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Has anyone fished this lake? It is west of the hwy 13 exit at Higginsville. I stopped there 'cause I didn't get picked for jury duty and had some time to try it out. I tried a black and chartreuse jig with a crappie nibble for about a half hour with wind and cold (59 deg my @$$) had no gloves, got cold and left.
It looks like a great lake to work over with a boat for crappie or bass.
Just curious Q.
hey rug's did'nt feel like typing all this stuff again but this is a post from a few week's ago i typed. few thing's have changed since then so won't be hit'n it in march but should be catching those slab's sometime in early april!:D
i live in independence and fish maple leaf a lot in the spring! bob is right you can run your big motor. don't quite understand but the sign actually say's "anything over 9.9 no wake" never quite got that cuz a 9.9 will still make a wake. but you don't really want to anyway's. timber all over that lake. give me a shout when your ready to go, i'll be hit'n it in mid march through early june pretty hard! i found a couple awesome spot's these last couple spring's were i was loading the boat with 10 - 14 1/2 incher's fast and furious. was get'n off work at 2 driving by the house hooking my boat up and was out there by 3. i believe it was 3rd week of april til 2nd week of may when i did the best...did pretty well in late march early april as well. they seem to want fast moving roadrunner's. the timber is messy there though, the tree's are like spiderweb's real tough to get your jig through them but i found a couple spot's were there was'nt much timber but a couple hump's that produced a ton of fish...give me a shout and i will be more than happy to let you know when they start hitting and i will take you and your son right to them!
lot's of crappie in lake jacomo, but tough to get a decent one. have figured out a great nightstalking pattern but not sure if you would want to take your son doing that, they don't start hit'n til about 10 at night. you can dock fish there as well, there are several dock's all around the lake, some of them are a bit of a walk...blue spring's is a great lake i hear, don't have much experience there though. duncan is the man you want to ask about that lake...you also have holden city lake which is off 50 hwy...it's fast and furious in the spring but mostly 7 incher's. but would still be fun for your son. hazelhill off 13 hwy is another good lake filled with timber and a lot of crappie. but it's tough to get any size there as well, mostly 6-8 inches...look me up and we will have to hook up when this weather break's...i love my maple leaf!
I used to go up there when I was in college in Warrensburg. Never had much luck, but I was always trying from the bank. Like you, I always thought it would be a good lake for my jon boat. Hope you have luck!
My boy goes to college at UCM. Do they rent boats at Maple Leaf?
No, It would be nice if they did:(Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfrat
thanks KCMO CRAPPIESLAYER for your info.
I read where there was a fish die off a couple of years ago at Maple Leaf. Sounds like the crappie weren't affected too much.
I'm not much into crappie fishing, but I want to take my grand kids out for some fun and enjoyment. Maple Leaf was one of the lakes I wanted to try.
Your comment about the 10" and larger is really encouraging.
Thanks again for sharing your info.
Might want to take those grandkids to Springfork Lake. It is full of crappie, gills, redear, bass, and catfish. It is closed right now for some renovation work. Should be open again in about a month. Good luck at the DEAD SEA (Maple Leaf). I've never had much luck there. Jeffie (Slayer) has found the honey hole there. He catches some good ones there. I guess I just don't have the patience to spend all that time searching for em.Quote:
Originally Posted by Musky Bob
yes there was a big fish kill out there...talked quite a bit to the conservation agent and to bass and crappie fishermen. the crappie were'nt really affected at all. the bass were big time. all the bass guy's out there i talked to said last year was by far the worst bass fishing ever. said there catch rate was down 75% at least. but did say they were catching some big ol' slab's on crankbait's while fishing for bass. a lot of people quit fishing it for crappie as well but that just meant more crappie for me. but again i only fished it hard during the spawn and into early june. then my residence reside's mainly in kansas! ;):Dbut like billy bob said it did take some time to find them but once i did it paid off... here are a couple pic's of some i caught last year at maple leaf in the springtime. and it is a lake you need a boat...at least to get to my spot's;)
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/IMG_0058.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/IMG_0042.jpg
Wow, the front one is almost a 2.25 on the bud light scale. :D
wharfrat have your son check out the lakes at the golf course. They used to let people fish them early in the morning.
Nice catch. One that size would excite my grand kids, as well as, me.
The conservation map shows some contour depths which will be helpful in exploring the lake. Since I'm not much of a crappie fisherman, I'll have to locate some fish before I take my grand kids. I want them to have some action when we go.
The end of April and first week of May should be a good time.
Thanks again for sharing your info and pictures.
The Springfork lake close to Sedalia looks interesting too. I'll have to do some research on it. Thanks.