Crappie Catching at Millwood

Southwest Arkansas Fishing Reports

Arkansas Wildlife Editor We don’t know if this Texas angler named Tommy (no last name given) reached into his inner child, but he certainly looks happy catching a SLAB crappie at Millwood Lake last week, fishing with Millwood Guide Service’s crappie specialist, Mackey Harvin.

In Mike Siefert’s report this week from Millwood, he says crappie over the past week were random in strikes – on a solid bite one day, and flip-a-switch off the next day. The best bite seems to have shifted from jigs and Mizmo tubes to minnows, in planted brush piles in the oxbows up Little River and on main lake from 8-12 feet of depth. Vertical-jigging seemed to work best for jigs a week or so ago, but minnows seemed to stand out over the past week – randomly for the crappie early, but slow in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, if you don’t think of Millwood for catfish, maybe you should.

Blue catfish and channel cats up to around 4 pounds have been active there for a few weeks, Siefert says.

The largemouth and white bass, naturally, are there for the catching as well, as are the bream, especially with another big mayfly hatch recently.

Millwood Lake

As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation was 259.41 feet msl (normal pool: 259.20 feet msl; top flood elevation is 287.0 feet msl).

Notice: The Army Corps of Engineers at Millwood Lake recently completed adding an additional 25plus river buoys along the Little River main lake channel last week to improve navigation.

Also: The Corps says a 2feet drawdown of Millwood Lake recently was approved beginning Sept. 15 and running until at least Oct. 1, dependent on rainfall and concrete repair. Use extreme causion while navigating the lake during the drawdown pool elevations, as stumps and obstacles will be near or at surface pool. Boat lanes on open water may be dry ground or mere inches in depth with stumps and hazards. Drawdown work includes boat ramp repair near Beards Bluff, shoreline abatement/erosion replacement, and other related maintenance. For more information, call the Army Corps of Engineers Tri-Lakes office at 870898-3343.

Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said Millwood Lake is near normal, currently about 2 inches above normal conservation pool. The lake on Tuesday was at 259.4 feet msl and falling; the oxbows’ water clarity stained. Little River clarity was stained with current discharge this week.

Millwood Lake tailwater elevation is near 226 feet msl with gate discharge at the dam around 450 cfs in Little River, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Check the most recent lake level of Millwood Lake on the guide service’s website linked above, or the Army Corps of Engineers website, for updated gate release changes and inflow rates with rising and falling lake levels. Surface temps remain stable this week, ranging 82-88 degrees depending on location.

Current along Little River decreased this week with discharge release at the dam, and river clarity ranging 3-5 inches visibility depending on location.

Clarity and visibility of oxbows is ranging 10-14 inches depending on location. Mud lines last week that were observed flowing into Horseshoe Oxbow are dissipating, and oxbows began clearing. Further up Little River near White Cliffs and Wilton Landing has heavier stain conditions. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds, gate discharge, rain or thunderstorms. Clarity at Saratoga and Okay area has improved drastically.

As for the fishing specifics this week:

• For the past several weeks, various largemouth and other black bass have been randomly schooling at daybreak in the oxbows up Little River for a few hours in early mornings. The best

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Submitted photo FISHING REPORTS(cont.)

feeding periods have been from daylight to around 8-9 a.m., slowing in the heat of the day. Random schooling slowed somewhat this week, with fewer schools seen surface breaking.

When schools of shad are broken up by juvenile and adolescent-sized bass, the melee can be awesome for several minutes. “When good schools break, we were getting decent reactions using the Bill Lewis Stuttersteps, Cordell Boy Howdy’s, Clear Baby Torpedoes, Heddon Dying Flutters and Cordell Crazy Shads in chrome/black back. Blowup reactions randomly continue in the lily pads, early on plastic frogs in black, white or pumpkinseed/pearl belly, near pads and grass. The schooling bass are chasing large pods of threadfin shad to the surface and blowing them out of the water at daylight in the oxbows near vertical structure where the flats drop off into 8-15 feet of depth,” Mike said.

Reaction strikes are fair during the mornings until around 10 a.m. on Arbogast Jitterbugs and jointed Jitterbugs in Cricket Frog, Coach Dog and Perch colors. Moss Bosses in white, and rattling Zara Mouses in gray, are working randomly in the lily pads. Johnson chrome Silver Minnow Spoons with a white 3-inch curly tail grub trailer are getting reactions in the pads by rumbling over and pausing in gaps between lily pads. “Be advised, you need 30-pound or more braided line to hoss the bigger bass out of the salad and pads,” Mike said.

H& H tandem spinners in chartreuse/white and bream colors, Little John custom shad painted crankbaits, Bill Lewis square-bill SB57 and MR-6 Crankbaits in Chartreuse Shad, Tennessee Shad, Millwood Magic colors, 3/4-ounce 1-knocker Rat-L-Traps and Tandem Bass Assassin Rigs are also catching these surface schooling 3- to 4-pound fish. Ten-inch bulky worms in Blue Fleck, Black Grape and Peanut Butter ‘n Jelly colors continue working for a few bass up to 4 pounds when the surface commotion

Where the creek mouths dump into Little River, near Snake Creek, Jacks’ Isle and White Cliffs Creek, the Kentucky bass were found inside the main creek channels just out of river current over the past few weeks, hitting hammered chrome Cordell Spoons with white/red bucktail, custom painted Little John Cranks and Fat Free Shads, and behind points extending into Little River above Jack’s Isle.

