Fallmouth fishing

Tuesday morning had plenty of signs that fall had arrived.

Sumac leaves were neon red on the prairies and willow leaves were yellowing at the water’s edge. Above the lake thousands of migrating gulls swirled while scattered flocks of ducks and geese flew low over water as smooth and reflective as a polished mirror.

And Rue Armstrong had a smallmouth bass dancing across that same surface.

“Most times if you hook one of these things they’re going to come to the top,” Armstrong said as he watched the fish splash and dash through the clear water beside the boat.

“This is just the beginning of the fall fishing. Actually it won’t really get going until the middle of October,” said Armstrong, of Topeka. “This is when there are a lot of shad and the bass are feeding up before the winter.”

The 73-year-old angler probably appreciates the fish, or any fish in Kansas, more than most at the lake.

Armstrong left Kansas after his graduation from Holton High in 1960. After a few years in the Navy, Armstrong ended up with careers in southern California. He only fished a few times there in all the years.

That changed when he retired back to Kansas about a dozen years ago.

“I was needing something to do and I remember how much fun I had fishing as a kid in Kansas,” Armstrong said as he unhooked a smallmouth. “Besides, I pretty much hate golf.”

But he does love fishing for smallmouth bass.

“Pound for pound, they (fight) two to one compared to largemouths,” Armstrong said, adding he appreciates that largemouth bass are often bigger in Kansas lakes.

While he’s fished the legendary smallmouth waters of Milford Reservoir and Coffey County Lake as well as Wilson Reservoir, Armstrong has a fondness for Melvern.

The lake is about 40 minutes south of his Topeka home. While it doesn’t have the size of smallmouth sometimes caught at other lakes, Melvern has good numbers of the fish. Armstrong has had days when he’s boated, and released, 50 or more.

Tuesday morning’s conditions had him unsure of the day’s success. The overcast skies he liked. The calm conditions, not so much.

“A lot of people think perfectly calm water is great, especially for top-water lures, but I never do well when it’s like that,” he said. “I’ll take a five to 10 mile per hour breeze any day.”

Throughout Tuesday morning Armstrong and a guest indeed caught more fish when there were at least small ripples on the water. The places where they found smallmouth all had one major thing in common.

“Rocks, rocks and more rocks when you’re wanting smallmouth,” Armstrong said. “If we were after largemouths we’d been looking for wood and weeds.”

Melvern has plenty of rocky areas along its shoreline, but Armstrong made his first casts of the day where millions of rocks had been piled along the rip-rap dam. He began throwing top-water but only had one splash after about 15 minutes. He caught one smallmouth on a small spinnerbait.

Eventually he was using a light spinning rod to cast a Ned Rig, a pinky-sized plastic body on a light mushroom-style jig head.

Fish were soon coming to the boat at a steady rate, but Armstrong wasn’t pleased the smallmouths also had small bodies.

“The dam normally has a lot of fish, but size can be a problem,” he said. “Let’s go check a few areas where there’s a nice rocky ledge in a little deeper water. I usually find bigger fish there.”

And so he did.

Anderson stopped his boat at the back of a cove and arched long casts into a foot or less of water at the shoreline and worked his lure toward deeper areas. Fish from 12 to 15 inches were readily agreeable. Most came from four to eight feet of water, if the lure was worked steadily along the bottom.

“They’re feeding a lot on shad but they’ll hit about anything if you can find them and they’re feeding,” Armstrong said.

After about four hours of fishing, Armstrong estimated at least 35 smallmouths had been brought to his boat and released. Better fishing will come in a few weeks, when water temperatures drop to 60 degrees and below. Fish predominantly found in the northern U.S. and Canada, Armstrong said smallmouth feel right at home on Kansas lakes in the fall and spring.

“The fishing can be great in late October right on through November,” Armstrong said. “I usually fish them until about Thanksgiving and then quit. Once the highs aren’t reaching 50 degrees, I’m out. I guess I’m still a fair-weather fisherman. I know they’ll be going good again in the spring.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Fallmouth fishing."