The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks will fully renovate Kingman State Fishing Lake, 7 miles Southwest of Kingman.
The goal is to improve aquatic habitat and fishing conditions. Officials also said that staff may use the downtime to upgrade the roads in the area’s campground.
Renovations will first begin with a fish salvage order that went into effect Monday, February 6th. During the fish salvage order, the public may collect any remaining fish in the designated waterbody by traditional rod and reel only, all other methods including seining and snagging are still prohibited. However, daily creel limits and size limits are temporarily removed during this period.
Once all fish have been removed from the waterbody, the lake will then be drained so that staff may improve existing habitat.
Officials said that Kingman State Fishing Lake developed an overabundance of undesirable fish species that created poor water conditions, adding that fully draining and renovating the lake, and beginning a new fishery, would be the most effective methods to get the local fish populations back in balance. This will ensure the fish stocked have adequate food and shelter, that the water quality is sufficient.
Once staff have fully renovated the aquatic habitat, they’ll wait for the waterbody to reach an ideal water level before stocking the following species:
- Largemouth Bass
- Channel Catfish
- Bluegill
- Northern Pike
- Black Crappie
The work is expected to be fully complete by fall, 2023. Click here for more information on Kingman State Fishing Lake.
