Weekly area fishing report for July 6

Fishing reports provide general angling information from Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks staff and are normally updated on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Many factors determine angling success, and fishing conditions and individual fishing success may vary from the report.

Anglers are responsible for deciding what species to fish for, what methods to use, and where and when to fish. You can help fellow anglers by sharing successful fishing notes at http://www.facebook.com/kdwpt.

Geary State Fishing Lake

Crappie are fair and can be found near brush/rock drop-offs and channel ledges 10-feet deep on jigs, minnows, and spinners. Catfish are fair to good and are found near wind blown flats on cut bait and worms. The saugeye are fair and are found near dam and rock points on jigs, worms, and crankbaits. Black bass are fair to good and found near rock and brush on jigs and crankbaits while bluegill are fair and can be found with small jigs and worms in coves and near brush.

Milford Reservoir

The catfish are good. Channel cat can be caught on cut bait, worms, and stink bait while blue catfish are typically caught on fresh cut bait. Target wind blown flats and river channel ledges are the best places to find catfish. Note: per a new Blue Catfish regulation, all fish caught between 28 and 40 inches must be released. The creel limit is 10, but only 1 can be 40 inches or longer.

The crappie are fair and can be found in 10 to 20-feet deep suspended near points, flooded brush, and ledges on jigs and minnows. Walleye are fair and anglers are encouraged to target rocky or wind-swept mud banks or along the dam with jigs, crankbaits, or bottom-bouncers w/ worms. There’s a 21-inch minimum length limit with a two per day creel limit.

White bass and wipers are good and can be found on windy banks and points using jigs on reservoir. The wiper creel limit is five per day. Smallmouth bass are fair to good and largemouth bass are fair.

Pottawatomie County Lake

Black crappie are fair and are weighing 1/3 to 1 pound. There are moderate numbers of crappie. The Bluegill are fair to good and are 6 to 10 inches. The lake has a nice bluegill population, according to the report.

Channel catfish are fair and weigh from 1/2 to 6 pounds. The lake contains good numbers of catfish for a small lake. Lastly, the largemouth bass are good and weigh from 1/2 to 4 pounds. The lake has been maintaining a great largemouth bass population, the report says, however the 2023 sample showed a recent regression in overall bass numbers. Bass 13 to 18 inches long are protected at this lake.

Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 1

The bluegill are fair and measure up to 9 inches. The bluegill population offers good numbers of 6 to 8 inch fish and it’s a great place to take a kid with worms and a bobber. The channel catfish are slow right now and weight from 3/4 to 5 pounds. The lake has a low level catfish population.

The crappie are fair and weigh 1/2 to 1 pound. The crappie abundance has been stable the last few years with most measuring from 8 to 10 inches long. The largemouth bass are fair and weigh 1/2 to 5 pounds. The lake is known for being a good spot for catch and release bass fishing. The 2024 annual sampling effort showed that population has expanded with abundance at a seven-year high. This has resulted in the size structure being on the small side with only 16% of the fish over 12 inches. You can catch them pretty much anywhere at this lake.

Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 2

The black bass are fair and weigh 1/2 to 4 pounds. The 2024 sample records that the black bass population has been holding steady for some time now, with good numbers of largemouth bass and a moderate smallmouth bass population.

The channel catfish are good and weigh 3/4 to 5 pounds. The lake is in the Urban Stocking Program which provides regular stockings of 12 to 18 inch channel catfish. The third stocking of the year was on June 12th when the lake received 675 pounds of channel catfish. So far the lake has received 3,045 channel catfish in 2024. Best baits tend to be worms or commercial catfish baits. Channel catfish creel at the lake is 5 per day.

Crappie are fair and weigh 1/4 to 1 pound. The lake has supported a decent crappie population through time. The current population is doing ok with slightly below average numbers of fish over 10 inches and a few really big crappie as well. There is some habitat structures just out from the boat ramp dock and under the buoy.

Bluegill and redear sunfish are fair and weigh less than pound. The lake has struggled to grow sunfish to a size large enough that anglers want to keep for frying. The population receives high angling pressure from both panfish anglers and from anglers targeting sunfish to use for catfish bait. Sunfish from 6 to 9 inches must be released. The creel limit of fish over 9 inches is five per day and there is still unlimited daily harvest of fish less than 6 inches.

