 |
Fishing Stories from Ned Kehde |
|
Fishing Reports Reader's Nook Angler's Academy Club Corner Tournament Trail Success Stories Kansas Angler Info Angler Links
|
White bass harder to come by for Neosho River anglers Submitted by Ned Kehde - April 15, 2002 In April, Morone chryspos is the mantra of a growing contingent of fishermen hereabouts. In fact, some of these anglers begin their invocations in March and continue it past the first week of May. The gist of this quest is centered on the search for copious numbers of white bass that are on the verge of their yearly procreation antics. Morone chryspos, of course, is the scientific name of these anglers' quarry. Back in the springs of the 1960s and into the mid-1980s, small scatterings of anglers pursued white bass in the riffles and pools of the Neosho River above John Redmond Lake or at similar spots above other eastern Kansas reservoirs. These anglers intercepted the white bass during their migration to and from the riffles where they spawned. Leonard Jirak, fisheries biologists for the Kansas Wildlife and Parks, says the bountiful white bass runs to the Neosho spawning riffles are virtually a thing of the past. Siltation is the primary culprit, according to Jirak, that caused the demise of the white bass at Redmond. And during the past three Aprils, a cadre of astute anglers has discovered that the riverine spawn above other area reservoirs hasn't been as bountiful as it used to be. It was once a simple task for two talented anglers to catch and release a 100 white bass in four hours of fishing. Nowadays two anglers can occasionally tangle with 80 white bass on the best of outings, but on most treks they struggle to catch 40. Moreover, the duration of the spawning run seems to be shorter than it used to be. In Aprils past, anglers could intercept nearly continuous waves of fish has they headed to and returned from their reproductive rituals. Now there are only a couple waves of white bass running the rivers. Some anglers suspect that the aftereffects of the floods and silt that ravaged the waterways of eastern Kansas during the 1990s might be one reason why the spawning activities of the white bass have declined in the rivers. In addition, Jirak postulated that this year's drought lowered the water levels in the rivers that feed several of the reservoirs to the point that it inhibited some of the white bass from making their annual river run this April. For example, the water flow into Melvern and Pomona lakes on April 1 registered only seven cubic feet per second. On top of the drought and silt, this year's spawning run was adversely affected by a series of severe cold fronts that waylaid northeastern Kansas in March and early April. Thus on several early spring outings, the river fishing proved to be difficult For instance, my nephew, Roger Kehde, and my brother, John, both superb white bass fishermen from Sedalia, Mo., joined me for a foray up the Wakarusa River above Clinton Lake on April l on our family's traditional post-Easter fishing expedition. On this exceedingly warm and windy day, the Wakarusa's water temperature ranged from 53 degrees to 58 degrees; a perfect temperature for egging scores of white bass to wander upstream towards their spawning grounds. But at the upstream riffles, the river flowed at the languid and unseducive pace of 25 c.p.s.. In years past, we have caught and released more than 200 white bass on these river excursions. This year, however, we could entice only 40 of them to engulf ours jigs dressed with chartreuse plastic grubs. Yet despite all the problematic conditions, Calvin Page, a veteran white bass angler from Holton, occasionally found the white bass fishing in the Delaware River above Perry Lake to be more fruitful this spring than it was in 2001. On April 1, Page worked a Delaware riffle, which flowed at 65 c.p.s., and caught 60 male white bass by employing a jig and yellow plastic grub, but in the midst of a wicked and windy cold front on April 2, he caught only 27. Then after two days of April showers, the Delaware's flow increased on April 9 to 750 c.f.s, but the river also turned murky and temporally fouled the fishing for the sparse population of migrating white bass. Since the slow flow in the rivers failed to allure vast numbers of white bass out of the reservoirs in early April, Jirak and many eastern Kansas white bass fisherman anticipate that the best fishing this spring will occur in late April and early May as the white bass spawn on the rocky shorelines of the reservoirs' main bodies. And amongst the lustful gatherings at Milford and Pomona lakes, some anglers might enjoy an encounter with a humongous wiper or two, which could cause them to change their mantra to Morone saxatilis x Morone chrysop. |
||
|
Kansas Angler Online Sponsor  |
 Copyright 2001 by The Kansas Angler - P.O. Box 12261 - Wichita, KS 67211 - Phone 316-265-5551 Questions or problems with this website should be directed the link above. This Page Last Updated on date shown at top of page. |
