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Home › Waters › Kansas › Kansas River
River · Kaw Valley · Kansas

Kansas River Fishing Guides

The Kaw, a wide sand-bottomed prairie river running one hundred and seventy miles from Junction City through Topeka and Lawrence to the Missouri at Kansas City, and the state big-catfish river.

A wide sand and gravel bar on a slow river below a timbered bank
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Kansas River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Kansas River

The Kansas River, universally called the Kaw, forms where the Republican and Smoky Hill meet at Junction City and runs east across the state to the Missouri River at Kansas City. It is a wide, shallow, sand-bottomed prairie river with shifting bars, wing dikes, rock revetment along the banks and a handful of low dams. It is also one of the longest navigable sand-bed rivers in the country and, since a sustained public-access push, a genuinely usable recreational fishery with a chain of ramps along its length.

Catfish define it. Flathead catfish reach serious size in the log jams and deep outside bends, blue catfish have expanded in the lower river toward Kansas City, and channel catfish are everywhere and easy to catch. Beyond the cats, white bass and wipers run in schools below the dams and at the tributary mouths, walleye and sauger are caught in the tailwaters, and there are smallmouth on the rock revetment in the lower reaches. Guided trips are usually catfish trips, run from jon boats out of Lawrence, Eudora or DeSoto.

The DeSoto gauge is the standard reading for the lower river. Because the Kaw drains a huge basin behind several federal reservoirs, its flow is a mix of natural runoff and reservoir releases, and it can change quickly when the Corps changes an outflow upstream. Moderate readings expose the sand bars and make wading the shallow crossings possible; high water covers the bars, colors the river and pushes fish to the banks and the dike ends, which is when the flatheads feed hardest.

Sand bars shift constantly, so run slowly and read the water. Lawrence, Topeka, DeSoto and Bonner Springs are the bases along the lower half.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Kansas River.

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  • 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.

Fished this water? Add a photo

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 Kansas 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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Kansas River cfs

Now: 14,900 cfs, read 3:30 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 06892350, KANSAS R AT DESOTO, KS).

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

Access

DeSoto: ramp at the gauge reach on the lower river.
Eudora and the Wakarusa confluence: lower river access.
Lawrence: Burcham Park and the Bowersock dam tailwater.
Lecompton and Perry: mid-river ramps below Perry Lake.
Topeka: several city ramps and the Shunganunga confluence.
Wamego, St. Marys and Belvue: upper river access above Topeka.
Junction City and Ogden: the headwaters at the Republican and Smoky Hill junction.

Seasons

March and April: white bass and walleye below the dams, high spring water.
May and June: rising water and the best flathead fishing of the year.
July and August: low clear flows, sand bars exposed, channel cats and wading.
September through November: cooling water, blue catfish and a second white bass push.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Kansas River?

As of Oct 19, 3:30 am, the USGS gauge KANSAS R AT DESOTO, KS reads 14,900 cfs, the 84th percentile for this date, with water temperature 62.1 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Kansas River?

Anglers target Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Sauger, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass, Wiper on the Kansas River in Kansas.

Are there fishing guides on the Kansas River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Kansas River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Kansas River?

DeSoto: ramp at the gauge reach on the lower river. Eudora and the Wakarusa confluence: lower river access. Lawrence: Burcham Park and the Bowersock dam tailwater. Lecompton and Perry: mid-river ramps below Perry Lake. Topeka: several city ramps and the Shunganunga confluence. Wamego, St. Marys and Belvue: upper river access above Topeka. Junction City and Ogden: the headwaters at the Republican and Smoky Hill junction.

When is the best time to fish the Kansas River?

March and April: white bass and walleye below the dams, high spring water. May and June: rising water and the best flathead fishing of the year. July and August: low clear flows, sand bars exposed, channel cats and wading. September through November: cooling water, blue catfish and a second white bass push.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Kansas River?

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