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Good day,
Adam down in Cass county wrote me last week saying the fishing really slowed down after the remnants of Dolly rolled through making lakes rise and the water muddy. But since the heat kicked back in, it seems the bass and the bluegill, sunfish & catfish are hungry.
Here's a picture of Camryn at Lake Pomme De Terre. He loves to fish and here's a cool thing, he turns eight years old today on 8-8-08.
I mentioned in the headline how the fish and bugs were biting. I took the kids fishing and they caught 11 fish between them. But the bugs feasted on their legs. You should buy stock in a hydrocortisone creme because we are buying tons of it. This weekend will be cool and cloudy at times. It looks like it rain over all parts of the viewing area at least at some point this weekend. The fishing should be good, just make sure and obey local laws, and take only what you are limited.
Have a happy & safe weekend,
Brett
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Good morning,
Monday morning around 6:30, I was on the air talking about a line of thunderstorms moving into Johnson and Saline counties on the Missouri side. At the same time Donna Lindahl of Knob Noster, Missouri was headed out the door on her way to work. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. She went back inside, got her camera and took this picture.
Is it a "Roll Cloud" or Shelf Cloud? At first I thought it might be a roll cloud but upon closer inspection I think it is a shelf cloud. Roll clouds are different from Shelf clouds in that roll clouds are detached from the parent thunderstorm. Here's an example of a roll cloud, notice how it is detached from the parent t-storm cloud above.
Both roll & shelf clouds are associated with gust fronts or rain cooled air that rushes out ahead of a line of thunderstorms, acts like a mini cold front. There was one yesterday that dropped nearby Warrensburg and Sedalia into the 60s.
Looking at this first picture, I thought the cloud appeared detached but this next photo below leads me to believe this is a shelf cloud, which are formed when colder air aloft in the cloud is forced down by heavy rain. Donna says it rained hard after this passed.
Shelf clouds also have more of a semi-circle shape, like this one. Roll clouds sometimes look like a tornado lying on its side.
Great work Donna, great pictures!
Brett
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Happy Friday,
Contrary to my report last Friday, it appears the fishing is still good you just have to know where to go. All area and regional lakes are reporting water temps in the low to mid 80s. From my past experience that usually means the fishing slows down, (or maybe I should give up fishing and go back to golf), at any rate here's what blogger A dogg had to say about the fishing after reading last week's entry.
"I have been doing excellent!! Yesterday, I caught a 4 pound bass and 3 bass around 2 pounds. Saturday was one of my best fishing days of the year! I caught 18 bass, only 1 of them was not over a pound, 5 of them were over 3 pounds and 1 was 6 pounds. This is in a public lake at that! It is kind of a secret that there are so many big bass in this lake."
At his request, I can't share the location. Kind of like my neighbor John who fishes a farm pond around Cameron Missouri. Last Sunday, he says, the largemouth bass were hitting his spinner lures in the heat of the afternoon. Remember last Sunday, it was close to 100.
I asked, You answered
I've received a couple of good pictures of some large fish recently. Here's 10-year old Logan from Smithville, who caught this mammoth Drum Fish in Gulf of Mexico back in March.
Nice Fish. Next up, check out Paul & his daughter Laura Scharringhausen. They caught these muskies at Lake Pomme De Terre. Larry's fish was 42 inches & Laura's was 37" 
Unfortunately, high water levels and dingy water, Larry says, has resulted in some slow fishing. Good luck, finding those hot spots.
Have a great weekend,
Brett
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Good morning,
Hurricane Dolly slammed ashore on Wednesday with 100 mile per hour winds. It seems one of the hardest hit places was South Padre Island and nearby communities. There are reports of roofs ripped off homes and hotels. There was one injury when a 17-year old boy fell from the 7th floor from a 7th story balcony. He broke his hip and hurt his leg and head and couldn't be transported off the island until the causeway reopened last night. Here is a picture that I had forwarded to me from South Padre Island. It was taken around 9:00am Wednesday morning by Christine Corbett who owns a realty business on the island. Her home is on the bayside of the island. She estimates the winds to be around 90 mph when she took the picture.
