Out-of-town fishermen find success on Kansas community lakes with affordable program

HERINGTON, Kan. (MCT) — Bob Roberts was getting outfished.

Oh, he was catching crappies as he worked a cove at Herington City Lake. But a little boy sitting on a rock at the water’s edge was doing better.

Dangling a night crawler in the water, Brent Mercer, 4, pulled out a large green sunfish. Then he tugged on his fish basket and revealed a catch that include big crappies, bluegills and a few bass.

“The fishin’s good on this rock,” said Brent, who was camping on the lake with his family. “This is where all the fish are.”

Roberts shook his head and laughed. He had just witnessed the beauty of the Community Fisheries Assistance Program (CFAP).

In the past, community lakes such as Herington were open to the public, but there was a catch. Fishermen who weren’t from that city or county had to pay user fees. And often they weren’t cheap.

“To buy a boat and a fishing permit, it might cost you $100 to $125 on some of these community lakes,” said Roberts, who lives in Salina, Kan. “And if you went on a weekend, sometimes you’d have a tough time finding a place to buy permits. At some of these places, City Hall was the only place where you could buy permits, and they were closed on weekends.

“It got to the point where it was a real hassle to fish some of these community lakes.”

But it’s different now. Ever since 2005, when the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism started its Community Fisheries Assistance Program, hundreds of community lakes have been much easier to access.

On any given day, you might see a veteran fisherman such as Roberts casting alongside a youngster such as Brent at a lake such as Herrington.

In the program, the state leases almost 250 community lakes across the state in exchange for those cities and counties removing their special fees. The state uses federal funding to pay the communities to compensate for the lost revenue. Now all that is required is a state fishing license.

Wildlife, Parks and Tourism provides the fisheries management, while the city maintains the grounds, doing the mowing and trash upkeep, for example.

It’s a marriage that has worked well. The small lakes, most of which are fewer than 1,000 acres, provide peaceful places to fish, with good opportunities from shore and boat alike.

“These community lakes really are our crown jewels,” said Tom Lang, fisheries program specialist for Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “When you look at the sheer number of locations in CFAP, it’s the greatest fishery we have.

“We have these lakes all over the state. No one is too far from a CFAP lake. Because they’re so close to home, people can go out for an hour after work and still catch fish.”

Don’t assume that just because the lakes are small and open to the public that they don’t contain big fish, Roberts will tell you. He and friends have caught good numbers of sizable crappies at Herington. And he remembers how good the bass fishing was in the late 1980s when the new city reservoir opened.

“We were going out and catching 100 bass a day,” Roberts said. “It was worth the price of admission.”

Today, there are two Herington lakes, the old city lake and a newer city reservoir. The old lake is under a public health advisory because of an outbreak of blue-green algae. But fishermen can still catch and keep fish caught there as long as they follow certain guidelines, such as washing filets thoroughly and avoiding direct contact with the water.

Roberts also fishes Council Grove City Lake, which has long been known for its excellent bass and crappie fishing.

“One time, we were fishing Council Grove Reservoir in July and we weren’t doing well at all,” Roberts said. “We moved to the city lake and found some deep brush, and that saved the trip for us. We caught a lot of crappies.”

Lang has heard similar stories about other community lakes in the program.

“Our whole intent in this program is increasing participation,” he said. “Without access to good water, people won’t go fishing. It’s as simple as that.

“But this program has increased that access. We’ve surveyed the communities involved in the program, and they say the participation has greatly improved since the program began.

“That’s what we like to hear.”

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KANSAS’ TOP COMMUNITY LAKES

In small towns across Kansas, fishing is a tourist attraction. Here are a few worthy of your casts:

1. Holton Banner Creek Lake (northeast Kansas): This lake has an impressive population of channel catfish. In fact, one of the cats sampled during surveys weighed 16.42 pounds The lake also is known for its bass fishing.

2. Critzer Lake (Linn County): This lake, which opened last summer, is a hot spot. After it was built, it was stocked, then closed to fishing for two years to allow the gamefish to get established. It now has excellent populations of bass, walleyes and channel catfish.

3. Herington city lakes (south of Junction City): The old city lake has excellent numbers of white bass, while the new reservoir is one of the best in the state for wipers.

4. Olathe Cedar Lake (south of Olathe): It leads the state in density of white crappies, including fish 10 inches and longer.

5. Pratt County Lake (south-central Kansas): Looking for a small body of water with a good population of walleyes? It leads the state’s small waters in density of the gamefish.