kelly

Sounds like an exiting time. I am looking forward to seeing it this weekend. I believe you have the only Curtis on the lake. That guy can build anything. Doesn't it make you smile to sit back and take stock of all the wonderful people God puts in our lives? Kelly

I am looking forward to seeing Jerry on the internet. I always enjoy talking with him out on the dock and getting his input. Kelly

I have been catching them in Big Hill Creek at the horse trails off 24000 road west of Parsons for about two weeks now. Landed a five pound largemouth thursday. Kelly

Plan to go see Phil and get a boat. We might go up by the dam but we are not fly flingers so we generally leave the upper end alone when there is no flow.

I was watching tv... on a 12 foot by 22 foot jumbotron while seated by the pool in a lounge chair. I was supposed to fish while we were in the Bahamas but the water was real rough. We did not get in a small boat untill we got to Grand Cayman, so I guess I still have never fished in the ocean, other than for blue crabs when I was a boy, I really need to get back down there. I am a coastal Texan ya' know!!! I can't complain though, the entire trip cost me about $150.00 in trinkets for the kids and grandkids. I am blessed with the greatest in-laws in the world. PS. I am coming to LT the first Saturday in March.

My dad told that the White Bass are biting below the Chetopa dam. My thermometer froze before I could get there though. He said for some reason the Neosho had come up some, probably due to John Redmon releasing some water. Where they got it I don't know. Anyway I will check on it. I saw a Stingray last week... underneath the boat just off shore of Grand Cayman. Ohh the weather there.

I went to Chetopa Saturday. The water is so thin the fish are requesting sunscreen. Kelly

We will have to work the White bass and the Spoonbills over first, but come about May it ought to heat up for Flatheads. I had one on once while standing in the river and he swam completely around me in a circle while I stood still and my flyrod was bent over double. I didn't know a rod could do that and not break. He knew more about the bottom than I did and I left with a broken line and a smile.

I haven't heard. I doubt it though, since there has not been enough rainfall to raise the river any. I will try to find out. Kelly

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Started a new second job. My father in law retired as the accountant for sun Graphics after twenty five years (Harvey Gaither) I had not caught your posts yet but I will tonight. I would probably prefer Missouri as the direction to fish. As for Q's, just when and where? I think I would prefer DIY riverbank fishing, less $ you know.

I live in Parsons Kansas. Thats about fifty miles west of joplin. I don't mind driving to catch good fish, I just like the local stream's because I can be on them in fifteen minutes. But please, by all means broaden my horizons.

I have never caught a Striper or Hybrid that I know of. They just don't live where I fish. My White bass fishery is just seven miles from my house so I can't see going anywhere else unless there is something special about the trip itself. My experience with the Spring and the Neosho is mainly from fishing them before Big Hill Lake developed a fishable population of whities, however I still go to Chetopa from time to time with my dad since he lives closer than I do. I do remember some rather large Hybrids being caught at the Chetopa Dam. I watched a man catch a number of five to six pounders, on nightcrawlers, during snagging season and heard from my dad about a thirteen pounder being snagged one year. I've snagged some awfully big Walleye down there also. I think since I have gotten into this forum I will start paying more attention. When they start running I will try to put the word out.

Did anyone catch hybrid, stripers or whites in the lower Neosho in 2005? Would appreciate knowing where best stretches are. Is it wadable like the Spring River? I know nothing about that big river, but we do fish the Spring River east of Miami. The Neosho is wadable in some areas but it is very muddy and has a mud bottom unlike the Spring. The Miami dam and the Chetopa Dam and any riffles between the two are great places for whites and a few hybrids. I don't know if I have ever seen a Striper up that far, are there stripers in Grand? My dad always said if the Neosho came up two feet in the spring and then cleared up a bit thats the time to go. Have you ever tried the Spring River dam at Baxter Springs? I have caught a lot of Whites there and it is fun to wade. There is a store in Chetopa, KS called Warwicks Jump Start-telephone #'s 620-236-7524/7200. If you call them they will tell you if the Spoonies are running or not and how many they checked in the last day or so. I live in Parsons which is 30 miles away so I call every time to make sure.

