Local Lakes? (Ft. Smith, Weddington, Elmdale, Tj House, Crystal Lake)

[Bill Pisechko]

So not sure if anyone reads this..or maybe there is a better place to "hang out" on-line for small water fishing tips in NWA. I live in Gravette and will be taking my Kayak to Crystal lake this Saturday, assuming the weather holds and is nice. I will take light tackle and small bass lures and see what I can see.

I will keep everyone posted as to what I discover. Any other "help" on good, small water places is greatly appreciated.

[Quillback]

I have seen people fishing Swepco out of yaks, my dad and I used to fish it out of his canoe back in the 90's. If it's not too windy it's a great lake to fish out of a yak.

[1969Larson]

Some of the local creeks (Osage Creek, Spring Creek, Big Sugar, Spavinaw, etc) are floatable in a kayak if you can find good access. Use Google Earth and explore a bit. Most of those hold some nice smallmouth once you get a little ways away from where the locals or not-so-locals swim, drink, bbq, and change diapers in the creek.

[Middleton369]

Has anyone had any recent success at bob kidd or lake sequoyah for crappie lately? I Blanked last week at lake sequoyah but I remember when I was in college catching crappie by the hundreds in late April at bob kidd. Any help much appreciated

[doohickey]

Went to Bob Kidd the Sunday before last. Not even a nibble, and I tried everything including live bait. I could see some fish up by the dam on the fishfinder and also a few jumping, couldn't get em to bite though.

[Guest]

Went to Bob Kidd the Sunday before last. Not even a nibble, and I tried everything including live bait. I could see some fish up by the dam on the fishfinder and also a few jumping, couldn't get em to bite though.

thats exactly why I hate fishing there.

I need to find a public lake stocked with channel cat & bream for my 2 year old & wife to catch. (bank fishing)

Any ideas?

[JohnF52]

Lake Fayetteville or Lake Wedington or Lake Wilson.

[J-Doc]

Lake Fayetteville or Lake Wedington or Lake Wilson.

You can forget Fayetteville. I trolled that entire lake fishing over hot spots and using a contour map with 1ft intervals. I combed over that place pretty carefully and checked for small gamefish for the same reasons (taking the family) and that lake has been fished out really hard by people using nets.

I've fished that lake many times in years past and there was a healthy fish population. What I saw last summer made me never want to go back. Water was terribly stained and super green. No game fish in the back of the coves. I was very disappointed. Even while trolling, I hardly marked fish at all in all kinds of depth ranges and checking little recessed pockets where fish would suspend in years past.

[Guest]

You can forget Fayetteville. I trolled that entire lake fishing over hot spots and using a contour map with 1ft intervals. I combed over that place pretty carefully and checked for small gamefish for the same reasons (taking the family) and that lake has been fished out really hard by people using nets.

I've fished that lake many times in years past and there was a healthy fish population. What I saw last summer made me never want to go back. Water was terribly stained and super green. No game fish in the back of the coves. I was very disappointed. Even while trolling, I hardly marked fish at all in all kinds of depth ranges and checking little recessed pockets where fish would suspend in years past.

Ive had the same problem with those 3 lakes being over fished.

maybe the channel cat are getting overlooked though.

The trouble with lake fayetteville is the lack of bank fishing access,

I dont like using those piers to fish off.

If thats the case, I would take my boat, but my son is too young for that right now.

[NWAfishbiologist]

TrophyFishR and all

Sorry it took so long to respond, we are very busy in the spring. We have 4 lakes in NWA that we stock with catchable channel catfish (about 3/4 pound to 1 pound apiece) in April-June and again in September. These are put and take fisheries and you have good chances of catching fish from the bank. The lakes are Lake Bentonville, Lake Springdale, Lake Atalanta and Murphy Park Pond.

We also have fishing docks on Bob Kidd Lake, Crystal Lake and Lake Elmdale and these lakes have good numbers of bluegill and other sunfish. We are in the process of replacing the old docks at Crystal Lake and Elmdale this spring. Lake Bentonville also has at least 2 fishing docks and has bluegill and the catchable channel catfish. If you have any further, questions let me know

Jon Stein

Fish Biologist

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

2805 West Oak Street

Rogers, AR 72758

phone 479-631-6005