Greers Ferry Forecast Report April

[Cody Smith]

Greers Ferry at the time of this report has come up 6 feet in a 10 hour period and is still rising. We have gotten soooooooo much rain the Corp. Has actually had to shut down the generators to help with the flooding situation on the White river at Georgetown. Once the White hits 22 feet at the Georgetown gauge it’s mandated by the corp. to shut down generation from Greers Ferry into the Little Red to control downstream flooding. Regardless of the shutdown there will be many agricultural and properties damaged this spring from all the rain. The only positive side to all the water in the rivers is old oxbows that have not been replenished with game fish most certainly will after this event. I do not want to be misunderstood with this statement, I’m simply saying there is a positive note. I personally want to send out my condolences to the folks that are going to lose property and homes during this tragic event. Greers Ferry is currently at 470 feet and rising, it would not surprise me if we see Flood Pool of 481 reached here before it’s said and done. Needless to say this is going to put a damper on fishing up the arms for a short time. Currents up all main feeder arms are going to be swift and dangerous, not to mention heavily stained and polluted with all the runoff. Now is a good time to keep a large trash bag with you and do your part in keeping this reservoir clean and pollution free. Well, it seems 08 has seen it’s fair share of Doom and Gloom, the up side of this is fishing can only get BETTER! Spring is officially here and April promises to be one of the best months on this reservoir. By the first week of this month we should start seeing days of great catches on all major species. The walleye will be done doing there thing and will be readily feeding on all types of forage. For the females that spawned they will be feeding heavily and the males will be right there with them. Look for locations in major and minor feeder arms that have the 3 crucial elements I have discussed in past reports. These locations will be in 12 - 30 feet of water with structure and bait fish. By far the best method to produce some eye’s will be ultra light tackle with 1/16 or 1/8 oz jig heads baited up with Minnows or Live crawlers. Hard Baits will produce but live bait is #1 for the eyes. All major game fish are about 2 weeks behind this year with the cooler temps and rains we have been experiencing. At the time of this report the white’s have yet to show up in great numbers, they will be going by the time your reading this. By all means if you sat this report down and headed out right now I would forgive you! They will be going good the entire month of April, with low light hours and cloudy days being best. You will find them from 5 feet to 15 feet deep in moderate current areas with hard bottoms. You will see a lot of surface activity, the males will be literally be pushing the females out of the water trying to fertilize the eggs. If you have not seen this phenomenon it’s really a site. The best way to catch`em will be small to medium size in-line spinners, crankbaits and 3" curly tail grubs in white, yellow, purple and chartreuse. Smallmouth Bass will be spawning once water temps hit 56- 58 degrees. Look for pea gravel and sandy areas surrounded by chunk rock in 3 - 12 feet depending on water clarity. Baby Brush Hogs, Lizards, and jig and chunk combo’s will produce best. Your largemouth’s and spots will spawn later when the water gets into the 60's. They will be in pre-spawn mode and feeding aggressively on anything that is an easy target. Once the water warms up look for transition areas that are located close to spawning grounds. The fish will move in and out of deep water depending on light penetration, wind, and time of day. Areas of 2 - 6 feet of water next to main channel bends of 15 - 30 feet of water will be your target area. Small crank bait’s should be used to locate active fish. Once found, you can slow down and fish jig and chunk combo’s to score big time. The catfish should make a major feeding push later in the month and shallow flats in main lake areas should be focused on. Cut bait or live crawlers and minnow fished slowly will produce best. The Crappie will be feeding heavily with water temps on a gradual warming trend. All your standards, ie. Small Jigs tipped with minnows, cranks, and slip bobbers with minnows will score fish around standing timber. Most of the crappie will be located in the North basin with the exception of a few minor arms in the lower. Look at standing timber in depths of 12 - 25 feet for suspended fish. With all the water in the lake the spawn is going to be a little tuff to fish. There is literally a ton of areas with good spawning habitat. Poke some bushes and probe areas rather quickly. The fish will definitely be spread out with high water. Well, If any of you have any question’s or want to set a date for the lake or river, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. Smittyc888@hotmail.com or 501-362-9958 Good Luck on your turkey and then come catch some fish! Take a Kid Fishing- Cody S. Smith / Trout Troller Guide Service

[catD6Rdozer]

Greers is tough right now wouldnt you say trouttroller? Fished a tourney yesterday and only saw about 4-5 limits of fish.. Upper end of lake looks like chocolate milk and is up in peoples back yard. Water temp is still 5-6 degrees below what it should be for this time of year. Fish are scattered ... its just tough...

[Cody Smith]

Greers is definately being tuff! I found most fish at the very backs of minor arms around large wads of bait. I've only been out a couple of times in the last 2 weeks, I've been fishing the Little Red mainly. Water temps are as much as 10 degrees cooler than in past years. Until this rain, water was starting to clear way up the arms with some fish being caught in those locations. I'll will prob. not be out until next week after it settles some. I will report be it good or bad when I go!

Good Luck~

Cody

Trout Troller