there certain times that fishing is allowed. Most of the time they are done feeding by 6:30 a.m.. During the fall if I don't have one on the stringer by 8:45 p.m., it won't be a good night. They will average a pound in weight. Try the dam area next year. What I mean by that is to walk to the middle of the dam and start from there. The big ones pick the choice areas to feed and the dam is the top spot. Sometimes 2 ft. deep will be the depth or 6-7 ft. will be. Using a boat will spook them unless there is submerged brush/limbs. If that is there drop or cast right into the middle of it. That's where their food will be hiding. Next spring (march) the catfish will be as shallow as possible. Being at the right spot at dark can lead to a limit of 3-4 pounders everyday. A degree or two in temperature can be the difference that early for catfish.
I went vet's lake Friday,and seen one Trout while I walked along the boat ramp. Did they stock it already?They still got the toxic alge bloom warnings up.
I spoke with the Park supervisor, City of Great Bend this morning. The trout have been stocked, but Vets Park Lake is currently closed to fishing due to the blue-green algae bloom and the resulting public health warning currently posted by the KS Dept. Health of Environment (KDHE). The city will likely open the lake to fishing when the bloom subsides and KDHE downgrades the warning. Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
Anyone know for sure if Vet's is open for fishing now? Read the article in the GB tribune and it said that it was open to fishing and boating but just wanted to get another confirmation on it.
The KS Dept of Health and Environment (KDHE) recently downgraded Vet’s Park Lake from a blue-green algae warning to an advisory and the Great Bend Parks Dept reopened the lake to fishing. Under an advisory, KDHE advises against full body contact with the water by humans or pets (swimming, drinking, etc.). Fish flesh is considered safe for consumption under an advisory. Thoroughly washing the fish in clean water before butchering is recommended, and consumption of other parts such as internal organs is discouraged. The toxins generated by algae do not accumulate in the flesh but can occur for a period of time in the liver and other organs.
Steve Price Regional Fisheries Supervisor KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt. Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-8614
I sure hope that next year the alega stays out of vets. I sure love fishing there. It is really close to home. I cought a couple of trout on power bait. It was nice to finally go fishing at vets again. have fun and take a kid or a friend fishing. Mike
Mike are you trying for the 5 trout limit or are you just settling for a couple trout because you don't need five? What pound line are you using for leaders? Your algae problem there should be ok until late April/May when the water warms up some.
Here are some of the ways I have caught rainbow trout in Kansas. I been fishing/catching them since 1979 or before, I think. Wyandotte County Lake has been stocked with them since the late 60's-early 70's. All they had for catching rainbow then was salmon eggs primarily, then velveeta cheese, minnows and worms. If live/natural bait wasn't being used then it was a crappie jig under a small bobber fished slowly with the ripples caused by a very lite wind. 15-20" under the float was the ticket. The "old timers" used to kick butt with that method. The real godsend for trout fishing was the introduction of Berkely powerbait. The original color was pink, then orange, and then chartruese. They came about 1 1/2 years apart from each other. When the rainbow colored and then the yellow powerbait were finally discovered, the hardest part of catching trout was getting out of bed to go get them. We'd get 10,000-12,000 pounds of trout per year. I think we still do. If bait and jigs don't seem to be the thing for your trout fishing then purchase a few little cleos and go for it. It takes longer for a limit but they'll average 2 pounds apiece. Use a 1/4- 5/16 long barrel swivel to eliminate twist and for a longer cast. On the real cold days the thing to do for trout is this. Get the smallest 3 way swivel you can find. Smaller than your ring fingernails diameter. Slide in a 1/16- 1/8 oz. egg sinker and tie the swivel on. Make two leaders from 4# line. One at about 2 ft. long and the other at half the length. Buy Pautzke's brand salmon eggs. Using Atlas Mike or some other brand of eggs just ain't as good. Using the smallest hooks you can find put 2-3 eggs on each hook. After casting out do NOT tighten the line. You want to see some curl in the line while waiting for a hit. The reason you will be using 2 hooks is when a trout picks up the 1st hook, it will suck those eggs off the hook without you knowing. The reason for the 2nd hook is when the 1st hook is being eaten/pulled on, the 2nd hook raises of the bottom and is also attacked. The 2nd hook gets them 99% of the time. If you titeline this rig the trout will clean your hook more often than not. Here's something I remembered- when newly stocked trout are swimming they don't know how to hunt for food yet. They've always been hand/machine fed. Keep your powerbait leader 6-10" long at the beginning of the season for at least the 1st 10 days. After that you can lengthen them some, mostly because they're so hungry they'll eat anything. On a day with blown out, clear skies and cold weather I'll use blue/yellow powerbait on one rig and the salmon egg rig on another. If you can have a fire legally where you catch trout then by all means do so. It will make your fingers work better. A few years back I was going for more powerbait and ran across the Eagle Claw version of powerbait. That stuff was over a dollar cheaper than Berkeley per jar. At first I was skeptical. I was thinking I should of bought the good stuff. I thought that for 2 weeks until one day with 20-25 mph north winds, no sun, 27 degree air temp and Eagle Claw brand trout dough bait, I paid my dues I guess and limited out on rainbow trout that averaged 24" in length. I'm guessing 3 3/4- 4 pounds apiece is what they weighed. For early springtime channel cat fishing- I'll offer you guys this old timers rig for powerbait. Tie on a 3/4 oz. bass casting sinker to the end off the line and attach 2 treble hooks spaced up the line accordingly and cover with powerbait. Cast out where you think they're at and tight line the rig and wait. They had only pink back then but I think chartruese would be better these days. I probably forgot something here for trout fishing in Kansas so if you can think of anything, post it.
