Spring fishing is heating up on Arkansas lakes, according to reports this week. With temperature warming, the bite is heating up on lakes in central Arkansas, including Overcup, Greers Ferry and Conway.
The Central Arkansas Crappie Association held a tournament on Lake Overcup on March 7 and the winning, seven-fish limit weighed a whopping 17 pounds. That is just under a 2.5-pound average. The big fish of the day topped the scales at 3.31 pounds, definitely a slab in anyone’s book. Anglers who participated in the event said there were plenty of 2-pound crappie to be had, according to AGFC biologist Matt Schroeder.
Schroeder also reported that the walleye spawning run is in full motion in the primary tributaries of Greers Ferry Lake: the South Fork, Middle Fork and Devil’s Fork of the Little Red River. Anglers are reporting catches of male walleye on and near the first good shoal upstream of the lake and there are a few females being taken in the deeper pools and runs below these shoals. Any substantial rain that puts significant inflow in the creeks will really spur the fish on. Don’t overlook the smaller tributaries. Places like Pee Dee Creek in the South Fork, Wild Goose Creek in the Middle Fork and Sugar Camp Creek in the Devil’s Fork will see a few walleye moving in if there is enough inflow. The lower lake sees its share of walleye spawning activity on the Big Dike and on long, gently sloping points with gravel substrate. “We have also seen spawning fish in Peter Creek when there has been sufficient inflow,” Schroeder reports.
Lake Conway has been producing some good crappie around the live cypress trees in mid-lake, Schroeder says. “One of our more consistent crappie anglers reported that he has caught some big females already running eggs. This seems a little early, yet but he is a very reliable source when it comes to talking crappie. This being the case, anglers should start seeing the crappie move up into the lily pads along the edges of Gold Creek and Caney Creek. The way temperatures are looking in the long-range forecast, the bass should not be far behind them. One place to target during the spawning seasons on lakes like Conway that have been impacted by sedimentation over the years, regardless of the species, is around mid-lake cypress trees and mid-lake humps. These areas are not as prone to silt in and will usually have a hard bottom and fish like to spawn on a hard substrate.”
In east Arkansas, guide Ronnie Tice reports an excellent bream bite suddenly on Horseshoe Lake, where he just caught his personal best bream (see photo upper left). Read more of Ronnie’s report in the Fishing Report under “East Arkansas” and follow his Facebook page as well for the latest updates.
Lou Gabric from Norfork Lake sent us a nice photo (bottom left) of his son-in-law, Jason Lenard of Spring, Texas, with a 4-pound, 2-ounce largemouth bass caught on a Berkley Flicker Minnow over a brushpile that was in 30 feet of water at Norfork Lake. The bass are really starting to get active and moving into very shallow water, Lou says, and topwater action has started for the bass.
