Tucked away in the Chautauqua Hills, just a few miles northeast of Toronto Ks, is the Woodson State Fishing Lake – Lake Fegan. Surrounded by rolling hills and the cross-timbers, Woodson State Fishing Lake features dominant post and blackjack oak, bluestem grass lands, side-oats grama, and Indiangrass.
Woodson County Fishing Lake itself is 180 surface acres but the entire wildlife area offers a total of 2,885 acres of public lands. This lake is also known as Lake Fegan as the original property was donated by R.B. Fegan in 1933 and was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Woodson County Fishing Lake Improvements
Work was performed on the damn in 2019 and the lake was drained, the dam repaired and the lake restocked. Keeper fish of all varieties are being caught now in the clear waters of this classic, beautiful, hidden gem of a lake. Learn more about fishing this Fishing Lake at the KDWP.
Upland bluestem prairie is prevalent in the adjacent Woodson Wildlife Area. On the east side of the lake the wooded ravines are great for exploring. Ferns and mosses grow around the rocky outcroppings and clear pools formed by the dripping stream.
The Chautauqua Hills is a fascinating sliver of sandstone hills no more than 10 miles wide that penetrates up into the Osage Cuestas from Oklahoma. Remnants of a sandy Pennsylvanian age river delta formed between 320 and 286 million years ago, this region features a rugged terrain of oak-bluestem savannas called the cross-timbers.
The predominant sandstone of the area was used in this ornate wall that runs the full length of the dam, which was was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s. It is known as Lake Fegan by old-timers.
Courtesy of Kansas Dept of Wildlife & Parks