I'd like to add something for trout fishing in Kansas. This applies during fall and springtime, maybe wintertime. While looking for a place(s) for trout fishing, walk the bank in different areas to find areas that will have the insect hatches. One cove or corner on a northwest bank may have bugs (gnats) flying around that may be 4-5 days bigger than let's say a cove or area in another part of the lake that will have the only the smaller bugs flying around. Find the spot with the bigger insects and cattail remnants/weeds growing next to the shoreline. 1/2- 3/4" (inch) crappie use that cover during wintertime (even under ice) and smart trout will be close by.
I have concerns about Scott State Lake in regards to safety. Some of us are float tubers and we have learned the hard way not to go very far out in this lake especially on a busy spring or summer weekend when there is so much boat activity. One individual whom I know well was almost run over by a bass tracker boat racing across the lake. He was narrowly missed. Very narrowly missed!!! I am concerned with a float tuber or a small boater back in the creek channel and a fast boat coming around a bend and running over one of these small crafts. MOST Nebraska small bodies of water are NO WAKE now or trolling motors only. Will it take a tragedy to change how things are done!!! One of the last times I float tubed there a large Ranger Bassboat operator couldn't get his big 150 hp. engine going so they ran the trolling motor. When he trolled past I noticed the guy in front was aiming a compound bow. What for I don't know but he had no bow fishing reel or arrow on that thing. Kinda funny. On a lighter note one time I was trolling in a small boat and went past the swimming beach point and looked. There was a mother breastfeeding her child. I was only maybe ten feet away and she didn't see me. Out of respect I quickly looked the other direction away from her. Then maybe ten seconds later my lure snagged a big carp and it came up thrashing. This got more embarrasing for me now as her husband behind her whom I didn't see sat up and asked me if it was a bass. I said "It's only a carp," and left this precious little family alone. I have now bought a boat for this lake and will use a trolling motor. I feel safer!!!! There is some good fishing in this lake for big walleye but the locals are mostly tight lipped.
I had that problem one evening with a jet skier for about 10 minutes until he ran into one of my rigs that had 40# test with a 10 ft. surfcasting rod. I was on the bank. He hit it going full speed and I saw his head whip around when he drove into the line. It had to of been painful but he kept going.
I don't know about Oklahoma or Missouri but Colorado sure has gone to a lot of electric trolling motors only for many of their lakes under 300 acres or so. I know at one time many years ago in Scott City a petition was passed around with many signatures wanting something like NO WAKE only. Nothing came of it. The least that could be done up there would be a NO WAKE from the beach house clear back to the springs area.
If you guys don't get that taken care of your lake will erode bigtime and good fishing spots will be lost simply because of siltation. Those waves from the boats wake will cause trees and rocks to fall in and the surrounding dirt will follow. It will keep doing that until speeds or horsepower ratings are lowered. Where I'm at we've lost approximately 25 ft. of shoreline in the last 35 years. Damage was mostly on the points but other areas as well. As soon as horsepower limits were done away with 25 years ago at the lake I'm referring to, the erosion process was underway. It's simply a greed thing. If we can keep these big boats here I'll make more money. It doesn't seem bad just by reading this here now but your 5-6 year old children will notice the difference years from now. If Scott is a smaller lake the sooner action is taken the better. The worst thing about our situation here is that money ($100,000) was bonded for lake dredging and none took place to my knowledge except for 1 small section at the entrance bridge. What a crime.
About the leader length for the powerbait rig-- if a 6-10" leader isn't working don't be afraid to shorten them to 4-6". Make sure you use 4# test, not 6# test. Use of 6# test on the fishing reel will be o.k. though.
This is for the people named Mike who read the above comment about not using Atlas Mike's salmon eggs. My brother-in-law and I had the Atlas Mike/Pautzke salmon egg debate one day fishing. His name is Mike and may of took offense to me saying that Atlas Mike's weren't any good for trout. Long story short, he proved to me that they DO catch rainbow trout. If you are named Mike you may be able to capitalize on trout using Atlas Mike's salmon eggs. You'll save money and I'm sorry if I offended anyone.
When I go to a lake and catch my legal limit of fish and have them in my livewell and I leave the lake do I have to drain the water out of the livewell because of the fear of transporting zebra mussels accidently? If I am headed straight home to clean my legal catch of fish I can leave the lake water in my livewell to keep my fish fresh and alive until I process them at my house right? I understand that I can not take a livewell full of one lakes water and take it to another lake for fear of accidental transporting zebra mussel to another lake, but I can take lake water home in my livewell to keep my legal limit fresh for processing at home right? After I get home and process my fish I would dump the lake water out onto the ground at my house.
Thanks in advance for your reply,
A concerned Angler who does not want to get a ticket.
Wow! What a great site. I live in CO and I am pretty envious of the amount of info put into this site. Keep up the good work!
I am planning a day trip to Kansas for some early season bass fishing. Any ponds closer to the Colorado boarder that I should check out? I will be in a belly boat....
For you walleye enthusiasts, Ranger Pro Bryan Garrison will be in Meade this Saturday giving demonstrations, talking fall fishing and giving away tickets to the Bart Crow Band show in November. If you're close to Meade this Saturday, be sure and stop by.
More info: http://smokehoss.com/index.php/9-walleyes-bart-crow-a-bbq
113 comments:
Why is there some lakes in the fishing regulation booklet but not listed on the website? Ulysses City lake and horsetheif are examples of this? Why isn't the fishing reports updated more? Just curious. Thanks
My personal opinion is that updated reports are dependant on the innitiative and motivation of the bologists. A good bologist will have more accuate and timely reports. Positive examples are Tommie Berger(wilson, kanopolis) and the biologist(sorry, dont know name)in charge of Cedar Bluff.(He is exceptional). Read between the lines from one area to the next and you will see which reports are more current. Some lazy biologists dont update for weeks but I wont mention any names or areas.
I sure wish the "lazy" ones in this area would update them more. Some of them haven't been updated since oct!
