More fall fishing fun

The bite is on across Arkansas waterways

By Jim Harris

Arkansas Wildlife Editor

Millwood Lake is renown for its largemouth bass, but lately — perhaps due to the 2-foot drawdown the Army Corps of Engineers has instituted there for repairs and other infrastructure work — the bass bite has fallen off this week.

But it’s been a good time recently for an improving crappie bite as the water cools.

Trey Griffin from East Texas (right) took advantage of the crappie activity to catch some nice slabs, including one that topped 15 inches long. He was fishing with Millwood Lake Guide Service’s “crappie guru,” Mackey Harvin.

Millwood guide Mike Siefert, in his notes in this week’s Fishing Report, points out that crappie improved there over the past couple of weeks. Best reactions have been on Southern Pro Tubes and minnows in planted brushpiles in the oxbows up Little River, as well as on the main lake, in 912 feet depth. Vertical-jigging seemed to work best this week. Best reaction time shifted to mid-morning for crappie, and the best Southern Pro Tubes have been the Little Hustler in the 1.5, and the Pro Series Little Hustler in the pumpkinseed/chartreuse, orange core/chartreuse pepper, Tennessee Shiner and Blue Shiner.

October is a great time to catch a few crappie all around Arkansas, as we move out of the summer pattern and into fall as the water temps drop, getting the crappie to move up shallower (and hungrier).

Bream are still biting in some spots, as you’ll see in the report, but they’re also appearing to be done for the year at other locales.

Stripers are hit and miss in a lot of big lakes, and walleye have a similar pattern. Bass are eager to bite in more of the lakes in north Arkansas, it appears, but as guide Tommy Cauley at Greers Ferry Lake says in his report, the great fall bite is probably just two weeks from starting throughoutthe state. Get the full rundown below:

Millwood Lake

Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said that as of Tuesday, Millwood Lake was still 25 inches below normal conservation pool, as the 2-foot lake drawdown continued until contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers complete concrete work. The lake Tuesday was at 257.1 feet msl and stable; Little River water clarity has heavy stain with current. The oxbows’ clarity improved, light stain with pollen and surface film. Millwood Lake tailwater elevation was near 226 feet msl with gate discharge at the dam around 1,507 cfs in Little River according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Check the most recent lake level of Millwood Lake on the guide service’s website linked above, or Army Corps of Engineers website, for updated gate release changes and inflow rates with rising and falling lake levels. Use extreme caution during this period and anytime high gate discharge conditions exist, watching for random broken, or floating timber in Little River are in effect. Lots of Little River buoy markers along the main lake channel may have moved with recent gate changes at the Millwood Dam and river buoys may be out of channel from recent high winds.

Surface temps rose slightly this week, ranging 75-83 degrees depending on location.

River clarity ranges 3-5 inches visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility of oxbows is 12-20 inches depending on location. Further up Little River near White Cliffs and Wilton Landing has heavier stain conditions. Clarity at Saratoga and Okay areas has improved drastically.

Numerous areas on Millwood Lake are fully choked with alligatorweed mats, and are inaccessible for navigation or fishing. The Corps was able to conduct an alligatorweed bee-

See FISHING, page A9 FISHING

From page A8

tle release a few weeks ago and are monitoring.

As for the fishing specifics:

• Over the past couple weeks, the largemouth bass have been slow to fair for any topwater bites. For several weeks ago, along points and ditches connecting Little River, oxbows and backflows, Mike and his guides found various largemouth and Kentucky bass randomly schooling at daybreak in the oxbows up Little River for a few hours in early mornings, but topwater action slowed down again this week.

When good schools were surface- breaking for several weeks ago, they were getting decent reactions using the Bill Lewis Stuttersteps, Cordell Boy Howdy’s, Clear Baby Torpedoes, Heddon Dying Flutters and Cordell Crazy Shads in chrome/black back.

Blowup reactions slowed also in the lily pads, but were good on plastic frogs in June Bug, white or pumpkinseed/pearl belly near pads with timber and stumps until just recently.

The schooling bass were chasing large pods of threadfin shad to the surface and blowing them out of the water at daylight in the oxbows near vertical structure where the flats drop off into 8-15 feet of depth until the past couple weeks and that schooling activity has ceased again.

Over the past three weeks, anywhere the creek mouths dump into Little River near Snake Creek, Jacks’ Isle and White Cliffs Creek, the Kentucky bass were stacked up inside the main creek channels, just out of river current, and were hitting hammered chrome Cordell Spoons with white/red bucktail, custompainted Little John Cranks and Fat Free Shads, and behind points extending into Little River above Jack’s Isle.

Vertical-jigging of the spoons near standing timber and stumps that had been working for some 2- to 3-pound largemouth and white bass have been slow this week.

• Bream were fair at Millwood State Park and Jack’s Isle over the past 2-3 weeks on grasshoppers, redworms and crickets.

• White bass disappeared over the past week. Johnson Beetle Spins, hammered Cordell Chrome Spoons with a red bucktail, Rocket Shads, threequarter- ounce 1-knocker Rat-L-Traps and Little Cleo’s were all randomly catching whites over the last several weeks in McGuire and Horseshoe Lake oxbows, but slowed again this week.

• Crappie improved over the past couple of weeks. Best reaction have been on Southern Pro Tubes and minnows in planted brushpiles in the oxbows up Little River, and on the main lake, from 9-12 feet of depth. Vertical-jigging seemed to work best for the tubes and minnows this week. Best reaction time shifted to mid-morning for crappie, and best Southern Pro Tubes have been the Little Hustler in the 1.5, and the Pro Series Little Hustler in the pumpkinseed/chartreuse, orange core/chartreuse pepper, Tennessee Shiner and Blue Shiner.

• No report over the past week for catfish. Blues and channel cats up to around 3-4 pounds were good and more active 2 weeks ago than tthis week.