Kaw lake archives

They launched from Bear Creek, made their way across 3/4 miles of open water, then went North about 1/2 mile.
The body, yeti cooler, decoys and boat were found in relatively close proximity to each other on the West Bank leading to the belief that they capsized not far from the bank. Probably within 400 yds.
Water depth runs from 5'-7' in that area with water temps at 35 degrees when the accident happened.
I spent a day with the initial search party up there until OHP lakes division got organized.
They have 4 cadaver dogs, 4 boats with sidefinder sonar, and helicopters on the scene this weekend.
They asked that private boats stay away as the dogs could become ineffective with too many strange scents in the area.

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Originally Posted by TimY

I know a lot of people practice catch and release including us. Just want to make everyone aware of the 2015 spawn. With the lake flooded most of 2015, we had a tremendous crappie spawn. The fry was able to get back into the flooded brush, which increased the survival rate. Have several relatives and friends that have been fishing Kaw for 35 years for crappie and catfish and say they have never saw so many 2 to 3 inch crappie while throwing their shad nets all over the lake. Point is, don't be afraid to keep some fish. We have to keep the crappie population in check to avoid overpopulation

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Ditto on the 2-3 inch shad. One of my friends has been getting only a few shad, but lots of small crappie, when netting for bait. He has not even been tempted to use them for bait; However, I have some 1/90th oz. jigs that I got from the old B&B Tackle store years ago. Rigged with a tiny piece of Berkley worm, I have gotten a few of those tiny crappie, and the cats have eaten them like candy. The stomachs of the cats have been loaded with crappie. Cut crappie, cut bluegill, and heads have been effective also, when it's hard to get shad.

We have a friend with a farm pond full of stunted 6" crappie.
We can catch a couple dozen in short order to use for cut bait on jug lines.

What kind of boat were they in? Were they wearing waders? Sorry for the questions but I've just been trying to wrap my head around how in the world this happened.

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Originally Posted by dennishoddy

They launched from Bear Creek, made their way across 3/4 miles of open water, then went North about 1/2 mile.
The body, yeti cooler, decoys and boat were found in relatively close proximity to each other on the West Bank leading to the belief that they capsized not far from the bank. Probably within 400 yds.
Water depth runs from 5'-7' in that area with water temps at 35 degrees when the accident happened.
I spent a day with the initial search party up there until OHP lakes division got organized.
They have 4 cadaver dogs, 4 boats with sidefinder sonar, and helicopters on the scene this weekend.
They asked that private boats stay away as the dogs could become ineffective with too many strange scents in the area.

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The wind was gusting up to 45mph. The person recovered had on a life jacket. It's not known if the person still lost had waders on or if he was wearing a life jacket.
The dog also survived, and was on the bank with the body. It belonged to the other person still lost.
They were in a small shallow draft boat.
You have less than 10 minutes to live in water temp that cold.
I lost my best friend and two acquaintances to similar circumstances in 1977, in the same area within 1/4 mile.
Too small of a boat, too much gear, and high winds.
That makes 8 duck hunters that have died on Kaw Lake.

Just awful! Lifejacket on makes it even more of a head scratcher. I understand the cold water thing for sure but as a 30 year avid duck hunter you just think they did everything right. Upper end of the lake, lifejacket, staying close to the bank. Info like that needs to get out though because how many of us would think we were doing the safe things? I think the big mistake guys make on Kaw is they just don't know how big the waves can get in those winds.

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Originally Posted by dennishoddy

The wind was gusting up to 45mph. The person recovered had on a life jacket. It's not known if the person still lost had waders on or if he was wearing a life jacket.
The dog also survived, and was on the bank with the body. It belonged to the other person still lost.
They were in a small shallow draft boat.
You have less than 10 minutes to live in water temp that cold.
I lost my best friend and two acquaintances to similar circumstances in 1977, in the same area within 1/4 mile.
Too small of a boat, too much gear, and high winds.
That makes 8 duck hunters that have died on Kaw Lake.

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Unless your wearing a wet suit, cold water temps at that level will result in hypothermia, and you will die within 10 minutes or sooner as your core body temps drop to the point your body ceases to function.
A life jacket just assures that your family will get your body back in a timely manner vs months later when the water warms up, and the body floats to the surface.
Four of the previous duck hunters that died didn't surface until the March-April time frame.

To dennishoddys point, check out the 45 degree cold water training vid at the 3:05 to 3:25 mark. The trainer makes a enlightening statement. Cold Water Survival – The 1-10-1 Rule « Coast Guard Auxiliary Live

Fished yesterday afternoon from 1 to 4 Pm. Water temp was 40 deg and muddy. Fished 16 to 25 ft without a bite. Moved up to 12 ft in brush and caught 18 up to 1.5 lbs at 8 ft deep. Hard to believe but that's where they were holding yesterday.

Nice report TimY- thanks. Jigs or minnows? Colors and sizes of jigs?