In SW KS, we have one fisheries biologist covering 26 counties. He is responsible for many tasks throughout this large district, the largest district in the state. Obviously he cannot visit each water on a regular basis, and must rely on others for information for updating the reports. This works pretty well for waters where we have KDWP staff stationed, but is tougher for more remote waters. We ask the anglers to assist in providing this information – the statement: “If you would like to post a fishing report go to http://ksfishing.blogspot.com/ and post a report for Region 3 and the lake you have been fishing” is included in the General Comments section of the REG 3 lake reports for this purpose. Also, you can phone information in to the Dodge City Office 620-227-8609. Any information you can provide would be much appreciated.
We do not include all lakes in the KDWP fishing reports. In the case of HorseThief Reservoir and Ulysses City Lake in Region 3, both are new to our Community Fisheries Assistance Program and have not been included in our KDWP fishing reports in the past. HorseThief is not yet open to fishing – once it opens, we will likely begin posting reports for this water. Also, we no longer require our biologists to update the KDWP reports throughout the winter – if they have information, they can update during winter months, but this is not mandatory.
I would ask you to be considerate in how you relay your concerns in an open forum such as a public blog. If you would like to contact me directly to discuss your concerns, please feel free to do so.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
Thanks for the info, and I am sorry if I made anybody upset. I now understand why they aren't updated more. I thought it was broken down by counties. I usually post on here when i go fishing. I have another question. Why isn't Arkalon stocked with trout during the winter? Thanks.
why is the college pond at dc3 not patrolled more often by leo's. with the regional office here in dodge it would seem simple for any co coming to the office to swing by the pond and do some checks. over the limit, double dipping and no permit is rampant there.
We are limited by dollars and other factors regarding the number of put-and-take trout fisheries maintained throughout the state, however we are open to considering the addition of new waters when appropriate and when we are able. I’ll discuss this with the district fisheries biologist. Arkalon is Community Fisheries Assistance Program water and these are handled differently than our state owned/licensed waters in regards to the trout program.
I have passed the concern about patrolling of the college pond on to our Law Enforcement Captain and he will be making the appropriate contacts.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
Thanks steve.
Has anyone fished the "boy scout lake "west of Jetmore in the past? If so what kind of fish are in it.I was there over the weekend when we went to look at Horsetheif and it looked to be a nice little spot. Any info would be great.
Can you get a boat out on scott lake yet or is it still frozen over?
I see that they have flathead cats listed for clark. Can anyone verify this? I would like to go limb line there.
How has fishing at meade lake been? Are the crappie bitting yet? Just curious since I am thinking about going over there next weekend? Thanks
there are flatheads in clark i've caught them. however limblines are not allowed in clark or any other state lakes under 1201 acres.
Has any one fished pratt county or the kids pound , i am taking my kids and some friends out there on wednesday and was just wondering what might be good this time of year any info would be helpful,thanks
The Pratt kids pond is a little slow right now but the County Lake offers some good opportunity for catching a few crappie. Your best bet right now would be to take the kids trout fishing at Centennial pond, the kids dont need a trout permit at Centennial Pond as the limit is two and kids only need a trout permit if they want to keep 3-5 trout.
Tom Lang
Pratt Office
KDWP
Tom Lang, Thank you for your advice, i do have a question though do the hooks have to be barbless on the trout? Thanks again
Is there any way to fish Clark County Lake From shore and stoll catch good numbers of fish
We've always had decent luck out at clark county lake off of the bank never have fished it in the early spring but always caught fish in the summer time out there
I was at Dodge City's Lake Charles again tonight and seen a ton of trout being taken out. Why aren't there any law enforcement officers patrolling this pond? Every night it is the same thing groups of people taking out WAY over their limit of Trout. I saw one group walk out with numerous Walmart bags of trout. I'm not talking 1or2 over the limit but 5-6 over the limit per person. There needs to be some type law enforcement there between 5 and dark. That place is crazy at that time. Any comments from KDWP would be great.
Thanks
In a response to the post on 3-17-10. May i make a friendly suggestion? Maybe you could kindly assist the law enforcement officers in the area by reporting it to the local dispatch. Some helpful things you could do is get a description of the suspect(s) and their vehicle(s) and if possible writing down a tag number. I think it is great that you are taking the initiative to report these violations on here, but i feel it may help your concerns more by reporting it to the local department. As im sure you know we (law enforcement) cant be everywhere at the right time. With concerned citizens like you it can make our job easier by helping us out by simply getting a tag number and filling out a witness statement, so we can find the suspect(s) and have them prosecuted. I am a deputy in a surrounding county and know first hand how short handed KDWP is. We always try to do our part to help them out and it would be greatly appreciated if you could help us out by using those few pointers i just gave. Thanks in advance.
In Response to the resopnse about 3-17-10 post. I have reported things to the KDWP officers before, with tag and description of vehicle occupant the whole nine. I was then told that without the officer seeing the violation taking place with their own eyes there was nothing they could do. That has been a couple of years ago maybe that policy has changed. I would love to know.
Is Clark SFL still frozen? I can hardly wait to start fishing! We love it there> For the person who asked if fish can be caught off shore there- Absolutely! There is a fish attracter off of the east shore near a point, spring crappie can be caught there as well as white and black bass. We have had pretty fair results even mid summer.
Was over to the trout pond at the college Sunday evening fishing was slow but one fellow was sitting on a bucket of five trout. I watched him catch another and take it over to his wife’s bucket on the other side of the pond. I took my phone out and called ford county communications. I relayed the information to her as to what was going on and she notified a Dodge City officer to hold the subject till the local CO could get there. After some questioning of the subjects and receiving my testimony the subject was issued a NTA for over the limit. This is what needs to be done to stop the over fishing that goes on. The CO s can’t sit on the pond 24/7. There is a group of 10 or so individuals that are using this program as a primary food source. They are constantly double dipping and over fishing this resource. These individuals take probably 400 of the 860 trout we get a month. This program is to provide a winter recreational opportunity for a number of people not a food source for a select few. If this over fishing cannot be stopped this site should be moved to another location were it can be enjoyed by more people.
