Fishing Tip:
Crappie are great to
fish for year round. The
trick to catching them in
the winter is
finding them. Usually
crappie will pile up
together on a single piece
of cover in deep water. It
is not uncommon to find
them stacked up on a
brush pile or drop off in
60 feet of water. Cruise
deeper water near
traditional crappie
spawning areas and look
for the fish with your
electronics. Active fish
will appear as streaks
instead of arches. Drop
a minnow or jig to the
bottom and raise it up to
the level the fish are
holding.
White
River: Gaston's
White River Resort
said trout fishing is decent.
The best bet is on redworms,
wax worms,
nightcrawlers and Berkley
PowerBait. The best
artificials were gold/red
Buoyant Spoons, gold or
gold/red Little Cleos and
floating Rapalas.
Generation is keeping the
wading to minimum.
Bull
Shoals Lake: As of
Tuesday, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
reports the lake’s elevation
at 659.78 feet MSL.
Lake
Norfork:
As of Tuesday, the U.S.
Army Corps of
Engineers reports the lake’s
elevation at 556.68 feet MSL.
Cranfield
Junction Bait and Tackle
(870-492-5141) said the water
clarity is about
8 to 10 feet and the surface
temperature is 46 degrees.
Crappie are
fair on hair jigs in 12 to 20
feet of water. Bass are decent
on
crankbaits and jerkbaits
fished close to bluffs.
Stripers are biting
well on swim baits and live
shad in 30 to 40 feet of
water. Spoons are
also working well on the
stripers. A few white bass are
mixed in with
the schools and are being
caught mainly on spoons.
Catfishing is poor.
Walleye are slow.
Norfork
Tailwater:
Gene’s Trout Dock (870-499-5381)
said two generators are running
all
day lately. Trout fishing is
good on brown/white 1/32-ounce
jigs.
Sculpin patterns are working
well on large brown trout.
Anglers have to
add more weight to their flies
and jigs to get them down in the
fast
current.