EAST ARKANSAS FISHING REPORTS

Compiled BY JIM HARRIS

Arkansas Wildlife Editor

■ Lake Charles — Shelly Jeffrey at Lake Charles State Park (870-878-6595) said the surface water temperature Monday afternoon was 54.5 degrees and the water level is low (Lake Charles helps provide water to Shirey Bay Rainey Brake WMA’s waterfowl hunting). The clarity is the usual murky. There were no fishing reports from the past week following a pretty good week of activity among all species. Shelly says that “moon times’ indicate good fishing days coming up Dec. 17-23.

■ Lake Poinsett – Lake Poinsett is in the process of refilling, but is rainfall dependent and the region hasn’t had a lot of rainfall lately. The fishing now is predominantly catch-andrelease for bream. They seem to be biting on crickets and worms. Small boats, kayaks or canoes are the only watercraft that can launch at this time. The gate at the dam at Lake Poinsett was closed a year ago, following the completion of a three-year renovation projection, and the lake began to refilling. The lake has been undergoing an extensive renovation with a new water control structure, more than 10,000 linear feet of shoreline work, more than 100 habitat structures placed on the lakebed, and nearly 100 trees anchored for fish habitat. Other forage species that were stocked this spring include fathead minnows, golden shiners and threadfin shad have been added in huge numbers to the lake to build up the food supply for the predators, which will be stocked in 2022.

■ Crown Lake – Boxhound Marina (870-6704496) has closed for the season and will reopen in mid-February.

■ Spring River – Mark Crawford with springriver fliesandguides.com (870955-8300) said the Spring River is flowing at 250 cfs (350 is average) and water clarity has been very clear.

The river has been very low for a few months now. Really in need of rain in this area. Guide trips have been in rafts lately. The drift boats have not done well on all of the rocks and low water areas. Catching has been great over the last two weeks. Lots of blue-wing olives and caddis hatching, especially last week with the warm weather. Dries have been working on the spring, but beware the shad in the shallow areas. We’ve got big ones and they love dries! Nymphs and smaller Woollies have been great for numbers. White Lightning, a big white fly pattern sold in fly shop similar to big white Woolly, has been the producer many times for bigger rainbows and, of course, olive Woollies for the browns. Overcast days have been small streamer fun and nymphing on the sunny days. If the bite is not there, eggs or move! Catching a few bass, but more largemouth than smallies. As the cold sets in, the smallmouth can start to bite. But slow presentations during winter months. The White Lightning was made for smallmouth during winter below a big hopper. Hopper during winter? Better than an indicator.

■ White River – The Army Corps of Engineers reported Thursday that the White River stage at Batesville was at 7.24 feet, well below the flood stage of 15.0 feet. The Newport stage was at 3.27 feet, also well below the flood stage of 26.0 feet.

The stage at Augusta has was up almost a foot from last week to 14.11 feet, still almost 12 feet below flood stage of 26.00 feet. Triangle Sports (870-793-7122) in Batesville reports that walleye are fair around Locks 2 and 3 on live bait and jigs.

■ Bear Creek Lake & Storm Creek Lake – Tyler Ball, park ranger at Mississippi River State Park (870295-4040), said anglers at Bear Creek Lake report having a little success catching bream with red worms. Bream have been reportedly caught between depths of 4-6 feet. Meanwhile, there is very little fishing activity present at Storm Creek Lake now. Tyler says they haven’t received any reports from anglers within the last month. If you’re vising the state park, please let the Visitor Center know how it’s going.