Clinton Lake fishing: Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike

Target species: Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, White Crappie, Freshwater Drum, White Bass, Channel Catfish

The reservoir

Clinton Lake covers 7,275 acres in Kansas, across Douglas County. It is a reservoir: 94% of it is 34 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 40 feet (12.2 m). Our records hold 28 species for this water.

Cloudy Fall Beach DSC 0645.JPG
Daniel Gross · CC BY-SA 4.0

7 target fish, led by Largemouth Bass

  • Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • White Crappie — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Freshwater Drum — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • White Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.

Also recorded here: Sauger, Paddlefish, Flathead Catfish, River Carpsucker, Shortnose Gar, Black Crappie, Bigmouth Buffalo, Black Bullhead, Shorthead Redhorse, White Sucker, Yellow Perch, Longear Sunfish, Bighead Carp, Longnose Gar, Silver Carp, Common Carp, Red Shiner, Gizzard Shad, Goldfish, Fathead Minnow.

Another Clinton Lake Sunset DSC 0456.JPG
Daniel Gross · CC BY-SA 4.0

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 40 ft (12.2 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 94% of the water is 34 feet or shallower. We hold 198 depth contour lines for this water.

Clinton State Park.jpg
freeblue_kostas from Athens, GREECE · CC BY 2.0
  • 0–2 ft: 5% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 4.2% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 6.7% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 5.3% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 9% of the water
  • 10–12 ft: 7.3% of the water
  • 12–14 ft: 6.7% of the water
  • 14–16 ft: 8.9% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 3.6% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 5% of the water
  • 20–22 ft: 4.6% of the water
  • 22–24 ft: 3.8% of the water
  • 24–26 ft: 6.3% of the water
  • 26–28 ft: 3.3% of the water
  • 28–30 ft: 4.2% of the water
  • 30–32 ft: 6.1% of the water
  • 32–34 ft: 4% of the water
  • 34–36 ft: 4% of the water
  • 36–38 ft: 1.6% of the water
  • 38–40 ft: 0.5% of the water

Stocking: 20,898,121 fish, 2019–2025

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks records list 20,898,121 fish released into this water from 2019 to 2025.

  • Walleye: 11,050,000 in 2019–2024
  • Sauger: 900,000 in 2019–2025
  • Channel Catfish: 5,001 in 2020

4 more species on the stocking list.

Water and conditions

pH averages 8. These readings span 2018. The latest reading is from 2018, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.

What is hard here

Wind is the limit, not the fish: 7,275 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.
  • 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.