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56 comments:
Melvern Lake - 2-1-12 === 2-2-12 We fished both days and had our limit by noon. We are still catching them between 11 to 23 feet deep in 15 to 27 feet of water. It was a little more difficult today. Using 2" plastic bodies (char./black-blue/white and hair gigs).
been catching channel cats in five foot of water the last few days at pomona lake on shad sides.
one to four pounds.
Melvern Lake - water temp. 37 - Fishing for crapppie is still good - 13 -24 feet deep. Another limit before noon!
Melvern - Fished with a different partner today. We found a lot of schools of shad BUT we just couldn't catch fish around them. We did end up with our limit today but it took six hard hours to catch them. A beautiful day to be on the lake.
Can anyone tell me what shape St Paul wildlife refuge is in.I used to catch some good crappie there but haven't been there in years.Hope it didnt go dry last year.
Melvern lake - We were concern today because of the NE wind. We decided to try a couple of new places and it paid off. Some of our limit was caught only 9 feet deep (nice fish). Water temp. 39-42 degrees.
Melvern Lake - Went back to the lake today, we chosed a very windy day! The fishing was tougher. We found good size groups of shad but our limit was made up of smaller crappie. Water temp. 41-42 degrees.
Melvern lake fisherman, you retired?
Melvern Lake fisherman - Yes, I have been retired since 1995 and have enjoyed the outdoors since. I don't hunt any more but do fish for channels,yellows,walleye and of course crappie.
Melvern Lake - Catching is slowing down! Wind early was good ( 5 to 7) but did picked by 10 am (15 to 22 ). We caught most of our crappie by10 a.m. down about 19 to 24 feet deep. Water temp. 42. We did see a group of bucks, two were in full rack,one had one antler and the other two had clean heads. We kept 22 crappie.
Have caught better than 100 crappie in the last 2 weeks on Spring River only problem is they've all been small males. Did finally find a couple of big sows tonight. Water temperature is running in the mid 50's and in the right areas it's between 58 and 59 so the fun is about to begin. The fish had been in 17 to 24 feet of water found them tonight at about 10.
Melvern Lake - A beautiful day! Fished for crappie the first part of the morning in our usual spots, not many fish anywhere. We kept 19 fair fish. The rest of the morning we put in spawning brush. The water temp.48 -50 degrees.
Fished the dam at Baxter Springs for a while this evening. Four bites, no crappie or white bass. Water very low. Maybe the forcast will bring relief. Looks like it'll take a good rain to bring Spring River back up to normal. Four other anglers fishing, didn't see any fish caught. Two of the anglers were catfishing.
Fished Bone Creek yesterday morning, water temp was 52 but all the fish had lock jaw. Heard other anglers complaining about it as well so it wasnt just me. I got fed up and headed to the strip pits by big brutus, used minnows and slayed the white crappie. Caught over 50 in a little over an hour in about 10 feet of water fishing 6 feet deep. My hands were wrinkled from reaching into the minnow bucket ever 20 seconds.
Heading to Melvern tomorrow with the boat and the girlfriend. 80 degrees with low of 60 and south winds of ONLY 10 to 20 so I am anticipating a lot of good fishing. Pretty certain I can find the crappie but anyone catching smallmouth or walleye? DO love that lake!
Heading to Melvern tomorrow to fish, camp over, and do it again on Wednesday. 80f and relatively calm winds so anticipating some great fishing. Pretty certain I can find the crappie, never a huge problem there.. but any word on the smallies and walleye?
Toronto Lake - Fished for crappies off the bank,no bites. I had no bites for channels either. The water temp. was 53-54 about noon. Lake up about a half foot.
Pulled into Melvern at Arrow Rock Tuesday afternoon about one thirty to launch the boat. There was a guy there fileting crappie, a good sign right. He warned me though, very slow fishing, and sure enough me and the gf got skunked. Still, a good time, and I'll be back soon. For pictures of us (on the lake, and of our tent being blown down) look here.
http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2012/03/14/people_of_the_south_wind
Anyone fish the Mined Land Area? If so which of the lakes have been your favorites for bass?
