Cash in on Your Crappie Catch

Tagged fish can be worth up to $50

From the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

www.agfc.com

The AGFC Fisheries Division says the crappie fishing just got more interesting on Lake Hogue, a 300-acre impoundment in western Poinsett County south of Jonesboro. District 3 Fisheries staff recently tagged crappie in Lake Hogue. The tags (yellow, in the photo on the right) are worth $5 and $50.

See CASH, page A10

Photo courtesy of AGFC.com CASH

From page A8

The tagged fish study will help AGFC biologists assess the amount of crappie harvested in Hogue each year.

Analyses of the crappie began in 2017 after anglers began reporting smaller crappie being caught there.

Biologists have since looked at several parameters of the crappie population, gathered data from anglers to help estimate effort (or number of time anglers spend fishing for crappie), sampled the population (estimating growth, population size and age structure), and studied exploitation (the amount of harvest the population receives). All of this data is used to determine health of the population and how the crappie population should be managed. The data also will help inform what regulations may need to be set to help maintain the crappie population in the lake.

Anglers who catch a tagged crappie are asked to report the tag by calling the phone number on the yellow tag to receive the cash prize.

East Arkansas Fishing Reports

— Shelly Jeffrey at Lake Charles State Park (870-878-6595) said the lake is murky and high. Surface water temperature on Sunday morning was 51 degrees. The visitor center is open and there is access via the boat ramp off Arkansas Highway 25; also the boat ramp in the park is open 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

Best moon times for fishing this month are during April 20-26, she said.

Crappie fishing is good using minnows and jigs, as well as worms and lipless crankbaits in black/orange or silver/blue. Bass are good. Anglers are catching bass on spinnerbaits, topwater lures, plastic worms and lipless cranks.

Catfishing is good. Use worms, blood bait, stink bait, goldfish or minnows. No report on bream.

• Spring River — Mark Crawford of Spring River Flies and Guides had no report. Check out Mark’s blog at springriverfliesandguides. com for the latest river conditions.

John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said the Spring River is navigable. This is a great place to wade fish when they are running water on the White and North Fork rivers. Be sure to 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).

• Arkansas River — The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Bass Fishing Team said water temperatures are in the low to mid-60s. Water clarity is up to 1.5 feet in protected backwaters and only inches on the main channel and tributaries. Regional Park and Island Harbor boat ramps are open, St. Marie Park is closed. Island Harbor ramp is almost flooded, Regional Park can handle another foot or so of rise. The main channel is dangerous right now; most jetties and some navigational buoys are completely submerging from the current; please stay off the main channel for now. No report on fishing.

• Horseshoe Lake — Professional fishing guide Ronnie Tice (901-6876800) said that due to the weather, things have slowed way down. He had poor reports on the bream, crappie and black bass.

Catfishing was good using shad, stink bait and crawfish. Horseshoe is muddy and high, he said Tuesday afternoon. Check out Ronnie’s Facebook page for the latest information, recent photos when the fishing was, and more on the old Mississippi River oxbow not far from Hughes.

• Cook's Lake — The AGFC’s Wil Hafner at Cook’s Lake Conservation Education Center (870241-3373) says Cook's Lake says the water is up and in fact the White River is approaching 29 feet at Clarendon.

Fishing has been good whan the weather has allowed it, especially in the mornings and in shallow waters near the banks, which are swollen now.