Catfish are slow some are being caught oh live in the hickory creek area

Crappie are bighting minnows and jigs tipped with minnows 20 to 30 feet deep

Stripers ARE VERY GOOD RIGHT NOW in prairie creek 10 to 40 feet deep on live shiners and spoons there are a good number up in war eagle creek from 5 to 15 feet deep on live shiners also try free lines and balloons and in prairie creek on balloons and down lines

Largemouth Bass are bighting good with spinner baits and jigs from point 8 to war eagle

White Bass No Report

MEET THE PRO - Eric Olson and Joe Whitten from the FLW Outdoors Walleye

Tour will be at Wilderness Trail, Thursday, March 31st from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Come on in, have a cup of coffee, meet the Pros and ask questions

March 21, 2005

The winds of March stayed with us this week with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s. The nights are still into the low 40’s, which is holding the lake temperatures around 48.5 to 49.5 degrees. The upper lake above Tucker Hollow and the upper part of the Theodosia arm is a few degrees warmer. Lake level has stabilized and is 653.90. We still could use a little rain to raise the lake a foot or two before spawning season. White Bass did not make any moves over this week, they are still at the back of the northern creeks holding in 40+ feet of water with the shad. When the shad move, the whites will move. All we need is a week of warm weather. 

Crappie have been moving back into the pockets toward the brush piles throughout the week. Fish the deep outsides of the brush piles with crappie minnows and Bobby Garland Swimming Minnows in chartreuse or pearl colors.

Largemouth bass still have not staged and are roaming in and out of the northern cuts and pockets. Without the lake temperature warming up this so-so pattern will continue. Work the northern points and secondary points with crankbaits or slow rolling spinnerbaits. If you don’t have any success with reaction baits move to 35 feet of water and fish a Carolina or Mojo rigged 5" lizard or finesse worm. 

Smallmouth bass have made a move to pea rock "do nothing" banks during the sunny part of the day. Crankbaits - Wiggle Warts in V37, V38 and V86 or Lucky Craft Pointer 78DD’s in American Shad or Chartreuse Shad are working the best. The jig bite has also picked up some with green pumpkin and P&J being the dominant colors. 

Kentucky Bass are spending a little more time roaming the banks looking for crawdads, then returning back out to the schooling shad. The shallow Kentuckys can be triggered with crankbaits or spinnerbaits. Northern chunk rock banks are holding the aggressive Kentuckys at this time.

Lake Rating: Walleye are slow, bass are roaming but the bite is picking up, crappie are moving back to structure. This week the rating is fair to good.

The PWT tournament will be May 11 through the 13th. The PWT will once again operate from Bull Shoals Boat Dock and the weigh ins will be held every day at the dock. The weigh ins are very exciting and should not be missed.

Walleye can be located between 32 to 42 feet of water around main lake points and secondary chunk rock points in the creeks but they are not feeding so we can’t set a pattern. A few are being caught on crawler harnesses and bottom bouncers or Glass Shad pulled on lead core line. The best bite is at night up on the points with Suspending Rogues. Unfortunately it has been a little cool at night and not many anglers are out on the lake chasing them. Hopefully with a little warm up the walleye will move to staging areas in the next few weeks.

The FLW Outdoors Walleye Tour will be coming to Bull Shoals April 6th through the 9th with 150 pros and 150 co-anglers. You can pick up more information and entry forms at R&H Marine in Bull Shoals and at Wilderness Trail. This tournament will coincide with the opening of the new Wal-Mart Super Center in Flippin. There will be lots of activity around Bull Shoals Lake. Two FLW Outdoors Walleye Tour Pros will be at Wilderness Trail on Thursday March 31st from 6:30 to 8:30 to answer questions on walleye fishing. Come on in, have a cup of coffee and talk to the Pros.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. When there is not much generation, Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and orange have done well along with Belgium worms. With generation the Buoyant spoon, Little Cleo’s, and Krocodiles are the bait of choice. The fly fisherman has done well on olive Woolly Buggers, sow bugs, scuds, peach egg pattern and San Juan worms. The Brown trout are being caught on suspending rogues, nightcrawlers and Countdowns.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day. Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report.