Hooks are not required to be barbless at Centennial Pond. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.
Tom Lang
KDWP
Pratt Office
I see on here that someone wants to limb line at Clark SFL and someone else says it is not legal. Why? I would not mind limb lining there myself. What about log lines? they are both done with a single hook un like trot lines. Just wanted to know. Thanks
Clark SFL is approx 330 surface acres in size. Prior to this year, trotlines and setlines were not allowed on state managed waters less than 500 surface acres in size. This regulation changed effective Jan 1, 2010 to state trotlines and setlines may not be used on state managed impoundments smaller than 1,201 surface acres, including CFAP lakes. Setlines by definition include limb lines and “log” lines or basically all lines anchored or attached at one point with no more than 2 hooks and not associated with a hand operated mechanical reel. Catfish harvest restrictions imposed by KDWP on most small lakes tend to be more stringent than those for larger waters. Unlike most of our reservoirs where stocking is not necessary because natural reproduction/recruitment is adequate to maintain good numbers and support considerable harvest, small lake catfish fisheries are maintained primarily through stocking.
Hope this answers your questions. Good luck with your fishing.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
hi my name is tyler barnett i am going to SSFL this weekend i am takiing my nephews and sister fishing up ther if any one has any information on bass or catfish plz give me a call @ 620-966-2619
Vet's Lake Great Bend Trout being caught Dead or Live!Dead Perch,Crappie,Bass,Catfish,Shad,Bullfrog,Viper. Happy Earth Day!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-20-2010
Has there been any fish stocked at concannons the buffalo sandpit and Beymer sandpit.
There have been a few channel catfish stocked in the sand pit at the buffalo refuge. Beymer sand pit has not been in the CFAP program for several years and therefore KDWP does not stock any fish there. Concannon recently got some rain and we are waiting for the water quality to improve and stabilize.
Lowell Aberson
Fisheries Biologist
Where are the fish biting? Hope to take my 5 year old in the morning. dont care what we catch. Looking at the walk-in fishing book and possibly will try one of the ponds up north of ness city. Any info would be great.
What you could do for the illegal trout fishing is to set up a guard shack at the entrances/exits of the park and check everybody's creel when they come through. March and April would be all you need. After trout figure out how to hunt shad, they become tougher to catch. Violators that get caught would add more money to your city or county. Here in wyandotte county (k.c.)violators get the book thrown at them for illegal fishing practices. May as well do the same there.
has anyone herd about what is going on at vetrans memorial lake. there is a toxic moss. they have the lake shut off to the public. I want to know who or what is responsible for this hater of fish. I think that it has something to do with the new housing addition they put up north of the park. i am so sad. i live 2 blocks away from the park and it is one of my favorite places to fish. there has never been a problem like this in the past that i know of. someone please fill me in !!!!!!! mike
yes that is news i dont want to hear im not sure exactly what could cause it , ive always wanted to visit and fish that lake have u ever caught any saugeye or smallmouth bass out of there , or any wiper please post back ...fishin pal jer
yes, i have caught a lot of saugeye at vets. the biggest one i caught was 8.32lbs. the state record is 9.8. i was so close! they did accidently stock 400 wipers in vets last year. i have caught 2. they are still small but there is no size limit to them because they are not suppose to be in there. the crappie are plentifull though. I sure hope they get the problem fixed soon. they have larg mouth bass in there. i never caught a smally though. there are plenty of catfish. they stock over 6000 trought in the winter there. that is a lot of fun! your fisin pal mike
what is "trought"
i think he means trout ..lol ...wow that is some nice saugeye are there many of them in there i really want to check the lake out now , do u use a jig with nightcrawler or live minnows for the saugeye hope moss or algae bloom gets fixed with cooler weather, also is there a lake called stone lake in great bend i heard theres smallmouth bass and wiper in there or am i mistaking, there used to be big wiper in sterling city lake but they no longer stock them cause they eat the crappie they say ... thanks for any info ...fishin pal jer
Try to develop the "blade bait" technique. Using the gold colored might trigger the bigger crappie, particularly the 15-17" black crappie. I'd start with chrome/stainless colored bladebaits. Try starting now with blade baits and by November you'll probably nail them (saugeye/walleye) any time you need to. At the very least, add bladebaits to the fishing arsenal. There will be times when the jig/crawler, or even jig/minnow for that matter,will be tough to beat. Watch this fall (late Oct.) for the big fish busting shad or baitfish over deep water areas during daylight. A lot of those will be trophy smallmouth. For them to be that size I'd assume smallmouth would need to establish themselves in that particular lake for at least 5-6 years before those characteristics are seen. Live bait is the ticket there but you never know.
if he meant trout then make sure they receive all the trout they ordered instead of being short changed. Over a period of years that adds up to alot of pounds.
Ban all live minnow baits. Make a check-in for anybody who throws for livebait or make them buy one expensive permit with ANS certifi-
cation. I think allowing the sun-
fish for bait is acceptable. We
need to quit jacking around, if we're serious, and do something rock solid or the carp problem will continue to explode. On the other hand it'll limit those jetskiers which is a diffinent plus
Ban all live minnow baits. Make a check-in for anybody who throws for livebait or make them buy one expensive permit with ANS certifi-
cation. I think allowing the sun-
fish for bait is acceptable. We
need to quit jacking around, if we're serious, and do something rock solid or the carp problem will continue to explode. On the other hand it'll limit those jetskiers which is a diffinent plus
You can thank the wiper/striper guys for the zebra mussels in Wilson and Milford. And when the white perch finally get established in Milford you can thank them for that also. Ban the bait, it's obvious some of them are not responsible.
I thought it was walleye/bass fishermen responsible for the zebra muscle spread. Perry hasn't ever had striper and Hybrids came and went about 1987-1990. But Perry does have the zebra muscles now and had bass fishing tournaments in the last 10 years or so.
