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Home › Waters › Kansas › Stranger Creek
Creek · Northeastern Kansas, Leavenworth County, the creek draining to the Kansas River near Easton · Kansas

Stranger Creek Fishing Guides

A northeastern Kansas prairie creek with deep timbered holes, a strong flathead and channel catfish fishery and bass on the rock and wood.

A dark forest stream running fast over stone
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Stranger Creek

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About the Stranger Creek

Stranger Creek drains a substantial slice of northeastern Kansas, running south through Atchison and Leavenworth counties to join the Kansas River near Linwood. It is a prairie stream with a tallgrass and cropland watershed, and it looks the part: muddy after rain, banked with cottonwood and silver maple, and cut into deep holes where the channel turns against bedrock or a log jam. The gauge at Easton reads discharge and stage, and the difference between a creek worth fishing and a creek not worth the drive here is largely a matter of how long it has been since the last storm.

Catfish are the main event and the reason local anglers know this water. Channel catfish are abundant throughout and reach good size. Flathead catfish occupy the deepest holes and the heaviest wood, and Stranger Creek has a long reputation among Kansas anglers who fish set lines and heavy tackle for them. Blue catfish move up from the Kansas River into the lower reaches. All three are best fished after dark in the warm months.

Largemouth bass hold on wood and in the slower pools, and smallmouth turn up where the creek runs over rock with decent current. White crappie gather around submerged timber. Bluegill and green sunfish are everywhere and make this accessible water for anyone fishing simply. Freshwater drum and gizzard shad round out the community, the shad being what much of the predatory fishery eats.

This is bank and wade fishing rather than boat water for most of its length, with access at road crossings and through landowner permission, since the frontage is overwhelmingly private farmland. Easton, Leavenworth and Lawrence are all within easy reach.

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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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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Stranger Creek.

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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Stranger Creek cfs

Now: 41.4 cfs, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 06891850, STRANGER C AT EASTON, KS).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Easton - the small town at the gauge, the main local reference point.
Leavenworth - the county seat east of the creek, with lodging, fuel, food and tackle.
Lawrence - the city south of here with full services.
Kansas River - the large river the creek joins, a substantial catfish fishery.
Tonganoxie - the town downstream on the creek with basic services.
Linwood - the community near the confluence with the Kansas River.
Perry Lake - a large reservoir west of here with developed ramps and facilities.

Seasons

Spring: rising water brings catfish on the move and bass into the shallower wood.
Summer: the prime catfish season, fished after dark in the deep timbered holes.
Fall: clearing water improves the bass fishing and catfish stay active into the cool.
Winter: fish concentrate in the deepest holes, with channel catfish still catchable.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Stranger Creek?

As of Oct 18, 5:30 pm, the USGS gauge STRANGER C AT EASTON, KS reads 41 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Stranger Creek?

Anglers target Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Crappie on the Stranger Creek in Kansas.

Where can you access the Stranger Creek?

Easton - the small town at the gauge, the main local reference point. Leavenworth - the county seat east of the creek, with lodging, fuel, food and tackle. Lawrence - the city south of here with full services. Kansas River - the large river the creek joins, a substantial catfish fishery. Tonganoxie - the town downstream on the creek with basic services. Linwood - the community near the confluence with the Kansas River. Perry Lake - a large reservoir west of here with developed ramps and facilities.

When is the best time to fish the Stranger Creek?

Spring: rising water brings catfish on the move and bass into the shallower wood. Summer: the prime catfish season, fished after dark in the deep timbered holes. Fall: clearing water improves the bass fishing and catfish stay active into the cool. Winter: fish concentrate in the deepest holes, with channel catfish still catchable.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Stranger Creek?

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