Tell me about Milford

[45acp]

Rented a cabin at Milford State Park for the 2nd week in May.

Wife and I are going to visit the grandkids and do some fishing and boat riding.

It looks like pretty much every other middling sized impoundment.

Anything in particular I need to know, other than just get out there and try it?

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Really good wiper fishing if you can find them at that time, which is probably a toss up. The wipers in those Kansas lakes seem to disappear for months until they're hungry.

Good smallmouth and walleye fishing, too. They should be on the rocky points or structure. Do you have a graph? If so, it's your best friend. Once you find the fish it can be unreal. That goes for all the lakes in Kansas I've fished. They seem to want to eat more often than Missouri fish. I know guys that fly fish for post-spawn smallies in May and crush some really nice fish. 

[dpitt]

I live most of the time in Kansas, sad to say I've never fished Milford, but ditto what Ryan says about the wipers, whites, and Bass.  Would love to hear about your experience.

[45acp]

I have a decent graph, a Navionics subscription, and plenty of jig heads to bounce around the rock piles.

If I can find some bait when I get there I might want to do a bit of catfishing.  Have the asian carp made it

into Milford yet?  I've got several gallons of that stuff in the freezer that I could bring.

 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

1 hour ago, 45acp said:

I have a decent graph, a Navionics subscription, and plenty of jig heads to bounce around the rock piles.

If I can find some bait when I get there I might want to do a bit of catfishing.  Have the asian carp made it

into Milford yet?  I've got several gallons of that stuff in the freezer that I could bring.

 

I don't think they've made it there yet. A lot of the asian carp are stopped pretty nicely by the dams in KS. Of course, they'll find a way eventually. Zebra mussels are pretty bad there, though. 

[45acp]

Good info, thank you.

I'll leave the frozen asians at home, bring a cast net and hope I can find some shad.

[Skeeter ZX190]

As is the case with any lake in Kansas, wind, wind, and more wind.  Not much to block it out there.  Spawn should be over by then unless winter continues to hold on.  I would stay on the lower end toward the dam.  Milford has a good population of small mouth and walleye.  Rocky points and banks.  

[Bushbeater]

I'll vouch for the wind. We were camped there on our way west many years back. A gust front and storm came thru which damaged our camper and put many tents and sleeping bags up in the trees. Blew so hard the cast iron skillet was 30' away.

[Johnsfolly]

On 3/4/2022 at 1:35 PM, Ryan Miloshewski said:

Really good wiper fishing if you can find them at that time, which is probably a toss up.

They catch them pretty well below the spillway in the Republican river. At least the times that we were visting our son at Ft Riley. Folks were using white paddletails or live/dead shad for baits.

We tried for blue suckers below the dam and only caught bluegill and lost terminal tackle. We haven't fished the main lake yet.

[45acp]

Caught 18" walleye all week long.  Found a few crappie but they were biting better early in the morning and I don't like to get out of bed early when I'm on vacation so didn't spend much time on them.  Found a few smallmouth hanging out with the walleye.

New trolling motor took a dump on day one.  Lack of proper boat control turned fishing into work, so we spent most of our time fishing standing on shore.  Think I caught a walleye off of every boat ramp on the lake.

Anyway, better luck next time...