Marais des Cygnes River

[dlbenthusen]

Has anyone been fishing this river. What Cats and of what size is avarage to catch out of here?

[KC Jayhawk 78]

I fish it often in the summer. There has been big flats, channels , and blues pulled out of there. You usually wont catch anything real big outta there unless the river stays up and is running good for a few days. I fish it in Ottawa and in Osawatomie. If the river comes up this spring , and stays up, Ill be down there in Ottawa and maybe Osawatomie for a few days.

[kscathunter]

And I will be in one of my spots:big_smile_2: :dribble:

[KC Jayhawk 78]

Brandon, whereabouts do you fish the MDC?

[kscathunter]

usually the miami state lake but i go elsewere im going to the lake tommrow the mdc is up all over yea!

[dlbenthusen]

I almost tryed the river at the miami state lake. You have much luck there? How about the Lake?

[kscathunter]

man i wish it was warmer the river is going way up

[kscathunter]

the waters warming up and so are the cats got a few bites but only one cought 15# blue and that sucker was so fat it was oozin out the back:lol: might have had more but we got a late start and wasent in all the right spots at all the right times

[kscathunter]

the rivers the highest its been in a long time and the cats had lockjaw all day :sad2: :angry:

[kscathunter]

I fish it often in the summer. There has been big flats, channels , and blues pulled out of there. You usually wont catch anything real big outta there unless the river stays up and is running good for a few days. I fish it in Ottawa and in Osawatomie. If the river comes up this spring , and stays up, Ill be down there in Ottawa and maybe Osawatomie for a few days.

hey pamonas been letting out water for a week now keeping the river up you or annybody beared the cold to see if they are biteing?I was going to go today but my wife had plans so i cant go:crazy: :sad2:

[SKYNYRD]

Has anyone been fishing this river. What Cats and of what size is avarage to catch out of here?see this flathead it came out of there,I catch big flathead and blue all the time 40 and 50 pounders caught 95 pound blue onetime I know all the honey holes been fishing there for 35years

[dlbenthusen]

nice cat, I'v only been fishing small lakes. Haven't been catching alot but I been catching an average of 7lbs. But I realy got to find some were that I can catch atleast 1, 20 pounder a night. I don't get to go out much so I want to make it count

[dlbenthusen]

ya see the size differace :sad2:

[JayGonefishing]

I have not made it down to the river yet this year. Just been fishing small ponds and a couple small lakes. Wish I could say I've averaged 7 lbers. Mine have been more like 2 with a couple 5s. Got the urdge, got to get down to the river.
:boss:

[kscathunter]

I have not made it down to the river yet this year. Just been fishing small ponds and a couple small lakes. Wish I could say I've averaged 7 lbers. Mine have been more like 2 with a couple 5s. Got the urdge, got to get down to the river.
:boss:

gotta go their starting to bite a little better i cought an 11#er today

[MDC river runner]

Pulled a 40# flathead out of the MDC saturday night between storms. Rivers out of the banks now.

[1mickymoo]

I heard the mdc is good, but, does anybody know where i can put in???

[dougc]

Anywhere you can carry your boat, something small and light is all you're going to get in there.

[MDC river runner]

there is a ramp west of melvern lake but other than that a small boat and permission from farmers are going to be your best at least around here. My north property line is a half mile stretch of the river and my honey hole.

[kscathunter]

anybody fishing the mdc yet any luck?

[MDC river runner]

Melvern lake is releasing water, the river is running pretty good right now. Catfish should be biting in the calmer creek channels coming off the river.

[kscathunter]

got a 31# blue sat. night might go back tommrow:wink:

[MDC river runner]

Melvern lake level is dropping enough that the corps should close the discharge gate within a week or so depending on how much more rain we get. Cant wait to get the boat back on there and go hit some deep holes that i cant get to right now.

[kscathunter]

yep it looks like somebody is shutting down the river is starting to drop some im going to get out tommrow and get some high water cat action before it drops down stream.

