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Home › Waters › Kansas › Cottonwood River
River · The Kansas Flint Hills, from Marion and Florence east through Cottonwood Falls and Emporia to the Neosho confluence · Kansas

Cottonwood River Fishing Guides

The Flint Hills river, running through the last big stand of tallgrass prairie in North America and full of catfish.

Sunrise over a winding river cutting through open farm country
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Cottonwood River

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About the Cottonwood River

The Cottonwood drains the heart of the Flint Hills, which is the only part of Kansas that looks the way people imagine Kansas ought to look and does not. This is tallgrass prairie country – open, rolling, limestone-ledged, and largely unplowed because the rock underneath defeated the plough. The river cuts through it in a series of long pools separated by limestone riffles and gravel bars, and it is a genuinely handsome piece of water.

Channel catfish are the staple and they are abundant. The rock ledges and deeper holes below them hold flatheads that get large, and white bass run up out of John Redmond Reservoir in spring in numbers that surprise anyone who has not seen it. Largemouth and white crappie use the slower bends and the backwaters, drum are everywhere on the gravel, and longnose gar sun themselves in the shallows through the summer. It is a warmwater river and it fishes like one.

The Cottonwood is one of the more floatable prairie rivers in the state. From Florence down through Cottonwood Falls and on toward Emporia there is enough water in a normal spring for a canoe, and the limestone ledges make for pleasant, easy paddling. By August you will be walking a good deal of it. Bank access comes from bridge crossings, the town parks at Cottonwood Falls and Emporia, and the Chase County road network, but the surrounding ranchland is private and permission matters here.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve sits just north of the river near Strong City and is worth the detour on any trip. There is essentially no guide trade on this river, so this is a do-it-yourself fishery, and the reward is having a very pretty stretch of water more or less to yourself.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Cottonwood River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Marion - upper river access below Marion Reservoir.
Florence - the gauge crossing and a common upper put-in.
Cottonwood Falls - town access and the most scenic middle-river reach.
Strong City - bridge access next to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Emporia - city park river access on the lower river.
Soden's Grove Park - Emporia park water and an easy bank option.
Neosho confluence - the lower takeout where the Cottonwood joins the Neosho.

Seasons

Spring: white bass run up from John Redmond and flows are best for floating.
Summer: low water, wadeable riffles, and good channel cat fishing after dark.
Fall: clear water, cooling temperatures and the most pleasant floating of the year.
Winter: low and cold, with limited fishing and occasional warm-spell catfish.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Cottonwood River?

As of Sep 17, 6:15 am, the USGS gauge COTTONWOOD R NR FLORENCE, KS reads 120 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Cottonwood River?

Anglers target Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Longnose Gar, White Bass, White Crappie on the Cottonwood River in Kansas.

Where can you access the Cottonwood River?

Marion - upper river access below Marion Reservoir. Florence - the gauge crossing and a common upper put-in. Cottonwood Falls - town access and the most scenic middle-river reach. Strong City - bridge access next to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Emporia - city park river access on the lower river. Soden's Grove Park - Emporia park water and an easy bank option. Neosho confluence - the lower takeout where the Cottonwood joins the Neosho.

When is the best time to fish the Cottonwood River?

Spring: white bass run up from John Redmond and flows are best for floating. Summer: low water, wadeable riffles, and good channel cat fishing after dark. Fall: clear water, cooling temperatures and the most pleasant floating of the year. Winter: low and cold, with limited fishing and occasional warm-spell catfish.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Cottonwood River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Kansas agency site: https://ksoutdoors.com/Fishing/Fishing-Regulations