[lovetofish]

Hi there,

Just got back from Cedar Bluff; haved a hard time deciding between taking the boat or the camper. Since we haved 2 kids so we decided to take the camper, wished we would have taken the boat. We got there Friday and start fishing at 11:00am on the dam and caught 28 white bass on 2" white mister twister. Quit at 2:00pm due to the heat and the kids wanted to eat fish. A ranger stopped by to check our camping permit and gave us direction to the break water, the Bluff and Boy scout cove for crappie fishing from shore. We went to the break water that evening and caught 2 crappies and some large mouth bass. Saturday the white bass stopped biting at the dam so we went to the bluff for crappies; didn't catch any crappies but bunch of small bass that we released. We saw bunch of boats fishing in the trees and bushes. We then went to Boy scout cove and still nothing, tried another cove and caught 2 crappies and couple white bass. Later at the fish cleaning station we talked to a couple that were cleaning fish. They then took us fishing for crappies on their pontoon for couple hours. The crappies were in about 18 feet of water in the trees. We caught 6 crappies and white bass while lost four using minnows with red jig heads. They were from 13 to 14 inches. I think we would have killed them on Friday and Saturday if we have the boat. Today was a total loss with just one white bass and we quit at 9:00am. Last week and I heard Thursday that people were catching white bass in the hundreds on the dam but they tapper off Friday. After eating some fish we came home with 26 white bass, and 8 crappies.

 

[hooknline]

Not bad. Could of been better. Was there alot on folks on the dam?

 

[lovetofish]

About 20-30 folks mostly Hmong. They are really good at fishing for white bass and they are tough standing out the sun all day long, even the women.
Saw some huge crappies in the 16-17" at the fish cleaning station. They were caught by boaters.

 

[k0diak]

How bad was the wind out there??

 

[fisher32]

Good job. I love that lake also. Our crappies in Colorado don't even compare to the sizes they have in there. Not even close. I caught some there about 2 weeks ago, they were 14-15", the locals called the 14 inchers small and the 15 incher good eating size. Big crappies to them is like 16-17" in the 2-3 lb range.

 

[hammer]

LTF,
I told you that you would catch a mess of crappie.
Or was that white bass? Do I owe you gas money?
Sounds like you had a great time.
Something about Kansas lakes that attract me.
I think it's the warm water and all the variety of fish.
It's very laid back and you can't beat the chicken fried steak
dinners they serve at the smaller restraunts.

 

[lovetofish]

Hammer,

I don't know if 8 crappies are a mess and you didn't tell me that I needed a boat to catch them crappies but thanks for the names of the cove and the method for catching them. I really like this lake alots and I haved never met such a nice ranger before; not like the rangers at Nebraska where they just walk to your cooler and opened it without saying anything. That why I haven't fish in Nebraska for 5 years except last year at Swanson on the free fishing day. If this reservoir was a little closer to Denver, I would probably go often. Now I have to wait for next year( I now know how and where to catch huge crappies in that reservoir) and you don't own me any gas money. This line is for HNL: I can't make it to Swanson this year but if you want to catch crappies there, go the the spill way at the end of the dam and fish on top of the steel grates. Use minnow on a jig head and you don't even need to cast them out; just stick it straight down the water about 5 feet and move it slowly, should catch lots of crappies if the water at Swanson is not down this year. Also, bring an extra rod for huge cat fish if you like while fishing for crappies at the spill way but you have to cast out about 100 ft. We did that trying for wiper but instead caught 5 cats over 10lbs each.

 

[hooknline]

Thanks dude ill go check it out.

 

[k0diak]

How bad was the wind out there??

 

[lovetofish]

Kodiac,

Friday and Saturday there was no wind. The wind pick up some around 9:00am Sunday but we were ready to go home by then.