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4B – El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Saturday, November 22, 2014
Arkansas Fishing Report
By The Arkansas
Game & Fish Commission
South-Central Arkansas
Ouachita River Oxbows
(Updated
9-17-2014)
Jaret
Rushing said the cool front that
moved through slowed the fishing down.
Bass, crappie and bream all
slowed, but should move into
their fall patterns and begin
moving to shallower water and
be a little more aggressive toward topwater.
Try to downsize and slow your
presentation a bit as the water
becomes cooler.
Tri-County Lake
(Updated
9-17-2014)
Jaret
Rushing said the cool front that
moved through slowed the fishing down.
Bass, crappie and bream all
slowed, but should move into
their fall patterns and begin
moving to shallower water and
be a little more aggressive toward topwater.
Try to downsize and slow your
presentation a bit as the water
becomes cooler.
White Oak Lake
(Updated 11-19-2014) Stacey
Jackson at White Oak Lake State
Park (870-685-2748) said please
remember that the lower lake
has special regulations in place.
Bream are fair on worms and
crickets.
Bass fishing has been slow.
Catfish are biting well on trotlines baited with nightcrawlers
and prepared catfish bait. Crappie are biting fairly well at night
in the upper lake.
Southeast Arkansas
Cane Creek Lake
(Updated 11-19-2014) Seth
Boone at Cane Creek State Park
in Star City bass are in deeper
water early in the day and shallow water later.
There’s still some good action in the shallows during the
warmest part of the day on a
topwater popper. Otherwise, a
jig or a spoon are the best bets
for bass right now.
Crappie are still biting fairly well on shiners fished in the
deeper channels of the lake.
Catfish are biting very well on
live bream at night. Bream are
biting fairly well on worms.
Lake Chicot
(Updated 11-19-2014) Geoff
Wright at Lake Chicot State Park
said that although the water is
very low, the ramp is still usable.
Very few anglers are on the lake.
Lake Chicot is currently undergoing a drawdown that will
continue through Jan. 1, 2015, to
mimic natural low water years
necessary to keep production
levels high.
Southwest Arkansas
Millwood Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation at 259.62 feet
msl (normal conservation pool –
259.60 msl).
(Updated 11-19-2014) Mike
Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide
Service said as of Monday the
lake is 5.5 inches above normal
conservation pool and falling.
There is increased current of
Little River with the gates releasing around 1,452 cfs. Water
temperatures range from 48 to
52 degrees.
Water clarity improved since
last week, in most areas on main
lake and Little River and ranges
from 10 to 15 inches of visibility.
Little River’s visibility ranges
10-15 inches depending on location and current. Bass have been
slow this week with the cold
weather and dropping water
temperature. Not many anglers
are on the lake as well.
Kastmaster and Cordell hammered jigging spoons with bucktails were still taking some good
fish in the pockets and coves out
of the current in Little River over
planted brush and stumps, in
12-18 feet of water, close to drop
offs into Little River.
Magnum-sized 3- to 4-inch big
tubes and gitzits with rattles
were beginning to get a reaction
on stumps in 8-10 feet of water.
Purple smoke, Black/blue fleck,
and
pumpkinseed/chartreuse
tail were seeming to draw best
reactions.
Bomber and XCalibur cranks in
Tennessee shad, citrus shad, or
sexy ghost seem to be preferred
by largemouths and white bass
when you can coax a bite.
Rat-L-Traps, Spin Traps, or
Pro-Traps in Millwood magic,
chrome/blue, or white zombie
shad were taking largemouths
and white bass also in creek
channels, ditches, and points in
Little River prior to the cold front
hitting this week.
Search for the whites upriver at creek dumps and ditches
dumping into Little River on
points and creek mouths junctions and where you see large
wads of shad on your electronics.
Jigging vertical spoons were
also catching some whites late
last week behind points and out
of current.
No report on crappie. Catfish
were biting chicken livers and
hearts this week, along with cut
bait, cut shad, and buffalo. Running trotlines from 12-18 feet
seemed to be best depth range
over the past few days.
Lake Greeson
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation was 538.38 feet
msl (Flood pool – 548 msl).
DeGray Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation was 398.16 feet
msl (flood pool – 408 msl).
(Updated 11-19-2014) Local
angler George Graves said surface water temperature is in
the low 50s and the lake is clear
throughout. There’s not much to
report with all the cold weather, but fishing should improve
when the weather moderates.
A few decent bass catches were reported from those
few fishing. Most are coming
from the backs of major creeks
and big coves on crankbaits
fished around shallow secondary points where the shad are
schooling.
The key here is shad, so be
sure to look for the bait first.
Natural shad colors have been
working best on the cranks. The
best places have been Yancey,
Big Hill, Brushy creeks and the
Lenox Marcus, Shouse Ford areas. No report on crappies. Hybrid fishing has slowed with the
cold. Look for the fish to be moving out of the creeks and coves
to the Shouse Ford and Point Cedar areas because that is their
winter staging area. No reports
on bream or catfish.