Vertical-jigging of the spoons near standing timber and stumps continues working for some 2- to 3pound largemouth and white bass.

Bass Assassin Shad jerkbaits continue randomly working in the oxbows — the same flats and stumps with lily pads as the topwater frogs — early in the morning. Best colors over the past few weeks have been Salt & Pepper Silver Phantom, Houdini and Bluegill Flash in the 5-inch sizes seemed to draw best reactions.

If you can find drops and vertical structure where the alligatorweed and lily pads converge on receding flats or deeper drops on secondary points, from 5-6 feet deep tapering out to 8-9 feet deep, the custom painted S-Cranks and Little John Cranks in bream and shad patterns are still getting random reactions.

Bandit 200 Cranks in Splatterback, LA Shad, Chartreuse Rootbeer and Citrus Shad colors have been randomly working for several weeks for largemouth and white bass.

• Millwood had another mayfly hatch over the past two weeks, and have the bream active again under willow trees. Bream were fair to good at Millwood State Park and Jack’s Isle over the past week on redworms, crickets and mayflies.

• White bass have been roaming Little River over the past few weeks, but have been random in locations. Last week, two anglers found large schools of whites in McGuire Oxbow, schooling with the largemouths near vertical structure, and in creek channel dumps into the oxbow near back of McGuire in front of standing timber. Random schooling was taking place from daylight until around 9 a.m. with shad pods breaking as the whites were pushing them to the surface. Johnson Beetle Spins, Hammered Cordell Chrome Spoons with a red bucktail, Rocket Shads, 3/4-ounce Rat-L-Traps and Little Cleo’s were all randomly catching whites over last couple weeks in McGuire.

• Crappie over the past week were random in strikes — on a solid bite one day, and flip-a-switch off the next day.

The best bite seems to have shifted from jigs and Mizmo tubes to minnows, in planted brushpiles in the oxbows up Little River and on main lake from 8-12 feet of depth. Vertical-jig- FISHING REPORTS (cont.)

ging seemed to work best for jigs a week or so ago, but minnows seemed to work best over the past week, randomly for crappie early and slow in the afternoon.

• Catfish improved on the main lake using King’s Punch Bait, minnows, Catfish Charlie and hot dogs. Blues and channel cats up to around 4 pounds were fair and slightly more active this week.

Visit www.littlemissouriflyfishing. com for a daily update on fishing conditions.

John Duncan of yoyoguideservice. com at Iron Mountain Marina says, “It’s here! Summer slow down. It’s pretty short and sweet right now. Water level is down and still lowering. Water level is 399.14 feet msl. Water temperature has started to lower with these cooler nights to lower 80s. Yeah!! Little change in the pattern right now.

Schooling fish are pretty well everywhere. Use topwaters for surfacing fish (Whopper Plopper, Spook, poppers), then crankbaits or A-rigs. Don’t forget, you can troll the A-rigs, also.

Spoons are always a top producer and give you long casting distance because it is called “chasing schooling fish.” Go early and watch for boats or breakers. “Crappie are next. Wow, are they sluggish yet. You can find them in about 22 feet of water in brushpiles.

Lots are on the bottom around the piles. They are also schooled up in the timber at the same depth. They are slow to hit a jig but will take minnows somewhat.

They are just sluggish. May want to think about night fishing. The last option is sniping them with LiveScope.

“Cooler nights means change coming. Good fishing.”

Capt. Darryl Morris of Family Fishing Trips (501844-5418) says, “We’ve been catching fair amounts of white bass trolling crankbaits. Watch for the schooling shad and surface activity of feeding fish. Be ready to cast spoons at the surface feeding schools.”

As of Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation was 525.75 feet msl (full pool: 526.00 feet msl).

White Oak Lake Area (updated 9-2-2021) Curtis Willingham of River Rat Bait (870-231-3831) says that crappie are good in the Ouachita River on minnows and jigs. Also in the river, anglers can find a good bite from the bass.

Clarity is muddy and the water level is low.

Greeson Marine, hometown dealer of the Arkansas-born-and-bred Xpress, all-welded aluminum

Springs, reports Lake Hamilton at full pool with lake surface temps in the mid-80s except for the river channel below Blakely Dam. It has been very tough on anglers over the last week due to the amount of pleasure boat traffic on the lake. “We were crazy enough to try and fish. It was impossible to fish any of the main channels but we were able to slip into some creek fingers and get some fish in the boat.

“Bass are really starting to get active now that the water temps are starting to come down. Topwater baits thrown in shaded or dense grassy areas have done well.

Whopper Ploppers, and especially Spooks and frogs in white or silver color variations are getting hit aggressively in shallow water and under and beside structures (mainly docks) and the occasional downed tree. The old, reliable dropshot rig tipped with a smack silver fluke or dropshot worm in Watermelon Seed or Tequila Sunrise still is very effective for spotted bass on docks, pilings and points in 15-25 feet of water. Again, it is important to try and find shaded areas. Keep in mind, shade can be below the surface, also.

“Bream have been such too much fun this summer! A worm or cricket on a slip cork set to 15 feet and thrown just off docks in deeper water easily puts good pan-sized fish in the bucket quickly. Catfish have also been excellent on cut bait and cheese on creek channel drop-offs in 15-25 feet of water. Night is the time to go, but its not uncommon to catch a nice channel cat in the daylight.

No crappie report “Please continue to use caution on Lake Hamilton as there are plenty of pleasure boaters out. We fisherman will retake what is rightfully ours around the first weekend of October (smiley face). Good luck, and Go Greeson!”