Vet's is a storm water drain for the rich. Great Bend can make more money selling lots at North side of lake. OOPS, I met storm sewer.
o really, well they have some nice saugeye then . haha
how does someone "accidentally" stock 400 wiper?
They were going to put them in stones but someone along the line messed up. I caught that big saugeye on a twisty tail jig with a 1/8 oz jig head. I was trieng for the crappie. yea i spelt trout wrong, opps. stones is a good place to fish. there are a lot of deep holes. some places up to 40 feet. I tried trolling for wipers but the only time i cought them was when i was fishing for catfish using chicken liver. they like chicken liver for some reason!!! they have some big crappie but they are hard to find with all the holes out there. I caught some small smallmouth out there. I herd they stocked them last year! If you love large mouth fishing Stones has trofy size large mouth. I had a big one on my line yesterday and got him all the way to the boat and he decided he did not want to come in. He swam under my boat and snaped my 8 lb test. that would have been my biggest bass ever.he had to be pushing 10+ lbs. fish on brothers and sisters of the lake! mike
shoulda used trilene.
ya i catch wiper on chicken liver at marion co. lake all the time , i think they like the oil thats in it, did they stock many saugeye in vets lake or just a few hundred do u know ..thanks for posting info back it helps..
yes it would be better if the fish stocking records were posted sooner after stocking has been done, particularly after the fall stockings.
The feed used at the hatcheries contains chicken livers, kinda like imprinting I guess.
that explains rainbow trout being caught on liver in summertime.
so i take it stone lake in great bend is an old sandpit if its 40 feet deep , wow thats a big bass i would like to catch one around 8 pounds who wouldnt 8 and 10 pound bass in kansas is big , i think my biggest bass is around 7 pounds and biggest smallie was over 4 pounds, im just always searching for new and good places to fish that i havnt been to yet...fishin pal jer
KDWP region 3 fishing location page list Stone as maximum depth as only 20 ft. What I would do is take a trip there and hopefully there is a marina/baitshack right on waters edge. Go in if there is and look at the pictures of trophy bass from over the years. Pictures of big crappie and 35-45# flathead would also tell me about big bass being there or not. If none of that is happening, look around for bigger trees at waters edge and submerged weeds. (coontails weed areas) If it feels like it could produce a trophy and you could only make it a one time trip, go towards the end of May and throw red or orange colored cranks or rattletraps using trolling motor stealth and fast retrieves.
I'd just use the power ratings for each lake to see where the lunkers are.
I think old fishin pal Mike will pull your leg.I thinks he's been caught for double dipping and illegal fishing. Just ask is old buddy Brain Hanzlick conservation officer of KDWP.
A 5 pound bass can break 8# test.
o really ..lol..mike u pullin my leg ..haha
thanks for answering the 400 wiper question Mike.
i am not pulling anyones leg. yes, patty and i were out at vets lake and we got into the catfish. we had not checked how many we had in our basket and we had 12 cats insted of 10. it was a stupid mistake and it caust 75 dollars a fish. that is all that has ever happend to me. i HAVE NEVER FISHED ILLEGALLY. there is always someone out there trying to make people out to be bad. i guess it takes all kinds. i got the ticket because i was in controle of the boat. yes i know brian and if anyone wants to ask about me go ahead. mike loughner look me up. i want to know who is spreading the childish rumors about me! you must be a woman!
i need to pull someones leg out there bass. hahahahaahhah. fish on brothers and sisters and blogg gosipers.
haha...mike i know ur not pullin my leg , i dont listen to others gossip i think they were playin , i only listen to fishing advice and information ..lol ...fishin pal jer
stone lake is a old sand pit. it is very clean. there are a lot of bass in there. it is hard to not catch them. every year there are new bass that reproduce in stones. when you use a luer you will have schooles of baby bass chasing it. the shad are very uneasy in this lake. they have some big flathead that come out of there. i have seen there heads nailed to a nearby fence post. i usually catch the 3-5lb channel cat out of there. they make for some good eating. there are some regulars that go out there with some really big gear. They are after the big fish. if you look on dalton gang hidouts websight there should be a pic of my saugeye. i know they have it on the wall at there store in great bend. they just stocked some really small channel cats in stones. you have to feed quit a bit of them before you hook into a good one. it is a lot of fun though. my spelling might not be the greatest but i love to talk about fishing. fish on brothers and sisters. mike
hey thanks for the good info ,just one question are there good numbers of saugeye in vets, or are they few and far between ,they must have been there for a while if there that big ..oh yea and is vets lake still closed due to algae
vets lake is still closed. I havent caught very many saugeye out there this year. I think it might have something to do with the bloom. I have seen some dead ones on the banks. they were nice in size. it was a sad thing. I hope they survive the outbreak. the last time they netted the lake i herd they pulled some 10 pounders out of there. I hope they are still in there alive and swimming!!! they are sure fun to catch. about two years ago i caught some 7 inchers. i just hope they make it.they sure are tasty. i love fishing that lake it is only a couple of blocks from my house. i wish someone would do something to fix it. live and love fishing mike.
o ok ..thanks for repling back ,thats some big saugeye there it sounds like , thats good if there were some 7 inchers that should mean some up and coming fish if they survive ,but if those big ones are surving im sure alot of those small will to, ive never fished that lake im just lookin for new places were i can catch walleye/saugeye , should i try stone lake in great bend ..
stone lake does not have walleye or saugeye. The lake just to the west of it does but it is a membership only. I herd they have a lot of fish in there though. I might get a membership some day. stones is a real clean lake though. there are plenty of bass, wiper, crappie, catfish and blue guill.
