I leave tomorrow morning for Miami and couldn't have asked for a better night with my beautiful girl before I leave. She got not only her first Wiper but a second, and several other fish as well. Great night, one of those that leaves a huge smile on your face.
Friday night I met up with some old friends to chase Crappie at Clinton Lake. While we did find Crappie, we ended up finding so much more. Winds upwards of 15mph forced the boat to seek shelter for most of the day near the protection of the dam face, but we graphed and caught lots of fish just off shore in 15-20 ft of water. The day started mostly with Crappie but as the day progressed we started catching loads of small Wiper. Often with these fish we would catch them casting towards shore and we would hook up with them in only a few feet of water. Shad were busting on the shore itself and it was evident that these Wiper were pushing shad hard and in feeding mode. Not only that but they were not boat shy at all, as we caught several within feet of the boat.
This was the average size of Wiper caught that evening. Not huge but still provided plenty of fight.
Tri with a nice White Crappie.
The usual suspects: in situations where I am going to be catching both Crappie and Wiper I stick to a few core approaches--small crank baits, rattletraps, and silver spoons.
Alexander with a hard pulling Wiper.
KDWP gave us a check. Normally I would say its just because I was in the boat and they like to check me often. One year I was checked 7 times, but being as it is Memorial Day weekend I am sure they are out in force. No worries, we had all our papers and passed the boat inspection without issue. And in all honesty I am glad to see these guys, and appreciative of the work they do to protect our fisheries.
As day gave way to night, the winds calmed and finally let us explore other areas of the lake. We headed to a spot known for Walleye and rumored to hold bigger Wiper. We were not disappointed.
6 1/2 lb Wiper. A new personal best for me! I was pretty excited and have to thank Alexander for his help in netting this girl.
And what better way to end a night than to have Alexander catch his very first Walleye! I am not sure who was more excited, me or him but regardless I was very happy to see him catch this guy.
Wiper are back on at Clinton. Tread out to a point on the windward side of the lake and cast your favorite Wiper lures and you are almost certain to have a great afternoon. For conventional fare, I typically throw rattletraps, swimbaits, beetlespinners, and spoons, and for flies Wooly Buggers and Clouser Minnows always seem particularly successful. On the day I went out, the wind was particularly onerous, so I opted for conventional tackle instead of the fly rod. I was out for an hour and a half or so, landed over twelve fish, lost several others, and had a great time.
3 1/2 lb Wiper, caught on a Swimbait. Nice fish, put up a nice fight!
1 3/4 lb Wiper, typical of the size caught that day. Beetlespinner.
Smallest in at just over 1 lb. Rattletrap.
Last of the day, Beetlespinner.
A few weeks ago I went fishing with my cousin in-law Tom. We started out the evening in Tom's canoe, with which I was very impressed, looking for Walleye. No luck there, we patterned some Crappie on small purple jigs, and Tom hooked into a Smallmouth as well. We then went to the face of Clinton's Dam to chase some Wiper and got into a few until the wind died off. Overall it was a great night and I hope to fish with Tom again soon.
Smallmouth on Jig w/Purple Tube.
Tom's First Wiper!
3 lb Wiper, Clouser Minnow
We finished the evening off somewhat unexpectedly as Tom hooked into a Channel Cat.
Saturday I went fishing with Tri and his son Alexander. Overall it was a fairly successful day: 23 fish including 16 White Bass, 6 Wiper, and 1 Smallmouth Bass. Almost all were caught trolling the dam face at Clinton Lake. The key lures were hammered nickel spoons and small rattletraps. It was a blast and hopefully the larger Wiper will be closer to shore soon as I have yet to hook into any Wiper over 2 lbs! Hopefully the weatherman decides on sun this week.
Nice White Bass from Alexander.
This seems to be the average size White Bass at Clinton this year.
Little Smallmouth Bass: Silver/Blue Rattletrap
Wow, what can I say. Tonight was by far the best night of fishing yet this year. I caught five Wiper over 4 lbs, two Walleye, and well over a dozen smaller Wiper, not to mention my first Wiper on a fly rod. The Walleye were around two pounds and the biggest Wiper was 4 1/2 pounds. Bret also caught his first Walleye but we forgot to take pictures with it. The key to the big Wiper we discovered this evening was to wait until dark and to use floating crankbaits 3-5 inches long. Walleye were still caught on spoons. Pictures below.
Pulling Fly Line
First Wiper on a Fly Rod
Nice little Walleye
Bret Fishing
4 lb Wiper from an F11 Original Rapala.
Nice Wiper from Bret.
Well the Wiper have started to run on the face of Clinton Lake's dam. So far most have been small but within the past few days both myself and others have started to catch some larger ones. Wiper, also known as a hybrid Striped Bass, is a cross between a male Striped Bass and a female White Bass. Even though they are infertile, they still hold onto their genetic heritage and attempt to "spawn" on rock faces and around river inlets. What makes this exciting is for the rest of the year Wiper are suspended in large schools in open water making them difficult to find in great numbers and all but impossible to reach from the shoreline. The Kansas State Record is 22 lbs so they can get of substantial size around here and are more than able to put up a spectacular fight. To the right is one of the smaller ones and below are the size of the ones that are starting to hit now. Bigger fish remain I am sure of it. Also I apologize for the quality of these photo's, I took down my real camera earlier this week but of course my batteries were dead so I had to snag these shots on my phone.
On spinning equipment I have been catching them on Mepps #2 and #3 Agilia Spinners with a silver blade and either a white or natural fur bucktail. Also I have had great luck and less hookup's with the rocks using small silver spoons. I haven't tried for them on my fly rod yet but guys at Yager's are swearing by white, red, and yellow Clauser Minnows. My best is 6 in a few hours but some of the guys in the Fly Club claimed 12-15 Wednesday night with a max weight of 6 lbs.
And finally, though I found the Walleye spawn to not be as spectacular this year I as would have hopped there still remain Walleye on the face of Clinton Lake. Two to three inch plastic grubs in chartreuse and white on a 1/4 oz jig seem to be producing the best results. Your retrieve should be just fast enough to avoid the top of the rocks. Though I caught the Walleye pictured below on a Dardevle (spelling correct) midget silver spoon.
Below: Clauser Flies to the Left and Mepps Spinners and Dardevle Spoon to the Right
Well the Wiper have started to run on the face of Clinton Lake's dam. So far most have been small but within the past few days both myself and others have started to catch some larger ones. Wiper, also known as a hybrid Striped Bass, is a cross between a male Striped Bass and a female White Bass. Even though they are infertile, they still hold onto their genetic heritage and attempt to "spawn" on rock faces and around river inlets. What makes this exciting is for the rest of the year Wiper are suspended in large schools in open water making them difficult to find in great numbers and all but impossible to reach from the shoreline. The Kansas State Record is 22 lbs so they can get of substantial size around here and are more than able to put up a spectacular fight. To the right is one of the smaller ones and below are the size of the ones that are starting to hit now. Bigger fish remain I am sure of it. Also I apologize for the quality of these photo's, I took down my real camera earlier this week but of course my batteries were dead so I had to snag these shots on my phone.
