Bass with the Fly. 

A little over a month ago, my father and I went to Milford Lake to hunt Walleye. The weather was 90-100* and reports recorded fish being caught but in deep water. We trolled mostly deep running crankbaits and cast off rocky points but no Walleye were caught. We did catch some Bluegill,  Smallmouth, and a Small Channel Cat. All fish were taken on a blue and silver Salmo #5 Deep. Later in the after it is likely we saw 50+ Common Carp, we both cast to them with fly rods but couldn't convince any to turn. Then later I caught a 14 lb Smallmouth Buffalo, again on the Salmo. Largest fish of the year thus far. 

Channel Cat

Dad Throwing a Reef Runner. 

Kingman State Fishing Lake: 144 acres, max depth 11 feet, and the only place in Kansas you can chase after teethy Northern Pike. As an angler who initially got his feet wet and became addicted to fishing in Minnesota, my natural inclinations have always been towards Northern Pike, Muskellunge, Walleye, and Smallmouth Bass. Now transplanted to Kansas I primarily fish for Largemouth Bass, Wiper and the sort but my heart will always truly be taken by Esox. 

Therefore I woke up at 3:30 Friday morning and drove over three hours to Kingman, just west of Wichita. I have read good things about Kingman and seen pictures of 13 and 19 lb Pike that were taken from there so needless to say when I finally got on the water just after 7 I was very excited. Well to my disappointment when I took the water temp it was 81*. Far too warm for Northern Pike. Second obstacle was going to be the lake itself. Visibility was near zero, very muddy and the lake was obviously down a few feet. This threw out my initial plan, to find a weed line on a point adjacent deeper water and concentrate my efforts there. The problem was there was no deeper water, and weeds were everywhere. The result of 9 hours: 2 follows from Pike on both a fly rod and conventional tackle and one 4 lb Largemouth. The Largemouth was a nice way to avoid being skunked but regardless I would have preferred a Pike. Let the water cool down, give it some fall rain and let the lake rise a bit and I will be back to Kingman soon I hope. This time hopefully successful. 

I recently purchased a used Native Ultimate 14.5 Tandem Fishing Kayak. I love it! Finally I have the freedom to fish where I want to rather than being relegated to the shoreline. I is very stable, you can even stand in it and has plenty of storage, well for a Kayak! It is 14' 8 " long and weighs about 80 lbs, but I can still load and unload it easily from my SUV by myself. Even when not fishing it has been such a joy and a good workout to take it to area lakes and just paddle around. I cannot emphasize how happy and impressed I am with it. I foresee much better fishing and recreation in the future.

Secures easily to my top rack.

At nearly 15' it dwarfs my car by a bit!

Milford was quite scenic. 

At first we thought Bret may have spooked the Carp, but it after a brief dash away it turned back around and took his fly.

I think Bret is excited!

Bret's first Carp. 4lb on a Pine Squirrel Leech. 

Casting lessons from Sodie.

Sodie's Pond by his home.

Bluegill Bret pulled out of the pond.

End of a great day, we would love to fish with him again. 

Bret and Captain Sodamann.

View of the Flint Hills in between Lawrence and Milford. Spectacular. 

Earlier this month I went back to Iowa to see my family and grandparents. While there my father and I fished Green Castle Lake. I remember fishing this while in High School, it was completely grown over and you couldn't fish at all. In the years since, it looks as though they have added some Grass Carp and really managed the lake well. The state record Crappie at 4 lb came out of their and they list Northern Pike in the special regulations. We didn't catch either of those species but we did land a few small largemouth. We saw some 5 lb + fish but they were in spawn and no matter what we threw at them they were not interested. Overall it has become a beautiful lake, a promising fishery, and more than anything else it was great to be able to fish with my father. 

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