[MDC river runner]

Melvern has reduced is outlet flow to 1000, which is down from the 2500 they had been letting out. I should be able to get down on the river and set some lines by the end of the week.

[mandingo]

hey it sounds like you guys might know a thing or two about melvern lake.i have a tourney there next weekend june 2nd and have never catfished the lake until this memorial day weekend.we ran 2 trot lines and 8 limb lines and ended up with 5 channel and 1 blue.i was wondering if you guys knew any good places to drift on the main lake for some of those blues?:0a35:any info given will be greatly appreciated because im in the dark a lil bit:lol: thanks-caleb

[MDC river runner]

If your going to be drifting for catfish your best bet is probably going to be one of the points on the north side of the lake. Turkey point is always a good flat to drift and the next point to the east of it. Use your depth finder to find the edges of these points and slowly work your way across them into shallower water and back into deeper water on the back side of them. If we get any more rain work a few of the creeks where they are draining into the north coves of melvern or the flat and the the rocks on the west end of the lake under and near the bridge. Good luck.

[MDC river runner]

Just got back from catching bait (bullheads and gills). Got them in my stock tank ready to be dinner for a big flathead down on the river tomorrow night. Going to be setting some lines and doing a little bank fishing. Melvern is still letting out water but they should back it down some more within the next few days. Lake is just over a foot above normal pool.

[mandingo]

thanks for the tips David.i think i know what flats you are talking about,and will prob give em a shot.i know we should be able to go down to the bridge and catch our limit of 2-3 lbers right off the bat but then we will be in the hunt for some lunkers.is the river accessable from the lake?i would like to see about 3-4 inches of rain friday night to get those creeks runnin ,but heres hopin:roll_eyes:.

[MDC river runner]

caleb, it depends on the boat your fishing out of. About the only time i can get my boat up into the river channel on the west end of melvern is during the spring when the lake is a little above normal pool. I have a 04 19 foot nito though (do mostly bass fishing). If you running a aluminum boat you should be able to make it up there. Head under the bridge and find the river channel with your depth finder. Its pretty much silted in though. Go slow and make your way to the far west end of the lake, the river channel is on the south west edge. It gets pretty shallow (2-3 feet average) past the bridge and there are submerged stumps to watch out for to. Once you get into the river the average depth drops to 12-16 feet deep. Good luck and let me know how you did. There is also a boat ramp on the river itself. Let me know if you want to know where its at.

[center12]

David, thanks for the helpful advise. Caleb has conned me into being his partner for the event...........he's such a glutton for punishment:crazy:. Thanks again.

[mandingo]

hey David,is there alot of drum in melvern?cuz if so charlie will have a hay day:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:sorry Charlie, i couldnt let ya forget about that:lol:

[mandingo]

David,i have a 17ft deep v that does pretty good in shallow water.i was west of the bridge over the weekend and it stayed about 4- 6 ft deep out towards the middle.i did not know there were stumps out there though,!!! :ooooh:i had the throttle to the floor:embarassed:have you ever done any good up the river when it was moving?

[MDC river runner]

I have caught some decent channels up in the river, i know there are some big flathead on the river but there are a lot of guys that run lines up there. I do my fishing on the marais des cygnes about a mile east of the lake on a half mile stretch of river my father owns. The lake level is coming down so its going to be a little shallower up there past the bridge. During the summer the stumps and snags are more apperent but they are under the water right now. Just be careful . Did you guys find the mouth of the river while you were up there last week? Good luck on your tournament. Let me know how you did.

[MDC river runner]

did a little flathead fishing on the river last night. Well did more drinking than fishing but had lines out non the less, caught a few drum on night crawler while waiting for those clickers to go off but didnt have any luck. It was a pretty slow night. I think the fish have lock jaw after all of the rain whe have had in the last 2 weeks. Me and a buddy of mine had 12 limblines out baited with bullhead and didnt have any luck when we ran them this morning. Did see a nice flahead this morning about 4 foot from one of our lines wallowing out a hole in the river bank. We watched him for a while and moved on.

