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Cottonwood River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Cottonwood River: a Flint Hills river where most banks are private and fishing access starts with permission.

Private riverbed. Kansas treats the bed of the Cottonwood as private: only the Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas rivers are public. Fish it from public access sites or with the landowner’s permission. Source, read October 8, 2026.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
302 cfs
Air / High
81 / 81 F
Wind
S 18 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 07182250, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Cottonwood River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 302 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 18 mph, falling pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 81. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:31 PM-12:31 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Smallmouth bassExcellent

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

WalleyeExcellent

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

MuskellungeExcellent

This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

Catfish (blue, channel)Excellent

In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Kansas requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $27.50 for residents. What a Kansas licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing smallmouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with KDWP before you keep anything. The season dates for Kansas, read off the agency, are on the Kansas seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Cottonwood River near Plymouth.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 07182250.

1,5814,2876,993302 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 63 years of October 23

At 302 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 07182250 (Cottonwood River near Plymouth) is at the 76th percentile for the date: above normal. In half of the 63 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 129 cfs; the highest was 1,990 cfs and the lowest 7 cfs.

p10 26median 129p90 697

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 07182250; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp81 F
High / Low81 / 54 F
WindS 18-22 mph
Pressure1016.0 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain35% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:43 / 18:37
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~62 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Cottonwood River this week

Today is the pick of the week on Cottonwood River, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:31 PM-12:31 AM
Minor period
4:25 AM-5:25 AM
Sun
07:43 to 18:37
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 17 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Cottonwood River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Muskellunge illustration

Muskellunge

Fished from late spring into late fall where seasons allow

Muskellunge are solitary, fish-eating ambush predators of the pike family, holding in weed beds and other cover in lakes and rivers of the Great Lakes, upper Mississippi and Ohio basins. This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

When to come: the Cottonwood River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Smallmouth bass
Walleye
Muskellunge
Catfish (blue, channel)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Cottonwood River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 12 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Kansas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Kansas fishing license. No special regulation for the Cottonwood was found; read KDWP's current fishing regulations summary for statewide creel and length limits before keeping fish.

Access

Most of the river runs through private land: get landowner permission, or fish reaches that KDWP lists as public or enrolled in F.I.S.H. (March-October, sunrise to half an hour after sunset).

About this water

The Cottonwood River at Cottonwood Falls, Chase County, Kansas, in the Flint Hills.

Fishing Cottonwood River: the full guide

Private banks, public rules

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) says most of the state's more than 10,000 miles of streams are privately owned; only the Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas rivers are navigable and open to the public. The Cottonwood is not one of them, so anglers need landowner permission unless a reach is in public ownership or leased by KDWP through its F.I.S.H. program. F.I.S.H. leases run March through October and allow fishing only from sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Finding legal water

KDWP points anglers to its Fishing Atlas and to conversations with landowners as the way to open up stream fishing.

The Plymouth gauge

Flow on this page comes from USGS gauge 07182250, Cottonwood River near Plymouth, in Lyon County downstream of Cottonwood Falls.

Common questions

Can I fish from any bank or bridge?

No. KDWP says Kansas streams other than the Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas rivers are privately owned, so you need the landowner's permission unless the reach is public or enrolled in F.I.S.H.

Where does the flow reading come from?

From USGS gauge 07182250 near Plymouth, downstream of Cottonwood Falls in Lyon County.

Is fishing good at Cottonwood River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Marion Reservoir29 miEl Dorado Lake40 miMelvern Lake46 miPomona Lake56 miMilford Lake61 miClinton Lake72 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 07182250 — Cottonwood River near Plymouth
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.3800, -96.5500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.