Get bundled up for some cold-weather fishing

Winter may be here but there’s still good fishing to be had if you plan ahead

By Jim Harris

Arkansas Wildlife Editor

Brandon Suga had plenty of warmweather gear on while fishing with guide Mark Crawford on the Spring River in northeast Arkansas recently. But it didn't hamper him from catching some nice fish, including this colorful rainbow (right).

This week, some below-freezing temperatures, plus snow in parts of Arkansas, might chase away many anglers to the warmth of their homes. The weather forecast for the Christmas weekend shows highs in the 20s and 30ss in a lot of Arkansas, with a chance on Friday in parts of the state.

If you do decide to brave the cold to make a holiday fishing trip, just remember to bundle up wherever you are, or wear layers so you can remove them on the boat rather than showing up shivering.

Hypothermia is nothing to scoff at, but this is also a good time to catch some crappie, stripers and more on various lakes if you're prepared for

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the conditions.

Read more from Mark Crawford on the Spring River below:

East Arkansas Fishing Reports

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— Shelly Jeffrey at Lake Charles State Park (870-878-6595) said largemouth bass suddenly became active again, with a fair bite enjoyed by lake anglers. Fly-rods were catching them. Other than bass, she heard no other reports. She notes that while the holidays are approaching, the best “moon” times for fishing will fall Dec. 20-26. The lake is low, as water from Lake Charles has been used to help flood the Shirey Bay Rainey Brake WMA next door. The water clarity is the usual murky, and the water temperature this week is 52.7 degrees but is expected to drop over the next few days.

• Lake Poinsett — Seth Boone, the superintendent at Lake Poinsett State Park, reported had nothing new to report from Lake Poinsett. Remember that bass and crappie are catchand- release only as the lake’s sport fish build back up after Poinsett’s renovation work. Bream and catfish also abound.

• Crown Lake — Boxhound Marina (870670-4496) is closed for the winter and will reopen in February. They are taking reservations on their answering machine for spring.

• Spring River — Mark Crawford with springriverfliesandguides. com (870955-8300) said water levels have been at 300 cfs (350 cfs is average), and water clarity has been clear. The river has been low and clear for a while now. With the low and clear conditions, the trout can be very picky on the nice sunny days. Slowing the presentation down with a Hopper Dropper has worked well the last few weeks. A Y2K below the Hopper about 23 feet has been really hot.

With White Lightning as a dropper can get you more bass plus trout. “We are getting hits on the Hopper and that is always a blast!

On streamer days minnow patterns have worked best.” “In the evenings, caddis hatches can offer dry fly action with elk hair caddis.

Blue-wing olives are hatching most mornings with a little sun light. When seeing a good hatch on the river, I also watch for the baitfish feeding on the bugs. When that happens the trout can key in on the baitfish that are feeding on the bugs. There are a lot of baitfish in Spring River!”

Catching a few bass on lead-eye Woollies and small streamers. Got to work it slow or do a popper dropper with a white lightning as the dropper. This setup works really well during cold winter months when the bite slows down with the bass.

With low water conditions the wading has been easier, but always be careful, the river bottom of the Spring River is very slick and this is no time to go swimming! John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said the water level on the Spring River is fishable.

This is a great place to wade fish when they are running water on the White and North Fork rivers.

Canoe season is over. 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, cerise and hot pink San Juan worms and Y2Ks.

• White River — The Newport stage jumped more than 10 feet from this time last week to 15.22 feet with a 2.28-foot rise since noon Wednesday. The stage at Augusta was also up more than 10 feet from this time last week.

Triangle Sports (870-7937122) in Batesville had no reports.