Catfish No Report

Crappie No Report

Stripers No Report

Largemouth Bass No Report

White Bass No Report

Finally we had a week of spring weather – it is about time! Sunny days in the 70’s and nights in the low 50’s helped the lake warming process and now the main lake temperature is up to 64.3. This weekend I dropped a temperature probe down to 20 feet and the temperature at that depth is 54 degrees so we still have a lot of warming before the lake temperature is back where it should be for this time of year. Lake level this week is 653.81, which is ½ foot below normal pool.

We would like to take a minute this week to give a special shout out to the men and women that are overseas protecting us and keeping us safe. Thanks – keep up the good work and God Bless.

White Bass are done with their spawn and are still in the back of the creeks and pockets feeding on shad. Now would be a good time to catch a mess. Roadrunners, small spoons and Rapalas or Lucky Craft jerk baits are all working well. 

Crappie are in their spawn cycle. Check the shallows in the cuts that have crappie cribs to find numbers. Live crappie minnows are hard to beat. Also try chartreuse or pink crappie tubes and Blue Thunder Swimming Minnows.

Largemouth bass have been spawning this last week and a few new beds were spotted this weekend. There are post spawn largemouth's roaming about and they are the ones to key in on. Fish the back of the cuts and pockets with Spider Jigs, flukes, Sinko’s and spinner baits. As the lake warms up top water will come into play. Zara Spooks, Pop R’s, Spit’N Image and Lucky Craft Sammy’s are your best top water baits on this lake. 

Smallmouth bass are in post spawn and the bite is increasing daily. Smallies can be found up on pea rock banks and transition areas around the lake. A number of baits and techniques are starting to work – here are a few to try. Mojo rig with centipedes or 4" lizards, Carolina rig with brush hogs or finesse worms, tubes, Spider Jigs and every once in a while a little top water action. 

Kentucky bass are on their post spawn feeding frenzy chasing shad and roaming the banks looking for crawdads. Pop R’s and Spit’N Image baits are triggering Kentuckys that are breaking on shad. Sinko’s and flukes are working along the banks where there are big rocks and tubes and Spider Jigs are your best baits for the Kentuckys that are under the ledge rocks. During the high sun switch to a Mojo rig with a trick worm or centipede and back your boat out to 30 feet of water.

Welcome to the PWT guys and gals – their tournament starts Wednesday May 11. They have been finding that the walleye are scattered and that is probably due to the water temperature. Bottom bouncers are working with crawler harnesses rigged with Smile blades or gold Indiana blades in 18 to 28 feet of water. Long lining with lead core line is catching walleye from 28 to 60 feet of water on Reef Runners and Glass Shad. Most of the strikes are coming in the 26 to 28 foot range, even over the deeper water. We will have an updated report next week. PWT weigh ins will be held at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock, May 11, 12, and 13th.

Lake Rating: Good Plus.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. Berkley Power Egg bite has been good in yellow and pink. With generation the Buoyant spoons, Thomas Colorado’s, Little Cleo’s, and Blue Fox are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on Olive Woolly Bugger, midges, egg patterns and soft hackles. The Brown trout are being caught on Jointed Countdowns, Suspending Rogues and night crawlers.

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 5/11/05 <º)))><{

Most female Largemouth Bass are post spawn lake wide, and are good on 5" Bass Assassin jerk baits, Smithwick rouges, buzz baits, & War Eagle Spinner Baits. Crank bait and Rat-L-Trap bite is improving at mouths of feeder creeks. Most of the larger female Largemouth Bass are post-spawn, and have pulled back to deeper water from the beds. A few straggler late-spawners remain in a few random areas. In addition, most post-spawn Black bass remain fair to good on Carolina rigs with Zoom lizards in pumpkinseed/chart tail, Bass Assassins in gizzard shad, and Lake Fork Fries in watermelon red along Little River. Many bass from 3 - 5 pounds, have been caught on Bass Assassins, War Eagle Spinner baits in firecracker or spot remover colors & buzz baits in the last few days, but the "big" bite is tough and random.

Various Zoom Lizards and Brush Hogs are working well on Millwood. Best working colors in the last week include: cinnamon-raisin, big Texan, and Castaic choice; all are catching nice bass from 3-6 pounds each. Carolina rigging these baits along the river around stumps in 9-12 feet, are also working well. The Crankbaits in brown craw w/orange belly and red chrome Rat-L-Traps (sunny days) are working equally in these same areas, around hydrilla, coontail, and stumps in creek mouths and on points in the river. Best reaction bite is slow and deliberate. Work the cranks and Traps very slow to antagonize the bigger bass. Work the lizards and brush hogs through and into, any hole or opening, in existing vegetation mats, and allow to fall on slack line in 5-8' depth areas.

The larger female bass began moving back to deeper water over the last 3 weeks, coming off the beds. A few males are still relatively shallow, and still guarding beds and chasing predators and baitfish. We are catching a few post-spawn females on the red chrome Rat-L-Traps on sunny days, and white or gold Rat-L-Traps on overcast or cloudy days, and Carolina rigs just out in the next deeper water drops, close to creek mouth dumps into the river, or the next deeper drop of 5-8' in the backwater areas close to the nesting and bedding areas where there are stumps located. Twitch worms, trick worms, and wacky style "T" worms are taking a few decent fish, rigged weightless in water depths of 1-4 feet.

Kentucky Bass (Spotted Bass) are stacked up in the mouths of creeks like Snake Creek, Pugh Slough, and Jack's Isle creeks, and are hitting the Rat-L-Traps in white, and the Carolina rigged Fork Fries in watermelon red or black and blue bruiser.

Crappie have transitioned back to deeper water, post spawn also. Bream are beginning to take their place, in the same shallow water areas around cypress.

Spotted Gar and very large Carp have been noted cruising in shallow water areas of 1-3 feet, in back of Horseshoe Lake, McGuire, Mud Lake, Little River flats next to Hurricane Creek, and other oxbows of Little River in the last week. Several huge gar and carp, up to 10 or 20 pounds each, have been noted extremely shallow, and are spawning. This is an excellent time for bow fishermen to take some nice size Gar and Carp OUT of Millwood!!! While fishing along the river between Jack's Isle and Mud Lake last week, we observed one of the larger alligators feasting on one of the larger carp (approximately 20 pound carp) that was attempting to spawn. It was one awesome site to behold!

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

Use EXTREME caution 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, May 9, the lake level has fallen from the last week. Currently, the lake is approx 2.5 inches above normal conservation pool, falling, with stain improving, still muddy in main lake areas such as Saline River inflow, Para Loma Pockets, etc., due to high winds and rains. Current is reduced in Little River. The lake elevation is 259.41. Water clarity in the river is approx 12-15". Clarity is much worse on the main lake due to 15-20mph winds over last few days. North eastern sector of the lake around OK Landing and Mine Creek remains muddy, as well as in the Saline River. Creeks and sloughs of Little River are beginning to clear.

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 4-6 feet in places. Water temperatures have increased in the last 2 weeks due to warmer ambient temperatures, and range approx 68ºF early to 77ºF later in the day, depending on area of the lake, wind, and sunlight penetrations.

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 in the navigability 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, your life preserver can potentially be your only hope to survive, so PUT IT ON!