Jesse, the only place it is the R-Kansas is in Kansas.....it annoys me a great deal! I wish the fishery in our stretch of the Ark was anything like it is in Colorado or Oklahoma. I am definitely jealous!
Jesse, the only place it is the R-Kansas is in Kansas.....it annoys me a great deal! I wish the fishery in our stretch of the Ark was anything like it is in Colorado or Oklahoma. I am definitely jealous!
Last edited by quivira kid; 08-18-2012 at 01:16 AM.
The Green Hornet strikes again!!!
I've had a guide tell me that the stretch of the Arkansas River, north of Kaw lake, will hold some nice Hybrid Striped Bass. Scout the river, find the holes, have fun!
Allen,
You can fish that hole anytime you want to. I don't own it and I am not the first person to fish it, LOL! I'm glad to see you got into them. The Arkansas can be a fickle River. Sometimes you can't keep them off your fly and sometimes you can't buy a strike. The nice thing about it is that is close to home.
Steve
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"
Will Rogers
That, and the fact that Greenwich Road in Wichita is Green-witchOriginally Posted by quivira kid
.
There have never in history been so many opportunities to do so many things that aren't worth doing. - William Gaddis
Steve, if you plan on fishing the Fall run, START DOING IT!!!
I didn't post it on this board, but I caught an 11 lbs Striper on hardware fishing last Friday. Early morning, when the "surge" is coming down from Keystone.
I also caught a couple 6 lbs Stripers, an 8 lbs Hybrid, and had numerous Stripers pull off of the lure I was using.
How much of the river does the run cover?
(Noob questions from the guy who would like to get into some stripers but knows nothing aboutthem besides they have stripes.)
Don Rolfson
Stripers were initially stocked in Kaw lake, and in the Spring Floods immediately following those stockings, went over the dams at Kaw, Keystone, Zink (Tulsa), and eventually established a breeding population in the Arkansas River.
I do not know if any Stripers are still in Kaw. Most of the locals seem to talk about Hybrids and Blue cats in that lake.
The only thing I can really say, is "give it a try". Start fishing. Pay attention to stream gauges, either USACE or USGS. When water is moving downstream, really start looking. If there are any low-head dams on the river near where you are fishing, that can be a prime spot.
BE ADVISED LOW HEAD DAMS DANGEROUS! They aren't called "killing machines" for nothing.
Learn the holes in the river in your area. If you have a canoe or kayak, maybe launch into the river and paddle around, exploring.
It may take you a few years to learn the when's, where's, and why's, but once you start to put one and one together and come up with three, the fishing can be very good.
Don, I just looked at Google Earth, from the OK/KS line, up to near Douglas, KS
I saw what appears to be a low-head dam in Winfield, KS. I saw a few smaller riffles here and there, but nothing major. It's probably going to take some locals willing to spill info about fishing up there.
Boy, that river gets small!! It was starting to look like one of the creeks here that I take my kayak into.
I guess I need to double-check a regular map, besides just checking Google Earth:
"...I grew up in Winfield from the age of 15-25. We moved from there last year to Owasso. The low water dam in Winfield (Tunnel Mill Dam) gets a lot of Wipers from Kaw with the spring floods. It's not the Arkansas River in Winfield though, its the Walnut. The Walnut drains into the Arkansas in Arkansas City, KS but most of the wipers, flatheads and hybrids turn and head up the walnut. A couple of years ago, a lot of big ones (6-12 lbers) were caught in early March. I don't believe there are any stripers in Kaw or we would have caught one at some point in the Walnut. That low water dam is a phenomenal Flathead hole in the Spring. There will be 20-30 people standing shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the river trying to catch the big flatheads. On a good day 40-50 flatheads in the 15-40lb range will be caught. The biggest I've heard of coming out of there is 55lbs..."
and:
"...Thanks for the input zhall. I suspected that there would be hybrids up there but its nice to hear from a local perspective to reinforce my belief that the fish move upstream. There are a small number of stripers in Kaw (a tiny reminant population from early stockings in the 70's). I would bet that they run upstream as well, but are just so few that they go unnoticed. About 7 or 8 years ago when I was first starting the hybrid stocking project on Kaw we found thousands and thousands of striper fingerlings in Kaw. So the few stripers in the lake did have a quality spawning run that year. Most years we see a few fingerling stripers which is a sign of a definite upstream spawning run...."
The second quote is from an ODWC fisheries Biologist.
I did some more looking, making sure I was following the Arkansas River this time. The river is a typical "braided prairie stream", wide, shallow, multiple channels weaving together. Didn't see anything that reassembled a tailrace until I got into Wichita. Where W McCormick ST t-bones into S McClean Blvd. That might be bridge construction. This photo could be a couple years old; if it's construction, it's possible that the construction is finished now.
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