Tug-of-war battle with big blue cats

Fed by and dammed up on the Republican River, Milford Lake Reservoir is the largest lake in Kansas and known for it’s blue catfish. It was one of the two species I targeted with the other being hybrid striped bass when I booked two days of fishing with Brad Roether. When booking I told him the days I had open and he advised against the hybrids telling me I was early. I should have followed his advice and spent both days on the blues.

On a really nice pontoon boat, Brad gave me a tour of the lake on day one. I only got one of those hybrids interested in my hard bait, and he came unhooked about three feet above the water. But I made a new friend and was entertained by eagles guarding their sanctuary from osprey who were having the same result as me coming unhooked.

Several times I watched osprey catch a fish and start off wherever it was flying with it only to get a whupping from an eagle resulting in the fish getting dropped back in the water.

Brad sent his hired guide Ryan to meet me on day two who specialized in nothing but blue catfish. After launching and hitting the water again, this time in a more down to earth style fishing boat, we went bait fishing first catching plenty of shad for this one day mission.

With pelicans flying in the background over this lake in the heartland I started fishing in our first spot. We stayed for about 30 minutes yielding nothing but the nice view of the lake and it’s three big dominant waterfowl.

The eagles returned once again putting on a show giving proof to any bird that went afoul of their will that they are the boss.

The bald eagle sits alone at the top of the food chain - referred to as an APEX predator - having no predators in their ecosystem. The location of this aerial show in the heartland of America was so spot on to witness one of our national symbols in it’s display of strength as the warrior and guardian of it’s territory.

A few minutes after trying our second spot, it only took one bite from a scavenger to take my mind off of predators. Blue catfish are strong with an awesome torque making every one I caught as fun as the first one.

As always, I play for keeps on the edible species and this one had a creel limit of five keepers.

But due to catching many of them in a slot that must be released, it took catching 17 of them to reach this keep limit.

The catches were pretty evenly spaced apart, making for an even calm approach to the fishing all day.

At some point, I went over the limit required to make my right shoulder sore from the pulling. The shoulder is not naturally weak but due to an accident in 2009.

There is no complaint here as the clavicle bone, part of which had to be surgically removed, serves as a reminder of safety guidelines in servicing earth moving equipment.

I enjoy catching and landing fish so much I hardly ever feel this type soreness until after the trip is done, usually at night. Some problems just ain’t powerful enough to overcome the state of mind when having fun.

After this very entertaining day of catching plenty of big fish I headed south to Hayesville where I had a room reserved. Sometimes a good night’s rest can be so complete with no waking in the night. The 17 tug-of-war battles I had with those big blue cats helped insure that this was one of those times.

The next morning found me relaxing with a great hotel breakfast and my favorite beverage - coffee.

One of the things I learned just before this trip was that my Nebraska guide Chad Richardson lived 25 years of his life in the Milford area and guided this lake when he was there.

Among a few things I learned while there was that there were pelicans in the state of Kansas. It looked odd to see them this far inland. I would find out after my trip that my upcoming guide for Montana Trevor Haddix was actually a Kansas resident since 2000 living only three miles from Milford Lake. That old cliche’ “it’s a small world” kept hitting home here.

Brad Roether’s guide service, Grandpa Boone’s Cabin And Outfitters, is online and on Facebook. He has several people employed for guiding and rooms for rent near the lake.

Brad is a really great guy with really nice equipment set up good for people wanting to fish and hunt. The clear waters of Milford Lake

The clear waters of Milford Lake certainly produces nice big Catfish and that’s where I got the blue’s while Fishing America.

BY LOCAL FISHERMAN

Paul Hale

STATE # 18 - KANSAS

APRIL 2018 - MILFORD LAKE

SPECIES CAUGHT

Blue Catfish