Rocky Ford State Fishing Area

The catfish are fair and can weigh 1 to 20 or more pounds. Fishing for all three species of catfish can be good below Rocky Ford dam. Channel can be caught on worms, cut bait or prepared bait. Flathead can be taken on live bait or lures. Blue catfish are usually caught on fresh cut bait. The catfish bite has been with all three species being caught in modest numbers.

Please check any blue catfish for a yellow or orange tag in its back as we have been tagging some to collect more information on the species in Tuttle Creek Lake and the Big Blue River. Feel free to harvest or release the fish, but please report the tag number and the general location of the catch to (620) 342-0658 or ely.sprenkle@ks.gov.

White Bass and Wipers are fair and weigh 1/2 to 8 pounds. It’s a good spot for white bass and wipers which can be caught with jigs or crankbaits. Drum are fair and weigh up to 1/2 to 5 pounds. Drum are an abundant species at Rocky Ford and can be caught on worms, minnows, and jigs.

Saugeye are fair and weigh 3/4 to 5 pounds. A few saugeye are always being caught below the dam and it’s one of the best places around to catch them. Use brightly colored jigs, swimbaits, crankbaits or jerkbaits. Fair numbers of 14 to 16 inch saugeye. There is no length based regulations at Rocky Ford for saugeye or walleye.

Tuttle Creek Reservoir

The crappie are fair and weigh from 1/2 to 2 pounds. The lake has provided excellent crappie fishing the last few years due to good spawning success and robust summer growth. The 2023 fall sample shows that numbers of crappie over 10-inches is still above the long-term average for the lake. In addition, the 2023 spawn was very successful in producing another strong year-class of crappie. They can be found in standing timber around about 10 feet down.

The white bass are fair and weight from 1/2 to 2 pounds. White bass numbers have been low due to limited spawning success for most of the last decade. The species did produce a robust spawn in 2021 which has helped bolster the fishery as the 2023 sample had the most white bass over 12 inches in nine years. It is much improved and hopefully this trend will continue.

Channel catfish are fair and there are good numbers of 24-28-inch fish with good numbers of bigger ones. The lake and the connected river system has maintained a good channel catfish population through the history of the lake and has been one of the best places around to catch channel cats over 8 pounds. The 2023 sample recorded that 19% of the channel catfish were above 24-inches, which is the highest percentage seen in a decade. Fishing in the upper end of the lake and the river tends to be the most consistent spots for channel cats.

The blue catfish are fair to good and there are lots of fish from 20 to 30 inches and some that weigh over 40 pounds. Blue catfish are finally well established in the lake and population expansion has slowed down. The lake will likely never have as high numbers of blue cats as other KS lakes but this allows for good growth and a plus-size range of fish. Summer sampling in 2023 showed that 61% of the blue catfish were from 20-inches to 30-inches and 19% were over 30-inches. Fresh cut bait or fresh shad is the best bait, and near drop-offs are the best places to go this time of year. There’s a 10-fish daily creel limit which may include only one fish 30 inches or longer.

Please check any blue catfish for a yellow or orange tag in its back as we have been tagging fish to collect more information on the species in Tuttle Creek Lake. It is up to you if you wish to release the fish or harvest it (if legally applicable), but please report the tag number and the general location of the catch to (620) 342-0658 or ely.sprenkle@ks.gov.

Largemouth bass are slow to fair and weigh from 1 to 5 pounds. Coves in the southern third of the reservoir have some locally good largemouth bass populations. The McIntyre Cove area tends to produce the best fishing with the second best being Carnahan Cove. Saugeye are fair and weigh up to 6 pounds. The last two years has been good saugeye fishing at Tuttle Creek. The 2023 fall gill net sample produced the most saugeye in a decade with 38% of those fish over the 15-inch minimum length limit.

Since saugeye like to leave Tuttle Creek through the dam downstream, some of the best opportunities to harvest saugeye is in the River Pond or Rocky Ford or at the “tubes.” Great shoreline access at all of these spots and fish are regularly being caught year-round.

K-State is also conducting a study to track fish movements and there are a few channel catfish, blue catfish and saugeyes and with a purple tag in their back — please release all fish with a purple tag.