TOPEKA (KSNT) – Biologists with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) released a list of the top 10 locations to go fishing for Kansas’ most popular sports fish.

The KDWP recently released the 2023 Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary and Fishing Atlas, which goes over everything from how to purchase a license, new regulations for the year and some of the hottest spots to go fishing for your favorite species. The fish listed by the KDWP in the atlas’ fishing forecast include:

• Channel catfish
• Crappie
• Black Bass
• Wiper
• Walleye
• Saugeye

Each lake or reservoir listed by the KDWP includes categories for the density rating, preferred rating, lunker rating and biggest fish caught during sampling. Ratings are averages of all samples collected over the past three years.

• Density rating: the number of catchable-size fish captured per unit of sampling effort.
• Preferred rating: identifies the relative number of preferred-size fish in the samples.
• Lunker rating: represents sampling catch rate of memorable-size fish and serves as an index of trophy angling potential.

The breakdown for the species listed above can be found here:

Channel Catfish

Waterbody	Density rating (>16″)	Preferred rating (>24″)	Lunker rating (>28″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Lovewell	6.11	0.96	0.13	13.83
Hillsdale	5.81	0.22	0.06	10.62
Big Hill	5.47	0.63	0.03	8.60
Marion	5.36	0.20	0.02	5.48
Toronto	3.75	2.36	0.53	12.78
Kanopolis	3.70	0.48	0.00	6.54
Elk City	3.11	0.47	0.03	8.42
Wilson	2.76	0.48	0.03	10.11
Perry	2.54	0.65	0.14	12.70
Melvern	2.46	0.30	0.06	11.45
Plainville Lake	9.58	2.33	0.00	7.67
Chase SFL	9.50	0.75	0.00	7.71
Parsons City Lake	9.12	0.75	0.12	13.09
Garnett-Cedar Creek Lake	8.81	0.50	0.00	6.74
Woodson SFL	8.71	0.41	0.18	13.50
Neosho SFL	7.83	0.42	0.08	12.22
Eureka City Lake	7.62	2.12	0.50	19.44
Fort Scott-Gunn Park W. Pond #2	6.50	0.17	0.00	5.87
Mound City Lake	5.72	1.11	0.17	10.84
Lake Afton	5.56	0.11	0.06	8.28

Crappie

Waterbody	Density rating (>8″)	Preferred rating (>10″)	Lunker rating (>12″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Sebelius	31.33	16.70	1.97	1.64
Lovewell	28.14	9.12	0.90	2.50
Cedar Bluff	23.27	2.96	0.22	1.29
Melvern	22.73	10.07	1.34	1.61
Hillsdale	20.27	9.85	1.27	1.49
Marion	17.12	4.12	1.50	1.59
Perry	12.74	5.65	0.54	1.42
Kirwin	12.65	11.48	6.19	2.06
Elk City	9.96	2.90	1.02	2.40
Toronto	9.19	6.28	1.94	2.40
Kingman SFL	50.20	18.67	5.13	2.62
Scott SFL	43.70	26.80	1.15	1.53
Carbondale City Lake East	43.38	11.88	1.50	1.10
Eureka City Lake	39.83	9.17	1.92	1.56
Rooks State Lake	36.50	2.33	0.00	0.61
Sabetha City Lake	35.67	11.08	2.58	1.45
Plainville Lake	33.33	0.83	0.17	1.40
Ottawa SFL	33.00	3.94	0.72	2.03
McPherson SFL	32.17	10.17	1.72	1.65
Parsons City Lake	31.38	10.88	2.50	1.66

