AGFC Fishing Reports
From the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
www.agfc.com
Crown Lake (updated 2-12-2020) Boxhound Marina (870-670-4496) said the clarity is murky and the water level is high. They ve had no fishing reports of late.
Lake Charles (updated 2-19-2020) Shelly Jeffrey at Lake Charles State Park had no report.
Call the visitor center for any updates if you are going to Lake Charles.
Lake Poinsett (updated 2-12-2020) Seth Boone, the park superintendent at Lake Poinsett State Park, says the lake remains drained for the ongoing repair work; however, the state park has continued being the light in the dark for bait. We are looking forward to the lake coming back in about a year for guests to enjoy.
The park s bait shop is in close proximity to many other fishing destinations in northeast Arkansas while Lake Poinsett is repaired.
Spring River (updated 2-19-2020) Mark Crawford of Spring River Flies and Guides says water levels at the spring have been 490 cfs (350 cfs is average), and water clarity has been green tinted.
Normal clarity for this time of year. Heavy rains over the last few weeks have river levels above normal.
Be careful wading.
The trout have been biting great on Y2Ks and Orange Blossoms. Both flies have fluorescent orange that stands out in the water. If the bite is slow, run a nymph as a dropper for more hits. It has been tough to get the fly down.
A sink tip line or a couple of extra split shot should do the trick. Also focus on the areas that have calm flows. The trout do not seem to like the fast water lately.
Mark adds that this is a great time to catch bigger fish. Starting in March, stocking will increase in preparation for the spring season. Less stocking at this time means a better chance to catch a trophy.
Check out Mark s blog at springriverfliesandguides.c om for the latest river conditions.
(updated 2-19-2020) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said the Spring River is a bit high.
This is a great place to wade fish when they are running water on the White and North Fork rivers.
Wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive Woolly Buggers with a bit of flash (size 10), cerise and hot pink San Juan worms (size 10) and Y2Ks (size 10).
Walcott Lake (updated 2-19-2020) Walcott Lake (Crowley s Ridge State Park) had no reports.
White River (updated 2-19-2020) Triangle Sports (870-793-7122) in Batesville had no catches to report. The water is high.
Southeast Arkansas
Arkansas River (Pine Bluff Pool) (updated 2-5-2020) The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Bass Fishing Team reports that water temperature is in the upper 40s. Water visibility is less than 1 foot in most places, less than 6-8 inches near tributaries and the main channel. Black bass are slow but can be caught with slowly worked finesse worms on shaky heads from brushpiles and steeper rock banks 6-12 feet deep within Lake Langhofer.
Temper expectations; black bass in this section of the river are usually very slow until the water warms to the low to mid 50s. We're still a few weeks out.
Arkansas River (Pool 2) No reports. Cane Creek Lake (updated 2-19-2020) Austin Davidson, park interpreter at Cane Creek State Park, had no report.
Lake Chicot (updated 2-12-2020) Brian Whitson, park interpreter at Lake Chicot State Park (870-265-5480), said there has been some activity on Lake Chicot, but the weather the last couple days may have stalled it.
The lake level appears to be coming up fairly quickly, so if the rain stops and the lake levels off, fishing on Lake Chicot should pick up nicely. Friday and Saturday weather calls from some sun, but temperatures will be cooler, so those who attempt to fish Lake Chicot this weekend, keep that in mind. Lake Monticello (updated 2-19-2020) The lake is undergoing a repair the dam and improvements to the fish habitat and is currently closed.
Southwest Arkansas
Millwood Lake As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake s elevation was 259.73 feet msl (normal pool: 259.20 feet msl).
(updated 2-19-2020) Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said Millwood is up and down again from recent thunderstorms and another 3-5 inches of rain. As of Monday, the discharge at the dam was around 19,000 CFS in Little River according to the USACE. The tailwater below the dam and gates, as of Monday is around 248 feet msl with discharge. Check the most recent lake level of Millwood Lake on the guide service s website linked above, or at the Army Corps of Engineers website, for updated gate release changes and inflow rates with rising and falling lake levels, especially during high flow river conditions. Continue to use extreme caution in Little River navigation this week where logs and debris fields are present in the high river flow current conditions. Wilton Landing on U.S. Highway 71 was closed off this past week due to high water/unsafe conditions in Little River.
Surface temps as of Monday ranged 48-53 degrees. Little River is heavy stain, moderate current, and with random broken timber and debris.
Clarity and visibility ranged 3-5 inches. The oxbow's clarity was improving recently but with thunderstorm runoff is was ranging 5-15 inches depth of visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds, rain or thunderstorms.
The up and down of Millwood Lake level has the bass not knowing if they're coming or going, so it s on again/off again, again. The largemouth bass were trying to transition to shallow roaming and bedding flats two weeks ago; now they have pulled back out to nearest structure with the lake again on the fall. Rat-L-Traps, chatterbaits and Little John crankbaits have been working over the last few weeks, and MR-6, Echo 1.75 and Bomber deep Fat Free Shads were getting decent responses over the past couple of weeks.
Anywhere a creek channel is close by to the deeper creek bends or vertical structure and drops into the oxbows, where stumps and creek mouths drop, have held some decent-size bass over the past several weeks and they were moving shallow on afternoons. The largemouths were much more reliable in the oxbows of McGuire and Horseshoe lakes where the water clarity was drastically better, water temps were warmer, and calm or river current was present.
Bream-colored square-bill crankbaits, Little John Custom painted crankbaits in bream and shad patterns, along with Baby Brush Hogs were taking some decent 14-17-inch largemouths over the past few days in the clearer water sections of the oxbows up Little River where clarity was best. Mike noted upwards of 55-degree water temps over a week ago, and with the cold fronts passing, it s dropped back into the upper 40s again. River bass have disappeared with all the high current and muddy inflow.
For several weeks, the whites bass have been roaming up Little River and the oxbows, and staging in preparation for a spawning run, along creek mouths in junctions with the river. Heavy thumping æ-ounce and 1-ounce Rat-L-Traps in Millwood Magic, chrome or Splatterback colors, cranked very slow and deep behind primary or secondary points, have caught some decent, 2-3pound whites over the past 2-3 weeks from 12-16 feet depth. A chrome æ-ounce Cordell Hammered Spoon with a red/white hair bucktail vertical-jigged behind primary points, near the bottom where stumps were located on the backside of points, were connecting with a few nice sized 2-3pound whites again this week. White Bass have been staging just out of the current, in creek mouths and hammering Tennessee Shad Square-bill Crankbaits and Rat-LTraps. Swimming jigs with a heavy thumping tail swimbait trailer picked up a few whites in 10-14 feet swimming and dropping the bait.
No report on spotted bass or crappie. Catfish have been very consistent over the past few weeks with the increased current along Little River. Channel cats and blues have been biting chicken livers, Punch Baits and hot dogs over the last week on trotlines from 9-12 feet of depth in current.
