Hooked on fishing
Phil Taunton, Special to the Gazette
Friday, May 8, 2009
From fishing reports I’ve gotten the last couple of weeks, angling success around here has been as haphazard as getting a garden in or catching scattered, post-spawn walleye.
Eddie Rabbit might “Love the Rainy Nights” but this cold and wet spring, especially in the eastern part of the state, has made my fishing plans and success at best, just a guess!
I did get into some walleye last Monday, or should I say the group I fished with did real well. As a member of Outdoor Writers of Kansas, I and my associates were treated to a day on the waters of several western Kansas reservoirs near Hays as part of the annual spring OWK conference.
I mean to tell you, many in this group of outdoor writers are die-hard fishermen. On a foggy, cold, wet day when I would most likely have stayed in bed, we were up before sunrise and made the drive to Webster Reservior near Stockton to meet with guides. Another group went to Kirwin, near Phillipsburg, and fished with my “premier catfish cooking” acquaintance, Dee Blubaugh.
Dee has fished these western reservoirs all his life. His group caught crappie up to 15 inches, and Dee professed the future to fishing these western waters will be beyond excellent — it will be phenomenal. If you recall, these reservoirs nearly dried up from droughts in the past. The times of low water were conducive to the growth of trees and weeds. When the lakes filled to capacity as they are now, the fish have thrived in the newly-created habitat.
Our group did real well on walleye up to 21 inches at Webster, and Brent Frazee, the chairman for OWK and who writes for the Kansas City Star, boated a 7-pound wiper. I had the pleasure to fish with Jake Brooke, who was once the park manager at Webster and is now the natural resource conservation officer in Rooks and Graham counties.
We caught walleye, mainly by fishing the flooded timber in 5 to 14 feet of water, using jig and nightcrawlers. We also caught fish trolling Shad Raps and Wally Divers. Jake’s assessment of fishing Webster and these western reservoirs mirrored that of Dee’s — the best is yet to come.
I also had the pleasure to meet Bob Roberts who covers these western reservoirs and also Marion in his online program that originates out of Salina. It can be found at www.ksallink.com. Click on Sports and there you will find all the area fishing tips you will need on his link called Outdoors with Bob Roberts. Bob has a disdain for using live bait and caught many of his fish at Webster using a pearl to white-colored Walleye Assassin Fluke.
A walleye pattern should emerge in the next couple of weeks in our area when the “eyes” are a little more predictable and move onto the flats.
Will a crappie spawn happen this spring of any consequence in our area lakes due to the weather? Your guess is as good as mine. One thing is for sure, the best time to go fishing is any time you can!
Kansans do good
An Outdoor Adventure’s tip of the hat to the two Kansas teams that placed first and second in one of the most challenging bites the Masters Walleye Circuit has faced in its 25-year history. The event was held on Lake Oahe, near Mobridge, S.D. High muddy water, (does this sound familiar?) a late spring delaying the walleye spawn and a smelt run all contributed to tough conditions that challenged the 61-team field. You talk about perseverance. Only 21 teams caught fish. The winning weight was 15.72 pounds for three fish by my old bird-dogging buddy, Jim Perry of Lawrence and Aaron Wagner of Oskaloosa in their professional walleye tournament debut.
No doubt you have heard the phrase, “Take a Kid Fishing” and “A family that plays together, stays together.” Doing just that might have been one of the keys to their winning the tournament. Jim has been very active in the outdoors all his life. He and Aaron go way back as family. Jim is married to Aaron’s cousin and introduced Aaron to fishing at the age of 8. Aaron is 39 years old now — that’s how long they’ve been fishing together.
Jim felt their experience in fishing cold spring Kansas muddy waters for walleye might have separated the Kansas teams from the rest of the pack, including several local South Dakota professional teams, who chose to leave the area and fish clear water.
Jim and Aaron stayed close to Mobridge and fished rip-rap along an old submerged railroad right of way. Their strategy was to troll as shallow as they could get. The No. 7 Bomber stick baits were trolled in only two to three feet of water. The water was stained and with only 3 inches of visibility, they had to go slow.
Blue/white and black/silver smelt-lookalikes were the winning ticket and going shallow was the key. True sportsmen, Jim and Aaron credited the second place team of Guy Ryan and Troy Ethridge for their win. Guy and Troy, both from Salina, found the magical spot early in the week and shared the information with their Kansas teammates.
You no doubt have also heard the saying; the early bird gets the worm. It’s ironic, but all of the fish Jim and Aaron scored were caught after 1 p.m. I guess there’s no harm in sleeping in after all!