HOT SPOTS
LAKE CONWAY The crappie bite has been excellent and they are best under the Arkansas 89 bridge, though they are really good all over the lake. Bream fishing is good on worms and crickets. Bass have been fair, with plastic worms working best. Catfishing is excellent using shad or minnows.
LAKE MAUMELLE The cooler weather has activated the bass. Kentucky bass are excellent and being caught on crankbaits and jigs. They can be found in 4-9 feet of water. They are mixed in with the black bass. White bass fishing has been good. Use Rooster tails, CC Spoons and deep diving Bandits and Bombers. The white bass are mostly at the east end of the lake and right off the points and can be caught on CC Spoons, white jigs, and Rooster Tails when schooling.
BEAVER LAKE Good striper success will come using live shad fished on free lines and downlines from the surface to 15 feet deep. Also try trolling small umbrella rigs with white or chartreuse grubs for stained water. Use plugs like Rapala’s No. 14 husky jerk in black back or purple back colors or 5-6-inch Smithwick Rogues in similar colors on downriggers. Jerkbaits like flukes, swimbaits and jigs also will produce. Topwaters like 7-inch Redfins, Spooks and Pencil Poppers will also work. Fish location is greatly influenced by lake level and current flow, current in the lake from generation will generally position fish on upstream or downstream edges of structure.
SPRING RIVER A downstream cast with Woollies and Crawford’s Guppies and a fast trip back upstream will get the brown trout chasing the fly. Mayfly and caddis emergers, Copper Johns and prince nymphs are working well during hatches. Chartreuse has been a hot color this week. Whether it is an egg pattern or a Trout Magnet, the trout like the color.