Fished Toronto yesterday. Lot's of wind. Caught one crappie, ALL DAY LONG. Although it was a good one. We tried every color of jig. We saw lot's of people walking the banks, with minnow buckets. I like the looks of the lake though, the only other time I was there, the water wass really high. Will be back this summer to chase flatheads.
Went to farm pond Sat. the bass were biting mostly males. Looks like they are getting ready to spawn.
Went catfishing late Tuesday night in the park at Chetopa. We had a couple small ones using worms. At that point, the river was still rising. Earlier that morning, I saw 3 young men that had one heck of a stringer of channels and blues. They were using worms. Went to Miami Oklahome late last night snagging spoonbill. We put the boat in the park to tie up out close to the main channel. Caught one 25-30 pounder, but I could only fish couple of hours. LOTS of brush and debris still coming down. Talked to someone with GRDA, he said river still rising there. Water temp was reading 55 degress.
Went crappie fishin in the pits yesterday afternoon. Slow. We brought home 6 keepers, all running around 4-5 foot deep. All on minnows, no bites on jigs. water was muddy, 69-70 degrees.
Had a awesome day of shite bass fishing, is it possible to catch so many fish that you just are done fishing for the day, well yes it is, have a good week everyone
I live about 45 minutes from Chetopa, and was wondering if anyone had been catching spoonbill at the Neosho River park? Just wanted to try to find out before I made the trip with gas prices as high as they are. I heard last weekend the river was up too high, making it tough to snag. Anyone have any input?
Anonymous said...
Can anyone tell me what shape St Paul wildlife refuge is in.I used to catch some good crappie there but haven't been there in years.Hope it didnt go dry last year.
The main pool at the St. Paul refuge didn't go dry last year. Where do you catch crappie (if you don't mind my asking) on the St. Paul Refuge?
hey small town kid snagging has been slow at chetopa, definetly not worth the drive but with john redmond dumping water now it should get better in a few days
no bills at chetopa yet, did catch more white bass though
Thanks for the info on Chetopa, I appreciate your help. Too bad about the snagging, I was hoping to get down there this weekend.
My wife just called while eating her lunch at the riverview park in Miami OK. Said the last 3 days it's been shoulder to shoulder with snaggers, lots of fish. Said today she saw 2 guide boats heading UP RIVER, so Chetopa may pick up later tonight or tomorrow. Said the river is actually up from yesterday.
Miami -Chetopa--- I just got back from snagging spoonbill at Miami and I caught two over a three and half hour try. There were 8 fish caught on the west side all morning! Stopped at Chetopa and in a span of 30 min. we saw 4 spoonbill hooked!
i snagged bills at chetopa this morning, alot of bills are thereso go have a good time and be safe!!
Went catfishing below Chetopa. Slow. We were using dip bait, fishing brush piles. Only caught one small channel. Saw a couple of others caught. Water 70 degrees. Saw lot's of snaggers, and a couple of spoonies caught. Lot's of people out.
http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2012/04/01/six_cough_swinging_dicks-_too_much_fun_etc
my Melvern fishing report from last week, Monday to Wednesday. Going back this weekend for the female crappie. Love them smallmouth bass too.
Fished below Baxter Springs on the Spring River yesterday evening. Had several bites on dip bait and shad. Caught one dink. Some friends was running limb lines on down river and were catching some eater size channels, using shrimp. Water temp was right around 67-69 degrees.
Made a quick attempt to go crappie fishing last night in the pits up by Mineral last night. Spent a lot of time untangling lines, but had a fun anyways with the kids. Only got to be out about two hours. Water temp got kicked back to 65 degrees.
Melvern - Fished from the bank on the south side of the lake. VERY slow, I quit at 10:30 and had 10 keepers. All the fish were males.
Fished Crawford SFL this weekend. Kinda slow. We cleaned 37 crappie, nothing to write home about. Lots of males and small females. Judging the eggs, spawn there still a few weeks away. Catfishin was slow. We caught a few on dip bait. Crappie came on minnows, jigs, and hooks just tipped with crappie nibblets. All best color seemed to be black/chart..
Has anyone been chasing the big flatheads yet? I'm going this weekend, although I don't have ideal bait. Hopefully they're hungry!
