6/22 - Bass , Carp and Drum...A Day Fishing the Homewaters

After spending the first few days of my weekend helping a relative move, I decided Thursday night that Friday would be a "me" day. I had some plans on Saturday that were keeping me from taking a roadtrip down South , but that's allright we got a few fish in Kansas as well.

Joe and I started off the morning at the crack of dawn and headed out to a small county lake to try our hand at some bass fishing. The morning was beautiful , you just can't beat watching the steam rise off the water and listening to nature waking up as the sun peaks over the surrounding hillsides.


This small body of water is loaded with bass and while I've been told there are some nice ones as well , I just havn't found any of them on previous trips. We started off the morning catching a 10 inch bass on the second cast and the action just continued on from there.  I started off with a small baitfish colored popper and enjoyed watching the little guys attacking that for most of the morning.  I caught fish on a couple of other flies as well but had the most fun fishing the topwater baits. I suppose that could be part of my size problem , if I'd leave the little ones busting the surface alone and dredge the deeper waters I might change my luck , I just can't pass up a good topwater bite though. Unfortunately that first 10 inch bass was as big as they would get , I might have had one or two pushing a foot but that was about it.

Still good fun,  but after awhile the time comes to throw in the towel and go try for something that can put a little more bend in the ole rod.
Joe and I decided to pack it in about mid-morning and head back North towards a local reservoir to try our luck with a few carp on the flats. With the entire day to kill we weren't in any hurry so we stopped off and did a little re-con around a couple of other areas I had wanted to check out for carp activity on the way. They both turned out to be a bust on this day , muddy water and no fish visible. One of the spots I know had carp because I could see the signs of some feeding activity , mud boils , but without clear enough water to actually see the fish and the eat it just wasn't the same so after a few casts we decided to pack it in.
As luck would have it we were pulling into the small town just down the road from our intended destination right around lunchtime.

 An old bank that's since been turned into a BBQ joint resides here and we took advantage of it and grabbed a bite to go and then headed for the State Park and a picnic table to enjoy it on.

 Some good que and a cold one sure hits the spot after a morning on the water , I'm pretty sure Joe agrees.

After sitting in the shade and letting our lunch settle in for awhile we grabbed the rod and walked down to the shallow flats surrounding the area. Conditions were much more favorable here and we immediately began to see feeding fish , lots of drum and a few carp mixed in with them. I tied on the same fly that was working the last time I was out and instantly hooked up with a small drum.

 These small guys were just everywhere and relatively easy to get to eat. I probably landed close to twenty drum altogether , most of them just an average size , but I did have a couple of real pigs come to hand today.




 Even a two pounder puts up a good fight on the old flyrod but when you get one hooked that's pushing 10+ it's a battle royale.


The carp weren't quite as numerous as the drum but when I did spot one I could generally get him to eat , I ended up with six total and a couple of them weren't too shabby either.







At the end of the day I'd have to say it was about as good as it gets for a flyfisherman in Kansas.....Carp , Drum , Bass and BBQ!!