}><(((º> Millwood Lake Fishing Report 3/21/05 <º)))><{

Millwood Lake Guide Service reports water temps 58º-64º ; 2 inches above normal, falling, & visibility= 8". Gate Release= 215 CFS.

Largemouth Bass are excellent on various red or orange Rat-L-Traps. Many seven to nine pound size, and several nice Largemouth's between 10-12 pounds have been caught and released on Millwood in the last 2 weeks. Red Rat-L-Traps and the bleeding brown/orange craw, red chrome and red shad patterns, continue working very well. Cloudy days, use the suncraw, gold, or black shad color patterns. Fish the Rat-L-Traps slowly and deliberately on points in Little River, creek channels, flats, and around stumps in 2-6 feet depth drop-offs, close to deep water. The lipped, Divin-Rat-L-Traps in orange craw and various craw-colored crankbaits are still taking good keeper bass on points in Little River. Jig bite has subsided in the last few weeks, as the bass are beginning to roam around and move in and out of shallow areas close to deep water, beginning to spread out horizontally, rather than vertically, as the surface temperatures continue climbing. Only a matter of days or weeks before we will see bass on the beds, nesting during spawning cycle, on Millwood. In addition, Black bass remain fair to good on Carolina rigs with Zoom lizards in green pumpkin or pumpkinseed with chart tail. 10-12" power worms in red shad, june bug, or blue fleck continue taking keepers along the river drop offs. Several fish have already been caught on buzz baits and Bass Assassins this year. Largemouth Bass remain in a pre-spawn pattern with the water warming.

Brush Hogs and lizards in black and blue, scumpernong, cotton candy, and red bug colors, and War Eagle white & chart spinner baits worked slowly approx 9-10 feet deep, are catching decent size bass on stumps along the edges of the river, and on points in 6-8 feet depths in the same areas where the red Rat-L-Traps are working. Along the river, back off the edges of the river bank to where you find stumps and timber in approx 8-15 feet depths or drag a Carolina rig across the points dumping into the river. Carolina rigs in these areas of the river seem to be working better in the last week. Crankbaits and Rat-L-Traps are working equally in these same areas. Fish are beginning to transition from winter haunts (depths greater than 10 feet) to spring time, pre-spawn positions around the lake, and in the river.

We continue having success using a heavy, 5/8 oz to 3/4 oz War Eagle Spinnerbait in white/chart or fire tiger color patterns, along the river edges on scattered stumps in 8-10 feet depth areas with some success, later in the day, once the sun is up and has warmed the top 2 feet of the water column. We have found once the water warms up later in the day, the bite becomes much more aggressive and pronounced. We changed out the spinner bait's factory blade configurations, and are using a large # 7 thumping Colorado or Indiana blade on the rear hanger, in gold, to attract their attention on sunny days or muddy water. The larger blade configuration puts out much more "thump" in the stained water, and the bass seem to be relating to the additional vibration from the large Colorado, rather than the factory willow blade configurations. The larger bass remain slightly deeper in the creeks, and closer to the deeper haunts of the river or creek channel drops, however, these heavy weight fish are moving in and out of shallow flat areas several times during the day. The majority of the bass patterns remain very constant this time of year. Over the last 2 weeks, with daytime highs in the upper 60º and lower 70º range, this has allowed the surface temps to rise up to 15 full degrees compared to only 3 weeks ago, and the bass are relating to the warmer water by becoming much more aggressive, and moving up to more shallow areas, chasing baitfish. Just 2 weeks ago, water temps ranged from low 40ºs to upper 40ºs. Over the last 2 weeks, the surface temperatures have risen to upper 50º and low 60º range.

Cold fronts are particularly frustrating this time of year when bass fishing. One day the ambient temperature will be 30º and freezing your line guides on your rod and the wind blowing 30mph and muddies up the entire lake. Few bites. Next day sun is out and high is near 65º, water clearing and shallow areas warming, cant get a hook in the water quick enough, and good, decent bass bites on every pitch with a tube or 10" power worm. Sharp hooks in soft plastic or crankbaits, are a must for those slow and deliberate (few) bites! Also, slowing the crankbait retrieve to a mere crawl seems to have the best results in this colder water climate, but look up, the water is warming, the fish are biting, and are biting with much more aggression now, than only a few weeks ago! Sharpen those hooks, get out there & deliberately slow down the retrieve, purposely deflect cranks off stumps, and HANG ON! This time of year can also yield the trophy Largemouth of a lifetime, full of roe and just waiting on warmer temperatures to move shallow!