[mandingo]

David,i did not find the mouth of the river but i wasnt too far away according to my gps.we set our limb lines bout a 1/4 mile past the bridge on the south bank.i was thinkin it was pretty uncommon to have no stumps or snags in that part of the lake,but i guess i got lucky due to the high water.and yeah ill let ya know how we did for sure.thanks for all the info also.

[MDC river runner]

The mouth of the river is just about straight west of the bridge. It sounds like you wer probably in that cove on the south side when you set your lines. Waters just about to normal pool now. Just over 1 1/2 feet above right now. You should start to see the stumps and snags now if not than soon although its probably pretty murky back there right now.

[MDC river runner]

Well me and a buddy ran lines and did a little night fishing wednesday night. Had 12 limblines out baited with bullhead. Ran them the next morning and still had 12 live bullheads. I caught a few drum messing around with night crawlers during the night while waiting for a flathead to bite on one of my flathead rods but nothing. Im not sure if we werent in the right spot of if the fish had lock jaw after all of the rain. Going to give it another shot most of next week until my waynoka dune trip.

[Chris]

Is the MDC river considered a public river up to the flood stage? I know that they have boat ramps on the MDC river and if the river isnt public then when were would the state draw the line for private to public property lines on the river?

Chris

[kscathunter]

Is the MDC river considered a public river up to the flood stage? I know that they have boat ramps on the MDC river and if the river isnt public then when were would the state draw the line for private to public property lines on the river?

Chris

glad to see your still kicking. i was gonna call you a couple weeks ago to wet a line but didnt know your current buisness hours. as far as the gray aera you speak of. they say sence its a small river most is on private property witch the landowner owns the land under and around the water. the navigation law lets sportsmen travel on the rivers that can be floated the majority of the year as you said. but the gray area is sence its small and most boats wont make it verry far the land owners gonna have a big say so. so as far as the whole thing goes they say you can travel along as long as you dont touch the land. no getting out to fish, not so shure youre allowed to anchor or fish of the bottom (your weight will touch their land) if you do the land owner has the right to tell you to move it along, and you have the right to get one warning from them without trouble. so pretty mutch you dont NEED permission to motor through sombodys section of river but you SHOULD get permission before fishing it.

[dougc]

The Missouri & Kansas are the only public rivers in Kansas. Check with the landowners first.

[GaryF]

What Doug said. Welcome to Kansas:angry: There are some sections of the MDC that cross public property and are fair game, but most of it is not. The biggest section I know of that is public is the Wildlife Refuge near the KS-MO border, with 6-7 miles of the river.

Area Map
http://www.fws.gov/maraisdescygnes/images/map4.gif

Refuge Map
http://www.fws.gov/maraisdescygnes/images/RefugeWildlifemap2.jpg

[Chris]

Thanks for all the info. Brandon give me a call sometime.

chris

[kscathunter]

145,000cfps man thats alot of water over 10x the kansas right about now 1951 flood levels. get this the kaw and the mdc will have the same record max cfpm today wow:ooooh::cool2::wink:

[GaryF]

Yeah, it's up and running...

"The Kansas National Guard was sent to help with a mandatory evacuation of Osawatomie, a town of 4,600, as the overflowing Pottawatomie Creek inundated neighborhoods and workers struggled to reinforce a levee on the Marais des Cygnes."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070702/ap_on_re_us/flooding

[kscathunter]

man that little river was hot tonight we started with 6 rods out bad idea, by the time we got them all in half were bent over :crazy: we ended up using two most of the night because thats all we could keep up with the whole time we were there:crazy::ooooh: man if all days were that good id probally come home to that song on repete (well im gonna miss her oh lookie there another bite) :tire: man between the fish and the mud im tired