Crappie good using minnows  in the brush piles

Stripers are deep using umbrella rigs and deep cranks and live shad

Largemouth Bass good using crankbaits at night 

White Bass good at night under a light 

FALL IN STORE SEMINAR - SEPTEMBER 25TH 2 TO 4 P.M.

CALL US AT 870-445-2703 TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATION

There is no charge, everyone is invited - but we are limited to 50 people

Dog days of summer returned this week. Warm days in the 80’s with nights in the upper 60’s and no wind. Lake temperature rose 2 degrees from 78.5 to 80 to 81 degrees throughout the lake. With the warm days the generation at the dam has picked up, which dropped the pool to 654.32, a foot down from last week and right about normal pool level, which still puts us in great shape for this time of year. The thermocline is still at about 37 feet although the temperature break dropped down to 43 feet, so the thermocline is now 6 feet wide. This makes pinpointing game fish just a little harder. Crappie have settled into the brush piles and are biting in the mornings and lake evenings. Live crappie minnows and crappie tube baits are working the best. Primary colors are pumpkinseed, chartreuse and pink. Small ¼ oz silver spoons are also taking a few crappie and Bobby Garland Swimming Minnow fished vertically down through the brush piles is also working.

Largemouth bass have not made any changes from last week, they are still suspended and roaming in and out of the shallows. Buzzbaits and Spook Jr’s or Lucky Craft Sammy’s will trigger a few strikes from dawn until around 7:30 a.m. in the back of the creeks and pockets. During the day the bite is slow, the key areas to fish are brush piles and the deep side of secondary points. Best techniques have been 7/16 oz. or football jigs, brush hogs on Carolina Rigs and vertically spooning a Binks spoon or Cotton Cordell spoon in silver. 

Smallmouth bass are deep and hard to find because they are not on the bottom, they are suspended and moving. The smallies are moving in at night and we can find some around points and on chunk rock banks in the mornings. Best baits are Spider Jigs, tubes, Carolina rigged 4" lizards and Mojo rigged finesse worms. Kentucky bass are traveling with the shad, which they have been doing all summer. 

We noticed this week that the Kentuckys were pushing the shad to the top in the mornings and if you could get a Pop R, Spit’N Image or Zara Spook Jr into them before they went back down you could trigger a strike. Graphing and looking for Kentuckys under the shad is also working, fishing a drop shot or spoon down into their zone.

Walleye are sitting in the thermocline and feeding during low light time periods. Bottom bouncers with crawler harnesses have been producing some nice walleye in 40 to 45 feet of water. Orange, chartreuse/orange and red/silver blades have been the best. Long liners that are using lead core line are catching a few on Reef Runners, Hot’N Tots, Suspending Rogues and Bill Norman DD14’s. Vertical spooning is also working outside the flats and off the points. Cover a lot of water with your trolling motor until you mark a few walleye, then drop your spoon down in front of them. This technique will trigger reaction strikes as well as feeding strikes.

NIGHT TIME UPDATE: The bite starts to pick up around 9 p.m. on the points and around brush piles. Texas rigged worms are still slow but if the bass will bite them, strawberry gold or black/blue colors are the best. Jigs remain the #1 bait in black/blue or junebug colors.

Trout fishing on the White River has been good on Power Bait in yellow and white, and Belgian red worms. Buoyant Spoons, Mepps, Blue Fox and Rooster Tails have been working when the generation is on. The fly fishermen have done well on olive Woolly Buggers, scuds, and San Juan worms. Browns are being caught on Smithwick Rogues, Countdowns, Flat Fish and nightcrawlers.

}><(((º> Millwood Lake Fishing Report 9/06/04 <º)))><{

Largemouth bass, 2 to 3 pounds, are schooling and excellent on 5 inch Bass Assassin Shads in salt & pepper colors; Rat-L-Traps in chrome, white, or smokey joe; Cordell redfins, crazy shads or Smithwick Rouges.

