Perry Reservoir

Maybe the hottest bass fishery in Kansas today, largemouth bass populations in Perry Reservoir have drastically improved over the last five years. Several years of low water allowed vegetation to grow on the newly dry bank. The dry years were followed by an extremely wet year and largemouth bass flourished in the submerged vegetation. The high water also caused many farm ponds up river from Perry to flood, releasing countless numbers of mature largemouth bass into the lake. The end result was an incredible bass fishery.
The secret of Perry Reservoir's great bass population alluded many anglers for several years and even alluded the KDWP Fishing Forecast up until this year, but the secret is out. Perry is on almost every Kansas BASS club, and tournament trail's schedules. In 2009, the KDWP finally hit the lake at the right time and found the fish with their sampling. It is second only to the famed La Cygne bass factory in the fishing forecast.
Being the pleasure boat location that it is, Perry Reservoir has not surprisingly been inhabited by zebra mussels. They have become more and more common in recent years and are predicted to reach a record high at Perry this year. Their impact has already been felt. The once muddy water has been replaced by two to three feet of clarity (perfect clarity for bass fishing). In one way, this will directly help bass because they will be able to find their prey more easily. In another way, this indirectly hurts the bass because zebra mussels compete with shad for plankton. After seeing the way that the clear water helped El Dorado, I have little doubt that the bass will benefit more from the clearer water than what they will lose from declining shad populations. This feed right into the hands of biologist Kirk Tjelmeland who is trying to establish a smallmouth population in the lake. Over the last couple years, he has poured thousands of smallmouth fingerlings into Perry their pressence as a game fish is just begining to be felt. They recieved a poor rating in the forecast. Smallmouth are sight feeders and the clear water should boost their development in the lake.

Largemouth
Population: Excellent
General Size: 14-18"
Big Bass: 5lb (personal) 6.5lb(KDWP FF) 7lb (network) I don't know what the lake record is, but it has probably been set in recent years and is probably over 8.
Location: It really depends on where the bass are in their annual cycle. For prespawn and during the spawn, fish flooded trees and shallow pea gravel areas. Look for post spawn bass on the rip rap areas and boulder areas.
Cover: Brush, riprap, boulders, laydowns, flooded trees, flooded vegetation
Bait: Crankbaits, wacky rig, senkos, spinnerbaits, jigs, texas rig (brush hogs, or tubes), top water poppers and buzz baits

Smallmouth:
Population: Poor
General Size: <10"


(Above is a picture of a post spawn 20" Perry Reservoir largemouth. The population rating on this post and all my other posts is based on my own opinion, and is not necessarily the same as the KDWP rating. This lake is a favorite of mine, and most of the material i used in its review is from my own experiences. However, I got a few facts from this article:
http://cjonline.com/stories/021008/out_245552975.shtml)