Weekly Arkansas Fishing Report Feb. 27

Lou Gabric of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort said now is a great time to catch a striped bass. The best bite on the lake has been for striped and hybrid bass with black bass and white bass not far behind. I have caught 24 stripers and hybrids in the last four days and only fished three of those days. All but three fish were returned to the lake to be caught again someday. I have used live shiners, but vertical jigging with a spoon has by far been the better bait. I have been using a ¾- and 1-ounce spoon in all white, and white with a green back. To be honest, I don’t think color matters much when you are dropping the spoon into a school of feeding fish. The biggest secret for this time of year is to work the spoon very, very slowly. No big jerks or fast movements. I have been finding stripers and hybrids in the Cranfield area, 101 area and the Henderson area. The fish are feeding on small, 1-inch shad. Find the shad and you will find the fish. The schools that I have found this week are anywhere from 30 feet down to 90 feet down in 100 feet of water. I have actually spooned up a striper from the bottom at 100 feet deep. Look in the old deep river channel or just off the edge of the channel, these are the types of areas where I have been have had the most luck. White bass fishing has also been really good over the last couple of weeks. These are the big 2.5 plus pound whites. The great thing about the white bass is that they are hanging in very similar areas as the stripers and hybrids. When you find one you typically find the other, but maybe not at the same time of day. They are also schooling in huge schools feeding on shad. Vertical jigging with a spoon is working great. A few times I have found the whites in a little shallower water (55 feet). I have marked them at all depths in the water column. A very good tool this time of year to finding whites is to find the feeding seagulls. If you see the birds diving in the water, go that direction and there will be fish under them. Some people think this is a silly tool to use, but why not use what nature is providing.

Guide Steve Olomon of Steve’s Guide Service had no new report..

Tim Partin of 101 Grocery and Bait, www.101groceryandbait.com, had no new report.

Jason Piper of JT’s Crappie Guide Service (479-640-3980) said bone or clown colored suspending rouges have been producing bass over and along points with timber and around timber along sloping banks. On slow days, work a jig-and-craw combo in the same areas very slowly. Big Ventris, Little Clifty, Van Winkle Hollow and White River have all been good for bass. Crappie have slowed a bit with the recent cold snap. Look for them to hold tight to cover on cloudy or cool days in 20 to 35 feet of water close to a channel. Work a tube or a Shineee Hineee jig slowly close to the brush, community docks, log jams, lay down trees or timber. If the sun comes out and warms up a bit, look for crappie to shallow up in the same areas and suspend just under the surface. A 2-inch swim bait on a 1/32 oz. jig head cast past the school and let flutter past the fish has worked well. Another option is to put a fixed cork up from the jig 3-5 feet and cast past the school twitching the float slightly. Piney Creek, Eden Bluff, Horseshoe Bend and the White River have all been good. White bass have been suspending over main lake flats and the adjacent points. Slow trolling a Hot N Tot over the flat near the channel watching your graph is one way to locate a school, another is to watch for flocks of seagulls picking off shad. Once a school is located, a ½- to ¾-oz. jigging spoon should entice them to bite. Monte-Ne, Prairie Creek, Rocky Branch and Point 12 have all been good places to find schools of whites. Catfishing has been slow, but a few can be caught in the evening using liver or cut bait. Hickory Creek, Highway 12 Bridge and the 412 Bridge access have all been good places to fish.

Lake Chicot State Park said bass fishing is fair. Crappie are slow, but should improve in the next few weeks.

Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said the lake level is 5.8 inches above normal conservation pool and rising. Surface temperatures are 48 to 55 degrees. Discharge rate as of Tuesday was 2,322 cfs. Clarity and visibility are fair. Little River and the main lake is almost muddy with increased current release at the dam. As of Tuesday on main lake structure away from current, visibility ranges 5-6 inches. Little River’s visibility ranges 5-6 inches depending on location and current. The bass activity level over past couple weeks continues to be a mixed bag with the wildly fluctuating daytime temperatures. Rat-L-Traps, crankbaits, Salty Rat Tails, Lizards, Brush Hogs, and Yum Dingers have been the go-to lures over the past couple weeks, working during the warmest period of the day. Largemouths were hitting the Bomber and XCalibur crankbaits in 9-11 foot depths of creek channels (outer turns of the creek and deeper wash outs) with 4-6 foot flats nearby. The most productive colors of Rat-L-Traps over the past week or two, have been Lectric Red, Toledo Gold and Red Chrome. Spring Bream-colored Rat-L-Traps have also been landing some shallow cruising male bass on flats. Slow-moving magnum sized tubes in black/blue tail, pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, or smoke/black/red flake continue randomly working on Cypress trees, knees, and stumps in 8-12 feet in the oxbows. Chatter baits in white shad, or black/blue continue taking a few bass as well, in the oxbows around vegetation lines or dead lily pad stems. War Eagle Spinnerbaits in Spot Remover or sexy shad colors were working in the back of McGuire Lake over the past week in the clearer water away from river current. Real Deal Custom Tackle jigs in Voodoo or Okeechobee Spice colors are still taking nice 15-17″ Largemouths on cypress trees and knees in 4-8 foot depths. White bass continue holding between Highway 71 bridge and Patterson Shoals, on points and cuts protruding into the river. Numerous fishermen have been catching good numbers of whites and spotted bass on Rooster Tails, Little Cleos, Rocket Shads and Rat-L-Traps. Crappie are scattered. Some are in the back of the oxbows of Horseshoe and Mud Lake areas, where the water is much clearer away from river current, are being caught on base of cypress trees using Blakemore roadrunners and minnows. Catfishing is good on trotlines run in 12-16 feet of water near the river current. Stink bait, cheese dough, and cut shad were best, baited on trotlines and yo-yos over the past week.

West-Central Arkansas

Drawdown Update: Entergy Arkansas says winter drawdowns of 5 feet on Hamilton and 3 feet on Catherine will be maintained until March 2013. Water released at the dams will be used to generate hydroelectric power. The annual drawdowns help with shoreline maintenance and inspection, and are part of a plan to help control nuisance aquatic vegetation. Entergy Arkansas coordinates the annual winter drawdown with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

For weekly flow releases from Carpenter Dam, visit www.entergy.com/hydro.

Shane Goodner, owner of Catch’em All Guide Servicesaid water temperature directly below Carpenter Dam is 44 degrees and rises to 49 degrees below the bridge. Clear conditions exist in the tailrace with a regular generation schedule running each week. Huge numbers of trout are everywhere and feeding on shad and insect hatches. Bank fishermen are catching the most fish, but are hampered by fast waters close to the dam. Periods of slack water are best for these anglers as they continue to record limits of trout on brightly colored Power Bait, corn, redworms or wax worms combined with a marshmallow floater. Fly fishermen are lined up each morning and afternoon below the shoals. Woolly buggers, micro-jigs, San Juan worms, and egg patterns have all produced good catches when cast with a strike indicator during periods of current. Watching the gulls dive down and eat injured shad drawn through the turbines is an excellent way of locating schools of trout. Spin fishermen are having success using Super Dupers in silver or gold, 1/16 ounce jigs in grey or white, and Rooster Tails in brown or white. Walleye are present and spawning from the bridge to the dam on both sides of the lake. Catching spawning walleye is a tough job the majority of the time. Trolling shallow running crankbaits in the channels has proven to be the most effective means of locating walleye. Carolina rigs tipped with minnows or nightcrawlers tight lined from anchored boats is the technique of choice after the fish are located. These fish will be present until late April. Crappie will begin their spawning run in early March. White bass begin in April. Hybrid and striper action is very slow. No topwater activity reported with very few fish seen or caught.

Drawdown Update: Entergy Arkansas says winter drawdowns began Nov. 3. Lake Hamilton will drop 5 feet and Lake Catherine will drop 3 feet. Water released at the dams will be used to generate hydroelectric power. Both lakes will return to their normal summertime levels in March 2013. The annual drawdowns help with shoreline maintenance and inspection, and are part of a plan to help control nuisance aquatic vegetation. Entergy Arkansas coordinates the annual winter drawdown with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Lucky Landing (479-641-7615) filed no report this week.

South-Central Arkansas

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Bass Team said water temperatures are in the upper 40s with some backwaters reaching low 50s by midday. There’s light current on the main channel with visibility less than one foot. Water in Lake Langhofer is clearer, with visibility approximately 1 to 1.5 feet. Bass are very slow but can be caught with slow-moving jigs fished shallow.