Bandit crankbaits in brown craw/orange belly or Norman cranks in shad colors still remain catching keeper bass along points of feeding creeks in Little River. Soft plastic Scum Frogs or Zoom horney toads in green pumpkin or black colors, are still taking decent bass in the lily pads, coontail moss and hydrilla.

Carolina Rigs using zoom lizards in watermelon or pumpkin/chart tail are catching keepers on points in Little River and have moved slightly shallower than a week ago, at 5-7 foot drop offs, in the oxbows up river. Schooling blacks have also been found up river and caught in the 2.5-3.5 pound range up Little River this week, caught on the Rat-L-Traps and Cordell Redfins, Crazy Shads or Smithwick rouges. Action is quick, fast and furious, mostly occurring on cloudy days, all morning off and on-starting and stopping at random. The White Bass are sometimes found schooling along and with the Black Bass and have been caught in the same schools as the blacks, but apparently are preferring chrome or white/chart Chuck-N-Spins or red and white beetle spins over the top water baits.

Hogg Assassins and brush hogs in black ruby, blackberry or sour grape are still catching decent size bass on stumps and scattered grass cover in the edges of the river. Fatbutt Gitzits in black/blue tail or pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, and 10-12 inch power worms in plum, tequila sunrise, or purple are still catching solid 5 pound bass up river.

White sparkle skirt jigs or lead head jigs, with pearl plastic chunks, or white grubs; Larew Hog Salt Craws in black/blue, and texas-rigged june bug lizards are catching keeper size fish in the clearer oxbows.

Visibility and clarity reduced this week on main lake structure due to high wind conditions, and is approximately 8-12 inches on the main lake, much better in Little River due to the bank protection from the high winds. Little River's clarity continues improving daily. The upriver oxbows such as McGuire, Horseshoe, Mud Lake, Clear Lake etc, still have much better water clarity estimated approximately 6-8 feet visibility in places. Current in Little River is slightly increased this week, with the discharge at the dam currently at 776 CFS. Use extreme caution while running the river in low light conditions due to missing river buoys.

Channel Cats remain good on cut baits, chicken livers, in the river channel, on trot lines. 3-7 pound Blues continue biting well on cheese baits, shiners, and liver on yoyos underneath cypress trees set at 7-9 feet depths.

White bass are still trying to school up, sometimes schooling with the juvenile black bass, and are hitting chrome Chuck-n-Spins, small roostertails in chrome, small Rat-L-Traps in chrome/black in Little River and in Horseshoe Lake or Mud Lake oxbows. The schooling activities are random and best on cloudy days. These schoolers have shifted their feeding times to mid-morning over the last 2 weeks.

}><(((º> Lake Fishing Conditions Report<º)))><{

Currently for those people fishing below the spillway, as of Monday, Sept 6, the USCE reports a slight change in the gate discharge last week, and is approx 776 CFS at the dam. There currently are two gates open at one foot each. Be advised there are many missing river buoys in Little River, and navigation during low light conditions are difficult, so slow down!

The lake level has remained steady this past week and is approximately 2 inches above normal conservation pool at 259.40, and steady. Water clarity in the river, is improving, and visibility is approximately 15-20 inches. *Note: High, muddy water over the last several weeks, has moved some of the river buoys out of the channel and onto the banks, or have disappeared altogether. Many river buoys are missing between Yarborough and Mud Lake in Little River. Water temperatures have stabilized, and range approx 83ºF early to 89ºF later in the day, depending on area of the lake, wind and sunlight penetrations.

Use EXTREME caution while navigating Little River in low light conditions, and SLOW DOWN! Careful watch for floaters and debris in Little River's current is a requirement. The river is improving daily, in clarity and slower current. Random grass mats and floating objects remain in Little River. Keep in mind there are long sections of Little River where the river buoys have moved out of position or have disappeared from the high water and current. The USACE is working to get these buoys replaced.