Pomona Lake is a 4,000-acre man-made reservoir located in Vassar, Kansas. Currently, there are 11 recreation areas scattered along the 52 miles of shoreline of Pomona Lake. One of the most popular recreation areas is the Pomona State Park.
Located on the south shore of the lake, the park spans 490 acres, and it offers a variety of camping, hiking, picnicking, boating, and fishing opportunities. There is even a marina located in the area, in addition to another marina on the north shore of the lake, that provides fuel, boat repair services, and fishing gear rental. There are also plenty of popular fishing spots along Pomona Lake that attract anglers looking for an abundance of great sport fish. Below are the most common species of fish that can be found in Pomona Lake.
Pomona Lake Fish Species
1) Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
Channel catfish are one of the most abundant types of catfish in the United States. This species can be found near rocky shores and other covered areas throughout Pomona Lake, but it is most abundant near the spillway of the dam. Like all catfish, the channel catfish does not have scales and has barbels on the upper and lower jaw; however, the channel catfish can be distinguished by its deeply forked tail, silvery body, and overbite.
These fish grow to about 10 – 20 inches long and weigh anywhere from 2 – 10 pounds, but in Pomona Lake, most channel catfish caught are within the 2 – 4 pound range. Catfish tend to eat quite a bit of food, so they use their barbels covered in taste buds to sense their surroundings in murky waters and find food like snails, fishes, snakes, frogs, insects, aquatic plants, and even birds. The current daily creel limit for channel catfish in Pomona Lake is 10 fish.
2) Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus)
Blue catfish are a close relative of channel catfish, and they are another great sport fish at Pomona Lake. This species can also be found near the spillway, but they are much less common than channel catfish. These fish have a blueish-gray back that fades to a white belly, and they possess no spots, unlike channel catfish.
Blue catfish generally range between 20 – 60 inches in length, and have an average weight of around 20 – 50 pounds; however, they can easily reach 100 or more pounds if they are older. Blue catfish have jaws lined with tiny teeth that help them eat just about anything they can catch including insects, fish, worms, and crustaceans. At Pomona Lake, there is a five-fish daily creel limit for blue catfish.
3) Flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris)
Flathead catfish are less abundant in Pomona Lake compared to channel catfish, but flatheads can still be found in areas of the lake with rocky or woody coverings. Flathead catfish are generally bigger than channel catfish, with comparable sizes to that of blue catfish. This species is a mottled brown color with a square tail and an underbite.
These fish, like the channel catfish, have barbs on their dorsal and pectoral fins, which are used to poke predators or humans that may have startled them. Flatheads are fierce carnivores, and they typically prey on a variety of fish species such as drum, shad, and other catfish species, including their own! The daily creel limit for this species in Kansas is five fish.
4) Black bullhead (Ameiurus melas)
Black bullheads are a type of catfish that can be found in Pomona Lake, where the water is still and the bottom is silty; although they are incredibly tolerant to many different water conditions. These fish have black or dark olive bodies and a cream-colored belly. Black bullheads can be distinguished from other species of bullheads by a light-colored band that runs along the base of the tail.
This species grows to about 8 – 14 inches in length and weighs 1 – 2 pounds. Equipped with eight black barbels on their face, black bullheads navigate the waters to find anything they can eat including small crayfish, worms, small mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants.
5) Walleye (Sander vitreus)
Walleye are a popular but slightly less common species in Pomona Lake, and they can be found on the mud flats and offshore humps in the lake. This species has a brownish-green body that fades to a cream belly complete with dark horizontal lines. These fish are the largest of the perch family, and they average about 11 pounds.
Walleye get their name from their big, glassy pupils, and these eyes look like this due to a reflective layer on the inner eye called the tapetum lucidum, which helps walleye see prey in times of low visibility. This layer makes walleye sensitive to bright light, however, so they often hunt for their prey, like fishes and mudpuppies, at dusk or night.
Walleye are a stocked species in Pomona Lake, and the last stock occurred in April of 2021, when 500,000 walleye were released into the lake. In Pomona Lake, the daily creel limit for walleye is five fish, and there is an 18-inch length limit for the fish caught.
6) White bass (Morone chrysops)
White bass are commonly found in Pomona Lake near channel breaks or along the dam. These fish are a silvery-white color, and they wear 6 – 8 black stripes laterally across their bodies. They have an underbite mouth, much like the largemouth bass; however, white bass are more closely related to striped bass.