I used to travel from Parsons to Chetopa for White Bass but since Big Hill has exploded with them I just drive west of town and in fifteen minutes I'm in the fish. However, I dearly love Chetopa for Whities. I like to fish on the west side of the river just below the dam, thirty feet or so. Any color jigs do the trick. The water really boils but there is an eddy right in front of my favorite spot and the hooked fish wash right into it. Now if you really want a fight just wait until you hook into a big buffalo or carp on your fly rod, whew!!! For flatheads I would use a small net in the riffles and stir up some rocks just upstream then pick Hellgrammites out of the net and put 'em in a can. Two of them on a #1 hook, hooked between the collar and the body, will fight each other for an hour or so. If you throw them against the dam from directly downriver into a space between any two boils it will stay there (with enough lead). The bigger fish will be right up against the dam. Forty pounders are quite common.

Phil, this may be a silly question but why do they need a well?

You had me till you said 13 red wigglers... everyone knows fish can't count.

There is a jump Start? Store at the corner of 59 and 166 hiways in Chetopa. All bills are supposed to be checked in there when you leave the river. Sizewise the bigger fish show up when the water is above 50 degrees and high for a while, at least ten feet above normal. When the conditions are right there are some bigguns caught everynight. Water flow at Miami is different that Chetopa since Miami is almost the upper end of Grand Lake. A three foot rise at Chetopa will be about ten feet at Miami most times and thus more big fish. The regs changed a few years back with the requirement of barbless hooks and now a minimum length limit which is better than the previous law af keeping the first two you catch. Now it is the first two over the minimum. Let me know if you want to go I will meet you there. Incidentally when the water goes down the White bass are in there by the ton and Wallies by the... well there are quite a few, then till about July the flatheads can be torn up on a flyrod and fifteen lb line. They love those Hellgrammites (Dobson fly larve to a flyfisherman) Kelly

That is what my wife tells me, that I could clean up after myself. Looking forward to it John I get up to Erie fairly often. And I am always looking for someone to help me scheme a trip to Taney.

My name is Kelly Stammer I am a retired Law Enforcement Officer and I live in Parsons, Ks and try to make it to Taney once a month or so. My dad first brought me to Taney in 1972 and I have loved it ever since. My wife of 25 years, Linnet, and I took our three boys to Lilleys Landing as much as possible and now they share that sentiment. I have more fun trout fishing with my wife than anyone else, she just doesn't like to go when it's cold. For the past fourteen years the men from our church have been coming to Lilleys every spring and fishing Taneycomo with great results. I feel blessed every time I get to fish Taney, even that one day I got skunked...

I used to snag for Spoonbill on the Neosho above and below the Twin Bridges area. My fiiend and I would use his pontoon boat and swivel bar chairs. Casting below the boat and trolling fast or slow, depending on current, we would hang into some real whoppers by just swiveling the chairs. With the river running high we could snag all the way up to the Dam at Miami. Gets pretty busy sometimes. We also snag the park at Chetopa KS. Standing on the bank elbow to rod tip, there is usually quite a run most years. The season runs March 15 to May 15 anytime the water is up. 60 puonders are commonplace with occasional 75-80 pound behemoths. I like to use 40lb big game line and a ten foot Ugly Stick, barbless (its the law) treble hooks about the size of a silver dollar and a three ounce sinker. One can catch them in the middle of the river out in the current or my favorite range, three jerks from the shore (forty feet). All Spoonbill must be checked in at the conveience store in town, even if you are going to give them away, otherwise it is $90.00 and court costs to the state. And yes I know that for sure. java script:emoticon('', 'smid_6') smilie Kelly

Wonder what a squatch hatch would look like? I'd hate to tie that bugger!!!

This is my first time to reply so if I do it wrong someone please tell me. On the subject of law enforcement by MDC I would suggest the local Sheriff's Department. Being a retired deputy myself I know in Kansas we regularly wrote tickets for illigal fishing. It is after all, a state law, so all but federal law enforcement officers can enforce it. Of course I don't know how they feel about working the lake.