In Kansas, crappie fishing really takes off in the spring. In fact, the Kansas reservoirs are some of the bet locations in the Midwest to catch some big slabs. Though some of these manmade lakes lack any stock of crappie worth discussing, several actually yield large quantities of the sunfish. In fact, only three reservoirs - Cedar Bluff, Glen Elder, and Cheney - are ranked as poor reservoirs for Kansas crappie fishing by biologists.

In southeast Kansas, you'll find the 2,500-acre Fall River impoundment, where, though the area is known as a bass hole, you'll find an excellent crappie population. It is common to find crappie in the reservoir that are at least 10 inches long, with several actually exceeding 12 inches. In fact, you shouldn't be surprised to catch a crappie here that weighs over 2 pounds. If you are dead set on a big specimen, it's at its best for you at Fall River.

However, there are several other reservoirs with greater density of crappie for your fishing pleasure. La Cygne, for example, is a power plant cooling lake, meaning that the waters are kept warm year round, especially near the hot water outlet at the south side. This means the growth season in La Cygne continues all year round, making the stock of game fish consistently high. Kansas crappie fishing is quite popular here due to the large size of the fish that can be caught, even if there are areas with a higher density.

Some of the other large reservoirs most renowned for crappie fishing include Toronto, Melvern, and Coffee County Lake, as well as Council Grove Reservoir, the last of which may prove to yield smaller fish but has a sheer density level worth checking out. You can also benefit from visits to other large impoundments such as Perry, Pomona, Lovewell, and Kanopolis. In fact, several of these areas considered ideal for KS crappie fishing have been noted year after year for decades as some of the best lakes for crappie in the Great Plains. Although Clinton and Kirwin don't produce large quantities of crappie, they are excellent locations to find good sized true lunker crappie.

What many people don't realize is that some of the best fishing in Kansas can be found in much smaller lakes and reservoirs. For example, Ottawa State Fishing Lake and Sedan City Lake, both quite small, have yielded crappie weighing over 2 pounds, the Bourbon SFL, under 100 acres in size, has samplings weighing close to the same. In fact, most of the small locations contain great numbers of white crappie.