http://cjonline.com/sports/outdoors/2011-03-05/outdoors-ice-gone-fishing By Marc Murrell SPECIAL TO THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL Some anglers enjoy ice fishing and can't wait to bust out the augers and ice fishing gear. Many times Kansas' ice fishing season is limited to none at all, a few days or even a couple months. While ice time is fine for some that enjoy fishing the hardwater, a lengthy season doesn't impress other anglers with a need for wide open water. "I tried ice fishing for a couple years 20 years ago and it ranks right up there with duck hunting," said avid Topeka angler Al McKellips. "You can have it." So it didn't break McKellips' heart a couple weeks ago when things finally broke loose and he and other anglers were free to launch boats once again. And according to McKellips, ice-out crappie fishing can be fantastic. Any number of a handful of northeast Kansas lakes will potentially produce nice catches of crappie in late February and March. However, he likes a couple in particular. "Melvern and Perry are my favorites," McKellips said. "They consistently produce good year classes of crappie and they're constant performers." As soon as the ice is gone McKellips and several fishing buddies will begin their search. "We start looking for them on our 'milk runs,'" he said. "Those are places we've caught them in the past, year-in and year-out at about the same time of year." McKellips relies on electronics to narrow the options and has learned to interpret what's being displayed on the readout. Starting out as deep as 40 to 50 feet of water he'll begin working his way up the water column until he sees some indication from his electronics there's a reason to drop a marker and start fishing. "I tend to look for bait or balls of fish," McKellips said. "Some days early in the year they're deep but you just start looking until you find the right depth where those fish are holding. Most of the time we're fishing 20 to 35 feet of water at this time of year." He hopes to find clusters of fish associated with some type of abrupt change in bottom contour, either a river channel or natural break. "If the fish aren't there we'll usually head to the brush piles," McKellips said. And there's no shortage of those in Melvern or Perry. Anglers have worked with the local Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks fisheries biologists and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a coordinated effort to add structure to each lake. It's good for the fish and even better for the fishermen. These piles tend to concentrate and hold fish and once you find the right pile at the right depth it can produce plenty of nice slabs. That's exactly what happened last Wednesday when McKellips and his friend, Dennis Polter, and I headed to Melvern Reservoir. It's generally not a good sign when you're the first boat to the ramp at 9 a.m. But it was really no surprise as the weather had taken a bit of an arctic turn as a cold front rolled through overnight. Temperatures were in the mid-20's with a stiff northeast wind about 15-20 mph. Undaunted and bundled up, we motored out of the state park cove and headed west. The full windshield on Polter's new 2075 Lund was a welcome option on the chilly ride. Polter and McKellips chatted about spots to try and a marker was tossed on one with potential according to Polter's Lowrance HDS 8. It wasn't long and Polter set the hook on the first fish of the day. "It's a walleye," Polter laughed as it surfaced. "And a decent one, too." Polter flipped the fat fish over the side and quickly measured it. At just over 18 inches it was the first dinner guest and took its place in Polter's livewell. A short while later Polter felt the tap of an 11-inch crappie and added him to the list, too. But that was it and the marker was picked up and the search was on. While fishing was good, catching was a bit slow for the first few hours. Wind played a factor in trying to choose a location as it was blowing out of the east now and straight down the lake. And a 1-inch rain last Sunday seemed to stain the water a bit in the upper one-half of the reservoir. Knowing there had to be some active fish somewhere Polter kept cruising. One stop produced several nice, keeper-sized crappie and the livewell was starting to get some color. Most fish were caught on 1/4-ounce black or orange jig heads tipped with various-colored plastics. Blue and chartreuse likely lead the way. We'd hunt and peck and scratch out a fish or two here or there on brush in about 25 feet of water but numbers wouldn't be in our favor. Near lunch time we hit one brush pile that produced the most fish of the day. About a dozen were added and things were looking better. But as quickly as they bit it slowed down again and we were relegated to searching. The occasional fish or two was added but the action remained relatively slow. At about 3 p.m. we decided to call it a day with 33 crappie and one walleye in the box. "This was way below average," McKellips said, a bit disappointed in this trip on his 43rd birthday. "It could have been the cold front, the east wind, muddy water, who knows." "You could come back tomorrow and fish half the places we tried and have your limit," Polter said. "Things could be a lot different." Despite and off-day by their standards, both anglers agreed crappie fishing is generally good right after ice out on most northeast Kansas reservoirs. It can be some of the fastest action, too. "This time of year it's not uncommon for two guys to catch a limit (40 keepers) in 3 hours or less, McKellips said. ================================================ Fishing reduces stress and gives you a break from our modern world where everything is going a million miles per hour 73 Check & Clear 6 LOC: 38-54-14.60N / 097-14-09.07W |
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