Mike Blair video suggestions: Spring Spoonbill snagging in Kansas, where, when, and regulations. Update on Horsethief Reservoir, how the fishing in this new lake?
Thanks,
Tim.
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Mike Blair video suggestions: Spring Spoonbill snagging in Kansas, where, when, and regulations. Update on Horsethief Reservoir, how the fishing in this new lake?
Thanks,
Tim.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on the videos, keep 'em coming! I've forwarded this link to Mike Blair so he will have access to all of your input.
KDWP has archived most of the statewide District Fisheries Newsletters for 2010 and you can view the available list HERE.
If you would like to subscribe to any of the newsletters you may do so HERE.
The newsletters come out at varying times through the year and fisheries biologists from across the state are writing newsletters on their waters.
With a foot or more of snow on the ground, it may be a good time to read some information that could prove useful during your 2011 fishing trips.
Rick,Quote:
Originally Posted by HaleDamage
Mike Blair emailed me and let me know that he had produced a video on ice fishing safety after reading the comments here at CDC. Here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtJfaVMC6Y4
Just wondering if there was any information on the small "lake" at Riverton, KS. Where Shoal creek and Spring river come together. Have heard it was high in lead and cadmium levels and was just curious to see if there were any future plans on trying to remedy the pollution.
Crappiekirby,Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappiekirby
The Ks. Dept. of Health & Environment (KDHE) is in charge of monitoring environmental contamination so your question would best be asked of them. You can find contact information for KDHE Staff at the Fish Tissue Monitoring website.
great video nice to see some fish floppin again besides the ones i been floppin in the fry daddy
Thanks so much for the link Craig, appreciate it. Pretty good little fishery there, caught lots and lots of 2lb+ crappie out of there.
Check out this link for a KDWP video on Fisheries Management in Kansas. It is a 24 minute video. Hope you enjoy it!
Craig, New to this site. Not sure if this is a "grey area", but I'll ask anyway. I know alot of fishermen who put brush in our lakes & most don't have permits. I don't want to be an outlaw & wanted to know how I would go about getting a permit to put brush in corp. lakes. Thanks in advance.Thumbs Up
crappiecaster,Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiecaster
It will depend on what lakes you are interested in placing habitat in as regulations may vary with ownership. We have US Army Corps of Engineers lakes, Bureau of Reclamation lakes, State lakes, and city/county lakes within the state. The best thing to do is get in touch with the KDWP District Fisheries Biologist that covers the lake you are interested in. Office phone numbers for the fisheries biologists can be found in the 2011 Fishing Regulations Summary.
Craig, thanks for the video on Fisheries Management. When was the video made? How is the water willow working out? Seems like that could be helpful in other Kansas reservoirs!
Is there a method of telling the age of a a walleye is? How long does a walleye live?
Thanks Charlie
Charlie,Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlieM
The Fisheries Management video was completed in 2002.
Water willow is doing well in some reservoirs and not so well in others. The efforts of Ron Marteney at El Dorado resulted in a lakewide population of water willow. Water levels have a large impact on the quality and quantity of water willow within reservoirs. I introduced water willow to Hillsdale around 2000 and when I left Hillsdale in 2003 to come to El Dorado the water willow was doing quite well. I've heard it has continued to do well in Hillsdale. However, water willow hasn't done so well in other reservoirs. Water willow was planted in Melvern, Clinton, and Perry reservoirs (and numerous other reservoirs around the state) and some of these plantings met with little success. Water willow is very drought tolerant and survives low water situations very well. It can be 'drowned out' though and high water for extended periods can be very hard on water willow, especially plants still in the process of establishing. Reservoirs that experience very wide water level fluctuations are not prime for establishing water willow. Stable water conditions are best for the water willow and also for the fish species that utilize the water willow.
Walleye can be aged by reading scales or otiliths. Fish biologists use these structures to conduct age and growth studies on walleye. In Kansas, walleye are capable of reaching 10+ years of age but most walleye are harvested at younger ages in the 2.5 to 5 year range.
Craig,
Thanks for the great info... We where talking today and one of things we where debating is the movement of crappie in a lake during the year. I know you guys have done some studies on this so thing might be an interesting article it's self. My guess is that some crappie travel a lot and some stay in about the same place all year. It is the great question sometime of where the crappie go at certain times of the year.
Questions we have asked:
How far away from where they spawn do the travel in their life?