I seen a few people this morning where I fish here in region 2. Why they try during daylight hours I don't know. Rivers I'm not sure about but in lakes in Kansas you can start catching flatheads in late March.
I'm hearing awsome reports from Neosho River. Heard of a 71, and 55 pounders and sever 30-40 fish to boot. I'm planning on doing some setlining Saturday night. Oh, I can't wait.
Ran setlines on a river last night. Great success. Had an eleven pound channel cat, a 39 pound flathead, and a 49 pound flathead. Was was starting to rise when we ran/pulled our lines this morning. Caught the two big fish in 12-14 holes.
Did a little pole fishin on the river last night. Pretty slow with falling water. Caught one channel cat on shrimp. Also tried worms and dip baits. Water was still up just a bit, but falling.
fished hard at melvern this weekend few crappie shallow had already spawned out channel cat very active in shallows as well eating gar eggs females where full of eggs looked like they could spawn any time as well ended up with 4 crappie and 9 channel cat in our boat sunday morning not bad
If you are looking for the big crappie at Melvern put on a walleye spinner and a crawler and go over the tops of the trees in 15-20'. We caught probably 15 crappie that were 12-15" during the walleye tournament. All were in deep brush. I'm sure if you set up over the brush with a jig & minnow you could do pretty well. Most of the crappie we caught came from the Turkey Creek area. As for the walleye...scattered. Lots of shorts and really a pretty good weekend of fishing, I was impressed with the lake.
Toronto Lake - I fished below the dam, they had the pipe opened. My first 3 baits caught 3 nice size leatherback turtles. I moved my bait (chicken livers) to a new location and in 20 min. caught 3 nice channels,largest 7 pounds.
fished melvern last friday after work caught six walleye only one keeper 21 incher 14 inch crappie 2 lb whitebass and pound and a half channel cat all on the flats at eisenhower good evening fishin peaceful by myself lol
had a pretty good run of Neosho River this weekend. Had about 25 hooks in the water and ended up with 10 fish total. Biggest fish was 45 pounds
Hey CATMAN, or anyone that knows for that matter, is there anywhere around the SEK area that you can get circle hooks for catfish? I haven't been able to find them except at Bass Pro, Cabelas, or online. Thanks
What size circle hook you looking for? Heavy wire or light? I'm pretty sure I've seen them at Wal-Mart? Light wire that is.
You can get some "light wire" 5/o circles at Wal-Mart.These work really good for channel cats, but I had some straightened by bigger fish. You might try John's in Pittsburg, or Outback Archery and Tackle here in Columbus. I used to get my 16/O cicles at Southtown Sporting Goods in Joplin, but they went out of business after the tornado. I have the number to Outback if you'd like to call. The 16/0 circles sound big, but they're not that bad. I've never had one straightened, and have caught fish as little as 2 pounds on them. I'd recommend 3-4 inch and bigger baits.
good luck bait n parsons has alot of hooks
Yeah the ones I have now are 14/0 and that's the smallest I would want. I called Good Luck Bait, Outback, and John's. Among all of them, the biggest size they had was 10/0. Looks like online is going to be where you have to get them.
Catfish Connection has the broadest selection of hooks I've ever seen. Catfishconnection.com
Well it's happened thanks to the state of Kansas. Going into the first holiday weekend, and bait shops are gonna be running low on bait. One shop said suppliers are raising prices because of the demand, they can't keep up. He also said the suppliers aren't selling black perch right now because they are spawning. Who the heck wants to drive all over the country to buy bait. Thanks KDWPT. Oop, so ticked off, just realized this is on the report section and not the dock squawk section. Oh well.
To the river I go, without my boat in tow. It is already there, chained up, awaiting our go. I have my perch with me, and as I see no KDWP Wildlife officer around, {do we ever see them much?}, I hop into the boat and go. If stopped, what's to keep from saying, "sure officer,,I caught all my bait from this river"! Ya know? I'm not runnin' lines anymore, but if I was, it'd be business as usual for me! These new bait regs are just dumb! These ANS will be EVERYWHERE before long and we are made to suffer along with burdensome laws and regs that will just create another "black market"! Wake up Pratt!
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