Fishin pal jer and others- I found a website that has 2 good pictures identifying sauger and saugeye. It shows the differences/similarities well. Type in: Indiana fishing Ohio river sauger. Keep scrolling down until you get to Bayou Bill's monthly column,recent rambles. Go to the 6th paragraph and hit sauger for the sauger picture and saugeye for the saugeye picture. The saugeye picture shows the slight red/orange tinge I was talking about on another kwpd post. These images will help assuming the saugeye there haven't crossed back with a parental species and produced offspring. If that happens, things are a little more complicated. The bumps on the heads of the fish you were catching really are clams Jer, as someone else suggested, but are present only a few months of the year. Sauger turn on up north when the first killing frost occurs. I'll do some investigating here to see if that's true in Kansas, although it may take a few seasons to do so. About asian carp- Illinois hired commercial netters and are converting the carp into livestock feed supplement. Sounded like they weren't getting any government funding/help up there and they can't afford to wait for it.
ok ..thanks very much for the great info
they must have just stocked stones lake with wiper. I had fun catching them with my throw net! I did not know what they were at first. that is why i threw out my throw net. They were right by the bank it was coool! thanks for stocking!!!! mike
Why have the maintainers of Stone Lake in Great Bend allowed the fishing to deteriorate so badly? Fishing has been absolutely horrible for two years now. The channel catfishing is at an all time low catch rate and what is caught are less than 8 inches. This lake has been overstocked with small fish with no regard to balance. The Crappie fishing is almost nonexsistant in what used to be a tremendous crappie fishery. This lake is in serious need of attention. It could use a large stocking of 3-5 lb catfish to restore the balance of size and quality. Great Bend has no other decent fishery for locals and kids to fish and one wonders why their is a lack of new fishing enthusiasts. Veterans lake has issues and McArthur has been let go to decline into a wasted fishery by authortities. Why not use Stone Lake for future Trout plants? It is deeper than any other local lake with a natural aquafier of cold water flowing into it from underneath. It is time for whoever maintains these local lakes and ponds to step up and provide positive leadership for this area. Not all of us are able to travel to out of the area lakes.
One reason for not stocking trout there in Stone Lake is the acreage of the water. More water means it will hold more trout. Meaning the fish will cost more money to stock. Your city will realize this and you'll more than likely pay for extra permit(s). Where I fish for trout I need a state license(ks), lake permit, and trout permit. It's almost $50.00 a season. Keep the trout in the small lake there in Great Bend. It will be cheaper. I wonder what KWPD thinks of the scam Wyandotte County pulls every year by stocking rainbow trout. No need to answer that. Looking at a picture of Stone lake I found, it looks like a place a person could catch a lot of largemouth bass. If there are flathead there, find the place that comes from deep water to a feeding shelf-flat area and hit the edge area with a green sunfish or a shad.
walleye or saugeye will clean up all of those little bass Mike L. was talking about. They will feed on them going into December.
That would be awsome if stones had saugeye or walleye. They would deffinatly survive there. There are millions of small fish to feed on. I herd they are going to put those big catfish from the zoo in stones. I want to know when that is suppose to happen. That would be fun to get a hold of one of those big kittys !!! yes they do need to stop stocking stones with little cats. I think the big cats eat the little cats and us fishermen and women feed the little cats. all i know is that after they stock the little cats it is almost impossible to catch a nice 3-5 pounder. now stones is the only public fishing hole in great bend. It is a really clean lake and has good potential for awsome fishing. weeee have fun fishing mike L.
I think stones will hold trout year round! That means no wasted fish. It is definatly deep enough. what does not last will make good catfish food! for all those baby kittens.
If they are going to drain the zoo pond, see if they will offer public fish salvage while the pond is draining. If they do, then tie a bunch of limb/bank lines. Use natural bait. If you feel like setting 30 lines, then set 30 lines. If the pond is private or in the range of tigers or other felines there in the zoo, then this was just a good thought.
And don't forget about those smallmouth that are there in Stones. They do a lot of herding of small panfish. Wait 2 or 3 years at least for results. Right at dusk/twilight is the best time. (my opinion from fishing other lakes) By that time you might get saugeye if you guys ask KWPD and the little wiper there will be ready to do battle.
thats right they did put in some small mouth. I did forget about that THANK YOU! I have caught a couple allready but they were only 4 inches I hope the wiper dont get them. small mouth are fun to catch!!! Thanks for all the good fishing advice!!! mike L
if stone is deeper and bigger than veterans park lake and it has saugeye, it makes more sense to put saugeye in stone lakeif its deeper that might be a good idea , isnt there smallmouth in stone lake now .. thanks for all the good comments...fishin pal jer
went to pratt caught 5 bass , 3 wiper one broke the line, and 3 walleye/saugeye one was a good 18 inches...good eatin ..fishin pal jer
what lures or bait methods did you use at Pratt for the fish you caught?
i used rattletraps and jigs
pratt county lake is one of my favorite places to fish! I have never got skunked there. The quality and size of the fish there is awsome. that sounds like you had a blast jer. I love to here cool fishing storys. They just stocked stones lake with 4000 catfish!!!! I was there and got to perticipate in the release of them into the lake. Man it was awsome to see all those cats go into stones. to bad they wernt bigger they were only any where from 1/3 - 1 lb. o well they will grow some by next year. Wish they would stock some 3-5 lbers like someone mentioned earlier. I guess those wipers i neted earlier were not stocked recently. i was told by the fish stocker that they only stock the minnow size wiper. I dont know the proper name for that size of fish. It is nice to see that people are perticipating more in giving advice. fish on brothers and sisters. mike
yep , this is a good place to share info...
Stone lake has a max depth of about 23ft, lots of humps and variations. There are indeed some lunker largemouth in there, hard to fish them from the bank, they like it in front of the cattails.
In Kansas the pre-spawn occurs in March and April, it varies from year to year just when the best time is. That's when the lunkers are most available if you're willing to put in the time. They'll be moving around close to the bank, rapala 7's work well then.
You can drift all summer at stone and rarely catch a 5lb cat, the #'s are evidently pretty low. Too many of the big ones have gone into the pan and it takes a long time to build up a population like that. The dinkies will keep you busy but that's about it.