If you look at the top of the palm trees you can really see the winds' effects. Thousands lost power as the island got hit harder than anyone really expected. That's why a lot of folks, including vacationers chose to stick it out. I would have been one of them. Not that I root for bad storms, but my weather curiosity makes me want to experience it first hand. How about you? What's the worst weather event you have ever experienced first hand?
Have a great day,
Brett
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Good morning, Check out this cool high res picture of Hurricane Dolly. A NASA satellite took the snapshot early on Wednesday.
Dolly was moving to the northwest early Wednesday, battering South Padre Island with 50-60 mile per hour winds with stronger winds expected later today.
Here is an official press release from the SPI EMA.
Press Release received from SPI Emergency Management Team - July 21, 2008 (11 a.m.)
Monitor www.spiemergency.com for further updates
Tropical Storm Dolly is expected to make landfall near or just south of Brownsville as a strong Category 1 Hurricane late Wednesday morning to mid-afternoon. South Padre Island remains under a hurricane warning.
South Padre Island is forecasted to have tropical storm force winds between 8-10 p.m. tonight with up to 90 mph winds by late Wednesday morning to early afternoon.
Heavy rains will be widespread for the area with 8-10 inches of rain forecasted for the storm’s duration. Some areas may see as much as 20 inches of rain. Storm surge of 3-5 feet is also expected once storm makes landfall.
The Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge remains open. The decision to close the bridge due to increased winds will be made by the Texas Department of Transportation. It is likely the bridge will close at 45 mph sustained winds.
“The Island community is urged to complete any necessary business on the Island as early as possible,” Mayor Robert N. Pinkerton Jr. said. “We encourage people to be on one side of the bridge by 6 p.m. today. We also urge the community to remain indoors after sundown today.”
As the beach narrows on the north end of the Town of South Padre Island, first-floor residents are cautioned to watch for potential flooding.
Cameron County officials issued a mandatory relocation of high-profile vehicles in the Laguna Madre area by 5 p.m. today.
Mayor Pinkerton declared a local state of disaster Monday, implementing the Town’s Emergency Management Plan. The state of disaster shall continue for a period of not more than seven days of the date hereof, unless the same is continued by consent of the Aldermen of the Town of South Padre Island.
“Increased winds are concern, and the community is encouraged to bring items susceptible to flight, indoors,” Pinkerton said. “Anyone feeling uncomfortable with the expected storm is encouraged to relocate.”
The South Padre Island Fire Department continues to issue hurricane re-entry stickers for those returning to the Island after a major storm event. Stickers may be obtained at the fire department located behind City Hall at 4501 Padre Blvd. Stickers will no longer be distributed after 5 p.m. today.
Of course, South Padre Island is a very popular vacation & Spring Break destination. Speaking of vacations, check out this picture Chris Way of Lee's Summit took while travelling on vacation through Western Nebraska on his way to Wyoming.
Here's how Chris describes what he saw.
I have seen numerous funnels, lowerings and wall clouds but never an actual tornado. We shot some pictures from the car until we found a safe place to pull off and get out to shoot some more. I would estimate we were no more than 5 miles NW of the tornado and watched it on the ground for at least ten minutes as it spun through pastures. The nearest town was Chappell Nebraska.
Have a great day,
Brett
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Happy Friday,
Summer is starting to really settle in now and typically this time of the year the fish starting heading to deeper, cooler water. I did find one local hot spot, Leavenworth State fishing lake seems to be a place where the large mouth bass are still biting. The bluegill are active feeding on worms dangling at the end of bobbers. The Lake of the Ozarks is apparently a good place for night fishing, for all kinds of fish. Crappie are hitting a little bit around the docks.
I don't have a fish picture this week, but I do have this awesome weather pic from Ben & Claire Griswold.
They took this picture while on a sailing vacation in the Mayan Riviera. One night they were docked at a small island about 20 minutes north of Cancun. They were watching the sun set behind some big thunderheads when they saw what they describe as "rainbow clouds" Local fisherman say they see this every five years or so. What did Ben & Claire see? Well likely the thunderstorms were reaching thousands of feet into the atmosphere, up to a level where the winds were blowing relatively strong. I think what they saw were cirrus clouds or ice crystals being blown off the top of the thunderstorm with the sun hitting it at just the right angle to give the clouds a rainbow appearance.
Ben & Claire, great picture! Glad to see you had a memorable vacation.
Have a great weekend,
Brett
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Good morning,
Last week I showed you a satellite shot of the waters off the coast of China. Remember it was covered in Algae, well today Chinese officials say the site of the Olympic sailing competition is clear of the bright-green algae. The Chinese government set today as the goal to clear the sailing site. The sea blanketing algae bloom which officials blamed on natural causes, had disrupted practice for the more than 30 Olympic sailing teams already on site. Over the last couple weeks, thousands of volunteers, including soldiers and fishing boats helped remove the algae.
Now onto Bertha,
Here is the latest of satellite image of what is now Tropical Storm Bertha. Maximum sustained winds are near 75 miles an hour. Notice the bright, almost white, shaded area on the tropical storm's right side. Those are not high clouds, but rather something called sun-glint. It is just what you think it is, the sea water is reflecting the bright sunshine back at the satellite and causing a lot of glare. "Bertha" is moving north-northeast now and away from Bermuda. It could strengthen again today into a hurricane. The tropics are starting to heat up so more active tropical weather is beginning to happen.
Have a great day,
Brett
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Happy Friday,
It is Friday and time for the fishing forecast, but before we do that I have a favor. If you have a picture of you, your kids, your parents, grandparents catching a fish e-mail it to us. There are lots of e-mail addresses you can send it to. anthony@nbcactionnews.com, midday@nbcactionnews.com, weather@nbcactionnews.com. Any of those I will get the picture.
Okay, on to this weekend, long time & loyal weather blogger John Moon III from Clinton reports Truman Lake is especially high this Summer but that means the fishing is GREAT! There are lots of areas where the water is providing great hiding places for the fish, especially near the trees and overthanging branches, around flooded vegetation.
The Missouri Department of Conservation reports Truman Lake's water temperature at 79 degrees and of course its dingy but that means, the black, white & hybrid bass are biting and the Crappie fishing isn't bad either. Top water lures and even spoons are looking good to a few lunkers.
Otherwise, I was down at Lake Pomme De Terre last weekend. Didn't get a chance to fish, but the lake is high and there are lots of great spots, especially back in the coves. A lot of people were fishing the Pomme De Terre River down below the Dam near the campground. I hear the bluegill & catfish are biting, but not much else. Its summer.
While checking out the Kansas Department of Wildlife website, I noticed some pretty good fishing at Banner Creek Resevoir, that's a mile and a half west of Holton, Kansas in Jackson county. Here is a link, http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing/fishing_reports/region_2 Just scroll down until you get to Banner creek.
Good luck this weekend,
Brett
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In less than a month, Beijing hosts the 2008 Summer Olympics which you can watch right here on NBC Action News. In the city of Qingdong, roughly 340 miles to the southeast, there is trouble in the coastal waters where the games’ sailing competitions will take place. Chinese officials and residents are struggling with a stubborn adversary: algae.
Below is an image from June 28, 2008, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured these images of Qingdong and the bay of Jiaozhou Wan. The top image is a natural-color image similar to what a digital camera would photograph. The bottom image is a false-color image made from a combination of light visible to human eyes and infrared light our eyes cannot see. In this image, vegetation appears vibrant green, including the strips of algae floating in the bay and in the nearby coastal waters.
These images show the bay at the beginning of a local cleanup effort. Sailing events are scheduled to begin on August 9th, Chinese officials want the algae cleaned up by July 15th. A spokesman for the Qingdao Sailing Committee said the project should be finished today, July 10th. The cleanup effort included 20,000 people and 1,000 boats.
Why the larger than normal algal blooms? Opinions differ, some people blame increased rainfall and unusually warm waters in the Yellow Sea. Others blame wastewater, and industrial and agricultural pollution for providing excess nutrients on which the algae could thrive. Regardless of the cause, many locals agreed that the algae bloom was the worst they have ever seen. Don't forget, the Olympics begin August 8th, the same day we reveal our new set.
Have a great day,
Brett
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Good morning,
While we wait on a rainy afternoon to arrive, hurricane Bertha continues now to weaken in the open waters of the Atlantic. Here is a great high resolution satellite shot of Bertha taken by a NASA satellite on Monday. Bertha quickly grew into a Category 3 hurricane as this picture was taken.
Bertha, this morning, weakened to a category 2 hurricane with top winds at 104 miles an hour and higher wind gusts. It is still 1000 miles southeast of Bermuda and slowly moving northwest. Our in-house computer model indicates "Bertha" will turn northward and weaken as it moves into the cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It should miss Bermuda before falling apart.
Have a great day,
Brett
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Happy 4th of July,
Since high gas prices are keeping most of us closer to home this holiday weekend let's focus on a couple of nearby lakes. It looks as if James A. Reed Lake is a good spot this weekend. The Missouri Department of Conservation's weekly fishing report says the largemouth bass & sunfish are good.
Staying close to home in northeast Kansas it looks like, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, Atchison State Fishing Lake is one of the hot spots.
ATCHISON STATE FISHING LAKE - Last Updated: 7/3/2008
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Species |
Rating |
Size |
Baits, Method, & Location |
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Black Crappie |
Fair |
Up to 1.0 lbs. |
Fish around the brushpiles with jigs and minnows off the ends of piers. |
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Bluegill |
Good |
Up to .5 lbs. |
Fish those brushpiles with a small jig or meal worm, work those beds with a small spinner, are done spawning. |
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Channel Catfish |
Fair/Good |
up to 3 lbs. |
Shad side lake wide, fish feeders are in and feeding sinking feed. Feeders are feeding at 7:30, 8, noon, 7 and 7:30 pm. Fish the west end when the water is running in. |
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Largemouth Bass |
Good |
Up to 4 lbs. |
Spinners worked slow around the piers, a little top water around the brushpiles in the mornings or evenings. |
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General Comments |
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Water is turning a pretty green! New Electrofishing pictures , check out the fish by clicking on Atchison State Fishing Lake . We electrofished a couple weeks ago, even saw a few smallmouth bass! Stocked the potential State Record smallmouth bass along with 3,300 other fish today, check out the picture! Stocked 1,000 channel catfish a couple of weeks ago, some keepers. Click on the fish species and it will take you to the Fishing Forecast Data. |
WYANDOTTE COUNTY LAKE - Last Updated: 7/3/2008
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Species |
Rating |
Size |
Baits, Method, & Location |
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Black Crappie |
Fair |
Up to 12 inches |
Fishing jigs for fish suspending over breaks in 15 to 20 ft. of water. |
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Bluegill |
Fair |
Up to 8 inches |
Small baits such as mealworms, jigs, and sinking flys or nymphs around rocks and laydown trees. |
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Channel Catfish |
Good |
Up to 4 lb. |
Cutbait and prepared baits over shallow flats and points in the morning and evening. |
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Largemouth Bass |
Fair/Good |
Up to 3 lb. |
Spinnerbaits and plastics along shoreline vegetation and crankbaits or plastics over points. |
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Wiper |
Fair |
Up to 19 inches |
Casting small spoons or floating crankbaits into surfacing schools. |
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Walleye |
Fair |
Up to 2 lb. |
Jig and worm combo over mainlake points. |
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General Comments |
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Effective January 1, 2007, a Wyandotte County fishing permit is required. For more information on permit requirements and availability contact Unified Governement of Wyandotte County Kansas City, KS Parks and Recreation at (913)-596-7077.
Attention: Wipers were stocked during June 2006. An 18 inch minimum length limit and 2/day creel limit is in effect for wipers. Be sure to check the toothpatches located on the fishs' "tongue" to distinguish wipers from white bass. For more information relative to wiper identification consult page 17 of the 2006 KDWP Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary or log on to http://kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing/fish_id_gallery and click on the "Fish I.D. Poster-Temperate Bass Family" link. |
Have a Happy & Safe 4th of July,
Brett
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Good morning,
Wildfires continue to spread over northern California and now as we can see from this satellite image below more are igniting over southern California.
This picture was taken from NASA's aqua satellite as it passed over southern California on Monday. The areas outlined in red are where the sensors detected actively burning fires. You can see the smoke spreading north up the coast. The two fires seen in this image are among the largest of all the fires burning within the state. The Indians Fire is said to be 81-thousand acres, while the Basin complex fire is nearly 40-thousand acres and burning mostly out of control.
Rain would most definitely help the situation but as you can see from this morning's GFS rainfall forecast for the rest of this week, all of California is rain free. That's why you will hear on the news that it could take months to get all the fires under control.
The GFS, however paints a very wet scenario here Wednesday night & Thursday. Just look at the bullseye in the middle of the map, That's KC and that's about two inches of rain. I don't know if that will happen yet, there is a chance for the heaviest rains to be isolated and for some of us to miss out on a good rain.
Have a great day,
Brett
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How's that for a Big fish, Its a 70 pound flathead catfish caught in the Wakarusa River. The photo is courtesy of the Kansas Department of Wildlife & parks. Or this one, Jake Allman caught this one May 28th, on the Platte River. Allman is a Fisheries Management Biologist with the Department of Conservation, he was sampling catfish when he caught this blue catfish that was 57 inches long and weighed a whopping 91.4 pounds.
Happy Friday, The weekend is upon us, time to pick up the poll and wet a line. It may be tough fishing, especially over northern Missouri where almost 10 inches of rain fell in some places this week alone. High water can be dangerous, so take it easy and use common sense if you are fishing rivers or streams that are running high. One place it seems where the waters are too high is Smithville. Smithville Lake may offer up some of the best fishing this weekend, here's the report from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Smithville: 73 degrees, normal, dingy; largemouth bass fair using Brush Hawgs, crankbaits and other plastic lures along weedbeds; walleye fair off shallow water points on the main lake using shallow crankbaits and nightcrawlers; white bass good using spoons and Rattle Traps off of humps; catfish good on nightcrawlers; crappie fishing is slow, but better on the north end of the lake; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species good.
Jake Allman says Smithville Lake is only two and a half feet high, and rarely gets over 4 feet high so it will be a good place to fish this weekend.
On the Kansas side, some waterways west and southwest of Kansas City may be muddy. Nearly two inches of rain fell overnight into Friday and more is on the way for Friday night.
Here's what the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks has to say about this weekend's fishing prospects. It is a direct link to its site. http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/fishing/fishing_forecast
Good Luck & Happy Fishing,
Brett
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Greetings bloggers, Its been a couple weeks since I've put anything together on this blog. We took a family vacation to California, no not Wally-world, and we didn't drive the family truck-ster. We flew, bought our airline tickets at the begnning of the year before all the fare increases and add-ons for 2nd pieces of luggage. (They charge you to check carseats) We saw some snow on our way out there, here's the view from 35-thousand feet as we flew over the Rockies in southern Colorado.
The snow is probably around 10 or 11-thousand feet elevation. Once we got to California, we landed in L-A. The temperature was 88 degrees. Our cousins, Bill & Susie Buchko picked us up at L-A-X and we went to their house in Riverside. It is inland and southern California last week was dominated by a huge & hot ridge of high pressure. The temperature at their house all week, 105 to 110 degrees. Even nearby Anaheim and Disneyland were in the upper 90s. There was hardly a cloud a sky which means we hit the sun tan lotion hard, I mean look at my kids they have skin that burns with minimum exposure.
I think Aaron is doing his best Pirates of the Carribean impression. If you don't like the heat in SoCal, head to the beach. We went to Oceanside, where it was 77 with a light wind, about as perfect weather as you can get.
Perfect for a little surfing, We think Seth will one day move to Cali as he seems to fit in.
Its the first time I've been to California, for me I was amazed at the different climates, say over 50 miles. From 105 inland to 77 at the shore. The hot, dry weather is not helping folks out there this week as they are dealing with numerous wildfires. Hopefully, they can get some rain minus the lightning, which often sparks new wildfires.
Have a great day. I'll have the fishing forecast in the blog entry tomorrow. Brett
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Happy Father's Day weekend everyone,
Weatherwise it should be a great weekend to take Dad fishing. We've had a lot of rain around here the first half of this month. Rivers, streams & Lakes continue to run high but this weekend as you look at the map below, it looks like a chance to dry out.
Heat & humidity should take a break Saturday morning, clouds today may have some of the bigger fish coming up from the deeper waters. I think the fish will be biting tomorrow morning. By late Saturday, heat & humidity start to make a return. Here's a look at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Fishing report for KC area waterways.
ames A. Reed Area: 79 degrees, high, dingy; largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish good; channel catfish fair; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
Montrose: 72 degrees, high, muddy; catfish good; all other species slow; light fishing pressure. (Report made on 6/12/2008)
Schell-Osage (Atkinson Lake): 74 degrees, high, muddy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
Schell-Osage (Schell Lake): 74 degrees, high, muddy; catfish and crappie good; all other species fair. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
Smithville: 69 degrees, high, dingy; white bass good using Pepper spoons, jigs and minnows along main lake humps along the dam and Trimble Dam; catfish fair using shad sides and nightcrawlers in back of coves; walleye fair using minnows, leeches and nightcrawlers on the bottom around flats; largemouth bass fair using spinnerbaits and jigs off secondary points; crappie fair using minnows and jigs in the back of coves or around the riprap; Smithville Lake Spillway: all species good. (Report made on 6/12/2008)
Truman: 76 degrees, high, muddy; catfish fair on live baits; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
Truman Tailwaters: 72 degrees, dingy; crappie fair on jigs and minnows; catfish fair on live baits; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
RIVERS
Missouri River: high, muddy; all species slow. (Report made on 6/11/2008)
On the Kansas side of things, here are the reports I have been able to gather. I found this on the website. www.kansasangler.com This report is Shawnee Mission Park Lake in Lenexa.
6/6/2008
|
Species |
Rating |
Size |
Baits, Method, & Location |
| Bluegill |
Good |
Up to 8 inches |
Small baits such as mealworms, jigs, or sinking flys and nymphs around structure. |
| Channel Catfish |
Fair/Good |
Up to 10 lbs. |
Worms off the bottom at the upper ends of the lake and coves. |
| Crappie |
Slow |
Up to 13 inches |
A few have been caught on jigs off the courtesy dock. |
| Wiper |
Fair |
Up to 9 lbs. |
Crankbaits or minnows along the dam or off mainlake points. |
| Largemouth Bass |
Slow |
Up to 4 lbs. |
Swimbaits, plastics, or spinnerbaits around laydown trees and brushpiles. |
|
General Comments |
| Shawnee Mission Park Lake is a 121 acre impoundment located in Shawnee, KS. Shawnee Mission Park Pond, an approximately 1 acre impoundment is located within the same park. In addition to a state fishing licence, a Johnson County fishing permit is required. Johnson County fishing permits are available through Johnson County Parks and Recreation District and other select vendors. |
Ok. Have a great weekend, good luck & Happy Father's Day.
Brett
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