West-Central Arkansas
Lake Nimrod
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation was 342.38 feet
msl (flood pool – 373 msl).
(Updated 11-19-2014) Good Ole
Boys Trading Post (479-272-4710)
said very few anglers have been
on the water lately. No report on
the fishing.
Lake Dardanelle
(Updated 11-19-2014) Chuck
Morrison at Classic Catch Guide
Service (479-774-9117) said water temperature is 47 degrees in
the mornings with good water
clarity.
Bass are on the edge of the
drops in channel swings and
on deeper points. The jerk bait
bite has been picking up, as has
the Rat-L-Trap bite in sexy shad.
Chrome and blue spinnerbaits
and swim baits have been working well slow-rolled off channel
swings.
Also try a jig or green back/
chartreuse crankbait along bluff
walls. Crappie are on fire at 17
feet deep in the river and 10 to
12 feet in the backwaters and
creeks. Dark-colored jigs and
minnows have been producing
very well.
Stripers are biting very well
on swim baits, spinnerbaits and
jerk baits on the jetties. White
bass have been very good on
small crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps
and white jigs with grubs in the
backwater and at the mouths of
the creeks.
Catfish has been doing very
well also on cut skipjack along
bluffs and the mouths of the
creeks.
Blue Mountain Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation was 384.36 feet
msl (flood pool – 419 msl).
Lake Ouachita
As of Wednesday, the Army
Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation was 570.72 feet
msl (flood pool – 578 msl).
(Updated 11-19-2014) Todd
Arkansas Game & Fish Report
LITTLE ROCK – In a few
months, the 100th anniversary of the Arkansas Game
and Fish Commission will be
celebrated.
The date is March 11, 2015.
The AGFC was created that
day in 1915 and, in following
decades, came state agencies dealing with parks, forests, soil and water, along
with conservation courses in
schools.
A variety of events is
planned by the AGFC and
partners to celebrate the centennial. Major programs are
planned at the State Capitol,
Wednesday, March 11, and
at open houses at AGFC
nature centers, fish hatcheries and other facilities across
Arkansas, Saturday, March 15.
Keep an eye on the AGFC
website – www.agfc.com –
and its Facebook page for
more information.
Two books published by
the AGFC will be on sale in
time for Christmas. One is
a coffee-table format photo
history book.
The other is a colorful
cookbook with 100 recipes
from AGFC staff members.
“We invite everyone in
Arkansas to participate
in many of the centennial
events that will be coming
up,” said AGFC Director
Mike Knoedl. “The natural
resources of Arkansas belong
to all the people, and we are
privileged to look after the
wildlife and the fish within
our borders.”
Ron Duncan, chairman of
the AGFC, said, “This is a
milestone anniversary for all
Arkansas, not just the Game
and Fish Commission. We
have the abundant and productive hunting and fishing
today because of the foresight of Arkansas leaders a
century ago. Without the
support of citizens, this could
not have been successful.”
The outlook for conservation in 1915 was dark for several reasons.
Europe
had
become
embroiled in a world war,
with the United States would
be pulled in just two years
later. Mexican revolutionaries crossed into American
territory.
In Arkansas, elk, bison and
swans were gone, deer were
drastically reduced, bears
extremely scarce, and ducks
and geese in decline.
Creation of a state agency to look after wildlife and
fish failed in the Arkansas
Legislature in 1913.
With renewed efforts,
it passed two years later
through intense efforts by
State Sen. J.M. Futrell of
Paragould and State Rep. Lee
Miles of Little Rock. Act 124
was signed into law March
11, 1915, by Gov. George
Washington Hays.
The AGFC’s birth came
in a period of nationwide
movements to protect natural resources. Spearheaded
by President Theodore
Roosevelt, numerous state
and national agencies were
created over a dozen or so
years.
The Migratory Bird Act
passed in 1913, which effectively ended market hunting.
The death of the last passenger pigeon came in 1914.
Big Lake National Wildlife
Refuge was created in northeastern Arkansas in 1915.
Later came amendments
to the state Constitution. In
1945, Amendment 35 gave the
AGFC semi-autonomous status and in 1996 Amendment
75 gave it secure revenue with
the 1/8-Cent Conservation
Sales Tax.
•••
JACKSONVILLE – T.A.
Lewis had to wait. He was
successful in taking doves,
bagging squirrels and downing ducks.
But deer hunting had to
be delayed under he turned
6 years old. That happened
a few months ago, and T.A.
jumped into deer hunting
in a big way, winning the
Triple Trophy Award of the
Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission even before the
big event, modern gun season, arrived.
The Triple Trophy is earned
by hunters who take deer by
archery, muzzle-loader and
modern gun during one season. Award winners receive
an attractive certificate and a
jacket patch.
T.A. got a 4-point buck with
a crossbow, then took a doe
with a muzzle-loader and
completed the sweep with
an 8-point buck with a rifle
during the early November
youth hunt.
