This trip was on April 2nd.
My friend invited me to go fishing down at Bennet Spring and offered up his travel trailer so we could stay the night before. I drove down the afternoon of the 1st.
We drove around the campground in his golf cart, hung out with some people, drank some beer & whiskey. It was just a nice time being away a bit.
Friday morning we got to the fishing area around 8 a.m. I’d never fished for trout there so I was mostly following my friends lead. We were using brown our black little flies under strike indicators. This was really frustrating! My casting is off right now anyway and the strike indicator made it even more difficult. I had multiple tangles. Caught a tree. But did not catch any trout.
I would see them key in on the fly and follow it for 10-20 feet and then just lose interest and swim off. So frustrating to see that. My friend caught one.
When we were done, we watched another angler that was fishing a streamer he’d make these massive casts, start stripping line, and catch a fish. It was inspiring to watch. I would have tied on something else and tried that approach but my tired self shut the tip of my fly rod in my truck door.
I started heading home and decided to run by Truman lake to see if I could the kayak on the water. The wind was crazy and the water was extremely choppy. After checking a few areas looking for a wind break, I gave up and continued down the road.
Multiple people had been telling me to try Lone Jack lake. It was on the way home, and being a small lake, was more comfortable for me. It was extremely windy there, but there was some windbreak from the trees.
Another kayak angler was there and we had a good discussion. He hadn’t had any success, but gave me a good breakdown of the conditions.
This was a struggle. I headed into a calm part and fished for a while with no bites. I didn’t see anything on the graph. Just a total strike out. I then headed toward the dam and the wind picked up like crazy! I had a few times where no amount of paddling would make any difference in where my boat was being blown. I finally got close to the fishing jetty there and, after a few attempts, finally beached the boat and got safely onto shore.
So zero fish for me but I had a really good time hanging out with friends, fishing … even fighting the wind and worrying that I was going to capsize was a good time to have in my memory.
Bennet Spring
- Water Temp: 50ish degrees
- Clarity: Clear
- Air Temp: 35 – 63 F
- Conditions: Windy 10 – 13 MPH
- Lures:
- Small nymphs under a strike indicator
Truman Lake
- Water Temp: —
- Clarity: —
- Air Temp: 63
- Conditions: Windy 10 – 15 MPH
- Lures:
- None
Lone Jack Lake
- Water Temp: 57 – 60 F
- Clarity: Stained, 1-2′ visibility
- Air Temp: 60 – 65
- Conditions: Windy 15 – 20MPH
- Lures:
- Chartreuse and White Spinnerbait
- Sexy Shad Squarebill
- PB&J TRD on a Ned Rig
- White and silver jerkbait