One other type of water body in Kansas has likely been responsible for more catches of bass than all others combined. "Private ponds are excellent, and that's where most of the bass fishing probably takes place," Nygren said. "People can go out and have a good time catching and releasing, or catching and keeping, if they want to. We really don't know for sure how many private ponds we have, but it's probably in the neighborhood of 150,000. And there's more being built all the time."

Naturally, anglers must gain permission from landowners to access private ponds. "That can be a problem," Nygren said. "When someone has a nice pond, they're pretty protective of it. But if you see a pond that looks good, try to find out who owns it and approach them in a manner of asking for a favor and letting them know you'll take care of the property and not abuse your privilege."

Whether a bass fisherman is in hot pursuit on a reservoir, lake or pond, their equipment and techniques are similar. Many anglers enjoy the tried-and-true bass baits and tactics. Mike Miller, who's enjoyed trying to trick hungry bass for more than three decades, is one of them.

"I think the best fishing occurs in farm ponds and watersheds," Miller said. "There are a lot of smaller state and community lakes that provide some pretty good bass fishing, a few reservoirs and then of course, the tens of thousands of farm ponds that are always good."

Quality is often appreciably better than quantity in May, according to Miller. He feels that the chances of catching a really big fish are good at this time of year -- and he's got proof in the form of his personal best, a monstrous fish estimated to weigh between 8 and 9 pounds, came on a May fishing trip at Cedar Bluff Reservoir.

"Anything over 4 pounds is a pretty good fish and when you get up in the 7-pound range, you're looking at a really good fish," Miller said. "Anything over 8 pounds is a tremendous fish in Kansas."

For finding pre-spawn fish, shallow water is the key for Miller -- and it doesn't matter if it's big water or a small pond. He keys on areas that warm faster than the rest of the water such as the upper ends, backs of coves, or the mouths of any tributaries feeding a particular body of water. Beyond that, he targets shoreline structure like flooded weedbeds, flooded timber or points.

"You usually have a big advantage if you can get a boat, or a belly boat in there and fish back to the shoreline, because that's where 90 percent of your structure is," he said. "And sometimes that's hard to cover effectively from the shore."

If you added up the total acreage of all the water that now falls under the Community Fisheries Assistance Program, it would be equivalent to Kansas' fourth-largest reservoir.