White bass are a mid-sized fish, and they average about 12 – 14 inches in length and weigh around two pounds. This species is highly aggressive when it comes to feeding, and schools of white bass will hunt together for items such as gizzard shad, perch, carp, and other fish species.
7) Hybrid striped bass (Morone saxatilis x Morone chrysops)
Striped bass hybrids, also known as wipers, are crosses between striped bass and white bass, and they are produced in hatcheries in order to be stocked in bodies of water like Pomona Lake. These fish prefer waters similar to that of true striped bass in areas that are cool, clear, and deep. Striped bass hybrids have bodies that are laterally compressed and are silver in color with broken dark horizontal lines. This hybrid also has an arched back, much like white bass, in addition to two tongue patches, which they inherit from the striped bass.
Striped bass hybrids grow very rapidly, and they can reach 18 – 20 pounds by eight years of age; however, it is most common to catch 5 – 6 pound wipers in Pomona Lake. These fish travel in schools and will hunt for items such as shad, minnows, crustaceans, and insects. Wipers are regularly stocked in Pomona Lake, and the last stocking event introduced 41,014 wipers in June of 2021. In Pomona Lake, there is a daily creel limit of two wipers, and all wipers caught must be 18 inches in length or longer.
8) Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
Largemouth bass are not the most abundant species in Pomona Lake, but the highest chances of spotting these fish will be near coves with vegetation or near the marinas. Largemouth bass get their name from their mouth, which extends past the eye, unlike smallmouth bass. Largemouth bass have olive-green bodies with dark mottling along the back and speckles along the sides.
This species typically grows to about 10 – 15 inches long in Pomona Lake and will generally weigh 2 – 4 pounds, although the largest largemouth ever recorded was 22 pounds and 4 ounces. Largemouths are carnivores that primarily feed on crayfish but will also eat other fishes and insects. The daily creel limit for largemouth bass in Pomona Lake is five fish, and there is a 15-inch minimum length limit for those fish that are caught.
9) White crappie (Pomoxis annularis)
White crappies are an extremely abundant fish at Pomona Lake, and the best chances of finding these fish are in highly vegetated areas near windier shorelines during the summer months. This species has compressed bodies that are silvery olive on the back and silvery white on the belly. These fish have dark vertical bands along the sides of their bodies, and their gill covers have spines.
During the breeding season, males will look slightly different than females because the males will develop a dark throat. White crappies average about 9 – 10 inches long and are around 2 pounds as adults, but it is common to find crappies in the 10 – 14 inch range in Pomona Lake. These fish generally eat smaller fishes like minnows or shad, but they will also eat insects like mayflies.
10) Black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)
Black crappies are less common in Pomona Lake compared to white crappies because they have very specific water conditions, including still, clear waters, in order to survive. Black crappies have compressed bodies that are darker green on the back with dark mottling on the silvery sides. They also have 7 – 8 spines on their dorsal fins, which distinguishes them from white crappies, which have 5 – 6 spines.
This species exhibits sexual dimorphism, so the males tend to be larger and darker than the females. Black crappies typically grow to about 8 – 12 inches long and weigh 0.25 – 1 pounds. These fish are able to see relatively well in the dark, so they will generally hunt during the night or early morning for small fish, crustaceans, and insects. There is currently a daily creel limit of 50 crappies in the state of Kansas.
11) Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Bluegills are a very common sunfish in Kansas, and they can be found in shallow, vegetated areas of lakes as juveniles, but adults will tend to be in deeper waters during the day. These fish are characterized by having disk-shaped bodies with an olive green back, an orangish-yellow belly, and a black dot at the base of the dorsal fin. Bluegills get their name from the bluish hue surrounding the gill covers.
This species averages around 7.5 inches in length and weighs around half a pound as adults. These fish have very little mouths, so they will only eat smaller prey such as zooplankton, insects, worms, and snails. Bluegills are a main source of food for many larger fish species such as largemouth bass, so they have adapted to be maneuverable. For instance, this species can make very quick stops by spreading out their pectoral fins.
12) Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum)
Gizzard shad can be found near shorelines of Pomona Lake where there are higher winds and turbidity. This species has silvery blue backs that fade to white sides, and they average between 6 – 8 inches long and 1 – 8 ounces in weight. These fish also have a long final ray on the dorsal fin that resembles a whip.
Gizzard shad get their name from their unique muscular stomach that acts almost like a bird gizzard, which breaks down plant matter and phytoplankton that the fish filter feed on from the water column. This species is very important for the health of many ecosystems, including Pomona Lake, because they help control plankton populations and they are a prey item for many other fish species including crappies, white bass, and black bass.