During a single year do the travel long distrances?
If a part of the lake is heavily fished does it reduce the levels of crappie in that part of the lake or do the fish spread out more with the reduced compatition?
Do crappie travel up rivers to spawn as much as they do go to rocks to spawn?
Thanks in advance.
Nick
Quote:
Originally Posted by Springhill Duckman
Nick,
You ask some VERY good questions!! Fish movements are always tough to nail down because they can be so variable. This high variability occurs from lake to lake but can also occur within the same lake year to year. General movements are easy to figure out such as moving to the shallows for the spawn or concentrating along deep structure or channels in December but I'm guessing you are not asking the 'general' movements!
Habitat will dictate a lot of how far a crappie will travel in a year's time. If spawning habitat, forage, and winter habitat are all available within a small region of a lake then a crappie won't have to move very far to meet its life requirements. On the flipside, a crappie may have to cover large distances to find habitat that meet the seasonal requirements. As far as tagging goes, I've seen fish move large distances in short periods and I've seen some fish pretty much stay put. Not all fish act the same and there are always individuals on the edge of both extremes.
Forage availability also causes crappie to travel. The best habitat in the lake isn't very useful to a crappie if there aren't any vittles to be had! Crappie can sometimes be found on large flats that are basically devoid of much of any structure but they are there to feed, whether it be on forage fish or invertebrates. Lakes will usually have 'high percentage areas' that offer desirable habitat and forage on a regular basis throughout the year. These are usually the 'honey holes' known to area fishermen as the spots that produce fish on a regular basis. Knowing or being able to 'read' what trips a crappie's trigger at certain times of the year will help an angler break away from the 'honey hole' mentality and find fish when they are reacting to other influences within the lake thus utilizing more of the lake for productive trips.
If an area gets heavily pressured with high harvest over a long period time it may be possible to thin those fish out. However, if it was a good enough area to hold good numbers of fish it will certainly be desirable to other crappies that will move from other areas of the lake. Fish do concentrate in areas that meet the majority of their life requirements and they will stay there until they are harvested or move on to greener pastures. How quickly the pressured area is repopulated will depend on the size of the area, duration and extent of angling pressure, size of the lake, density of the fish population, availability of other good habitat and so on. Fish can and do move around quite a lot. What may be a hot spot one day can be cold as ice the next as the fish have moved on.
Crappie spawn in many different habitats in Kansas waters. Flooded willow or timber is super hot in some lakes while gradually sloping gravelly banks with scattered stumps are best in another lake. Crappie aren't super particular on the substrate on which they spawn but they usually like to have 'their backs covered' with some sort of cover. It is doubtful that a crappie that is currently near the dam at El Dorado will expend all the extra energy to swim in to the creeks to spawn...but it could! Usually a crappie will head to the best AND closest spawning habitat. For some fish this equates to coves off of the mainlake and to other fish the creeks offer the nearest and best spawning habitat. Walleye are the same way, some will run up the creeks to spawn, others concentrate on rip rapped dams, and others prefer the rocky shoreline or mainlake points.
In short, individual crappie do what they need to do to survive. Sometimes this involves a large percentage of the population and an angler can establish a good productive pattern. Other times the event may include only a small number of fish or occur over a very short time period and the angler may only briefly stumble upon a hot but short lived pattern. I understand that I didn't provide any very good direct answers to your questions but I'm not totally sure that those would even exist!! I hope my attempt to relay some of the factors that affect crappie activity/movements is of some use to you. Since the factors vary so greatly from lake to lake in Kansas it is pretty tough to nail it all down to one answer for questions such as these. Again, GREAT questions!!
Craig,
Great info, I find this really interesting. I look at many of the lakes that I fish and you see lakes like Hillsdale where thousand of crappie come out of the water around the little bull area and dam area but you don't seem to find consistant bigger fish in other parts of the lake. It just seems like no matter what the bigger fish just don't make it event thought other parts of the lake don't get as much pressure (still more than most thought).
On the flip side, you look at other lakes the crappie just seem to disapear over the summer. You can't find them on the graph or on the breaks or any where. I know they don't leave the lake but it just make you wonder where the travel to when you have a big open lake with no standing timber and it's fairly shallow like Redman. Only real structure is the channel, dam and river with a few arms. They can't all or even many swim up the river.