Crappie also continue to transition to shallow spawning areas. We noted an improvement in the Crappie bite several weeks ago, since water began clearing and lake falling, back to normal pool, and with the increase in surface temps, the fish are stacking horizontally rather than vertical. Nice slab catches have been taken on live shiners and jigs in last few weeks, in 3-6 feet depths along Little River and its oxbows.

White Bass continue their annual spawning run up Little River, and have been caught in the last few days around mouth of Cossotot River, on points extending into Little River, bar pits, and further up toward Patterson Shoal areas. These White Bass up to 3 and 4 pounds each, are hitting Little Cleos, Rooster Tails, Chuck-N-Spins, Rocket Shads, Tiny Trap Rat-L-Traps (1/8oz), all in chrome/blue or silver/white color patterns.

Blue Cats remain good in Little River on trot lines, chicken livers or dog food. Lines set approx 16-20 feet deep, seem to be best depths in outside river bends, in the last few weeks.

}><(((º> Millwood Lake & River Conditions Report <º)))><{

A serious boating accident occurred this past weekend on Millwood Lake, in Little River. There were 4 large bass tournaments on Millwood Lake, with over 400 boats estimated on the water, launched out of Yarborough Landing. Two high speed bass boats collided in a sharp turn of Little River, both at high speeds, headed toward each other. Our understanding is both drivers maneuvered to avoid the collision, but were unable to avoid it. Several guys were very seriously injured in this collision. All boaters involved were wearing PFDs. 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, and wearing your PFD is a requirement!!

For those fishing the river and below the spillway, as of Monday, March 21, the lake level has dropped over the last week approximately another 2 inches, and is continuing dropping again and currently is approx 2 inches above normal conservation pool, with improved stain, muddy in main lake areas due to high winds over the last few days in excess of 30mph, and close to Cottenshed or Saline River, and current is reduced. The lake elevation is 259.39, and falling, with 228 CFS being released at the dam. Water clarity in the river is approx 8-10". Clarity is somewhat worse on the main lake and around Saline inflow. Currently, clarity is around 7" toward the dam. Northeastern sector of the lake around Cottenshed and OK Landing remains muddy, but improving, in the Saline River. Creeks and sloughs of Little River have begun clearing very well now, with the lake falling.

The upriver oxbows such as McGuire, Horseshoe, Mud Lake, Cemetery Slough, etc, away from the current in Little River still have much better water visibility, estimated at approx 4-5+ feet in places. Water temperatures have increased in the last week due to unseasonably warmer ambient temperatures, and range approx 58ºF early to 64ºF later in the day, depending on area of the lake, wind and sunlight penetrations.

Per conversations with the USA Corps of Engineers over the past few weeks, the US Army Corps of Engineers operating Millwood Lake completed installing 22 buoys on Little River between mile marker #1 (open water) and #16 (White Cliffs) effective March 2. Additionally, USACE installed were 16 buoys between Jack's Isle and White Cliffs and 6 from Paraloma Trail to open water. Thursday and Friday plan to GIS the Little River channel buoys, remove old buoys from the river bank and those that have drifted into sloughs, bushes, etc.... per email from the Millwood USACE office, and through the USACE work on Millwood, it is very obvious & evident, that "We are committed to improving water safety for the boating public".

Millwood Guide Service and all the Millwood anglers, would like to take this opportunity to thank the US Army Corps of Engineers for their dedication to continual improvement and maintenance of Millwood Lake, continually fighting mother nature and the rising and falling level due to influx of run off from area lakes and rivers, and rain.

Don't forget, be safe, and respect the other guy's right to use the lake too. Release those big bass to spawn and fight again, and take home those little 16"ers to fry up! Use caution in low light conditions, wear your Life Preserver and SUNSCREEN! If you are suddenly thrown from your boat, or knocked unconscious, this time of year, hypothermia can set in as little as 5 minutes in 55º water, and your life preserver can potentially be your only hope to survive, so PUT IT ON!