All across the Great Plains this season, anglers are going to find consistently good walleye fishing. That’s one of the common threads found in conversations I’ve had recently with biologists from the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas.

Another common thread explains, at least in part, why the walleye action should continue to be so strong. All four states are seeing at least some easing of drought conditions that had lowered many impoundments throughout the region to extremely low levels.

In some familiar ways, history is repeating itself. Twenty years ago, much of this region was at least as dry as we’ve seen in recent fishing seasons. Lake levels dwindled, and more than a few fisheries got into pretty bad shape. The drought that began in 1988 lasted about five years. And when it eased, many waters across all four states were reborn.

Readers who remember those dynamics are about to start into them all over again. For the past few years, water levels have dropped to extremely low levels. Fishing has been tough, to say the least, and a lack of adequate habitat -- especially for forage species -- has stressed game fish species in all four states. Water returned last year, and many lakes refilled.

One element of that process will have the biggest impact this season, and for the next few -- presuming that water levels remain fairly normal. That is, newly flooded vegetation and habitat will jump-start the ecologies of many Great Plains fishing waters.

All that new flooded structure provides great habitat for forage species and young-of-the-year game fish. Survival rates improve because, frankly, those tiny fish have more places to hide from predators. Numbers increase, and before long, the game fish in lakes are finding smorgasbords of food where, for some time, the cupboard had been mostly bare.

Things will be better for walleye anglers this season, and they should continue to improve for the next few seasons. As suggested earlier, many impoundments around our four states are once again being reborn. Fishing for walleyes and other game fish will be strong this season, and should get stronger for at least a few seasons.

That last statement, of course, presumes that a “crystal ball” prediction of close-to-normal precipitation proves accurate. If lake levels stay at or near normal, angling action will be hot for the foreseeable future.

For right now, however, we’re concerned with 2009. Here’s a state-by-state look at this season’s walleye fishing prospects across the Great Plains -- from south to north.

KANSAS
Kansas’ western reservoirs suffered terribly in that drought during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of them have been suffering again, almost as badly. One, however, hasn’t. State officials negotiated for and ultimately obtained the water rights for Cedar Bluff Reservoir years ago. As a result, its waters no longer provide irrigation. Thus, its level always is higher than its counterparts out west, which continue to irrigate surrounding acreage.

Without question, that’s the main reason that Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks biologist Kyle Austin has so many nice things to say about this season’s walleye prospects at Cedar Bluff, which has an 18-inch minimum “keeper” length in force.

“Cedar Bluff had really good numbers of walleyes heading into last season,” he confirmed, “and there was a very light harvest. Because of that, our fall surveys revealed more than 40 percent of the walleyes in Cedar Bluff this season should be 18 inches or larger. And there’s a pretty phenomenal number of 25-inch-plus walleyes there.”

Cedar Bluff sounds as though it offers reason enough for anglers to visit western Kansas walleye spots, but Austin said there’s much more to look forward to this season. “Kirwin, Webster and Norton reservoirs all are filling up,” he explained, “and I believe the fishing in them will be outstanding.”