Around the Boathouse

News & Notes from Northeast Arkansas

www.agfc.com

• AGFC fish hatchery staff have been working overtime to make sure Lake Poinsett is well stocked with prey species after the $3.3 million lake renovation over the past three years. Starting in March, hatchery staff from the William H. Donham Fish Hatchery in Corning and the Joe Hogan Fish Hatchery in Lonoke have made multiple trips to the lake to stock the lake. Last month, staff stocked adult fathead minnows, adult threadfin shad, adult and fingerling bluegill, adult and fingerling redear sunfish and adult golden shiners. These fish are prespawn fish so they will reproduce this summer and will help build forage base of the lake.

This month, hatchery staff has stocked more 3-inch bluegill and redear sunfish. These were also pre-spawn fish. In total, the hatchery staff have sent more than eight 3-ton fish trucks to stock the lake since stocking since March. To date, the AGFC has stocked 58,000 bluegill, 325,000 redear sunfish, 90,000 fathead minnows, 10,000 golden shiners and 2,000 threadfin shad, with plans to stock more fish in

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the lake periodically this summer and fall with the addition of more shiners, redear and bluegi as the lake continues to fill to full pool. The lake is rainfall dependent to reach full pool.

• If you're going to take advantage of that great largemouth bass bite going on at Lower White Oak Lake in Ouachita County, please note that the 2021 Fishing Guidebook has an error on the 'New This Year' page noting new regulations (the numbers are correct under White Oak Lake's regular listing in the book on Page 71). The correct regulation for bass on Lower White Oak Lake is 'Largemouth Bass daily limit is 10, one of which may be over 20 inches.'

We apologize for any confuse this may have caused.

• AGFC Fisheries staff in Northwest Arkansas conducted a six-month creel survey on the Kings River in 2019 covering the period of March-August, and some of the information gathered indicated that May and June are prime time to hit the area, according to AGFC biologists.

Interviews were conducted to garner information from anglers from 10 creel shifts per month and angling pressure was determined with game cameras at eight river accesses. Kings River anglers spent over 20,000 hours fishing and over 1,800 angling trips were reported. Angling pressure was highest in the summer months, which corresponds with the peak floating season. The survey showed that the majority of anglers fished from a boat (74 percent) and the highest fishing pressure was from Trigger Gap to Kings River Outfitters, which was expected due to easy access and availability of a shuttle. Creel survey results also showed that there is a good number of anglers who target walleye and white bass that make annual spawning runs from Table Rock Lake. The majority of anglers were targeting smallmouth bass and very few were harvested (4 out of 1,085 caught or less than 1%).

The Kings River is a great resource and continues to provide some great smallmouth bass fishing opportunities. This is a great time to enjoy creek and river fisheries. Don’t overlook the following great fishing destinations: War Eagle Creek, Illinois River and Upper White River above