Greers Ferry Lake Arkansas, Choctaw Access, May 29th, 2013: This lake is beautiful!

Choctaw Access boat launch

Greers Ferry Lake is a lake in Arkansas that has some amazing views!  I put in at the corps run Choctaw Access point right off Hwy 65 on the west side of the lake.  It was a warm day with some chance of thunderstorms, with a bit of wind.

I first fished some reed/brush areas with some drop offs using spinners, wiggle warts ,and senko worms.  I then started to work my way around the rock bluff narrows, right before you start to face the boat docks on the other side.  The fishing was slow, but got a nice hit on a watermelon Zoom trick worm , texas rigged.  I was not able to land it, but it jumped about 3' out of the water, which made the connection all the worth it. 
What was really spectacular was witnessing a whole school of white bass going gonzo on a shad ball close to shore.  I paddled over and started throwing a minnow topwater plug, but got there just a few seconds too late.

Incredible sunset on Greers Ferry Lake, AR

This is an outstanding lake worth a trip to.  It is beautiful like Table Rock, but has some cool "mountain islands" which are unlike anything I have seen in Missouri.

Fish ON!

Mike

Greers Ferry Lake, Choctaw Access, Arkansas- fine place to do some kayak fishing!

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Palarm Creek/Arkansas River and Maumelle River/Arkansas river- first kayak fishing trips of the year

Palarm Creek close to the Arkansas River near Little Rock

Here are the first (2) kayak fishing trips of the year. Did not have a lot of success, the kayaking was excellent. Was using the Feelfree 14' Atlantis sea kayak (yes, you can fish off it!) First stop of Palarm Creek/Arkansas river. This is the water that comes from Lake Conway and drains in to the Arkansas. The current is fairly swift with a lot of "shubbery" in the water. Bummer thing happened on this trip- my rudder snapped in two! Ended up cutting it of, stowing it away, and kayaking the rest of the trip. Have to debate if the get a new kit to install or not. Fishing was not good, but the weather (85 degrees) was way better than STL (43 degrees) Second trip was the Maumelle River at the confluence of the Arkansas River. I did manage to catch a small bass on a small spinner outfit. Slow fishing, but we had just had a cold front move through, and it still had a ton of wind behind it

Kayak the Maumelle River by the Arkansas River confluence

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Arkansas River-Palarm Creek Arkansas

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Best of July kayak bass fishing: Stockton, Beaver, Dardenelle, Sherwood

Beaver Lake, Prarie Creek Access, Benton County, Arkansas: Water low, clear, and productive!

I got a chance to kayak fish Beaver Lake in Northwest Arkansas.  This was about the 3rd time I have fished this lake, and the experience was awesome.  The lake reminds me of my "home water" lake of Table Rock.  Nice rocky bottom with deep drop offs and clear water.

My strategy was to take (4) rods...(2) spinner rods with a topwater plug on one, and a Wiggle Wart on the other, with the two baitcasters rigged with a texas rig and a white spinner.  I got out about 5:00 pm., but the bite did not really start until 6:30 or so.  I got a little interest on the plug, but I started to catch them on my "go to" bait for summer: texas rigged with watermelon Zoom trick worm on the end.  I was catching them about 6' off shore. 

Before I headed in (I saw lightning in the distance.....time to get off the water!) I fished the cliffs that were right across the put in point.  These deep cliffs are really, really productive.  The bass like to lay towards the bottom against the cliff waiting for either things to go past or things to drop.  I dropped the worm in a couple of times, and the third cast I caught the pig.  I could have fished another couple of hours, but I really need to rig my kayak with some lights and night fishing stuff....maybe that will be what I work on for the rest of the weekend :)
I cannot wait to get back to Beaver Lake to do some more bass fishing.  It is an incredible lake with some awesome angling opportunities!

Fish ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing Beaver Lake, Arkansas

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Des Arc Lake, Des Arc CA, Prairie County, Arkansas, April 10th, 2012: Bass in the spawn!

The is an outstanding lake in the central/eastern part of northern Arkansas to kayak fish, and especially kayak fish for bass.  I got out to the lake around 3:00 p.m. after work and headed out.  This was the first time fishing this lake, so I spoke with a couple of anglers out there before I set off.  Des Arc is also known for really nice sized crappie, and that is what the person I spoke with was fishing for.
I really though in setting out after a few hours of throwing just about everything and not getting one tap I was going to get skunked.  There was an older gentleman who had a little jon boat with a trolling motor catching a few nice bass by accident on his crappie rig.  I noticed that he was using some bright chartreuse colors so I switch the spinners to that.