Craig - I was out fishing Harvey Co East yesterday and couldn't help but notice the large number of dead or dying shad around the lake. Some of them you could tell had been there for a while and others were on the surface still kicking...kind of, all of them were 10+in long. I was thinking the shad kill offs where more in the dead of winter than the warming of early spring. I saw no small dead shad, but these could of been gobbled up by the birds or predator fish. The fish don't have to eat my lure because the dying shad are easy pickings? What are your thoughts.
Otherwise, weather corporate beautifully yesterday but not so much the fish.
Tim.
Tim,Quote:
Originally Posted by fishingtim
Sounds like you witnessed the aftermath of a typical Kansas winter shad kill. Depending on conditions, the duration of the shad kill can be spread over a long period of time. Some times it is the 'ice out' conditions and warming temps that push the already stressed shad over the cliff resulting in the kill.
Some anglers anxiously await these shad kills, especially at reservoirs. During windy conditions the dead and dying shad are concentrated along downwind shorelines which concentrates fish like channel catfish and blue catfish which gorge on the abundance of forage. This can equate to some great catfishing action. Like you mention, this abundance of easy prey may make fishing difficult for other species but this all depends on the size of the shad that have died.
Thanks for the question!
A KDWP Mike Blair video on the 2011 fishing forecast for El Dorado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFb-B_3jRQ
good video need to start hitting that lake regular
craig fished council grove 3-3-11 water temp 38 degrees cleaned some saugs,whites and crappies they were all full of blubber but checking stomachs intestines saw no signs of bait fish like to check and see what they been eating so i know what bait to try maybe next time do they load up then lay around like a bear or what? thanks jim
Jim,Quote:
Originally Posted by springhillwantabe
During the winter, cold water months in Kansas it is not uncommon to see fish with empty bellies. Metabolism is quite slow during these cold water periods and the fish don't need a bellyful of food to sustain themselves especially if they were in good shape with plenty of fat reserves from feeding on shad during the fall and early winter months. As water temperatures begin to increase, you will likely see more fish with something in their gut.
Sounds like you had good outing at Council Grove and thanks for sharing the info!
thank you very much water warms up they should go on a feeding frinzy? hopefully?
Craig,
I caught a few small mouth buffalo at Fall River. Are small mouth buffalo as common as large mouth buffalo? How big do small mouth buffalo get in Kansas?
Do you know if the strip pits in eastern Kansas have common carp in them?
Flats&Craps,Quote:
Originally Posted by Flats&Craps
I checked with Carson Cox, KDWP fish bio at Fall River, and he said he catches more smallmouth buffalo than bigmouth buffalo in his gillnets at Fall River. The Kansas state record for smallmouth buffalo is 51 pounds.
Rob Friggeri, KDWP fish bio for the strip pits, said carp are common throughout most of the strip pits. He mentioned there may be a couple that don't have a carp but most of the pits will.
I hope this answers your questions!
Anyone know the location of the Perry Lake water temperature gauge? Link below. I have noticed a 4 degree higher temp in the coves.
Perry Lake
Big Mo,Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Mo
The COE lakes that have a temp gauge usually have the equipment located at the dam in the tower. I'll double check with Tj to see if this is true for Perry.
Sir am in Ohio doing a project to sink as close to 1,000 fish attractors in CJ Brown Reservoir, mostly Christmas trees, but as much cedar as we can get our hands on. mostly we are doing this to provide spawning habitat for panfish, especially yellow perch; have 3 questions: A what type of woods last the longest underwater assuming same lake and same depth? B after the algea/ plankton die off in late fall, will surviving shad eat the moss and algea on submerged wood- several ice fishermen with an Aqua View swear they saw a cloud of shad inside and around sunken cover C right now apparently most fish are being caught around 25+ fow; we are wondering WHY with warmer water temps (48- 52 F) thank You, sir!
Lowellhturner,Quote:
Originally Posted by Lowellhturner
A.) Hardwoods such as hedge and oak will usually last the longest when used as fish habitat. A lot of folks don't like to use hedge as it is difficult to handle. Oak is a desirable tree in the terrestrial setting so few people will cut them solely for fish habitat unless they have a clearing project underway. Pines/Christmas trees are easily attainable in numbers, easy to handle, but usually only last a very short time. I shy away from pines as they deteriorate quite quickly compared to other options. Cedar trees are a good option. They last longer than pine but not as long as the hardwoods. Cedars are easily handled and provide good fish habitat. In Kansas, cedars can be had nearly everywhere and most landowners are happy to allow cedar harvest on their property making the cedars a very cheap source of fish habitat material.