Black Bass

Waterbody	Density rating (>12″)	Preferred rating (>15″)	Lunker rating (>20″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Sebelius	222.20	76.19	1.03	5.24
Wilson	72.76	45.49	0.81	5.77
Webster	63.81	31.15	0.00	3.99
Lacygne	56.15	45.45	3.74	7.70
Kirwin	44.99	35.36	0.00	3.72
Big Hill	42.26	21.05	1.24	5.43
Glen Elder	26.76	14.59	0.12	5.38
Cedar Bluff	15.12	5.39	0.04	5.83
Milford	12.70	4.00	0.00	4.68
El Dorado	12.05	4.57	0.15	3.47
Butler SFL	149.70	77.91	5.28	7.03
Cowley SFL	146.74	62.42	1.59	4.66
Gridley City Lake	122.06	46.40	0.00	4.26
Wilson SFL	117.42	38.24	1.36	6.15
Lyon SFL	108.14	31.95	0.33	4.03
Alma City Lake	107.74	37.85	0.00	4.77
McPherson SFL	106.48	43.62	2.19	5.59
Garnett City Lake-North	104.62	36.55	0.68	4.91
Altamont City Lake-West	103.96	73.08	12.67	7.08
Garnett City Lake-South	103.75	36.65	0.23	5.26

Wiper

Waterbody	Density rating (>16″)	Preferred rating (>20″)	Lunker rating (>24″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Sebelius	9.63	2.37	0.03	15.17
Webster	9.44	1.33	0.19	10.88
Kirwin	8.25	0.61	0.06	7.99
Milford	5.23	1.73	0.07	7.85
Marion	4.31	1.49	0.00	5.38
Cheney	2.72	1.70	0.08	9.26
Cedar Bluff	2.19	1.56	0.18	13.10
El Dorado	2.13	1.49	0.00	5.92
Pomona	2.06	0.49	0.00	4.73
Lovewell	1.59	0.78	0.02	7.35
Herington City Lake-New	5.50	1.07	0.07	8.96
Sheridan SFL	3.70	0.00	0.00	2.85
Jeffrey Energy Center-Make Up Lake	3.22	1.33	0.06	8.06
Jeffrey Energy Center-Auziliary Lake	2.75	0.60	0.00	5.88
Coldwater Lake	2.50	2.50	0.00	8.04
Jetmore City Lake	2.50	0.00	0.00	2.95
Centralia City Lake	2.10	1.15	0.10	7.66
Marion County Lake	2.08	0.08	0.00	3.13
Kiowa SFL	1.43	0.57	0.14	7.42
Graham Co-Antelope Lake	1.18	0.64	0.09	7.26

Walleye

Waterbody	Density rating (>15″)	Preferred rating (>20″)	Lunker rating (>25″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Wilson	4.92	2.18	0.28	8.52
Kirwin	4.67	0.56	0.11	8.46
Marion	3.33	0.22	0.00	4.65
Cedar Bluff	2.88	0.50	0.01	7.93
Webster	2.75	0.83	0.14	6.60
El Dorado	2.69	1.11	0.13	7.94
Milford	2.67	0.23	0.02	6.17
Glen Elder	2.50	0.32	0.01	6.61
Cheney	1.38	0.89	0.13	7.54
Lovewell	1.35	0.54	0.02	8.16

Saugeye

Waterbody	Density rating (>14″)	Preferred rating (>18″)	Lunker rating (>22″)	Biggest fish (lbs)
Scott SFL	17.59	11.50	1.09	6.41
Graham Co-Antelope Lake	16.27	4.91	0.27	5.20
Bone Creek Lake	6.88	3.73	0.27	5.78
Parsons City Lake	4.75	2.38	0.00	3.91
Centralia City Lake	3.50	1.95	0.85	7.36
Carbondale City Lake-East	3.27	0.00	0.00	1.78
Wellington City Lake	3.25	2.88	1.00	7.67
Paola City Lake-Lake Miola	3.08	0.75	0.08	6.36
Geary SFL	2.31	1.31	0.15	6.96
Lake Olathe	2.22	1.72	0.61	5.15

You can also see the full version of the 2023 Kansas Fishing Forecast online by clicking here. To see the full 2023 Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary and Fishing Atlas, see the document below:

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