Around the Boathouse…

Northeast Arkansas Fishing News & Notes

AGFC Fisheries Division

• Stocking has begun at Lake Poinsett, which underwent a renovation lasting about three years at a cost of $3 million. With the lake about half-full in the middle of March, the AGFC began stocking with forage species March 15.

The first to go in were bluegill, fathead minnows and golden shiners, according to Brett Timmons of the AGFC Fisheries Division, who supervises the district in which Lake Poinsett (near Harrisburg and south of Jonesboro) resides.

Another stocking was completed on April 6. To date AGFC has stocked 41,282 bluegill, 86,940 fathead minnows, 10,234 golden shiners and 1,995 prespawn threadfin shad.

AGFC plans to stock for prey species in the lake periodically this summer with the addition of more golden shiners and redear sunfish as the lake fills to full pool. These fish, it is hoped, will reproduce multiple times this summer and provide a great start to the forage base of the lake before predators are added next year.

• One management tool AGFC staff use to collect data from a fishery is what is known as a creel survey.

Creel surveys have two components: interviewing anglers and counting anglers. There are several ways of counting anglers, and this information is used to estimate fishing pressure. Since 2018, fisheries staff in west-central Arkansas have been using game cameras to collect this data. Not only does it allow the staff to collect count data, but it also informs them on how to most efficiently collect interviews based on when and where anglers launch. This year these cameras are being used as part of a spring creel survey on Lake Nimrod. Anglers at Nimrod should anticipate the possibility of being approached for an interview by an AGFC employee this spring, and the AGFC FIsheries Division appreciates angler participation in these interviews.