B.) Gizzard shad will feed upon other food sources than plankton. I've seen gizzard shad 'working' areas with algae covered rocks when plankton densities are low due to extreme turbidity (muddy water conditions). Depending on the lake, shad may utilize detritus if plankton is scarce. I've also seen adult gizzard shad come up to feed upon the fines/crumbs from floating fish feeders intended for channel catfish.
C.) Since I'm not very familiar with Ohio waters, I'm not sure I can accurately answer this one for you. During early spring in Kansas, our shad and sportfish occasionally stay deep when the water first begins to warm but this usually changes quite quickly as water continues to warm. Our first fish to come shallow in spring are the walleye and they will do so when water temps reach the mid-40's as the fish prepare the spawn. Meanwhile, crappie, white bass, and wiper remain out in the deeper water until their spawning temps approach and they make the move to shallower water. Your fish may be staying in the deeper water as that is where their preferred forage is currently located. Kansas walleye during the spawning period will go shallow to spawn during the night time hours but during the day they retreat to the safety of the deeper water. This year at one of my lakes you could see walleye STACKED at 22 to 25 fow off of the dam. Hit this same area near dark and it would be vacant as the walleye moved shallow to spawn.
Thank you, sir..
Hey Craig
Thanks for all the info you provide to this site. I have a question about Chase SFL. I grew up in Strong City and like to get down there often to take my dad out fishing. The last couple years all the crappie I can seem to catch are in the 7-9" range. I was wondering if I can look forward to seeing bigger fish this year?
I was asked to volunteer for a kids fishing derby the first weekend in June. Are you going to be attending. Hopefully get a chance to meet you.
Thanks
craig i sent you a secret private message. :)
Big Mo,Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Johnson
Tj, Perry Fisheries Biologist, confirmed that the thermometer at Perry Reservoir is located at the tower on the dam.
Tucker,Quote:
Originally Posted by Tucker
2009 and 2010 crappie samples at Chase State Fishing Lake showed increased percentages of crappie in the 8 to 10-inch range so you have been catching 'shorts' because that is mainly what has been available at the lake. 2006 through 2008 the lake had higher percentages of 10 to 12-inch and anglers did well catching these larger crappie. Since the larger crappie have left the population, some time will be needed to allow the smaller crappie to grow in to the larger sizes. We should see an increase in larger crappie during 2011 as last year's abundant 8 to 10-inch fish grow.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the fishing derby this year as I had a prior commitment that weekend. Last year's event was a great time! It was so well received by all that attended that it may well become an annual event! Everyone had a great time and the prizes given away to the participating anglers were fantastic.
Got it!Quote:
Originally Posted by kscatman
Craig,
I fish Woodson State Lake a lot, we used to catch some walleye there. I was told that a couple of years ago that Woodson had the Large Mouth Bass Virus. We haven't been able to catch any walleye since about that time. Does LMBV affect walleye and if so is there any plans to re-stock the lake with walleye? Thanks
Sir, have a question; still awaiting the monsoon to relent to get back to adding more cover to CJ here in Ohio. Was told that crappie fry and juvenile fish don`t use cover at all, anytime of the year and neither do yellow perch. Obviously, am not an "expert' by any means, but am fairly certain perch spawn on cover, and have caught dozens thru the ice on/ very near cover, and have read very young perch are open water fish, is the same true for very young/ juvenile crappies? Realize seasons, forage and depth has a lot to do with it, fish won`t stay on cover if there`s no prey present...would think very young/ juvenile crappies would use cover. (Got $20 riding on this 1...)
sah,Quote:
Originally Posted by sah
I sent your questions to Leonard Jirak KDWP fisheries biologist for Woodson State Fishing Lake. His response is below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as we know LMBV does not affect walleye. There are still some larger walleye in the lake. Sampling this spring showed several dozen mature fish on the dam spawning. I have requested some 8-10 inch walleye to restock the lake from our hatcheries. They have not been available. So I will be requesting fingerlings in the future. They will not be very successful in a lake with a high population of crappie like Woodson.
Thanks
Leonard
Craig,
Thanks for your efforts in answering our questions. It is greatly appreciated.
craig the water temp has been 65* the crappie are in spawning the normal ks spring cold front gets here the temp drops to 55* what happens to that spawn?