Does Stone lake have a rock strewn dam? If so, that's where to fish for bigger catfish. The summer months are the best time right at morning twilight. Can you fish there 24 hrs. a day or are there certain times that fishing is allowed. Most of the time they are done feeding by 6:30 a.m.. During the fall if I don't have one on the stringer by 8:45 p.m., it won't be a good night. They will average a pound in weight. Try the dam area next year. What I mean by that is to walk to the middle of the dam and start from there. The big ones pick the choice areas to feed and the dam is the top spot. Sometimes 2 ft. deep will be the depth or 6-7 ft. will be. Using a boat will spook them unless there is submerged brush/limbs. If that is there drop or cast right into the middle of it. That's where their food will be hiding. Next spring (march) the catfish will be as shallow as possible. Being at the right spot at dark can lead to a limit of 3-4 pounders everyday. A degree or two in temperature can be the difference that early for catfish.
I went vet's lake Friday,and seen one Trout while I walked along the boat ramp. Did they stock it already?They still got the toxic alge bloom warnings up.
Sounds like it's time to get your fly fishing equipment ready.
Did stock trout in Veteran's Lake yet?Mybe the fish and Game can chime in.
I spoke with the Park supervisor, City of Great Bend this morning. The trout have been stocked, but Vets Park Lake is currently closed to fishing due to the blue-green algae bloom and the resulting public health warning currently posted by the KS Dept. Health of Environment (KDHE). The city will likely open the lake to fishing when the bloom subsides and KDHE downgrades the warning.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
Anyone know for sure if Vet's is open for fishing now? Read the article in the GB tribune and it said that it was open to fishing and boating but just wanted to get another confirmation on it.
Yes,go get them and tell me how good they are to eat.I cant belive that Dogs cant drink the water,so how safe are they?
The KS Dept of Health and Environment (KDHE) recently downgraded Vet’s Park Lake from a blue-green algae warning to an advisory and the Great Bend Parks Dept reopened the lake to fishing. Under an advisory, KDHE advises against full body contact with the water by humans or pets (swimming, drinking, etc.). Fish flesh is considered safe for consumption under an advisory. Thoroughly washing the fish in clean water before butchering is recommended, and consumption of other parts such as internal organs is discouraged. The toxins generated by algae do not accumulate in the flesh but can occur for a period of time in the liver and other organs.
Steve Price
Regional Fisheries Supervisor
KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Box 338, 1426 Hwy 183 Alt.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-8614
Cought a few trout out of vets park in great bend also was catching catfish off worm on bottom by the dock might try that as well.
I sure hope that next year the alega stays out of vets. I sure love fishing there. It is really close to home. I cought a couple of trout on power bait. It was nice to finally go fishing at vets again. have fun and take a kid or a friend fishing. Mike
Mike are you trying for the 5 trout limit or are you just settling for a couple trout because you don't need five? What pound line are you using for leaders? Your algae problem there should be ok until late April/May when the water warms up some.
Here are some of the ways I have caught rainbow trout in Kansas. I been fishing/catching them since 1979 or before, I think. Wyandotte County Lake has been stocked with them since the late 60's-early 70's. All they had for catching rainbow then was salmon eggs primarily, then velveeta cheese, minnows and worms. If live/natural bait wasn't being used then it was a crappie jig under a small bobber fished slowly with the ripples caused by a very lite wind. 15-20" under the float was the ticket. The "old timers" used to kick butt with that method. The real godsend for trout fishing was the introduction of Berkely powerbait. The original color was pink, then orange, and then chartruese. They came about 1 1/2 years apart from each other. When the rainbow colored and then the yellow powerbait were finally discovered, the hardest part of catching trout was getting out of bed to go get them. We'd get 10,000-12,000 pounds of trout per year. I think we still do. If bait and jigs don't seem to be the thing for your trout fishing then purchase a few little cleos and go for it. It takes longer for a limit but they'll average 2 pounds apiece. Use a 1/4- 5/16 long barrel swivel to eliminate twist and for a longer cast. On the real cold days the thing to do for trout is this. Get the smallest 3 way swivel you can find. Smaller than your ring fingernails diameter. Slide in a 1/16- 1/8 oz. egg sinker and tie the swivel on. Make two leaders from 4# line. One at about 2 ft. long and the other at half the length. Buy Pautzke's brand salmon eggs. Using Atlas Mike or some other brand of eggs just ain't as good. Using the smallest hooks you can find put 2-3 eggs on each hook. After casting out do NOT tighten the line. You want to see some curl in the line while waiting for a hit. The reason you will be using 2 hooks is when a trout picks up the 1st hook, it will suck those eggs off the hook without you knowing. The reason for the 2nd hook is when the 1st hook is being eaten/pulled on, the 2nd hook raises of the bottom and is also attacked. The 2nd hook gets them 99% of the time. If you titeline this rig the trout will clean your hook more often than not. Here's something I remembered- when newly stocked trout are swimming they don't know how to hunt for food yet. They've always been hand/machine fed. Keep your powerbait leader 6-10" long at the beginning of the season for at least the 1st 10 days. After that you can lengthen them some, mostly because they're so hungry they'll eat anything. On a day with blown out, clear skies and cold weather I'll use blue/yellow powerbait on one rig and the salmon egg rig on another. If you can have a fire legally where you catch trout then by all means do so. It will make your fingers work better. A few years back I was going for more powerbait and ran across the Eagle Claw version of powerbait. That stuff was over a dollar cheaper than Berkeley per jar. At first I was skeptical. I was thinking I should of bought the good stuff. I thought that for 2 weeks until one day with 20-25 mph north winds, no sun, 27 degree air temp and Eagle Claw brand trout dough bait, I paid my dues I guess and limited out on rainbow trout that averaged 24" in length. I'm guessing 3 3/4- 4 pounds apiece is what they weighed. For early springtime channel cat fishing- I'll offer you guys this old timers rig for powerbait. Tie on a 3/4 oz. bass casting sinker to the end off the line and attach 2 treble hooks spaced up the line accordingly and cover with powerbait. Cast out where you think they're at and tight line the rig and wait. They had only pink back then but I think chartruese would be better these days. I probably forgot something here for trout fishing in Kansas so if you can think of anything, post it.
