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Home › Waters › Kansas › Perry Lake
Lake · Jefferson County, the Corps of Engineers impoundment of the Delaware River between Topeka and Lawrence · Kansas

Perry Lake Fishing Guides

A large Corps reservoir on the Delaware River between Topeka and Lawrence, with flooded timber, a strong crappie and walleye fishery and good state-park access.

An angler on a dock beside a moored boat on a calm reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Perry Lake

Perry Lake impounds the Delaware River in Jefferson County, sitting conveniently between Topeka and Lawrence and drawing anglers from both. The Corps of Engineers built it for flood control in the second half of the 1960s, and that purpose still governs the lake: the pool moves, sometimes a long way and sometimes quickly, as the Corps manages runoff from a large agricultural watershed. Reading the elevation before a trip is not optional here, because a few feet of change moves the fish and can close ramps.

What makes Perry distinctive among northeast Kansas reservoirs is the amount of standing and fallen timber still in it. Large areas of the upper lake and the creek arms were never cleared, and decades of shoreline erosion have added more. That wood is the lake’s defining structure and the reason its crappie fishery has stayed strong for so long. Anglers who learn the timber do well; anglers who fish open water do not.

Crappie and walleye share headline billing. Crappie hold on the timber and around the bridges through most of the year and move shallow to spawn in spring. Walleye are stocked and reproduce to some degree, and they work the rock, the riprap and the points, with the best fishing at first and last light. White bass school and chase bait in open water through the summer, and the catfish population, blue and channel especially, is substantial. Smallmouth bass use the dam riprap and rocky shoreline.

The gauge here reports reservoir storage and elevation rather than water temperature. That is the right information for a flood-control lake, since the question is almost always how much water is in it, but it means summer anglers looking for the thermocline will need their own sonar to find it.

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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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2. What you confirm

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5. What we may do

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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

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Pool right now

894.10ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours-0.17 ft ↓ falling
  • Storage228,500 acre-ft
  • For the dateA little above normal for the date

Reading taken 55 min ago at USGS 06890898, PERRY LK NR PERRY, KS. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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

Posting to Perry 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 Perry Lake ft (NGVD29)

Now: 894.10 ft pool elevation, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 06890898, PERRY LK NR PERRY, KS).

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

Access

Perry State Park - the main public facility on the lake's west side, with ramps, camping and shoreline access.
Rock Creek - a major arm on the east side with a ramp and good timber, popular for crappie.
Slough Creek - a large public area and ramp on the lake's east shore with camping and boat access.
Old Town - a Corps park and launch giving quick access to the middle of the lake.
Longview - a Corps area near the dam, useful for walleye on the riprap and deeper water.
Delaware River - the river above the lake, worth a look for catfish and white bass on the spring run.
Lawrence and Topeka - the two cities flanking the lake, with tackle shops, guides and full services.

Seasons

Spring: the best window, with crappie moving shallow into the timber, walleye on the rock and white bass running the upper arms.
Summer: warm and often stained, with crappie deeper on wood, white bass schooling in open water and catfishing at its peak.
Fall: cooling water brings a strong second crappie season and good walleye fishing on the points.
Winter: cold and drawn down, with crappie tight on deep timber and a limited but genuine ice fishery in hard years.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Perry Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Bream, Bullhead, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass, White Crappie on the Perry Lake in Kansas.

Where can you access the Perry Lake?

Perry State Park - the main public facility on the lake's west side, with ramps, camping and shoreline access. Rock Creek - a major arm on the east side with a ramp and good timber, popular for crappie. Slough Creek - a large public area and ramp on the lake's east shore with camping and boat access. Old Town - a Corps park and launch giving quick access to the middle of the lake. Longview - a Corps area near the dam, useful for walleye on the riprap and deeper water. Delaware River - the river above the lake, worth a look for catfish and white bass on the spring run. Lawrence and Topeka - the...

When is the best time to fish the Perry Lake?

Spring: the best window, with crappie moving shallow into the timber, walleye on the rock and white bass running the upper arms. Summer: warm and often stained, with crappie deeper on wood, white bass schooling in open water and catfishing at its peak. Fall: cooling water brings a strong second crappie season and good walleye fishing on the points. Winter: cold and drawn down, with crappie tight on deep timber and a limited but genuine ice fishery in hard years.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Perry Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Kansas agency site: https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/outdoor-activities/fishing-in-kansas