By Tim Lilley

When it comes to Kansas crappie fishing, you have to ask yourself: Who has hooked whom? Is it Sunflower State anglers who hook crappie in healthy numbers and good sizes every season? Or is it this scrappy, tasty game fish, which can grow to true "slab" proportions in many state waters, that has hooked Kansas anglers season after season?

It's probably a little bit of both.

Residents and non-residents alike continue to spend plenty of quality fishing time going after crappie on our state's waters. And the fish continue to cooperate, bringing those anglers back for more year after year.

When it comes to this story's title, it's not tough to argue that "cream of the crop" is a relative term. Many waters around the state, large and small, are home to healthy, dynamic crappie fisheries. True, some do stand out. But by and large, crappie are just about everywhere, and you can catch them throughout the fishing season.

None of that rhetoric, however, gets a writer off the forecasting hook. You, the reader, want to know where to go this season for the best crappie action. The easy answer: the same places you've been going for years. But if you look at the Sunflower State's crappie landscape in more detail, you begin to see there are some real jewels among our crappie lakes.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Maybe the best way to break things up is to consider first quantity and then quality. Admittedly, some waters will overlap. From here, those will be the best bets of all because anglers who frequent them will have a chance to catch good numbers of fish, with some of those fish being truly large.

Many crappie chasers, however, prefer one to the other. Either they don't care whether the fish are really large - as long as they can catch plenty of them on a given trip - or they'd prefer to fillet fewer fish that are heavier and bigger. By the end of this story, you should have the information you need to enjoy the best of Kansas' crappie fishing this season, no matter what your interest.

For the most part, this story will deal with white crappie, which are the predominant species in the Sunflower State. That's not to say there aren't some fine black-crappie fisheries, but the whites dominate the fishing action. You'll get information on both in what follows.

And when it comes to sheer numbers, the picture is large - as in the state's largest reservoirs, and primarily those in the eastern half of Kansas. With the possible exception of channel catfish, no other fish offers anglers so much hope for strength in numbers on Kansas' U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs.

As evidence, consider this: During one recent sampling, biologists came up with an average of more than 51 white crappie at least 8 inches long per unit sampled on Perry Reservoir north of Topeka, which boasts 12,600 surface-acres. That's a lot of crappie! But the number really shouldn't come as a surprise. Perry may be the closest thing to a "crappie factory" of an ecosystem you'll find anywhere.

Even throughout a decade-long study conducted through the 1980s and into the 1990s, biologists found Perry to be one consistently prolific crappie lake. That title hasn't tarnished over time. Looking further into survey data, you'll see that Perry offers almost 20 fish per unit sampled at least 10 inches long, and a couple at least a foot long.

Those numbers suggest a fairly balanced fishery that includes good and consistent development of year-classes. Throughout its history, Perry has been regularly turning out these kinds of numbers, and they have been bringing fishermen back season after season.

Recent survey data suggests, however, that Perry is not alone when it comes to producing crappie in good numbers. Nine of the 21 large reservoirs included in this research revealed averages of more than 10 crappie per unit surveyed that were at least 8 inches long. With the smallest of the nine being Fall River, at more than 2,400 surface-acres, it's easy to see how Kansas' largest reservoirs continue to offer anglers great fishing for good numbers of white crappie.

For the record, those nine lakes are (in alphabetical order) Clinton, Council Grove, Fall River, Hillsdale, Marion, Melvern, Milford, Perry and Toronto. That pretty much keeps the best of the "quantity" white-crappie fisheries in eastern Kansas.

With the exception of Hillsdale Reservoir, the opposite is true for black crappie. It's significant to note that KDWP biologists only included a half-dozen major reservoirs in the sampling report for blacks, and Hillsdale is the only eastern impoundment in the mix. And to prove the point made earlier that whites rule the crappie roost in Kansas - on the large lakes, at least - note that Cedar Bluff had the highest density ratio, at only 2.9 crappie per unit surveyed that were at least 8 inches long. The other four big lakes surveyed include western impoundments Glen Elder, Kirwin, Sebelius and Webster.

There are a dozen smaller lakes around the state that have data for blacks included, and all of those density ratios are in double digits. But when compared to whites, the state's black-crappie fishery is just not as strong or significant; those big reservoirs really make the difference.

On the smaller lakes, when it comes to quantity, blacks seem to hold their own with whites. Although several more lakes are included in the survey with numbers for white crappie at least 8 inches long, there are only 15 with density ratings in double digits. Compare that to the dozen mentioned above for blacks, and you can see that the numbers are pretty similar. There are, nonetheless, at least a few more lakes with fishable populations of white crappie around the state.

Following are a selection of small-lake suggestions for each subspecies of crappie. Consider these the best of the best, if you're looking for sheer numbers of fish.

Black crappie: Brown State Fishing Lake, Cowley SFL, Neosho SFL and Plainville Lake.

White crappie: Cedar Lake in Olathe, old Herrington City Lake, Louisburg City Lake, Meade State Lake and Plainville.

Notice something? Sitting unobtrusively, way out west in Rooks County, Plainville Lake may be one of the best crappie fisheries in Kansas. It's only 100 acres in area, but boasts good densities of both black and white crappie. And for the record, it's loaded with largemouth bass, too!

Admittedly, Kansas City- and Wichita-area anglers aren't likely to make a drive from their homes almost to Webster Reservoir to fish a lake that size. The town of Plainville is about 20 miles southeast of Webster along U.S. Highway 183. But doggone it, if you're after numbers - and don't mind catching some bass, too - Plainville is a small lake with some awfully big numbers.