The new year is upon us, and we're back to our calendar to fill out a year's worth of exciting outdoors activities.
We ended last week's column with June 2023, so let's pick up in July and go to December.
JULY
Paddle a water trail
Arkansas has an extensive but relatively unknown water trail network that allows paddlers to explore 17 waterways around the state. Two are on Lake Ouachita and one is on DeGray Lake. Crooked Creek is also a designated water trail. The rest are in the Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coastal Plain. These are some of the most remote, most mysterious backcountry areas in the South, and few people visit them compared to the numbers that visit streams and rivers in our mountain areas.
Mid-summer is very hot and humid in the Delta, and the area is rife with mosquitoes and sometimes buffalo gnats. However, it's always cooler on the water, and insect repellent and a mesh hat will thwart most of the insects.
Paddling Wattensaw Bayou, Bayou Bartholomew, Bayou DeView and Grassy Lake will allow you to see a lot of wildlife up close that you usually don't see, like alligators, otters, ospreys and bald eagles. The fishing is fantastic. You'll catch largemouth bass, Kentucky bass, bluegill and redear sunfish, catfish and crappie.
In Central Arkansas, the Little Maumelle River Water Trail is a great introduction. You will be astonished that such a place exists amid a major metropolitan area.
Complete details about Arkansas Water Trails are available on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's website at agfc.com/en/explore-outdoors/wildlife-viewing/water-trails/.
AUGUST
Little Red River trout
In August, we're all looking for thermal refuge, as professional bass anglers like to say.
The only place you'll find it is on a cold trout stream, and the Little Red River is a convenient day trip for anybody in Central Arkansas.
If you don't have a boat, there is plenty of wade fishing access on this world-renowned trout stream. There is a lot of bank fishing access at John F. Kennedy Park below Greers Ferry Dam. Walk-in wade access is also available at Libby Shoal, Cow Shoals, Lobo Access, Ramsey Access at Pangburn and Barnett Access at Heber Springs.
Fly fishermen can catch trout anytime on the Little Red drifting nymphs near the bottom. Trout feed on the surface throughout the day, especially in the evening, when insect hatches occur. Pay attention to the size, shape and color of emerging insects and throw a similar pattern fly.
SEPTEMBER
Float fish the Buffalo
Late summer is our favorite time to float fish the Buffalo National River. The party crowd goes home after Labor Day, allowing you to float fish in peace and solitude.
The weather will still be hot through mid-September, but it starts cooling as October nears. Late afternoons and evenings are delightful. Make the best of it by doing an overnight float. Camp on a gravel bar and see the glory of a starlit sky -- complete with satellites zipping past -- that you can't see in the light-polluted skies of the cities.
My favorite float in September is to launch a canoe or kayak at Tyler Bend Recreation Area near Marshall. I wade upstream and fish for smallmouth bass and Ozark bass. The lack of crowds and the shorter days spur fish to eat voraciously in preparation for winter. You can catch them on all manner of small soft-plastic lures that look like lizards, crawdads and worms. They will also bite jerkbaits, which they seldom do in mid summer. In the mornings and evenings, catch them on the surface with buzzbaits and prop baits.
OCTOBER
Bowhunt deer on a WMA
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission limits deer hunting on its wildlife management areas with modern guns and muzzleloaders through its controlled hunt system, but they are wide open to bowhunters when the firearms seasons are closed.
This enables bowhunters to pursue bucks that live well and unpressured on some of the best deer habitat in the state.
Few people visit wildlife management areas, so it's fairly easy to pattern a mature buck through a normal scouting routine. Everybody knows the big WMAs within the Ozark and Ouachita national forests, but most people are unaware of the many smaller state-owned WMAs located around the state. We have a few favorites that we keep to ourselves. You can find them and many others near your home inside the Arkansas Outdoors Atlas.
Reservoir crappie
In mid-autumn, crappie congregate in and around cover in deep water, making them easy to find and relatively easy to catch.
Pick your lake. They're all good, but we are very fond of lakes Ouachita, DeGray, Greeson and Hamilton in the fall. Beaver Lake and Lake Dardanelle are excellent, as well.
Live scan technology makes it easy to find brushpiles that hold fish. When you find them, position your boat downwind and cast a light jig to the upwind side of the cover. Let the jig fall to the top of the cover and retrieve it slowly. Preferably, your jig will nick the top branches of the cover and entice a crappie to come up and eat it.
You probably won't catch as many crappie as you did in the spring, but you will probably catch bigger crappie.
NOVEMBER
Gun hunt a WMA
As earlier mentioned, the AGFC regulates hunting deer with modern guns on WMAs through a random drawing for permits. Limiting access to a small number of hunters helps ensure a non-competitive, relaxed hunting atmosphere in areas that offer excellent opportunities to take mature bucks.
The application period for WMA permits occurs in June. Visit agfc.com/en/hunting/big-game/deer/special-hunt-permits/wmadeerpermits/ for details.
DECEMBER
Duck hunt the rivers
We all love hunting for ducks in green timber, but Arkansas also offers excellent duck hunting on its big reservoirs.
My favorite is Lake Dardanelle, much of which is a designated wildlife management area. Lake Dardanelle's extensive sidewaters and backwaters attract and hold a lot of mallards, gadwalls, pintails, American wigeon, teal, goldeneyes, buffleheads, scaup, redheads and canvasbacks. A lot of Canada geese live there, too. It is possible to back a limit of six different duck species and a limit of Canada geese in one hunt.
It helps to know the lake's hot spots, but it's usually possible to go in cold and find a spot by yourself. The Arkansas River, from which Lake Dardanelle is impounded, is not a place for amateurs. It can be dangerous, especially in hard winds, but when ducks are present, the hunting can be sensational.