Milford is the biggest water in Kansas and its official fishing capital: wipers that school like freight trains, dependable walleye on the dam rocks, spring white bass runs up the Republican, and blue catfish that hit 60-plus pounds.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 15 Kansas waters we cover has a live read this morning. 15 are scoring 4 out of 5 or better, and none is slow. Water runs 55 F to 74 F. Pressure is falling on most of them, the trend our model scores highest. Wind touches 21 mph on the roughest of them.
Best right now: Cedar Bluff Reservoir 4/5, Clinton Lake 4/5, Cottonwood River 4/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
Kansas' biggest lake: 16,000 acres of Republican River water famous for wipers, walleye and springtime white bass.
Lawrence's walleye-and-crappie standby with a healthy dose of wiper.
Kansas City's crappie campus: a timber-rich Corps lake where brush-pile culture, walleye stockings and metro convenience meet.
The Osage cedar bank: clear-for-Kansas water with smallmouth on the riprap, crappie in planted forests and walleye off the points.
Kansas' crappie college: timber-lined Delaware River water where the state learns to spider-rig, plus white bass runs and heavyweight flatheads.
The Flint Hills' walleye bowl: a windswept Kansas Corps lake where the hedge rows drowned and the gold learned to ride the mud lines.
Pomona Reservoir: a 4,000-acre Corps of Engineers lake in Osage County, 30 miles south of Topeka, where KDWP reports walleye, catfish, white bass and wipers.
El Dorado Lake on the Walnut River: 8,000 acres of Corps of Engineers water at the edge of the Flint Hills, with walleye and wipers under a 21-inch minimum and a state park around much of the shore.
The Kansas City District's first reservoir: a Smoky Hill River lake in Ellsworth County where saugeye, white bass and channel catfish are the main targets.
Central Kansas striper water: Wilson Lake’s 9,000 acres on the Saline River hold stocked stripers, walleye, white bass and catfish.
A Bureau of Reclamation reservoir on the Smoky Hill River in western Kansas, managed for recreation by KDWP, with walleye, white bass, wipers, crappie and channel catfish.
Waconda Lake: Kansas’s big walleye water, where 12,000 acres of prairie reservoir grow fish and wind in equal measure.
Southeast Kansas' Neosho: catfish water fished from public access sites, since Kansas treats its bed as private.
The Cottonwood River: a Flint Hills river where most banks are private and fishing access starts with permission.
A southeast Kansas river: the Verdigris runs catfish, white bass and crappie past Independence and Coffeyville.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: March.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milford Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Clay | USGS | Apr |
| Clinton Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Douglas | USGS | Apr |
| Hillsdale Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Miami | modeled | Apr |
| Melvern Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Osage | modeled | Apr |
| Perry Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Jefferson | modeled | Apr |
| Marion Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Marion | modeled | Apr |
| Pomona Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Osage | USGS | Apr |
| El Dorado Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Butler | USGS | Apr |
| Kanopolis Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Ellsworth | USGS | Apr |
| Wilson Lake fishing report | Reservoir | Russell | USGS | Apr |
| Cedar Bluff Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Trego | USGS | Apr |
| Glen Elder Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Mitchell | USGS | Apr |
| Neosho River fishing report | River | Labette | USGS | Apr |
| Cottonwood River fishing report | River | Chase | USGS | May |
| Verdigris River fishing report | River | Montgomery | modeled | Mar |
Kansas fishing lives on its big Corps reservoirs: Milford's wipers and walleye, Glen Elder's crappie, El Dorado, Wilson's smallmouth in surprisingly clear water. The state supplements nature aggressively: stocked wipers grow fast on gizzard shad, walleye programs sustain harvest, and community lakes put fishing within reach of every town. Spring river runs (white bass up every tributary) are the prairie's annual festival.
April-May: white bass runs and walleye on the dam faces: the classic Kansas double. Summer: dawn wiper blitzes, then deep crankbaits and live bait rigs; catfishing takes over the nights. Fall: everything follows shad to the creeks. Winter: below-dam tailraces concentrate fish and the state's blue cat fisheries (Milford, Tuttle) produce their giants.
A white bass x striper hybrid: stocked, fast-growing and violent on the strike. Milford's program is the state benchmark: 8-12 lb fish that fight like double their weight.