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Home › Waters › Kansas › Kanopolis Lake
Reservoir · Central Kansas, Ellsworth County, the Smoky Hill River valley southeast of Ellsworth in the Smoky Hills · Kansas

Kanopolis Lake Fishing Guides

Kansas's oldest federal reservoir, set in the sandstone bluff country of the Smoky Hill valley, with white bass and walleye the mainstays and catfish that reach serious weight.

A long wooden dock reaching into a misty lake at dawn
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Kanopolis Lake

Kanopolis Lake impounds the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County and holds the distinction of being the first federal reservoir built in Kansas, completed in the middle of the last century. It sits in the Smoky Hills, a stretch of central Kansas where Dakota sandstone breaks through the prairie in bluffs and outcrops that give the lake a setting rather more dramatic than the state’s reputation would suggest. The gauge reads water surface elevation and reservoir storage continuously, and on a plains flood-control reservoir those numbers swing widely between a wet spring and a dry autumn.

The character is typical of a Kansas reservoir and the management reflects it. The water is fertile and usually turbid, the bottom is largely silt and clay with rock near the dam and along the bluff shorelines, and the standing timber that once provided cover is long gone. What holds fish now is the old river channel, the points, the rip-rap along the dam and the rocky bluff edges. During high water the flooded vegetation around the margins becomes important cover and the fishing changes accordingly, which is why the elevation reading is worth checking first.

White bass are the fish most closely associated with Kanopolis, and the spring run up the Smoky Hill arm is a genuine event that draws anglers from across the state. Walleye and saugeye are stocked and managed actively and provide steady fishing through much of the year. Wipers add fast surface fishing in summer. Catfish are the other great strength, with channel, blue and flathead catfish all present and flatheads reaching very large sizes in the deeper channel water. Crappie, largemouth bass, bluegill, freshwater drum and carp complete the picture.

Kanopolis State Park provides ramps, camping and good shoreline access, and the surrounding public land includes genuinely worthwhile hiking through the sandstone canyons above the lake.

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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).

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Pool right now

1,466.86ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours-0.06 ft → steady
  • Storage60,250 acre-ft
  • For the dateHigh for the date

Reading taken 56 min ago at USGS 06865000, KANOPOLIS LK NR KANOPOLIS, KS. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Kanopolis Lake.

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.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Kanopolis Lake ft (NGVD29)

Now: 1,466.86 ft pool elevation, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 06865000, KANOPOLIS LK NR KANOPOLIS, KS).

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

Access

Kanopolis State Park - the primary access, with boat ramps, camping, cabins and extensive shoreline.
Ellsworth - the county seat a short drive northwest, with fuel, food, lodging and tackle.
Smoky Hill River arm - the upper end of the lake, the focus of the spring white bass run.
Smoky Hill River below the dam - tailwater fishing when releases are running, often productive for catfish.
Mushroom Rock State Park - a small and unusual geological park nearby, worth the detour.
Salina - the regional city roughly forty minutes northeast, with full services and guides.
Wilson Lake - the clearer neighbouring reservoir to the northwest, a strong alternative for smallmouth and walleye.

Seasons

Spring: the white bass run up the Smoky Hill arm is the event of the year, with walleye and crappie close behind.
Summer: wipers and white bass chase shad on the surface, and catfish feed hard in the channel and along the rip-rap.
Fall: cooling water improves walleye and crappie fishing and the lake quietens considerably after the summer crowds.
Winter: the lake is often drawn down for flood storage, but catfish and walleye remain catchable from shore on mild days.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Kanopolis Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Saugeye, Walleye, White Bass, White Crappie, Wiper on the Kanopolis Lake in Kansas.

Where can you access the Kanopolis Lake?

Kanopolis State Park - the primary access, with boat ramps, camping, cabins and extensive shoreline. Ellsworth - the county seat a short drive northwest, with fuel, food, lodging and tackle. Smoky Hill River arm - the upper end of the lake, the focus of the spring white bass run. Smoky Hill River below the dam - tailwater fishing when releases are running, often productive for catfish. Mushroom Rock State Park - a small and unusual geological park nearby, worth the detour. Salina - the regional city roughly forty minutes northeast, with full services and guides. Wilson Lake - the clearer neigh...

When is the best time to fish the Kanopolis Lake?

Spring: the white bass run up the Smoky Hill arm is the event of the year, with walleye and crappie close behind. Summer: wipers and white bass chase shad on the surface, and catfish feed hard in the channel and along the rip-rap. Fall: cooling water improves walleye and crappie fishing and the lake quietens considerably after the summer crowds. Winter: the lake is often drawn down for flood storage, but catfish and walleye remain catchable from shore on mild days.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Kanopolis Lake?

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