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Millwood Lake

Arkansas Wildlife Editor We’ve had a lot of great fishing photos trickle in to the Fishing Report in the last few weeks; here are just a few (we’ll get to all of them soon, we promise!). It looks like anglers are enjoying all kinds of fishing throughout Arkansas’s waters, and rest assured there are more great fish waiting for you this holiday weekend, so spend a few hours on the water and enjoy what The Natural State has to offer; you’ll be smiling like these folks.

Starting from the upper lefthand corner, Jim Singleton shows that the white bass are still active around Little River and Millwood Lake, thanks to a trip with Millwood Lake Guide Service. And on the top right, Mary Leible of Farmington, Mo., landed some healthy DeGray Lake crappie like this one fishing with guide John Duncan.

Read all about it in the Southwest Arkansas fishing reports below…

Mike Siefert at Millwood Lake Guide Service said that as of Tuesday, Millwood Lake is 3 inches above normal conservation pool, at 259.5 feet msl and stable. Clarity improved this week along Little River and in the oxbows.

Millwood Lake tailwater elevation near 225 feet msl with gate discharge at the dam around 870 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 the US Army Corps of Engineers website, for updated gate release changes and inflow rates with rising and falling lake levels. Watch for random floaters and broken timber during any navigation on Little River and Millwood Lake with discharge rates and fluctuations high flow conditions in Little River, and anytime

Continued on Page 10 FISHING REPORTS (cont.)

Surface temps are stable this week, ranging 85-90 degrees depending on location and the time of day.

Current along Little River is normal stain levels this week with reduced discharge release at the dam, and river clarity ranging 5-10 inches visibility depending on location. Clarity of oxbows is normal stain, visibility about 20-30 inches depending on location.

Further up Little River near White Cliffs and Wilton Landing has heavier stain conditions. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds, gate discharge, rain, or thunderstorms.

Mike detailed the fishing at Millwood from this week’s trips, adding that they are only taking half-day trips until the heat subsides:

• Largemouth bass have slowed over the past few weeks with all the dog day summer heat. They are fair and best at early mornings and late evenings, with best activity in oxbows up Little River early in the morning and late in the day. Bass have been moving horizontally out to deeper water drops and vertical structures during heat of the afternoons, while being shallow to stumps, vegetation, lily pads and cypress knees at dawn, early and late. Bass have been very good on topwater lures for the past couple of weeks around emerging new lily pad stands and vegetation at daylight. Chunky 2- to 3-pound bass have been striking various topwater lures on shallow flats near stumps and laydowns early for the past few weeks.

Good bass will randomly bust a buzzbait, Bass Assassin Shad or topwater plastic frogs in the pads early. Big, 7- to 10-inch bulky Brush Hogs and Bass Assassin Bang RSB 7.25inch worms and XX Fat Job Trick Worms are great, with best colors over the past couple weeks being Candy Bug, Gooseberry, June bug/red or Redbug.

Late morning after the sun gets up above the tree line around 10 a.m., largemouths are gravitating toward creek channels, deeper ditches and drops of vertical structure where flats drop into 12-15 feet zones. The oxbows over the past couple of weeks have had the best water clarity — Horseshoe, Clear Lake and McGuire will produce best topwater reactions from largemouths.

Slow deflections off stumps with a Bill Lewis SB57 or Echo 1.75 squarebill crankbaits in Millwood Magic, Ghost Minnow and Bluegill colors will draw random reactions on the flats near drops into deeper creek bends. Brazalo spinnerbaits in Spot Remover, Millwood Mayhem Bream and Hot Mouse are working for nice 2- to 3-pound largemouths near stumps in 3-6 feet depth.

Bass Assassin Shads continue catching nice bass, and best colors for the past few weeks include Salt n Pepper Silver Phantom, Houdini and pumpkinseed/ chartreuse Shad colors. Work these in and around same areas as the topwater frogs, near new growth of vegetation lines, new bloom stands of lily pads and buckbrush.

Pitching a Texas-rigged Bang Woopah Craw and Skunk Ape will work in these same areas near laydowns and stumps from 5-9 feet, and best colors over the past week or two have been the Blank Check, Hillbilly Special and Blueberry. Bulky 10-inch Berkley Power Worms are working, and best colors of late have been Blue Fleck, Black Grape and plum colors from 8-9 feet depth near stumps.

The Bang XX Fat Jobs, Salty Rat Tails and Trick worms were randomly working in the edges of new lily pad stands and stumps near drop-offs from 7-10 feet deep in the oxbows. Best colors have been black/blue tail, Blue Glimmer, or Blue Ice.

• The white bass schools are still pretty much scattered, although a few random white bass have been found up Little River near White Cliffs campground and points with drains into Little River. Reactions were fair on Bomber Fat Free Shads, Fat Free Fingerlings, and Model A crankbaits in Citrus Shad, Tennessee Shad, or Flat A’s in Silver Flash or Pearl Shad.

• Crappie have been hit or miss over the past week – biting good one day, and random and few the next.

Crappie are suspended in and over planted brush piles in 13-17 feet depth in the oxbows and along Little River. Not much changed over the past week, very random, best from daylight to around 9 a.m. Post-spawn crappie from 1.5-2 pounds have