Here is what happened that caused me to catch the bass for this day.  I had a texas rigged Zoom watermelon/red trick worm (6").  It got snagged and I lost the rig so I had to re-tie it.  The second time around I switched the bullet weight to a smaller size.....within (2) cast BOOM!  It must have had something to do with the way the bait was presenting itself to the bass.  Caught 4-5 before we needed to get back to the boat launch.

Lesson learned:  If you are not having a lot of success, instead of always switching the bait out, consider switching the weight and/or presentation.

Fish ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing Des Arc Lake, Arkansas

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Lake Atkins, Pope County, Arkansas: Great lake with lots of structure

Kayak Fishing Lake Atkins, Arkansas

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Lake Atkins is located in central Arkansas between Little Rock and Ft. Smith.  I brought my SOT fishing kayak, "The Bossy Flossy" along for the trip.  I was able to get a couple of hours of fishing in before the sun started to go down (I figured the fishing would turn on towards sunset).  I paddled across the lake and drifted along shore.  This lake is chock-full of trees, stumps and structure.  I had read that it was drained in 2002 and restocked with Florida-strain Largemouth bass. 


It is a nice sized lake, and looks like one that does not receive as much pressure due to the stumps and the location.
I was throwing a lot of stuff out trying to get something to hit.  I have not had a lot of success the last couple of trips, so I was really hoping to catch something (It is funny how if you do not catch a bass after about the 3rd trip you start to wonder if you can remember how to fish!!). 

I put out some white spinners, mini spinners with minnow, stand up jig with hula grubs, texas rigged dark worms.  What I had success on was what my go to has been for 2011- watermelon zoom trick worm texas rigged on spinning rod.  And sure enough, caught it in some trees, right about sunset.

Fish ON!

Mike

Kings River, Arkansas June 8th, 2011: Smallies really were turned on, fishing excellent!

It is kind of funny how it works sometimes.  The weekend before I was fishing a kayak fishing tournament in Faytteville, Arkansas on the Illinois River and just could not get up on any kind of substantial fish (did catch one smallie that was about 9")

The table turned on the Kings River on this day.  The river is still really up, due to the fact the Table Rock Lake is up.  The first fish I started to catch were Largemouth Bass.  As I started to paddle in, that is when the Smallmouth Bass started to hit, and they hit strong.  Caught a nice 16" beauty that really made my day!  I ended up paddling about 6 miles that day (3 in against the current, and 3 back in drift fish mode)  Incredible day of fishing, will be back sometime soon.

It seems like the best success I have had this year in the Ozarks has been from about 4:00-7:30 p.m. in the evening (seems like this pattern was even true in March).

Flow(cfs): 880
Guage Height: 4.5'

Fish ON!

Mike

Illinois River, Benton County, Arkansas, June 4th, 2011: Competed in Riverbassin. paddle fishing tournament for first time

Illinois River Arkansas- Kayaking and fishing

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I got a chance to compete in first every kayak fishing tournament for the riverbassin' tournament trail , which made a stop in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  I really did not due too well on this tournament this time.  I originally had kayaked the day before on the White River just south of Beaver Lake, but at the last minute I changed my strategy and fished the Illinois River, a much swifter, colder river than the White River at that point.  I am not really sure if that affected the outcome or not....I do have to say that the river as absolutly beautiful, as the video below will show.  I got some great shots and really challenged myself as a kayaker and sometimes that is just as important as getting on fish....except when you are fishing a tournament!

I did catch one smallmouth that measured out at 9", but I did not catch the fish until almost 2:00 p.m.  Very unfortunate considering I struck out at 6:00 a.m..
I think the biggest mistake I made was not bringing some full sized spinner baits with grubs as trailers.  I have caught some huge smallmouths in the past with that lure, and for some reason or another, I did not included in my tackle box.  My concept was throw hula grubs on stand-up gigs (Chompers plastics)...no go on this run.

Here is what is cool about fishing the rivers and lakes from a kayak- you always are learning new things.  A few days later I tore it up based on some of the lessons I learned on this outing. Life is good :)  Watch the video below- I think you will dig it!

Flow (cfs): 1100
Guage Height: 6.5'

Fish ON!

Mike