The depths of Perry Reservoir are about to get a new inhabitant. Bountiful species like crappie, largemouth bass, sauger, white bass and channel catfish shortly will share their watery haunts with smallmouth bass. Smallmouth bass are a species more common in northern states but several Kansas reservoirs find them thriving in their waters. Avid bass anglers and a biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks hope Perry Reservoir can be added to the list of great places to catch smallmouth bass.

"I've looked at it for several years," said KDWP fisheries biologist Kirk Tjelmeland. "Here at Perry we have the habitat that smallmouth bass need in the form of boulders, rip-rap, gravel bars and all those things they need to do well. And we've had lots of anglers asking us to put them in there."

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