He is the 6-year-old son
of Blake and Amanda Lewis
of Jacksonville. That wait
was due to regulations that
require a big game hunter in
Arkansas to be at least 6.
The lad sat in front of his
father on the three hunts.
T.A., said, “He had to cock
the crossbow for me. When
I shot the buck, it ran off into
this really thick thicket. But
we found it.”
The muzzle-loader success
was with a .50-caliber inline
gun. T.A. said, “I hit the deer,
and it ran off into that same
really thick thicket, but it
went farther.”
The youth hunt deer was
taken with a .308-caliber
Ruger rifle. T.A. said, “This
deer didn’t run off. It just
dropped.”
The crossbow deer was at
close range – 20 yards. The
muzzle-loader deer was a
little farther off. That modern gun deer? It removes any
doubt about T.A.’s shooting
ability. He downed it with
one shot at 245 yards. All
three of T.A.’s weapons were
equipped with telescopic
sights.
T.A.’s focus on hunting as
well as fishing came naturally since both dad and mom
are enthusiastic participants.
They hunt practically outside their back door, an easy
shot from Little Rock Air
Force Base.
Blake and Amanda are
consistent enough in getting
deer so venison is a mainstay of the eating. Amanda
won an Arkansas elk permit
in 2007 and downed a nicesized cow.
Gadberry at Mountain Harbor
Resort said the water is clear
and the water temperature is
55 to 58 degrees. Black bass are
active and being caught near
structure.
The topwater bite has slowed,
but is still good on all areas of
the lake. Try a jig and pig or
drop-shot a finesse worm for
some good action near structure.
Walleye have slowed. CC
spoons, jigged vertically, or
drop-shotted nightcrawlers are
still producing some fish. Stripers are very good on Alabama
rigs. Concentrate on major creek
basin areas to locate these fish.
No report on bream. Crappie
are biting well. They are being
caught near brush with minnows or crappie jigs around 12
to 16 feet deep. Catfish are biting well on nightcrawlers and
cut bait.
Lake Hamilton
According to Entergy, Blakely Mountain Dam is releasing
about 250 cfs from the flood
tunnel with fluctuations only to
keep the lake at winter target
level of 396.70 feet msl.
For weekly flow releases from
Blakely Mountain Dam, visit
www.entergy.com/hydro.
Lake Catherine
According to Entergy, Carpenter Dam is only releasing water
for a few hours every few days
to maintain the target winter
lake level of 301.00 feet msl.
For weekly flow releases from
Carpenter Dam, visit www.entergy.com/hydro.
(Updated 11-19-2014) Shane
Goodner, owner of Catch’em All
Guide Service said water temperature below Carpenter Dam
has fallen to 50 degrees with
the bitter cold conditions of the
last several days.
Clear conditions exist from
the dam to the bridge and for
several miles downstream as
Entergy has scheduled a minimum flow pattern the last two
weeks.
A 3-foot drawdown is now in
place on Lake Catherine and
will remain until early March
2015. Rainbow trout are scheduled to be stocked into the lake
this week.
These early stockers are always scattered, but can be
caught on basic live bait pre-
sentations and artificial lures
that imitate injured shad.
Wax or meal worms fished just
dam, white bass and crappie
congregate in the tailrace and
feed heavily when the turbines
are running. Jigs and crankbaits are sure-fire lures to find
and catch these game fish
which are targeting baitfish in
shallow water. Trout stockings
also attract big stripers and hybrids that tend to locate below
the bridge in the deeper water.
Brood or gizzard shad fished
under a balloon rig is a mainstay technique for live bait fishermen.
Central Arkansas
Craig D. Campbell
Lake Conway Reservoir
(Updated 11-19-2014) Bates
Field and Stream (501-470-1846)
said bream are biting fairly well
on worms fished about 10 feet
from the shoreline.
Crappie are biting well on
minnows and jigs fished around
Pierce Creek, Caney Creek and
the Highway 89 Bridge.
Bass are fair on jigs and crankbaits fished around creek channels.
Catfishing is good on yo-yos
baited with minnows and nightcrawlers hung from cypress
trees.
Little Red River
(Greers Ferry Tailwater)
(Updated 11-19-2014) Lowell
Myers of Sore Lip ’em All Guide
Service said the Little Red continues to receive small amounts of
generation each week.
Hunting season and cold
weather are contributing to
smaller numbers of anglers on
the river, so it’s a great time to
hit the Little Red.
Some nice browns and rainbows are being caught in all sections of the river.
off the bottom with a marshmallow floater will hook hungry trout
searching for prey. Redworms
and nightcrawlers cut into small
sections also work well presented in the same manner. Spin fishermen casting Rooster Tails in
white or brown will be successful
in slack or current conditions. Super Dupers in silver or gold perfectly imitate injured baitfish and
are a quality lure for catching
and releasing trout unharmed.
Boaters can anchor and cast
over sand bars and rock structure with all of these presentations and expect to catch fish.
Trolling shallow-running crankbaits below the bridge tends to
hook larger trout that prefer
deeper water downstream.
As shad migrate toward the
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