Depressing Marion Reservoir conditions

[fishinfiddler]

Went to Marion yesterday... beautiful day.. no wind..

The lake was only 3ft high since the middle of last month.
High expectations...other lakes a lot higher than that with
many ramps closed etc.....

all was great until putting the boat in... the water is UGLY.
It is more akin to split pea soup with a green algae bloom!
Like last year.. but earlier.

Fishing was good before the algae... very slow now. The
further up the lake, the worst the bloom. Leaves a nasty
green ring on the boat... caught one white bass and one
drum and gave up.

Marion's watershed just has too much cultivated ground with
over zealous fertilizing farmers compared with lakes whose
watersheds are rocky grass covered pastures. High nitrogen
causing these blooms.. and then hot temps and kaboom!!

It is a shame and frustrating. Dropped by Eldorado today. They
are only recommending using Shady Creek Marina's ramp.. but
the water is well into the parking lot there too.... not yet
letting out water.

[tinboat man]

Thanks for the update was thinking of running up this weekend but not if the lake is like that!!!

[springhillwantabe]

pretty sad right now but it may be a blessing 2 3 years from now???

[imajigger2]

Been fishing down there for the last three weeks and doing real well until the wind blows too hard to fish. This lake had no reports for over a month and was the best kept secret in Kansas. If anyone was watching the COE Tulsa district they would have seen this lake has had little inflow and no outflow for over a month. The lake is only one foot over conservation pool but looked high because it was under pool for so long. I have seen no green algae warnings as yet. Will be fishing there again. When the wind kicks the greenish water disperses. There were no reports from KDWP on fishing reports from May 1st to June 3rd. Would not be scared to fish it at all depending on weather prolly be there fri, sat, and sun. Good luck fellas!!

[RandyP]

I was last at Marion on June 8th. Started drifting for walleye. After about 5 or 6 drifts only had one drum and a small channel cat. Changed to trolling the Cottonwood point side of the lake and did manage to catch 2 walleye but they were both about 16 inches. We had been up there 2 other times in the last 2 weeks and it has been very slow fishing both times. You can see the water getting greener and I would guess another algae bloom is on it way. I was hoping that since they got a little extra water in the lake that might prevent a bloom this year.

[imajigger2]

Drifting and trolling didn't work for us either. We started jigging them on the ledges and hit them. Tossed marker bouy on the shallow side of ledge and worked out deeper tried to keep vertical as much as possible, when working back up the ledge .25 to .35 on the trolling motor, using heavy jigs caught them in all depths and there were several year classes from 12 inches to 22 inches and everything in between. Lots of boats drifting and not doing to well, we thought they were drifting too fast for the bite. Don't be afraid to slow way down, good luck.

[RandyP]

Thanks for the info jigger2, I will give that a try some time next week.

[fishinfiddler]

Well, I hope the lake clears... I talked to a state park officer who was checking boats when we came in... he said they were in process of closing down the swimming and
issuing and advisory but hadn't quite happened yet. He said the problem is actually happening AFTER a rain coupled with warm/hot sunny days. That sounds like nitrogen
fertilizer washing into the lake. At any rate, it was ugly when we were there Tuesday. I've had good luck overall at the lake.. better than Eldo... and there is a new bait
shop 1 north and 3/4 west of cottonwood point (called the bait bucket) that I would really like to see make a go of it. Those that go, let us know the status please.

[CaptainT16]

I read last night that Marion is now one of the lakes with an active warning for the algae.

[imajigger2]

Went to Marion Friday and caught some walleye between 19 and 21 inches had several catfish bite in the 2 to 4 pound range and some fiddlers. Did not see evidence of green water but we were never close to shore except unloading and loading and no evidence at the docks either. Not saying it isn't true but I have not seen it yet. One day out of the last ten it had a greenish tint to the water but nothing like the pics on KDWP site of what a green bloom looks like. I did see the warning on their page. KWA has a tourney there in two weeks, would be interesting to see if it is cancelled. Will be there Sunday so will take a look at the shore line. Did see the swimming beach with tons of geese on it but again nothing like pics of what KDWP shows on their site.