Lots of anglers chase lots of fish during Wyandotte opener

Before the sun even came up Saturday, Maile Chavez, 10, knew it was going to be a very good day.

Fishing with her dad, Juan, on the opener at Wyandotte County Lake, Maile caught two channel catfish shortly after the season opened at 6 a.m.

All of this before dad even got a chance to get his bait in the water.

“She’s keeping me busy,” Juan said with a laugh. “I don’t know if I’m going to even get a chance to fish today.”

A short time later, Maile’s luck continued when she caught a six-pound channel cat, her biggest ever.

“The fish are biting today,” Maile said as her dad unhooked her fish and threaded it onto a stringer. “But we’ve caught limits on opening day before.

“Even when it’s a little cold like it is today, the catfish will bite.”

Her dad nodded in agreement.

“A lot of people come out here for the trout. But we’re hunting the cats,” Juan said. “Right now, these stocked fish are looking for something to eat. That’s why the fishing is so good early in the season.

“I’ll fish every day for the first 30 days of the season.”

Fishing with night crawlers from the Grassy Slope, Juan and Maile Chavez, Juan’s cousin Eric Corum, and friend Braden Abaramovitz, all from Kansas City, Kan., were working on a limit of five fish apiece by mid-morning Saturday.

Maile already had her five channel cats, and the others were getting close. Chavez’s fiancee, Amy Ross, had already caught her limit and had left.

“We had some good openers out here,” Juan said. “But this would have to be one of our best.”

Up and down the banks of Wyandotte, a 330-acre lake in Kansas City, Kan., others were offering similar fishing reports.

A large crowd showed up at the lake for the traditional opener. And they were greeted by a large crowd of fish.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County stocked 16,000 pounds of channel catfish and 11,000 pounds of rainbow trout in advance of the opener. Those fish were biting shortly after the gates swung open and a long line of vehicles streamed into the park.

Most of the fishermen were casting for the big rainbows that had been stocked. And the fish didn’t disappoint.

Jesus Avila of Kansas City, Kan., brought his three nephews —Juan Madrano, 13, Cuco Madrano, 10, and David Alvarado, 10 — to the opener. Before it was mid-morning, the boys were showing off a big stringer of trout they had caught on PowerBait.

“We had been looking forward to this for a long time,” Juan said. “We slept at our uncle’s house (Friday) night because we had to get up early. We were excited.

“We’re a little sleepy. but that’s OK. We caught fish.”

Lester “Duck” Warner, 68, of Kansas City, Kan., also was excited about taking part in Wyandotte’s opener. He has fished the urban lake since 1960, when he starting tagging along with his dad. More than 50 years later, he still looks forward to the first ay of the season.

“It’s more of a ritual than anything,” he said. “I’ve caught some big trout out here, and what makes it great is that I don’t have to go very far from home to fish here.

“To me, Wyandotte is just a very special place.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Lots of anglers chase lots of fish during Wyandotte opener."