Austin said he might have been concerned about prospects for the 2008 season had it not been for the heavy rains that showed up in 2007. Not only did they refill -- and in some cases overfill -- lakes that had been lowered by drought for some time, but they also mitigated fishing pressure on some of Kansas’ best crappie lakes.

“Lakes like Hillsdale, Perry and Toronto had some angling pressure early last year,” Austin explained, “but the heavy rains reduced that pressure significantly, not just for a few days, but for weeks. We all know that crappie in our most popular reservoirs get hammered pretty good throughout the year. But angling mortality was down across the board last year, and that’s another good thing heading into the new season.”

In other words, Kansas fishermen didn’t harvest nearly the number of crappie they would have last year had the weather pattern been closer to average -- in other words, drier.

As a result, there were many more fish above, at or very near the 10-inch minimums on Hillsdale and Perry, for example, that didn’t get caught and filleted. As a result, there are many more of them waiting for you as the new season opens.

Another thing the rain helped with was cover for young-of-the-year crappie. Higher lake levels flooded vegetation that gave the smallest of crappie many more underwater nooks and crannies to use in avoiding larger predators.

“The Corps of Engineers works with us as best they can to maintain water levels that will help our game fish like crappie,” Austin said. “But their guidelines limit how much they can do on our major reservoirs because of the official priorities for these impoundments.”

Practically every publication I’ve seen on Corps of Engineers projects throughout the Great Plains and surrounding states makes the emphatic point that flood control is the priority of most of these large impoundments. Recreation ranks lower, and so takes a back seat to flood control when it comes to the Corps’ approach to managing lake levels.

That’s important to all game fish, but especially crappie, in Kansas. “You know,” Austin offered, “there’s just no place for all those little fish to hide on a mudflat. But if the water comes up through the winter and spring (i.e., before the spawn) even a couple of feet -- and if we can keep that level into the summer -- we are going to see much improved recruitment in that year-class of crappie.”

What a lot of Kansas lakes got last spring and early summer was much more than just a slight level rise, however. We’re talking about major flooding in some areas, but Austin is not overly concerned about potential losses.