Fishing Tip: The best
catfish baits can be found at your local grocery store. Just slice the
cheapest hot dogs you can buy and place in a jar filled with the water
and oil drained from a sardine can. Cover the jar and let the mixture
sit overnight. You can also throw in a bit of garlic or shrimp to give
the lure an extra kick. The finished product is just as potent as any
off-the-shelf catfish bait and is much cheaper to make.
White River: Gaston's White River Resort said
generation has been very minimal, as we only had one day of any
generation, and that was one unit for about four hours. The fishing has
remained excellent using white or yellow PowerBait with a wax worm on a
No. 6 hook. If you prefer artificials, any type of white or silver
spoon, such as the Little Cleo, Rooster Tail, and Krocodile lures, are
excellent. The Flat Fish lure in gold has been the hottest lure
lately. Anglers have been having a lot of luck with Mepps and
Rapalas spinners in No. 7 or 9 sizes, preferably in silver or gold
colors. Fly anglers are still using the Y2K bug with much success,
as well as sow bugs, woolly buggers and midges. The warmer weather
has brought us a hatch of midges, so dry fly fishing should be
productive. The big story last week was the rain we received,
which is bringing the lake up very quickly. This will help
generation levels on the river tremendously in the near future.
Wilderness Trail said
fishing has been up and down, depending on generation. With low
or no generation, Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and white have worked
well along with a floating Rapala. With generation the Buoyant Spoons,
Little Cleos and Countdown Rapalas are the baits of choice. The fly
anglers have done extremely well with little generation on olive woolly
buggers, zebra midges and caddis dry flies. The brown trout are being
caught on Countdowns, Jointed Rapalas, suspending Rogues and
nightcrawlers.
North Fork
River: Norfork Trout Dock said
the generation has been low and fishing has been pretty good. When the
water is low, most anglers are doing well on crawdad baits, corn and
PowerBait fished around the mouths of creeks and inlets. Once the river
begins its rise, shad lures like Countdown Rapalas and Flatfish
crankbaits have been good bets for some nice action on rainbows and
browns.
Bull Shoals Lake: As of Tuesday, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 645.97 feet MSL.
Wilderness Trail said main
lake temperature is now 49.2 degrees with temperatures as high as 52
degrees in the back of northern creeks. White bass are already moving
back to shallow water in the northern creeks. A few are being caught in
Howard Creek, Sister Creek, Spring Creek and Big Creek on Roadrunners
and Lucky Craft Pointer 78DDs. Crappie are still slow except in the
upper lake areas above Lead Hill. Dragging a crappie minnow will
trigger a few around brush piles and points in the mid to lower lake.
In the upper lake tubes, crappie jigs and a jig-and-minnow are the
baits of choice around blow downs and brush piles. Largemouth bass made
a major move off the main lake into the creeks and coves last week. The
big largemouth haven’t shown up yet, but there are plenty of 15 to 16
inch males in the spawning areas. Jigs are great, crankbaits (Bandits
and Wiggle Warts) are even better, but suspending Rogues are HOT!
Smallmouth bass are showing up on transition banks and points and
holding in 26 to 30 feet of water from the main lake to three-quarters
of the way back into the creeks. Spider jigs and tubes are primary
baits and on windy days, Wiggle Warts and Bandit crankbaits are also
triggering some nice strikes. Suspending Rogues are working in sunny,
glass-water conditions, and the best colors are blue, black and black
back/orange belly. Kentucky bass are still with the shad but the shad
have moved into the pockets and creeks and so the Kentuckies have moved
with them. Spoons are still taking a few but the best bite is on grubs
and Rogues fished off the banks that have some large chunk rock. Other
baits that are worth fishing are Lucky Craft Pointer 78’s and Junior
X-raps. Walleye are just now moving to the chunk rock banks on the main
lake and in the creeks. It is true that there were walleye in the back
of some creeks in the upper lake areas a few weeks ago when we had the
big warm up but that was a short-lived deal. Start working the
entrance points and banks to small pockets or coves in the northern
creeks with Rogues, Lucky Craft Pointers, X-raps, Shad Raps and Glass
Shad.
Sugar Loaf Harbor said
the lake is coming up. Crappie are decent, with some suspended fish in
15 to 25 feet of water. Drift minnows above this depth for the best
action.
Lake Norfork: As of Tuesday, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 541.58 feet MSL.
Cranfield Junction Quik
Stop said the rains brought the lake up and muddied the water
substantially. Crappie are biting fairly well on minnows and tube jigs.
Bass are biting well with the most action coming near spawning areas on
crankbaits, jigs and flukes. Catfishing is good on prepared baits.
Striper activity is increasing during the early and late hours of the
day, and many are being caught on jerkbaits and flukes. Walleye are in
the creeks and biting well on jerkbaits and trolled crankbaits.
