Blue Springs Lake Advice Needed

[gnrboyd]

Does anyone fish Blue Springs Lake? (suburb of KC) I live about 3 miles from the lake and would like to fish it more than I do. The few times that I fished it, I didn't have much luck. (Too busy dodging skiers.) The crappie I've caught have been mostly very small. I catch myself with a few hours spare time and I won't even go because I have zero confidence in the lake. If anyone has any advice/suggestions, I would sure appreciate it.

I've caught some bass there but nothing very large. The east end (east of Woods Chapel bridge) has a lot of timber but it is very shallow. Anyone ever do any good back there for bass? Or anywhere else for that matter?

The lake does have some hybrids but I have never intentionally fished for them. Has anyone had any regular success fishing for them?

Like I said, I'd really like start fishing the lake more since it is so close so if any of you have any suggestions for crappie, bass, hybrids I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

[toolmaker]

I have fished it a few times this year for crappie.....no luck, but I Think there is probably some decent fishing there. its just a matter of spending time and finding those sweet spots.
Have not done any bass fishing there, but have caught a few small one fishing for crappies.
I'm not to sure if the water is deep enough to hold crappie in the summer time north of the bridge. Hopefully someone will chime in with some helpfull info.
I like BS lake and also Longview is a really nice sized lake here in town.

Sorry not much help.

[gnrboyd]

I watched a guy 2 years ago catch small crappie while ancored. I watched him for about an hour while I fished up and down the banks of the same cove. I didn't catch a single crappie. As I passed him, I asked him about crappie fishing on the lake. He said there is about only 3 places he has found that he can ever catch any crappie. He was parked on one of them. After he left, I moved into his spot and I caught about a dozen before they quit. All 6"-7" dinks.

I read on another post that some fish were caught off the dam recently. Maybe I will try that next time I go. Regardless, if they are all going to be small I may give up on crappie fishing and try for the hybrids or bass.

If anyone has any suggestions on anything (except carp) , please let me know. Thanks

[CONCRETECRAPPIE]

blue springs lake is a real good lake for crappie,i have 3 spots that when the time is right you can catch 12 to 15 inch crappie,fishn off the banks,Im 15 minutes from there but dont fish it as much as i should.HOOOKED ON TRUMAN.......

[KCMO CRAPPIESLAYER]

when i was out there a few week's ago we managed a few keeper's off the damn throwing road runner's and crankbait's. caught lot's and lot's of chip's as well. don't have much experience at all on that lake but i do know there are some nice crappie in there.

[gnrboyd]

Well I gave it a shot on Sunday for a while. I fished from about 11AM to 6PM and didn't do very well. (I know...worst time of the day.) I caught 5 species of fish but less than 10 total.

The lake was RIDICULOUS with all the big ski boats on that dinky lake. I have a 16' aluminum V bottom with a 50 hsp and I felt like I was on a blow up mattress in the ocean. Holy Cow! What a circus. They need to do something about that lake before someone gets killed. I couldn't even get on plane with my boat the water was so rough with boat wakes. I could only fish in the back end of the coves and even then was getting wave action. I am sorry I even wasted my money on the lake permits. The skiers/partiers are out of control. This is a tiny lake of just 720 acres. Is a 25' boat really necessary? They really need a boat size limit on that lake and/or limit the number of boats allowed.

I think I need to just fish early or late on that lake until fall comes. I don't think I will even bother with permits next year for this lake. I will just fish a little less but when I go, drive to a real lake (Truman) and leave Blue Springs to all of the crazy water sports people who are pretending they are at Lake of the Ozarks.

Crappieslayer... I was planning to fish the dam area when I got to the lake but if I had I would have ended up beached into the rocks. My little boat could not have handled that. Even a 20' boat would have been swamped. From my experience, most of the skiers don't tend to be too courteous when they see fishermen.

Sorry ...just needed to vent...

[rdwsdw1]

I stopped trying to go to Blue Springs lake last year for the same reason. Longview lake is not much better but at least you can go beyond the buoys near the beach and they can't follow you. I've never understood why the jetskier's, tubers, waker boarders, and water skiers all seem to believe that we want them to run as close to the fisherman as possible.

I was fishing Prairie Lee Sunday when someone was trying to learn to ski. I was anchored off near the dam and they insisted on staying right near me. They were using a ski rope that was only about 6' long and were barely moving causing a huge wake that had breakers coming over the side of my bass boat. I gave up at that point and went home. Frustrating because I was catching fish but not worth all the trouble I was having just keeping control of the boat.

[blackdogs]

I haven't fished there in a couple years, but if you go out at first light and get off the water by 10am or 11, it was ok to fish. Otherwise, get back in the tree cove, under the bridge, you can fish crappie, bass and catfish.

[gnrboyd]

blackdogs... do you ever catch anything back on east side past the bridge? Most of the water back there is pretty shallow so I have never spent much time back there.

rdwsdw1... do you have much luck on Longview? I agree... the skiers don't seem to give the fisherman much space. Sounds like you might benefit from the early shift that blackdog recommended. What kind of fish were you catching before you were run off the lake?

The fishing reports for both lakes come from the local bait shop or the marina and they are always very generic so I am trying to learn as much as I can about the lakes.

I really would like to give up on the crappie at BS and just concentrate on trying to find those hybrids and save the crappie fishing for Truman where I know there is quality. I have my permits for this year so I don't want to let them go to waste. I won't make the same mistake next year.

[blackdogs]

Fishing the first row of trees, heading 1/2 way across to the spillway, I caught my biggest crappie ever- 18.25 inch, 3.75#. It is currently hanging on the wall. Most of the crappie I caught there, and there weren't many, came from the coves. I make the trip to Smithville now, the Jackson County lake pass isn't worth the money (to me). Although, when my son gets old enough to fish, I will get a pass again. So I will only have a 10 min. drive to spend 10 min. fishing!