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We did not intend to make it a 1,500 trip and it was not supposed to be for crappies only. The plan was to make two trips in 7 days. We were supposed to meet with my brother in law at a near central Kansas. Unfortunately, the bite was not so good. We caught some white bass and smallies but the action was pretty slow by Kansas standards.
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After 8 hours of rather fruitless fishing, we met back at the campsite for a late lunch. The brother in law and his friends started to talk about how good the fishing is at some lakes further east. A few drinks and several stories later, we were on our way to eastern KS... The first lake yielded a lot of small wipers, which was not what we were after. So the brother in law tells us that he’ll take us to a couple of lakes near Kansas City if we ride back into his hometown with him. I had heard that the crappies and white bass at one of those lakes were larger than anywhere else in Kansas. So we packed up one more time.
Alas, the larger than life crappies and white bass did not materialize. We went to a 4th lake, which yielded good action on white bass, until a storm came through… This was now Monday last week. We got up early the next morning and caught more white bass, but they were on the small side. So we made the trek back to a couple of lakes near central Kansas.
The fishing was not spectacular but it was nice being in familiar territory. I also learned something new. I always thought crappies were sissy fish to be caught on sissy gear and tiny jigs. It was windy, so I tied on a jerkbait to target wipers and caught this guy:
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A few cast later, I caught this one:
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I thought it was an accident, but it turned out to be a decent pattern:
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Meanwhile, my father in law and my friend were holding their own on sissy gear:
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The jerkbait was not the secret lure, just another lure if you get tired of the jigs.
This was not the trip I had planned, but it was more adventurous than my daily routine. And I met some new friends to share fishing stories and a few drinks:
![]()
After 8 hours of rather fruitless fishing, we met back at the campsite for a late lunch. The brother in law and his friends started to talk about how good the fishing is at some lakes further east. A few drinks and several stories later, we were on our way to eastern KS... The first lake yielded a lot of small wipers, which was not what we were after. So the brother in law tells us that he’ll take us to a couple of lakes near Kansas City if we ride back into his hometown with him. I had heard that the crappies and white bass at one of those lakes were larger than anywhere else in Kansas. So we packed up one more time.
Alas, the larger than life crappies and white bass did not materialize. We went to a 4th lake, which yielded good action on white bass, until a storm came through… This was now Monday last week. We got up early the next morning and caught more white bass, but they were on the small side. So we made the trek back to a couple of lakes near central Kansas.
The fishing was not spectacular but it was nice being in familiar territory. I also learned something new. I always thought crappies were sissy fish to be caught on sissy gear and tiny jigs. It was windy, so I tied on a jerkbait to target wipers and caught this guy:
A few cast later, I caught this one:
I thought it was an accident, but it turned out to be a decent pattern:
Meanwhile, my father in law and my friend were holding their own on sissy gear:
The jerkbait was not the secret lure, just another lure if you get tired of the jigs.
This was not the trip I had planned, but it was more adventurous than my daily routine. And I met some new friends to share fishing stories and a few drinks:
