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Wiper Fishing – Fishing Lures

Recently, I missed out on what turned out to be one of the most memorable fishing trips that my two fishing buddies ever made. I could not join them due to conflicting schedules. I’m afraid I’ll be hearing about this for a long time to come.

They went to Milford Lake, a 16,000-acre reservoir near Junction City, Kansas, which is famous for its September and early October wiper fishing. A wiper is a cross between a white bass and a striped bass and they put up a fierce fight.

Image via Wikipedia

As the water cools to around 70-degrees, the bait-fish move to shallow water and the big game fish follow them.

They set out in their bass-fishing boat just before dusk. That’s when the wipers herd the shad to the surface and begin ripping into them and the top water action is unbelievable. They watched a flock of gulls in the distance suddenly began diving toward the water. They cranked up the motor and headed toward the action and by the time they got there they were being hit from two directions – from the big wipers below that were pushing the bait-fish to the surface and from the gulls that were swooping down for an easy meal.

They immediately launched long casts to the surface activity and worked their big top water fishing lures through the swirls. They used bass fishing lures, Chug Bugs and Zara Spooks which are wooden fishing lures and Plastic Swim Boats. These lures are so big they are often used for saltwater fishing. A couple of times the wipers hit the lures so hard that they sent them flying 3 feet into the air. When the lures landed, the wipers pounced again, this time getting the hooks.

Image via Wikipedia

After casting into those swirls, as the sun was setting, they caught 27 wipers ranging from 3 to 6 pounds. They both brought a couple home to eat and released the rest. They did not bring one home for me!

The word is getting out about the great fall wiper fishing at Milford Lake. When they’re hitting you will see are a lot of boats out there and everybody is catching fish. They both agreed that this was the most exciting (not their exact phraseology) fishing trip they can remember and keep reminding me of what I missed. They acknowledged that this great fishing will only last for a few more weeks, depending on the temperature.