Head down south for fine fishing this summer

Hot fishing spots in southern part of the state

www.agfc.com The fish are biting all across the southern half of Arkansas right now. And there may not be a hotter spot than Millwood Lake Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said that will the lake settled down (about 1 foot above normal pool as of Wednesday), they have been seeing nice numbers of largemouth bass busting Heddon Moss Bosses and the Yum Tip Toads in lily pads near bases of cypress trees for the past several weeks. The cass are once again feeding great early in the mornings from just before dawn until around 10 a.m. The best reactions seen lately are “up in the thick of it,” he said, where lily pads and hydrilla or coontail grass converge over primary or secondary points and humps. “Those are things heart attacks are made of,” Mike says. “I am typically starting the dawn hours with a Snot Rocket or bullfrog color Tip Toad, skipping it to the back of cypress trees where ridges extend out onto points. I am letting the frog and the water ripples settle to still, and kill it either side of the base of the cypress tree back under low branches. Many mornings, we have had largemouth bass hammer this presentation knocking the Tip Toad 1-2 feet in the air and crushing it. Some days, of course, are different, and after I kill the Tip Toad on the base of the cypress tree, i just notice my line swimming off in one direction or the other. Be sure to retie frequently and check line abrasion all day because of this jungle we fish in on Millwood Lake.”

Mike adds that if the water has heavy stain, he is dipping the feet of the Tip Toad in chartreuse JJ’s Magic Dye. The Heddon Moss Boss his is throwing is the Black Shad or the White Scaled colors.

If it’s a relatively dark morning, heavy cloud cover, or showers Mike will typically start with the Black Shad. If the morning is cloud-free, clear and bright, he is throwing the White Scaled version as far back into pads as he can reach, move it fast for 3-5 feet of distance, and kill it on top of a lily pad, and let it sit. If that doesn’t initiate a reaction, he will “quiver” his rod tip and make the Moss Boss shimmy, shake and vibrate on top of the lily pad. “Some of these silly acrobatic largemouths are coming up underneath a lily pad that the Moss Boss is resting or sitting on, and bust the bottom of the pad knocking the Moss Boss 2-3 feet in the air. It’s crazy insane to watch, even when we miss a few bass when they knock it 2-3 feet away another direction. Many times you will see the wake of the bass running to where the Moss Boss landed, and they will come completely out of the water next to a pad and crash down on top of the Moss Boss. Yes, Moss Bosses work well in grass and moss, too, but to see the Moss Boss in action in the pads is heart stopping stuff!”

If Mike and his anglers are fishing in a calm/no wind day, they are still throwing Arbogast Jitterbugs or Arborgast Jointed Jitterbugs to create a subtle crawl wake at dawn for a good reaction. Best retrieve on tabletop calm water he has had is to cast the Jitterbug parallel to the lily pad line, over deeper water from 7-12 feet where points extend, and hydrilla or coontail moss is growing near stumps or laydowns. “I slowly wake the Jitterbug much much slower than a buzzbait, almost just a crawl, to put off a tail-walking wake behind it. I am constantly scanning 5-10 feet of surrounding water for any movement.

If I see any type of subsurface activity or motion wakes, I kill the Jitterbug and just let it sit, sometimes 1-3 minutes without any motion or lateral movement at all. If after sitting a couple minutes there is no reaction, I will slowly twitch the Jitterbug like a struggling bird, or injured bream, just for 2-4 feet and kill it again. Many times, this will initiate an immediate response from nice 3-5 pound largemouths. If they are finicky or picky eaters, I just wake the Jitterbug back to the boat changing rhythm until I get a reaction and then repeat the action in similar areas “I like to let the bass tell me how they want it, and I keep changing up the cadence and the retrieve until I make one react on it. For the past several weeks, the best colors we are using to get best reaction with on stained Millwood Lake are the Coach Dog, Firetiger or Perch.”

He says Yum Dingers are still working, also wacky rigged. Millwood Lake has so much vegetation, Mike says, one has to be semi-selective about where you throw the wacky rigs or you “will be dragging salad on every cast. I like throwing the Yum Dingers wacky rigged in the same locations as the Jitterbugs, on lily pad edges over grass, just not letting it sink all the way into the grass 6-9 feet below, but along edges of the lily pads. Best retrieve on the wacky rigs is simply cast parallel to the edges of the pad lines, and short, hard, jerking twitches following the pad edges. Many times, bass will run out from underneath the pads, snatch the Yum Dinger and immediately turn 180 degrees and run back under the lily pad edges. I have found its better to pause on the hook set a few seconds, until the bass has swam 2-4 feet with the Dinger before setting the hook. Yes, sometimes that means that they have swam back into the pads, but setting too fast before he has entire Dinger and hook in his mouth will result in a swing and a miss by not allowing him enough time after he grabs the Dinger and swim off. I typically try to pause long enough that the bass has taken all the slack out of my line, and I begin to feel him pulling my rod. That’s typically when I hit him hard and even if he’s back inside the pad line, I have enough good hookset, that I can horse him out, or hold him long enough to go into the pads 3-5 feet and lip the bass out of the salad. Lots of folks miss lots of bass with this presentation by setting hooks far too early and quick.”

Mike says he continues to have a Yum 10-inch Ribbon Tail on deck. He is rigging up the worm with the 3/16-ounce slip sinker ahead of a glass clacker bead, not pegged for the clicking and ticking sound of the bullet weight on the glass bead. Less resistance that comes through all this vegetation, the better. Best colors he has been using on for the last 3-4 weeks in the Ribbon Tail worm have been the Blue Fleck, Black/ Blue Flake, Red Shad and Plum. “We are throwing the Yum 10-inch Ribbon Tail in nearly the same water as the Yum Dingers and swimming it just off the bottom over the tops of the hydrilla and coontail grass.

This will tease the bass into some of the most violent worm strikes we have ever experienced. If you are not ready on point, the ferocity with which some of these 3-to 5-pound largemouth bass strike a swimming 10-inch Yum Dinger is something to behold. They will literally almost rip the rod out of your hands with this methodology. Another good thing about having a Yum 10-inch Ribbon Tail on deck is, if one of the bass hits or slaps at the Jitterbug or Moss Boss and miss the bait, I will immediately lay down my topwater rod, leaving the bait where the vass missed it, and pitch the Ribbon Tail to the swirl of the missed strike. I cannot tell you how many times the bass has grabbed the Ribbon Tail on the fall, not even 2-5 seconds after the miss, before it has dropped more than 1-2 feet of depth. It works, and I always have a Yum 10-inch worm rigged, ready and on deck yearround!”

Crappie are beginning to recover and are best near standing timber and planted brush piles, as long as they are located out of Little River current and flow.

Persistence is the best factor right now, and vertical jigging minnows can get you bit if you are patient, from 9-15 feet of depth away from current. Blue and channel cats continue biting well in Little River current on trotlines. King’s Punch bait and homemade bait with spoiled chicken livers and gizzards have been working on trotlines set from 8-15 feet in river current. No reports on white bass. Water temps were stable over the past week. Be sure and check the most recent lake level of Millwood Lake on the guide service’s website linked above, or at the Army Corps of Engineers website, for updated gate release changes and inflow rates with rising and falling lake levels and conditions.

Watch for sudden gate changes and debris, which will increase with current in Little River. Navigation is cautioned again this week, and numerous trees/ logs and river debris are still visible this week.