OLDY BUT GOODY

Kansas' first reservoir was Kanopolis which obviously makes it the oldest.  Despite it's age it still doesn't have any trouble producing some nice populations of various fish species like crappie, white bass, walleye and saugeye.  The 3,550 acre lake is a good place to go now if you like to catch walleye.

I met a buddy, Craig Athon, from Topeka at the lake last Sunday.  The wind forecast was brutal but we were greeted with calm conditions and light fog.  We headed out and started looking for likely spots using my electronics.  It had been years since either of us had been to the lake in May so we weren't sure where to go.  I started marking some fish and with no wind Craig suggested we pull spinners and cover some water.

I dropped the trolling motor and monitoring my GPS tried to keep us trolling along at around 1 mph.  We were using 2-ounce bottom bouncers so it wasn't hard to keep them on the bottom in 13 feet of water.  It didn't take long and Craig had the first fish of the day.  He dumped the plump 18-inch fish into the livewell and we were off to a good start. 

Over the next few hours we caught a lot of fish and most were just under the 15-inch minimum length limit.  However, a keeper was landed now and then and my livewell was filling up although the fish weren't big, but big enough to keep.  We stayed in the same area and as more boats showed up others were catching fish, too.

By about 2 p.m. the forecasted wind showed up with a vengeance.  We fished a while longer but were about ready to call it a day anyway.  We guessed we'd caught 50-60 walleye and had a limit of 10 keepers between 15 and 18 inches. 

We headed back to the ramp about 3:30 p.m. and I was reminded of why I try to leave the lake by noon on holiday weekends.  The 3-lane ramp was standing-room only and the line to launch or take out was long.  People couldn't back trailers, worked on their motors while sitting on the ramp and left their vehicle unoccupied in the way of others trying to get in or out.  It was a virtual zoo but really not surprising.  Common sense doesn't seem too common any more. 

It took us nearly 30 minutes to load.  But as we said goodbye it was a good feeling knowing we had a fine day fishing Kansas' oldest reservoir.  Still old, but darn good.