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Marion Reservoir Fishing Report

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

The Flint Hills' walleye bowl: a windswept Kansas Corps lake where the hedge rows drowned and the gold learned to ride the mud lines.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
75 / 78 F
Wind
S 16 mph

Sources: 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.

Marion Reservoir is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 16 mph, falling pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 78. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:05 AM-12:05 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

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.

Northern pikeExcellent

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassGood

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieGood

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 80 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

Chasing walleye 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.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp75 F
High / Low78 / 55 F
WindS 16-25 mph
Pressure1016.7 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain43% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:45 / 18:39
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 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 Marion Reservoir this week

Today is the pick of the week on Marion Reservoir, at 4 out of 5.

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

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

Solunar majors
10:05 AM-12:05 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM
Minor period
4:28 AM-5:28 AM
Sun
07:45 to 18:39
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 19 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Marion Reservoir 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
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 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 Marion Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Walleye led the card at good. High of 80 F, wind to 13 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 78 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 74 F, wind to 13 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 license. Walleye 15-inch/5; wiper 2 over 18: check KDWP.

Access

Cottonwood Point, Hillsboro Cove, Marion Cove Corps ramps.

About this water

6,200 acres on the Cottonwood River, Marion County, KS. The Flint Hills walleye bowl.

Fishing Marion Reservoir: the full guide

Flint Hills water

Marion pools the Cottonwood River at the Flint Hills' edge: 6,200 stained Corps acres of drowned hedgerows and windward mud lines. The walleye program anchors it: with wipers, crappie in the trees and channel cats as the supporting Kansas cast.

Wind-line gold

The walleye ride the wind here more than most: mud lines off the points stack bait and the gold follows: jigs at ice-out on the riprap, bottom-bouncers across the flats in June, and cranks trolled the windward edges all summer. The hedge rows (visible on sonar as perfect lines) hold the schools between blows.

Trees, wipers and the rest

The drowned hedges make crappie structure by the mile (spider rigs in spring, vertical jigs at the winter stack), wipers crash shad mid-lake under birds, and the cats drift-fish everywhere: a Kansas Corps lake's full menu without Milford's traffic.

Prairie practicalities

Corps parks ramp all corners (Cottonwood Point the flagship): the Flint Hills wind is a schedule, not a surprise (fish the lee, love the mud lines): and Marion's modest fame keeps weekdays close to private. The county's hedgerow-Kansas scenery is the quiet bonus.

Common questions

Why fish Marion over Milford?

Solitude and hedgerows: the drowned tree lines pattern fish beautifully and the pressure stays county-scale. The walleye average trades nothing.

Where do Marion walleye hold?

On the wind: mud lines off the windward points and the hedge rows at 8-15 ft. Calm days push them to the channel edges: the bouncer bite covers both.

When do Marion's wipers school?

June-September under working birds mid-lake: shad sprays give them away and slabs convert. The dam face at dawn holds the summer's most reliable topwater window.

Is fishing good at Marion Reservoir 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

Cottonwood River29 miEl Dorado Lake40 miKanopolis Lake52 miMilford Lake57 miMelvern Lake74 miPomona Lake84 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.3830, -97.0830 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.