Ask the Biologist

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Originally Posted by kscatman

tim, i think some of the fish i caught yesterday were females that were only 7 inches. you could catch them any where and every where! I got one about 8 inches and cleaned it just because i guess cause I was cleaning other fish and it was a female so I'm guessing there is just a strong year class. Might also ask craig about the smallmouth in there, once in a while i will catch one of those, wondered if he sees those much when he shocks and things like that.

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Travis,

Chase SFL does contain largemouth bass, spotted bass, and smallmouth bass. The smallmouth population density is very low and I only see one maybe two smallmouths each year and this includes spring electrofishing and also fall netting samples. There are also some black bass that appear to be hybrids at Chase and may be a cross between the smallies and the spots. Pretty neat looking fish!!

I would focus my angling efforts on the largemouth and spots. If you catch a smallie, I would consider that a successul smallie outing at Chase!

Thank you for the very informative answers! I sure didn't want you to think I'm complaning, I think it's an amazing lake and is my favorite in the whole state. I just told my father in law as we were catching those small crappie that I figured we had a couple of strong year classes coming on and i'm thrilled to actually see them in there because that means the next couple of years will be very good!!! I though the saugeye might be down some just cause you don't catch them everywhere like you used to. No big deal with that, I just haven't found a place to catch them at all in there yet this year mainly because of my lack of good saugeye fishing skills. :) I have been trying the point on the east side between the 2 coves because that has traditionally been my best spot for them. I kind of wondered if some of those bass in their might be "mean mouths".......I love catching them, they are so much fun! What a great fishery and what a great job you have done with it. thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions!!!!

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Originally Posted by kscatman

Thank you for the very informative answers! I sure didn't want you to think I'm complaning, I think it's an amazing lake and is my favorite in the whole state. I just told my father in law as we were catching those small crappie that I figured we had a couple of strong year classes coming on and i'm thrilled to actually see them in there because that means the next couple of years will be very good!!! I though the saugeye might be down some just cause you don't catch them everywhere like you used to. No big deal with that, I just haven't found a place to catch them at all in there yet this year mainly because of my lack of good saugeye fishing skills. :) I have been trying the point on the east side between the 2 coves because that has traditionally been my best spot for them. I kind of wondered if some of those bass in their might be "mean mouths".......I love catching them, they are so much fun! What a great fishery and what a great job you have done with it. thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions!!!!

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Travis,

I didn't think you were complaining, I just saw a couple of very good questions about Chase! I edited the earlier post as it looked like I was aiming "the cake" statement at you instead of all of us anglers.

The saugeye population may have been impacted with all the high water and flow through the lake has seen during 2008 and 2009. The game warden there told me that one particular flood event last year caused the lake to rise to the highest he had ever seen it and he has been there since the mid-80's. Saugeye stay put better than walleye during high flows but they too will flush from a lake and repeated high flow events increases probability of fish loss downstream.

If you haven't already tried it, look for saugeye on the shallow flats at the west (upper) end of the lake. Pulling shallow diving cranks or Rat-L-Traps usually produces saugeye early in the season. Those saugeye don't have a problem being very shallow, even with the clear water at Chase. Even during the heat of summer, the saugeye will be much shallower than you would think. They will also hang in or very close to the water willow beds as this is where there prey is hanging out.

Good Luck!

thanks Craig. I hadn't ever even though of fishing close to those willows. i did find some brush piles this weekend that I can't wait to try this summer also! If you are talking about the west side for saugeye I believe you are talking the area between the last peir to the north and the dam correct? We caught some really nice white bass in there this past weekend. What a great lake! I think i'll keep all the legal largemouth that I can (I know the limit and the slot) so that the saugeye have plenty of food to themselves. ahahahahah :) Do you ever shock up some serisouly big flatheads out of there? i know they are in there, there's some giant flatheads in that thing! :) Also, I kept 6 really really nice size drum from there this weekend. Man those things are good eating!!! people think they are junk fish but they have some great white meat on them!

While were on the subject of Chase SFL, I have a question also. I was at Chase a week or two ago and there seems to be an abundance of moss growing along the shoreline and floating in the water. Last year I don't remember there being much moss on the lake, but last year was the first year I fished the lake so I don't know if this is common or just something going on this year.
Craig / kscatman - What do you think?

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Originally Posted by kscatman

thanks Craig. I hadn't ever even though of fishing close to those willows. i did find some brush piles this weekend that I can't wait to try this summer also! If you are talking about the west side for saugeye I believe you are talking the area between the last peir to the north and the dam correct? We caught some really nice white bass in there this past weekend. What a great lake! I think i'll keep all the legal largemouth that I can (I know the limit and the slot) so that the saugeye have plenty of food to themselves. ahahahahah :) Do you ever shock up some serisouly big flatheads out of there? i know they are in there, there's some giant flatheads in that thing! :) Also, I kept 6 really really nice size drum from there this weekend. Man those things are good eating!!! people think they are junk fish but they have some great white meat on them!

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Travis,

I have seen some decent flatheads in Chase but none that were of "mythical proportions"...yet.

I have seen some of those larger drum of which you speak and there are some monster common carp in there also that some of the Chase anglers are targeting for the huge fight.

I have had channel cats pushing 20 lbs in my netting samples and angler reports of channel cats in the mid-teens are not uncommon.

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Originally Posted by fishingtim

While were on the subject of Chase SFL, I have a question also. I was at Chase a week or two ago and there seems to be an abundance of moss growing along the shoreline and floating in the water. Last year I don't remember there being much moss on the lake, but last year was the first year I fished the lake so I don't know if this is common or just something going on this year.
Craig / kscatman - What do you think?

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Tim,

Some of my other lakes seem to have a little more algae this year also. This is probably due to the stretch of warmer weather we had here a while back which gave the algae a little "boost" early on in the year. We also haven't much inflow which allows for clearer water conditions providing very good growing conditions for the algae. I have had numerous calls from private pond owners stating they are seeing increased filamentous algae in their ponds. I usually see most of the filamentous algae growing in the water willow beds early at Chase. Once the water willow fully leafs out it shades the filamentous and it doesn't become a problem.

KDWP produced the Fisheries Management in Kansas video in 2002 and more recently, the video became hosted at MyOutdoorTV.com, making it more widely available through the web. This video describes fisheries management techniques and projects in Kansas and deals with most of the state's most popular sportfishes.

I thought you all may find this video of interest. It is about 24 minutes long.

ok Craig next question. :) I have never read anywhere until I got on here that drum eat zebra mussles. I'm a little skeptical because when I was at eldorado a couple of weeks ago I caught a bunch of drum and kept them. they were so rail thin that you could read paper thru the fillets......just horrible thin, they looked like horrible. If they eat zebra mussles they would have had some in their stomachs and should of been healthier looking right??? or maybe there is no nutrional value to the mussels. just curious. thank you again!
travis

Hey KC how do they taste?? just curious since my luck for crappies this spring has been really "crapie".