Crappie very good using minnows

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

Largemouth Bass good using spinner baits and plastics 

White Bass No Report

October 25, 2004
Clouds, fog and very little sunshine covers the weather pattern for the last week. Daytime temperatures have been in the lower 70’s with foggy 50’s at night because of the high humidity. Lake level is down a little this week at 650.84, which puts us at 3 ½ feet below normal pool level. Lake temperature remains around 63 degrees and water clarity is about 16 feet, it’s been one of those weeks where just about everything has stayed steady. The crappie bite has picked up some and the nice 1 ½ pound to 2 pound crappie are starting to show themselves. Brush piles in the creeks and pole trees along the bluff walls are the key areas to work. Crappie minnows and a colored jig head (chartreuse, pink or white) is one of the best baits. Swimming Minnows and crappie tubes are also catching a few along with silver ¼ ounce spoons. The crappie are holding between 26 to 32 feet and the best bite is early in the morning and one hour before sundown.

Largemouth bass have not returned to the banks except in the upper part of the lake above Tucker Hollow. Spinner baits and Wiggle Warts V-37 and V-38 are the key baits up there. The rest of the lake is kind of iffy as the largemouth are holding on the deep side of secondary points just above the thermocline (34 feet). Best technique and baits at this time is Carolina rigs with Brush Hogs, lizards and finesse worms, football jigs tipped with Yamamoto twin tail trailers and Hula Grubs in green pumpkin and root beer colors. 

Smallmouth bass can be caught around pea rock points and at the end of chunk rock banks that have a transition change from chunk rock to pea gravel. Like the largemouth, the smallies are also hanging around the 34 to 38 foot water depth feeding on shad and searching for crawdads at night. Numbers are hard to come by but the few bites you get are from quality smallies. A number of baits and techniques must be used throughout the day to be successful. Spider Jigs, tube baits, Mojo rigs, trick worms and centipedes and drop shot rigs with finesse worms will trigger bites but you have to work at it. 

Kentucky bass are doing the same thing swimming with the shad out over open water. Some top water action is present but you need to wait until the Kentuckys push the shad up to the top to frenzy feed before you can catch them with Pop-R’s or Chug Bugs. Spoons and drop shots are working under the balls of shad no matter what depth of water you find them in.

Walleye are coming to the banks at night and can be taken on suspending Rogues in 15 to 25 foot of water around points. During the day, the walleye are still around the points but they are moving out over open water and suspending 26 to 30 feet down. DO NOT make the mistake of fishing too deep under the walleyes as they will not go down after your lure. Change over to shallow running baits and don’t be concerned if your over 60 feet of water – remember the walleyes are only down 26 to 30 feet.

The PWT will return to Bull Shoals on May 11 through 13, 2005 and entry blanks for amateurs are now available. The can be ordered by phone from PWT at 218-824-2542, or by downloading them from the PWT web site at www.professionalwalleyetrail.com. They are now available at Wilderness Trail. The PWT is a Pro-Am and this past June one-third of the field consisted of local anglers. The week of November 8th, the Bull Shoals PWT tournament from June 2004 can be seen on The Outdoor Channel, Monday at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday 3:30 p.m. and Friday 11 p.m.

Trout fishing on the White River has been good on Power Bait in yellow, orange and white and Belgian red worms. Buoyant Spoons, Little Cleos, and Rooster Tails have been working when the generation is on. The fly fishermen have done well on olive Woolly Buggers, sow bugs, egg pattern in peach and San Juan worms. Browns are being caught on Countdowns, Flat Fish and nightcrawlers.

}><(((º> Millwood Lake Fishing Report 10/25/04 <º)))><{


Largemouth bass, spotted bass (Kentuckies), and white bass continue aggressive feeding patterns, surface breaking in large schools all along Little River from Bee Lake up to Horseshoe Lake, and are very good during the warmer periods of the days, 10am-2pm. The schooling bass continue chasing shad and are improving with the cooler surface temps. This is an excellent time, probably the best opportunity of the entire year, to take a youngster fishing for a few hours. The action can be fast and furious, now and for the next few weeks, catching numbers of juvenile bass, in a relatively short outing. Youngsters just want to catch "something/anything", and this time of year fishing with an authoritative figure in their lives, can get kids hooked on fishing for their entire lifetime ( I remember it sure did it for me, fishing this time of year with my Dad ! :) .

