The Best Fishing Spots in Kansas
Kansas offers productive recreational fishing across its many reservoirs, rivers and smaller ponds, with top targets including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and seasonal runs of white bass. Anglers also find plentiful crappie and bluegill for panfish action, while robust channel catfish and trophy-minded flathead catfish patrol deeper waters. Many larger reservoirs and tailwaters support walleye and sauger, and a number of tailwaters and urban lakes are stocked with trout in cooler months for winter fishing. Good boat ramps and extensive shoreline access make Kansas attractive for anglers using live bait, lures or fly gear.
Top Cities For Fishing
River Fishing
Top Freshwater Fishing Spots
Big Hill Lake
A clear, timbered gem in SE Kansas for quality largemouth bass, strong spring crappie, and good channel catfish; its bass scene is often compared to Melvern Lake while offering quieter coves than busier metro waters.
Cedar Bluff Reservoir
Western Kansas big water with rocky structure for walleye and smallmouth bass, plus seasonal white bass schools and solid crappie in coves; it pairs well with trips to Wilson Lake or Waconda Lake for multi-day tours.
Cheney Reservoir
A powerhouse for wiper and walleye action, with spring and fall shad migrations triggering surface feeds, steady channel catfish along flats, and bonus white bass; anglers often compare its open-water schooling bite with El Dorado Lake and Perry Lake .
Clinton Lake
A favorite for crappie and walleye, with spring crappie pushing shallow and summer walleye relating to points and humps; wind lanes gather white bass, and the lake complements nearby Perry Lake and Pomona Lake as a reliable multi-species destination.
El Dorado Lake
Rocky shorelines and riprap set the stage for quality walleye and smallmouth bass, with robust white bass and wiper schooling in open water; its mixed-bag appeal draws anglers who also target Cheney Reservoir and Marion Reservoir .
Hillsdale Lake
Close to the Kansas City metro, Hillsdale offers dependable largemouth bass in vegetation and timber, spring crappie in coves, and strong channel catfish through summer; it often fishes similarly to Perry Lake but with more bass-centric patterns.
John Redmond Reservoir
Turbid water and strong inflows create excellent catfish conditions, with dependable crappie around timber and seasonal white bass runs; many anglers pair it with nearby Melvern Lake or Pomona Lake to match water clarity and wind.
Kanopolis Lake
Scenic sandstone bluffs guard waters with solid walleye, active white bass, and dependable channel catfish; brush and creek arms hold crappie, making it a versatile stop alongside Wilson Lake and Marion Reservoir .
Kansas River
The Kaw offers urban and wild stretches for big flathead catfish, hefty blue catfish in lower reaches, seasonal sauger/saugeye near current seams, and strong channel catfish runs, with access and multi-species opportunity on par with the Arkansas River through Wichita.
La Cygne Lake
A warm-water power-plant lake renowned for winter and early-spring largemouth bass and blue catfish, plus strong white bass; its year-round bite often outperforms natural cooling lakes like Hillsdale Lake during cold snaps.
Marion Reservoir
Known for numbers of walleye, roaming white bass, and plentiful channel catfish, with brush-enhanced crappie action; anglers frequently alternate between here and El Dorado Lake to follow wind and water color.
Melvern Lake
Clearer water and rocky habitat produce standout smallmouth bass, along with consistent crappie and walleye; windy days ignite white bass on points, and its finesse-friendly patterns offer a contrast to stained-water options like Perry Lake .
Milford Lake
Kansas’s largest reservoir is famed for blue catfish, trophy walleye, and slab crappie; spring brings shoreline crappie action in coves, summer sees aggressive wipers and white bass on windblown points, and fall is prime for structure-oriented walleye, with action comparable to Wilson Lake and Tuttle Creek Lake .
Perry Lake
Consistent crappie production around standing timber and brush piles, solid channel catfish on flats, and seasonal wiper/white bass action on windblown shorelines make Perry a staple, drawing the same crowd that frequents Clinton Lake and Milvern Lake .
Pomona Lake
A reliable crappie factory with spring slabs in brushy coves, summer channel catfish on cut bait, and roaming white bass; anglers often rotate trips here with Clinton Lake and Melvern Lake for steady bites year-round.
Tuttle Creek Lake
Known for robust catfish populations (blue, channel, flathead), excellent crappie around timber and brush, and seasonal white bass blitzes on windy days, this reservoir fishes big like Milford Lake but with more stained water and strong current-driven patterns below the dam.
Waconda Lake
Also known as Glen Elder Reservoir, Waconda delivers quality walleye, roaming wipers, and big crappie on brush and breaklines; its western setting offers occasional winter opportunities and a big-water feel similar to Wilson Lake and Cedar Bluff Reservoir .
Webster Reservoir
A steady producer of walleye, white bass, and crappie, with classic point-and-cove structure and summer catfish on flats; often visited in the same swing as Cedar Bluff Reservoir and Waconda Lake .
Wilson Lake
Crystal-clear water and rocky habitat make this a premier smallmouth bass and walleye fishery, with summer topwater for white bass and wipers, and consistent crappie around brush; its quality rivals Milford Lake and outpaces many plains reservoirs for bronzebacks.