Kirwin Reservoir fishing: Walleye, White Bass, Black Crappie

Reservoir · Kansas · Glen Elder, 46.4 mi away

Kirwin Reservoir, Kansas: Walleye. 90.1% of it is 42 feet deep or less. 50.1 ft at the deepest measured point. 10,426,587 fish stocked since 2019.

Reservoir

Surface area: 5,008 acres7.8 mi²from the mapped waterbody polygon; varies with water level
Maximum depth: 50.1 ftdeep
Average depth: 21.2 ft
Fish species: 4
Access: open to the public
Nearest town: Glen Elder46.4 mi

Kirwin Reservoir fishing: Walleye, White Bass, Black Crappie

Target species: Walleye, White Bass, Black Crappie

The reservoir

Kirwin Reservoir covers 5,008 acres in Kansas, across Phillips County. It is a reservoir: 90.1% of it is 42 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is ≈50.1 feet (15.3 m). Our records hold 4 species for this water.

Stocking: 10,426,587 fish, 2019–2025

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks records list 10,426,587 fish released into this water from 2019 to 2025.

Walleye: 9,300,303 in 2019–2025

2 more species on the stocking list.

Aerial imagery: USDA NAIP 2023 — USDA Farm Service Agency, NAIP 2023 aerial imagery (USGS The National Map) · Public domain

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: ≈50.1 ft (15.3 m). 90.1% of the water is 42 feet or shallower. We hold 97 depth contours for this water, drawn from 25,891 soundings.

0–3 ft: 8.5% of the water
3–6 ft: 7.6% of the water
6–9 ft: 7.2% of the water
9–12 ft: 6.3% of the water
12–15 ft: 7.9% of the water
15–18 ft: 9.7% of the water
18–21 ft: 10.9% of the water
21–24 ft: 9.1% of the water
24–27 ft: 5% of the water
27–30 ft: 4.1% of the water
30–33 ft: 4.2% of the water
33–36 ft: 3.7% of the water
36–39 ft: 2.9% of the water
39–42 ft: 3% of the water
42–45 ft: 3.3% of the water
45–48 ft: 5.3% of the water
48–49 ft: 1.1% of the water

3 target fish, led by Walleye

Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
White Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
Black Crappie — Feeding water: 65–75°F.

Also recorded here: Gizzard Shad.

What is hard here

Wind is the limit, not the fish: 5,008 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.

Where this data comes from

US Bureau of Reclamation — USBR reservoir sedimentation surveys: class A, a survey of the bottom, 1996.
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.
EPA NLA — EPA National Lakes Assessment: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map, 2007.
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.