During schooling periods, black bass, spotted bass and white bass are not that hard to find up and down Little River, and are excellent on 1/4oz to 3/4oz Rat-L-Traps in chrome/black back or white glitter and various shad patterns; Cordell Crazy Shads in chrome/black back, white Rocket Shads, and chrome Johnson spoons with white grub trailers in the lily pads along edges of Little River. Schooling activities greatly improved again over last week. With the cooler days and nights, surface temps in the last week have dropped another 2-3º this week. The larger fish are hitting the larger 3/4 oz Rat-L-Traps since it is typically fished slower & deeper, underneath the breaking 1-2 pound juvenile bass. Medium to deep diving crankbaits are working better this week as well, for the larger bass, by working underneath the schools of smaller bass.

White Bass are sometimes found schooling along and with the Black Bass and have been caught in the same schools as the blacks, but the Whites are still preferring the smaller crank baits like Speed Traps, Hot Lips, Smithwick Rouges, or small Bomber model "A" cranks, over the top water baits. Catches of 25-50 per afternoon of blacks, spots, hybrids and whites mixed in the schools, between 1-3 pounds have been common in the last week to 10 days.

Carolina Rigs using 8" magnum lizards in june bug or red bug, 5" Bass Assassin Shads, or Fork French Fries in sour grape or blue bruiser colors, are catching keepers along Little River, at the 4-6' foot drop zones, creek mouths, points, and wash outs. Speed Traps or Hot Lips Crankbaits in pearl belly/blue back or white/blue back are catching keeper bass along lily pad line edges in Little River. The crank bait bite has improved again over the last week, taking better quality bass, again, than last week. Don't be surprised if you pick up a few whites or hybrids with the cranks in the same areas along Little River, as well. Bass Assassin 5" shads, continue catching decent bass in the lily pads, coontail moss and hydrilla. In addition, 10-12" power worms in purple or black grape are beginning to catch a few good keeper largemouth's again.

Crappie bite improved this week due to improved water temps and clarity conditions on main lake. Several good limits of Crappie were taken on Little River in the last few days with the cooler mornings and lower surface temps. Try white/chart jigs, Mizmo crappie tubes, or shiners in 12-15 feet depth planted brush piles along the river both sides of where North and South Hickory enters Little River, also between #3 and #4 mile marker in the cuts of the river bank's outside bends. Look for the huge bait schools on your graph in 10-12 feet depths, over planted brush piles.

Blue Catfish are still hitting very good on chicken liver, earthworms, and cut bait, on trot lines in the outside river bends between #4 and #6 mile marker, and between Yarborough Point and Jack's Isle, set approx 12-15' deep.

Long nose Gar are still relatively shallow in the backs of the creeks and feeding. There are some excellent bow-fishing opportunities on Millwood at present. Huge Gar, well in excess of 10-15 pounds each, are in water less than 3 feet in depth, cruising the shallows and feeding on shad, and other baitfish.

Large Bream are biting crickets and night crawlers off the banks at the State Park banks and the marina, very well.

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

Be advised the USA Corps of Engineers recently replaced many of the missing river buoys in Little River, although there are still some stretches along the river that are still being worked on. We have seen several of the buoys washed up onto the south bank, between Pugh Slough and Jack's Isle.

The lake level has risen approximately 3", this past week and as of Monday October 25, is approximately 3.5 inches above normal conservation pool at 259.48, and rising, with 173CFS being released at the dam, gate #2 set at 0.4 feet. Water clarity in the river, has much improved within the last week. Visibility is approximately 5-7 inches. Clarity is somewhat better in Little River, than the main lake, due to the bank protection from the high winds.