The fishing was similar to hunting when Mike McBride hit the water at Lake Sequoyah on a safari for crappie.
McBride was on the lake before sunrise, casting small jigs here and there in places where crappie normally bite. A fine 11-inch crappie that McBride caught right away teased him into thinking the catching would be easy. An hour later, that was the only fish to bite.
Visit Lake Sequoyah
Directions: Located off Arkansas 16 on the east edge of Fayetteville. Turn north at the large sign that points to the lake.
Size: Lake is 400 acres, with 1,800 acres of city property surrounding.
Fee: Cost to launch boat is $3 and to fish is $3 per person. Annual permits are available at the bait shop. There is a concrete launch ramp.
Rules: State fishing license regulations apply. Fishing allowed sunrise to sunset.
Fishing Tip:
Crappie — small jigs or minnows in pink, white and silver.
Black bass —plastic worms, jig and pigs, jerk baits with top-water lures sunrise and sunset.
Bluegill — crickets or worms.
Catfish — stink bait, worms, nightcrawlers, live shad.
— Staff report
His friend, Bob Winkleman, wasn't faring much better. His fish count, too, was one crappie. Both were fishing Sept. 24 in separate boats on the lake's south end.
McBride, who runs Lake Sequoyah bait shop, made a move at midmorning to work his jig around some brush piles he'd submerged near the one-lane bridge that crosses the 400-acre reservoir. "Crappie condos," he calls them. He came knocking on the condo door with his jig. A dozen crappie answered during the next hour.
Persistence paid, and McBride knew why.
"What's been happening is we've had a string of hot days, then really cool nights. In the morning the water temperature has been 68 degrees or so. It can be 85 or better by afternoon. That makes crappie fishing tough," he said.
On the hunt
McBride had to look for his fish. Once he found them, the crappie bit so light that strikes were hard to detect. He resorted to fishing his jig three feet deep under a small cylinder-shaped bobber. Any erratic movement, no matter how slight, and McBride set the hook. Another crappie in the boat.
That bobber was key. McBride outperformed a passenger in his boat who did not use a bobber, but simply cast and retrieved a jig. His fish count was zero.
"If I was using a regular round plastic bobber, I wouldn't have even seen those strikes," McBride said. Using 4-pound test line is also important when the crappie bite light, he added.
"Fishing is going to get better and better once this water temperature stabilizes. Sixty-six is the magic number. When it gets there, the crappie bunch up and really start to bite," McBride said. Crappie fishing is normally good into winter at Lake Sequoyah.
McBride prefers 1/32nd-ounce jigs for crappie fishing. His friend Winkleman likes a small, soft-plastic minnow imitation with a twister-tail. The lure has a swimming motion when retrieved.
Winkleman has been fishing at Lake Sequoyah since it was built as a water supply for Fayetteville in the 1950s. He fished the middle fork of the White River with his dad before that.
"We caught sauger instead of crappie," said Winkleman, who is 83. "We fished out of a wooden john boat. It leaked like the dickens until the boards swelled up."
Fishing at Lake Sequoyah is best done from a boat. There is limited shoreline access. The craft McBride uses is ideal for small lakes or streams. His is a 12-foot NuCanoe that has a unique design. It's wide, with a lower profile than a conventional canoe. The boat is stable enough to stand in. He's customized it with a trolling motor, livewell, depth finder and a holder for his video camera.
NuCanoes are available for rent at Lake Sequoyah, but don't have the bells and whistles McBride put on his. Customers paddle them. Seats can be adjusted for one person or two. The boats rent for $30 per day, or $20 for a half-day.
Paddling is becoming as popular as fishing at Lake Sequoyah, said McBride, 47.
"People are realizing how scenic this lake is. They come out to see eagles, the ducks, geese and pelicans," he said.
Fayetteville owns 1,800 acres around the lake. There are hiking trails and picnic tables.
The north end of the lake is wide, with open water. The headwaters are on the south end where the main fork and the middle fork of the White River meet. There's lots of swamp-like water for paddlers and fishermen.
Unique waterway
Sequoyah is an unusual lake for Northwest Arkansas, said Jon Stein, fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. It isn't rocky, deep and clear like most area lakes.
"It's shallow. There's lots of vegetation in the water and it has a stained color. It's similar to the lakes you see in central Arkansas," he said.
A buildup of silt contributes to the shallow water. Lake Sequoyah is a silt trap for two arms of the White River, Stein noted. That silt has been building for 60 years. The city of Fayetteville has started a dredging project to remove tons of it.
Habitat in the lake is excellent for crappie, Stein said. There are high numbers of crappie, but not so many that the lake is overpopulated.
The lake has abundant bait fish for crappie and other game fish to eat, Stein said.
McBride called it a morning about 11 a.m., after catching maybe 15 or so crappie that he released. He has a freezer full. Fishing is good for black bass, catfish and bluegill too, he said. Crappie fishing is king during autumn at Lake Sequoyah, McBride added, even when the fish play hide and seek.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 10/06/2015