I'd like to add something for trout fishing in Kansas. This applies during fall and springtime, maybe wintertime. While looking for a place(s) for trout fishing, walk the bank in different areas to find areas that will have the insect hatches. One cove or corner on a northwest bank may have bugs (gnats) flying around that may be 4-5 days bigger than let's say a cove or area in another part of the lake that will have the only the smaller bugs flying around. Find the spot with the bigger insects and cattail remnants/weeds growing next to the shoreline. 1/2- 3/4" (inch) crappie use that cover during wintertime (even under ice) and smart trout will be close by.
I have concerns about Scott State Lake in regards to safety. Some of us are float tubers and we have learned the hard way not to go very far out in this lake especially on a busy spring or summer weekend when there is so much boat activity. One individual whom I know well was almost run over by a bass tracker boat racing across the lake. He was narrowly missed. Very narrowly missed!!! I am concerned with a float tuber or a small boater back in the creek channel and a fast boat coming around a bend and running over one of these small crafts. MOST Nebraska small bodies of water are NO WAKE now or trolling motors only. Will it take a tragedy to change how things are done!!!
One of the last times I float tubed there a large Ranger Bassboat operator couldn't get his big 150 hp. engine going so they ran the trolling motor. When he trolled past I noticed the guy in front was aiming a compound bow. What for I don't know but he had no bow fishing reel or arrow on that thing. Kinda funny.
On a lighter note one time I was trolling in a small boat and went past the swimming beach point and looked. There was a mother breastfeeding her child. I was only maybe ten feet away and she didn't see me. Out of respect I quickly looked the other direction away from her. Then maybe ten seconds later my lure snagged a big carp and it came up thrashing. This got more embarrasing for me now as her husband behind her whom I didn't see sat up and asked me if it was a bass. I said "It's only a carp," and left this precious little family alone. I have now bought a boat for this lake and will use a trolling motor.
I feel safer!!!! There is some good fishing in this lake for big walleye but the locals are mostly tight lipped.
I had that problem one evening with a jet skier for about 10 minutes until he ran into one of my rigs that had 40# test with a 10 ft. surfcasting rod. I was on the bank. He hit it going full speed and I saw his head whip around when he drove into the line. It had to of been painful but he kept going.
I don't know about Oklahoma or Missouri but Colorado sure has gone to a lot of electric trolling motors only for many of their lakes under 300 acres or so. I know at one time many years ago in Scott City a petition was passed around with many signatures wanting something like NO WAKE only. Nothing came of it. The least that could be done up there would be a NO WAKE from the beach house clear back to the springs area.
If you guys don't get that taken care of your lake will erode bigtime and good fishing spots will be lost simply because of siltation. Those waves from the boats wake will cause trees and rocks to fall in and the surrounding dirt will follow. It will keep doing that until speeds or horsepower ratings are lowered. Where I'm at we've lost approximately 25 ft. of shoreline in the last 35 years. Damage was mostly on the points but other areas as well. As soon as horsepower limits were done away with 25 years ago at the lake I'm referring to, the erosion process was underway. It's simply a greed thing. If we can keep these big boats here I'll make more money. It doesn't seem bad just by reading this here now but your 5-6 year old children will notice the difference years from now. If Scott is a smaller lake the sooner action is taken the better. The worst thing about our situation here is that money ($100,000) was bonded for lake dredging and none took place to my knowledge except for 1 small section at the entrance bridge. What a crime.
About the leader length for the powerbait rig-- if a 6-10" leader isn't working don't be afraid to shorten them to 4-6". Make sure you use 4# test, not 6# test. Use of 6# test on the fishing reel will be o.k. though.
This is for the people named Mike who read the above comment about not using Atlas Mike's salmon eggs. My brother-in-law and I had the Atlas Mike/Pautzke salmon egg debate one day fishing. His name is Mike and may of took offense to me saying that Atlas Mike's weren't any good for trout. Long story short, he proved to me that they DO catch rainbow trout. If you are named Mike you may be able to capitalize on trout using Atlas Mike's salmon eggs. You'll save money and I'm sorry if I offended anyone.
lol ...thats kinda funny ..to above ...all is good ...
Ok i have a question for the game warden,
Here is my question.
When I go to a lake and catch my legal limit of fish and have them in my livewell and I leave the lake do I have to drain the water out of the livewell because of the fear of transporting zebra mussels accidently? If I am headed straight home to clean my legal catch of fish I can leave the lake water in my livewell to keep my fish fresh and alive until I process them at my house right? I understand that I can not take a livewell full of one lakes water and take it to another lake for fear of accidental transporting zebra mussel to another lake, but I can take lake water home in my livewell to keep my legal limit fresh for processing at home right? After I get home and process my fish I would dump the lake water out onto the ground at my house.
Thanks in advance for your reply,
A concerned Angler who does not want to get a ticket.
If you pull a shenanigan like that we will nominate you as the 2011 aquatic nuisance specie of the year in Kansas.
you cannot transport any water from a lake with nuisance species anywhere.
To the KS. Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Wow! What a great site. I live in CO and I am pretty envious of the amount of info put into this site. Keep up the good work!
I am planning a day trip to Kansas for some early season bass fishing. Any ponds closer to the Colorado boarder that I should check out? I will be in a belly boat....
Has any one been ice fishing this year just wondering how good or bad it was for you
For you walleye enthusiasts, Ranger Pro Bryan Garrison will be in Meade this Saturday giving demonstrations, talking fall fishing and giving away tickets to the Bart Crow Band show in November. If you're close to Meade this Saturday, be sure and stop by.
More info:
http://smokehoss.com/index.php/9-walleyes-bart-crow-a-bbq
why people stop posting on this one.
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