HOT SPOTS
LITTLE MAUMELLE RIVER Fishing is fair for crappie to excellent for bream, bass and catfish in shallow areas. Worms and crickets have been big hits with bream, while spinnerbaits and crankbaits were working well for bass and chicken liver was drawing the catfish. Crappie fishing was only fair as the crappie were spawning near the banks; minnows in shallow water worked best.
BULL SHOALS LAKE Crappie, walleye and black bass are all biting extremely well around K Dock lately. Bass are biting best on shaky head finesse worms, spinnerbaits and Zoom Baby Brush Hogs fished around buckbrush in coves and around points with small gravel on the bank. Cast right up to the bank and fish back out. Crappie are biting very well on live minnows in the coves. Some really nice crappie are being caught so look for the right tree to quickly load the boat.
BEAVER LAKE With surface temperature in the mid-60s and normal level, leading to fair to good fishing for all but catfish, which was poor. Bream were found in 4 to 8 feet with worms and crickets, while bass fishing was good in shallow water using spinners and plastic worms. White bass were going for spoons, minnows, Rooster Tails and river arms. Crappie were fair in 6 to 10 feet depth using minnows and jigs.
LAKE DARDANELLE The river was muddy and high creeks were dingy. Catfishing has been excellent on worms, cut perch, shad and Skip Jack. Stick to the mouth of the creeks and the drops from the spawning flats. Bream has been excellent on spawning flats and around stumps and treetops in creeks with worms, crickets, flies and jigs. White bass are way up at the heads of the creeks; try tandem white jigs or small white crankbaits and inline spinners. Stripers are in The Creeks. Use topwater poppers, swimbaits, spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. Crappie is hit-and-miss, but if you are in the right area you can find some slabs. Try black chartreuse, black pink and minnows. Largemouth bass has been excellent using frogs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs and bamboozles in the shallow backwater.