Kansas Fishing Forecast Released

Reader Contribution by Caleb Regan and Managing Editor
Published on February 11, 2009
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Monday, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks released its annual Kansas fishing forecast, a tool I anxiously await each year that tells anglers the best locations for the fish they are looking for.

This is one of the coolest, most useful tools in evaluating where to go fishing in Kansas during spring. The report incorporates the KDWP’s Density Rating, Preferred Rating, Lunker Rating, Biggest Fish (found during sampling), the Biologist’s Rating (which introduces a human element – the biologist’s personal opinion given the data), and the Three-Year Average; all things that help the angler who wants to find bigger, more numerous fish.

This report is done through actual sampling, too, which I find to be cool. Lakes, ponds and reservoirs are monitored by biologists – through test netting and electroshocking – and the data is compiled. Since it’s impractical to survey each lake every year (especially smaller reservoirs), the 3-year average is included.

This is different from a fishing report. It’s more of an indication of what is to come during spring and summer, since it is actual data about what is in the lake, numbers-wise, whereas your typical fishing report, found here, often relies on word-of-mouth and gives more indication of what is happening at a particular moment – or more often, what was happening a week ago.

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