That’s why I got excited when Austin explained the KDWP’s Community Fisheries Assistance Program. "We essentially lease the fishing rights for more than 200 community lakes around the state, and they are now open to fishing with just a state license and boat registration," he explained.

"I suspect there are some folks reading this story who are upset with me for mentioned Lone Star Lake, for example. It has been a good destination for anglers in eastern Kansas -- and they were willing to pay the extra fees and keep it to themselves.

"I understand that," he added, "but our goal with CFAP is to recruit new anglers, and we hope that opening up more water to public fishing without extra expense will help us do that."

It should. Lake Olathe is open. Gardner Lake is open. Wyandotte County Lake is open. Those are three excellent community fisheries in the greater Kansas City area, for example. Sadly, Johnson County officials have chosen not to become a part of the program. Lakes that it manages, as a result, still require you to buy additional tags.

Austin also talked about smallmouth and spotted bass around the state. "Cedar Bluff remains about the best lake in the state for spotted bass," he said. "Even though it’s so low, it will be pretty good."

On the smallmouth front, El Dorado is reemerging as a bronzeback destination. "We worked for years at establishing vegetation there to provide additional habitat," Austin said. "And the smallmouths there aren’t quite so susceptible to the tournament pressure."

He mentioned Wilson Reservoir and Glen Elder, both out west, as having good smallmouth prospects. The story of Glen Elder, in particular, is interesting. "I was the biologist in that area in the late 1990s," Austin recalled, "and we were able to get fingerlings three consecutive years from Dale Hollow Reservoir in Tennessee. They ‘took’ in two of those three years in Glen Elder, and the smallmouth fishery is doing really well there."

"I suspect there are some folks reading this story who are pset with me for mentioningLone Star Lake, for example.It has been a good destination for anglers in eastern Kansas -- and they were willing to pay the extra fees and keep it to themselves." -- Kyle Austin, KDWP

And as Austin noted, smallmouths tend to use rocky, non-vegetation structure whenever possible, so they aren’t being stressed so much by the low water induced by drought conditions. "The smallies will just stay deep," he noted. "They don’t need vegetation for habitat.

"It’s kind of a secret," he added about Glen Elder’s smallmouth fishing, "but there are pretty good numbers of 4- and 5-pound smallmouths in Glen Elder now."

My take: It seems clear that the overall quality of Kansas’ bass fishing remains a secret to many outside the Sunflower State. It also seems clear that, the effects of the drought notwithstanding, 2007 shapes up to be a pretty good bassin’ year in Kansas.