Melvern Lake fishing: White Bass, Bluegill
Target species: White Bass, Bluegill
The reservoir
Melvern Lake covers 6,924 acres in Kansas, across Osage County. It is a reservoir: 90.1% of it is 48 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 60 feet (18.3 m). Our records hold 4 species for this water.
Depth and bottom
Deepest measured point: at least 60 ft (18.3 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 90.1% of the water is 48 feet or shallower. We hold 187 depth contour lines for this water.
- 0–3 ft: 16.7% of the water
- 3–6 ft: 4.8% of the water
- 6–9 ft: 5.5% of the water
- 9–12 ft: 6.9% of the water
- 12–15 ft: 4.8% of the water
- 15–18 ft: 5.3% of the water
- 18–21 ft: 8% of the water
- 21–24 ft: 5% of the water
- 24–27 ft: 5.3% of the water
- 27–30 ft: 8.6% of the water
- 30–33 ft: 4% of the water
- 33–36 ft: 3.4% of the water
- 36–39 ft: 4.1% of the water
- 39–42 ft: 4% of the water
- 42–45 ft: 1.7% of the water
- 45–48 ft: 2% of the water
- 48–51 ft: 3.4% of the water
- 51–54 ft: 1.1% of the water
- 54–57 ft: 1.1% of the water
- 57–60 ft: 4.5% of the water
2 target fish, led by White Bass
- White Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
- Bluegill — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
Also recorded here: Common Carp, Stonecat.
Water and conditions
Our water temperature readings average 85°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. These readings span 2017. The latest reading is from 2017, 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: 6,924 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.
- 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.
