Cheney Reservoir fishing: Striped Bass, Bigmouth Buffalo, Channel Catfish
Target species: Striped Bass, Bigmouth Buffalo, Channel Catfish, Freshwater Drum, White Bass, White Perch
The reservoir
Cheney Reservoir covers 10,112 acres in Kansas, across 2 counties: Reno and Kingman. It is a reservoir: 95.2% of it is 36 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 40 feet (12.2 m). Our records hold 12 species for this water.
6 target fish, led by Striped Bass
- Striped Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
- Bigmouth Buffalo — Feeding water: 70–80°F.
- Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Freshwater Drum — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
- White Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
- White Perch — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
Also recorded here: Northern Pike, Black Crappie, Emerald Shiner, Goldfish, Gizzard Shad, Western Mosquitofish.
Stocking: 187,939,045 fish, 2013–2025
Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks records list 187,939,045 fish released into this water from 2013 to 2025.
- Striped Bass: 2,330,000 in 2014–2015
- Channel Catfish: 192,866 in 2014–2024
11 more species on the stocking list.
Depth and bottom
Deepest measured point: at least 40 ft (12.2 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 95.2% of the water is 36 feet or shallower. We hold 65 depth contour lines for this water.
- 0–2 ft: 9.8% of the water
- 2–4 ft: 6% of the water
- 4–6 ft: 7.3% of the water
- 6–8 ft: 6% of the water
- 8–10 ft: 7.1% of the water
- 10–12 ft: 6.7% of the water
- 12–14 ft: 4.8% of the water
- 14–16 ft: 7.7% of the water
- 16–18 ft: 3.8% of the water
- 18–20 ft: 4.8% of the water
- 20–22 ft: 5.3% of the water
- 22–24 ft: 3.4% of the water
- 24–26 ft: 5.8% of the water
- 26–28 ft: 3.1% of the water
- 28–30 ft: 3.1% of the water
- 30–32 ft: 3.3% of the water
- 32–34 ft: 2% of the water
- 34–36 ft: 5.2% of the water
- 36–38 ft: 1.9% of the water
- 38–40 ft: 3% of the water
Water and conditions
Our water temperature readings average 78°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. These readings span 2017–2026.
What is hard here
Wind is the limit, not the fish: 10,112 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.
Where this data comes from
- Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS), University of Kansas — Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS), University of Kansas: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
- USACE CWMS — USACE CWMS elevation-area curves: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (RISE) — USBR area-capacity tables (RISE): class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
