December weather keeps winter fishing interesting

Still plenty of action on the water even as temperatures fluctuate

By Randy Zellers

AGFC Communications

Is this really December, with all this sun shining daily?

We’re barely having to don a jacket in the midafternoon, but we can understand our anglers in these photos still desiring to be bundled up while on the water.

Fishing for various species continues to go well as water temperatures have settled into a fairly consistent level of the 50s around the state. There have been few days with rain this month. The bite is on in many locales.

At De Queen Lake, a body of water we don’t hear near enough about (but would love to; any anglers want to report to us from there?) Jory Moore (top left) got into some nicesized crappie with expert crappie guide Mackey Harvin, who is usually reporting out of Millwood Lake with Millwood Lake Guide Service. At top right, a young girl from “The Valley” in south Texas (no name provided) landed her first Arkansas rainbow trout in the Beaver Lake Tailwater of northwest Arkansas, fishing with guide Austin Kennedy. And in the bottom photo, an angler from Kansas City named Don was on Bull Shoals Lake recently with guide Del Colvin and brought in this impressive walleye.

We’ll be going on fishing hiatus for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, but don’t let that stop you from sending us any of your exciting moments on the water this month and next. Send your photos and we’ll find a spot in an upcoming Fishing Report newsletter, and thanks again to all who did so throughout 2023. We hope you have a fantastic 2024 for fishing. You can send your photos to us voa askagfc@agfc.ar.gov or to the Fishing Report editor, jim.harris@ agfc.ar.gov. Have a happy holiday season.

East Arkansas Fishing Reports

• White River — For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time gauge level and flow from Clarendon, visit the Corps’ Little Rock office website.

Webb’s Sporting Goods (870946-0347) in DeWitt reports that crappie are biting be-

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tween 7-15 feet in the rivers. Water is very low around the region.

• Cook’s Lake — Cook’s Lake is now closed to fishing through February and will serve as a rest area for migrating waterfowl. For more information, please call the center at 501-404-2321.

• Lake Charles — Shelly Jeffrey at Lake Charles State Park (870-8786595) said Lake Charles is down 3 feet or more as of earlier this week.

Lake Charles water is used to help flood the Shirey Bay Rainey Brake Wildlife Management Area for waterfowl season. The only bites she heard about were good bites on both catfish and crappie, though she did not get an idea of the baits used. Jigs are always a safe bet at Lake Charles on the crappie, while catfish these days like worms/nightcrawlers and will even latch on to a jig for anglers targeting crappie. In the shade of Sunday, the water temperature was recorded as 50.7 degrees. The clarity is the usual murky.

• Lake Poinsett — Seth Boone, the superintendent at Lake Poinsett State Park, had no new reports this week.

• Spring River — Mark Crawford with springriverfliesandguides.com (870955-8300) said water levels are running at 225 cfs (350 cfs is average), and water clarity is clear. Low and clear water has the fish acting spooky on the bright sunny days. And easy going on the cloudy cold days. There has actually been some good dry-fly action during the evening hours with the clear water conditions. On the overcast dreary days streamers or Woollies are hard to beat on a strip.

On the beautiful bright sunny days, you’ve got to get down to the bottom!

Indicators with an egg with a nymph dropper can be very productive. If the nymph does not work, we have been using small minnow patterns below the egg with great success.

This is the time to chase big fish on the Spring River. Stocking levels are reduced and we get a chance to chase the holdover fish that survive and get big. Trout love this cold weather. The colder the better! The low and clear conditions makes for easier wading, but always be aware of slick rocks. A wading staff can be a lifesaver on the Spring.

The smallmouth bass and spotted bass are still hitting hard on the nice warmer days. Definitely chasing those with bigger streamers/Clousers. Got to work for them for a great fight. They have still been chasing. It gets much colder, the bite will slow and the bass can still be caught with a slower presentation. You almost want to crawl the fly across the bottom.

We have seen more brown trout this year than years before. The AGFC has been trying to plant more browns on the Spring, and we are seeing the benefits. Smaller streamers are working for browns and some of the bigger browns have actually been caught on eggs. Jim Hinkle Spring River State Fish Hatchery is up and running after the new remodel last year. With a much larger capacity, it will help improve the trout fishing throughout the state of Arkansas but most of all the Spring River. Only great things to look forward to on the Spring River.

John Berry, angler and retired operator of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169), said the water level on the Spring River is fishable.

This is a great place to wade fish when they are running water on the White and North Fork rivers. Wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff; there is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive Woolly Buggers with a bit of flash, cerise and hot pink San Juan Worms and Y2Ks.

• White River — For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time gauge level and flow from the White River stages at Batesville, Newport and Augusta and all other sites within the White River basin in Arkansas, visit the Corps’ Little Rock office website.