White River Refuge Lakes

Does anyone know the status of the White River Refuge lakes? Last weekend, the gates on the Nort and South Units were closed off. Thanks.

A guy at work said he heard they were opening the gates at Kansas Lake this Friday. Don't know if its true or not. Thats just what I heard.

Don't know about the South Unit though. You might want to call the Refuge office in St. Charles and ask them. The number is 870-282-8200

The gates on B levy road on the South Unit stay closed until Turkey season is over. The main gate on Jacks Bay Road should be open to get to Jacks bay. I got a buddy that fished Dry Lake the other day, but I am not sure how he got in there. I would imagine he just put in at Jacks Bay.

This is from the refuge web site......."Refuge roads on the South Unit are open to vehicular traffic March 1 through December 15. All other refuge roads are open year round."

Thanks Guys. Winghunting, I was mainly asking because the gates have been closed as late as last weekend due to high water. I talked to Janice and Wayne Shenep at Maddox Bay last Sunday and she said that the gates were closed then even though the water had receded. She thought the gate to Kansas lake was still closed so that they could repair the road. Anyone heard anything on the lakes on the main North Unit gravel road ( Buck, Hog Thief, Brown Shanty, etc.?

Kansas Lake road is scheduled to be open Friday March 23rd; also the main north unit road that runs to Buck, Swan, Hog Theif, goose, brushy, long, brown shanty and all the other lakes up there is supposed to be opend Friday March 23rd also.

Thanks for the info winghunting. Since the water has been up, the fishing should be excellent this spring.
I'm sure there will be a line of trucks at the gates on Friday waiting for the gates to get open.

Kansas Lake shoud be open soon...

Anyone going there will go right by my place. Maybe I will see some of you there soon. I will probally hit the lake Sunday, I would be there Friday morning but I will be on Kentucky Lake.

Lower Maddox Bay Road will look like a Interstate this weekend.

I have a camper at sweats camp. Would love to get with someone who can fish during the week.

All these posts wondering if the refuge was open or not and no reports on how the fishing was???? I ended up fishing Morgan Point Sat, and a lake on the North Unit Sunday. I did pretty good on the refuge Sun. I was the only one on the lake and caught a pretty good mess.

I took the little boy (3 years old) Sunday and even with him banging around in the boat we caught fish. We didnt get to stay long before he was ready to do something else so we left. I dont want him to start disliking fishing by making him stay out all day.

The water looks good and the fish are up shallow.

Which lake were you on? And how deep, on jigs or minnows, etc?

White Oak

Blue and White jig about 2 - 3 feet deep. Just about every lake around should be on though.

Maddox......Was the water at White Oak muddy or pretty clear?? The lake I was fishing was still a little muddy. Have you heard anyone catching any on East Lake?? The river should be out of it by now shouldn't it?

Wing the water looked good. No deeper than that lake is its almost too clear.

I havent herd anything on East Lake, it takes around 15 at Clarendon for it to start back into E. Lake

The river is on a rise and projected to hit in the low 18's by Sunday.

Maddox....I appreciate it. I knew it was somewhere between 15-16 or so that the river had to be to be out of East Lake. I imagine I will head back up to the North Unit and give a lake or two a try up there again this weekend.