STATE OF KANSAS
Laura Kelly, Governor
David Toland, Lt. Governor
KDWP COMMISSION
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Phil Escareno
Delia Lister
Emerick Cross
Troy Sporer
Lauren Queal Sill
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Wildlife & Parks
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Stuart Schrag, Assistant Secretary
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VACANT, Public Lands Director
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Wildlife Parks Magazine
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FRONT COVER Two kayakers enjoy calm waters. Adobe Photo 438325606.
INSIDE COVER A great blue heron scratches an itch. Bob Cress Photo.
Editorial Creed: To promote the conservation and wise use of our natural resources, to instill an understanding of our responsibilities to the land.
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FOR CHANNEL CATS
by Brent Frazee, Outdoor Writeromewhere, an angler was sitting on a bucket at the edge of a farm pond, waiting for a big channel catfish to rattle one of die rods resting in a holder.
But Bill Hartman wasn't one of
tug of war went on for almost 20 minutes before the fish flipped its tail, headed straight under the dock and wrapped the fly line around a post.
And Hartman gained another fly angler's fish story about the big one that got away.
He was an
them. taking unconventional approach to getting one of the whiskered fish to hit.
He stood on a dock extending over a Flint Hills pond, using a flyrod to whip a wet fly to the calm waters below.
"I'm using an Atlantic salmon fly that I used when I was in Ireland," said Hartman, who lives in Emporia. "It worked great for the salmon, but on a whim, I started using it for channel cats here in Kansas, and it works here, too.
"It's crazy. I've been catching some chaimels up to 15 pounds."
Just as Hartman started to lift the wet fly out of the water for another cast, he felt the aggressive strike of a big channel cat.
And the fight was on.
He had already landed several channel catfish in the 7- to 10-pound range, but he was convinced this one was bigger.
"There are some 20-pound channels in here," Hartman said. "When you fight one on a flyrod, everything has to go just right."
And this time, it didn't. But Hartman wasn't too distressed.
Fishing in the Kansas Flint Hills, he knows he has many chances to land one of those brutes.
Channel catfish are king in these private farm ponds, and Hartman has permission to fish multiple bodies of water.
On any day of the week, you might see him in his belly boat, using his flippers to maneuver to get off a cast.
"This is what I love about fishing in Kansas," he said. "Look at this. We're out on this beautiful lake and there isn't another person around.
The heavyweight channel dug for deeper water, and Hartman held on. The powerful catfish would gain a little, then Hartman would regain the advantage. That It's just us and the fish.
Hartman is often targeting big bluegills, bass or crappie. But when he or his guide clients are searching for a big bite, he goes for channel catfish. He uses a 6-weight flyrod and nothing lighter than 3X tippet. That's comparable to using 8- to 10-pound test line, Hartman said.
That's enough to handle medium-size channel cats. If he's targeting something bigger, he'll go to a IX tippet.
"That's pretty heavy line, but I'm going for some powerful fish," he said. "Once they hit, they'll head for the nearest cover they can find to try to break
"The purists stick up their nose at jigs," Hartman said. "They don't consider jigs to be flies. But I do. "They'll catch everything that swims in these Flint Hills ponds, including Kansas redfish—carp," he said with a laugh.
Ninety percent of the fish Hartman and clients catch are on nymphs, he said.
"Everyone gets excited about fishing on top with dry flies," he said. "Especially with channel cats, they're going to hit a wet fly, something that sinks." Hartman almost always fishes out of a belly boat, a self-propelled inflatable that has a backrest, zippered compartments for his small tackle trays filled with flies and even cup holders.
off. CO
The first thing I do when I get a big one on is go backward toward deeper water. You get them to the middle of that pond, and the fight is on.
"You're busy for 15, 20 minutes until you can wear them down."
Hartman started by using those Atlantic salmon flies, but switched when he found that other flies worked just as well.
"Those flies made in Ireland got hard to find and they were expensive," he said. "And to be honest, Tm not sure they are much better than a black or brown woolly bugger."
LeiAuJidy/ way^ / dmy't any otke/v way.
"I don't fish any other way."
Hartman, 73, has been fly fishing for a long time. How long? He still laughs about the days when he started fishing Kansas farm ponds with his flyrod.
36 I Wildlife ^ Parks
“Not many people fished that way in Kansas in those days. Everyone thought of it as something you would do out West to catch trout.
“When I started catching tons of big bluegill that way, people were just amazed."
For Hartman, the seed was planted in his youth.
He remembers the old bamboo flyrod his dad had hanging on the wall.
“My dad was a big outdoorsman, but he didn't use that flyrod much," Hartman recalled. "I remember taking it down one day and just experimenting with it.
“It was a challenge at first. The equipment wasn't as refined as it is today. And there wasn't anywhere to learn. There were no YouTube videos or local experts to learn from.
“I had to learn on my own."
Hartman's big regret? He never got the chance to show his father how much fun fly fishing in Kansas could be.
“My dad died when I was 18," Hartman said. “We did a lot of things outdoors, but we never got to fly fish."
The more Hartman fished with a flyrod, the better he got. He eventually set up a guide service. Fly Fish Kansas, and helped others discover the joy of fishing in warm water.
He later taught a credit course on fly fishing at Emporia State University, where he was an administrator before retiring.
He takes pride in all the people he has turned into fly anglers.
“I've had people come up to me and say, 'You probably don't remember me, but I took one of your classes at Emporia State. I just wanted you to know that I'm still flyfishing," he said.
So is Hartman. It has been decades since he picked up a spinning rod, he said.
He has scaled back his guiding, but he still takes a few long-time customers out.
When a novice wants to fish for a big channel cat, he often heads to a body of water with fish feeders that broadcast pellet food into the water at specified times.
For others who want more of a challenge, he will head to private ponds that he knows have a good population of catfish.
While fly fishing for catfish isn't well-known in Kansas, it has gained moderate popularity elsewhere.
Fly anglers use flies to imitate nymphs, crayfish, leeches, and even mulberries when in search of channel catfish.
Hartman will experiment with different styles and colors depending on weather and water condition.
His favorite colors are black, brown and purple. The rocky banks along pond dams are among his favorite places to fish because of their proximity to deep holes.
But even when he has to search, he is at peace. “I don't have a lot of competition, the places 1 fish," he said. "Kansas has so many places like this, just hard to beat. -m It's