The water is extremely clear 

Bass fishing has been good at night on spinner baits with large Colorado blades and large, dark-colored soft plastics fished in 15 feet of water.

Walleye are biting well on nightcrawlers fished over the flats in 35 to 40 feet of water.

White bass and hybrids are schooling in deep water throughout the day.

Catfish No Report

Crappie No Report

Stripers No Report

Largemouth Bass No Report

White Bass No Report

ANGLER'S EDGE 3RD ANNUAL TEAM BASS TOURNAMENT

OCTOBER 15-16, 2005

Entry Fee $200.00 plus $20.00 Big Bass (100% payback - optional)

Each team will receive 2 Free Falcon Rods and a Free Buffet Dinner at Mario's

Entry forms can be picked up at Wilderness Trail - Entry fees can be paid at Wilderness Trail also

For more Information call us at 870-445-2703

September 5, 2005

We finally broke out of the dog days heat this last week with temperatures dropping into the mid 60’s at night and upper 80’s throughout the day. Lake temperature has come down to 84.7 to 85 degrees, that is much better than 90+ degrees. Lake level this week is at 648.78, 5 ½ feet below normal pool, hopefully we will get some rain soon. With the pool draw down the thermocline has dropped a foot and the band is starting at 31 feet and stretching to 34 feet. 

White Bass became active again this week, pushing shad up on banks and into main lake coves late in the afternoon. White grubs, Spot Minnows and small spoons are the best baits. 

Crappie are returning to the brush piles that are close to drop offs. Crappie minnows, Swimming Minnows and crappie tubes are the best baits along with crappie spoons. 

Catfish are feeding at night and the guys that are using jugs are having great success. The entrance of the creek arms have produced numbers this week. Best baits have been Magic Bait, hot dogs, chicken liver and frozen shad.

Largemouth bass slowed down again this week, probably because of the pool draw down. Top water in the morning is still okay although it is hard find keeper size largemouth. Buzz baits, Zara Spook Jrs and Spit’N Image baits continue to be the triggering top water baits. Secondary points, docks and brush piles are holding largemouth during the day, fish slow baits around these structures (Spider Jigs, tubes, Centipedes and baby brush hogs). 

Smallmouth bass are foraging on shad and crawdads round points and steep chunk rock banks on the main lake and in the creek arms. Best bite is in the morning and late afternoon. Spider Jigs, football jigs, Centipedes and Zoom trick worms are working well. There is some top water action in the morning on the main lake points. Zara Spooks and Lucky Craft Sammy’s will trigger some aggressive smallies. 

Kentucky bass remaining unchanged from the last few weeks. They continue to swim with the shad, feeding at will. Main lake pockets, cuts and bluff wall ends are places to look for schools of shad and you will find Kentuckys. Best baits are live shiners, spoons or drop shot with a finesse worm.

Walleye are going on the feed around noon in 31 to 34 feet of water off points and do nothing pea rock banks that have some ledges. A number of techniques are working, long lining Reef Runners and DD22’s, long lining with lead core using Glass Shad or Hot’N Tots, vertically spooning with white or silver CC, Bink’s or Fle Fly spoons and pulling bottom bouncers with crawler or leech harnesses. The smaller walleye have been showing up this week and keepers are harder to come by.

LAKE RATING: Walleye are active, bass are slow but catchable if you work at it, crappie have moved back onto some brush piles and the live bait bite is turning back on. The rating is Fair.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good on Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and orange and Belgium red worms. With generation the Buoyant Spoons, Super Dupers and Little Cleo's are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on olive Woolly Bugger, soft hackles, and olive scuds and sow bugs. The Brown trout are being caught on Countdowns, Flat Fish and nightcrawlers.

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 9/05/05 <º)))><{

Water temps: 82º - 88º; 1 inch above normal, & Discharge = 172CFS.

Largemouth bass are good, 2-5 pounds each, with best feeding periods early and late. Buzz baits and spinner baits in firecracker or spot remover colors, small Spit'N Images, and Cordell Crazy Shads in chrome/black are taking early morning keepers. Zoom Horney Toads, Turbo Shads, or Bass Assassin Shads in Crystal Shad, Tennessee Shad, or Black Glitter Shad colors are catching bass in the pad edges along Little River. Johnson gold or silver spoons with spilt-milk white grub trailers are working in pads of creek channels at 3-6' depths, along stumps and grass. Baby Brush Hogs and lizards in red bug, camouflage, and kudzu colors, are still taking some bass on stumps. Jig bite continues to improve in last few weeks, using Texas Craw color, black and blue, or pumpkin-watermelon-rind colors, with Hog Craw trailers in pumpkinseed or black. Most consistent bites are on bases of cypress trees, knees, and root wads.

Crappie remain best early in the mornings, on smoke or orange colored grubs early, 10 to 15 feet deep in contact with planted brush piles and tops. The best bite remains 7am to 10am, and very few Crappie fishermen out after 9-10am.

Channel (Blue) Catfish bite remains fair, on cut shad, on yo-yos or trot lines under cypress trees around Jack's Isle and Clear Lake, and trot lines in Little River set at 15-20 feet depths. The best yo-yo bite remains at night on live shiners, in 9-14 feet depths.

White bass are starting to follow shad and school in Little River and are hitting 1/4 to 1/2 oz Rat-L-Traps in chrome/blue, white, or chrome/chartreuse colors. Good areas to look for huge schools of shad and the chasing White Bass, are in front of Horseshoe Lake (outside river bend in Little River), White Cliffs, between 4 and 6 mile marker on Little River. Once you find those schools of shad, the Whites are just below or adjacent to, the school on your graph. Throw Rat-L-Traps all around the edges of those bait schools, and count down to approx 10-15 feet depth and yo-yo back through the school at various depths until you connect with the White Bass.

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

For those fishing the river and below the spillway, as of Monday, September 5, the lake level is approx 1.1 inches above normal conservation pool. Current is decreased in Little River due to change discharge at the dam. The lake elevation is 259.29.

Release at the dam is approx 172CFS with 1 gate open at 0.4 foot. Open gate is number 1. Water clarity in the river is approx 12-18". Clarity on the main lake approx 10+". North eastern sector of the lake around OK Landing, improving stain. Saline River clarity improving.

The upriver oxbows such as McGuire, Horseshoe, Mud Lake, Cemetery Slough, etc, away from any current in Little River, still have much better water visibility, estimated at approx 3-4 feet in places. Water temperatures have decreased in the last week and range approx 82ºF early to 88ºF later in the day, depending on area of the lake and wind.

Thank you to the US Army Corps of Engineers and AG&FC personnel who are currently in process of evaluating the increase and spread of various vegetation species on Little River and Millwood Lake. A recommendation & report is pending, on potential control measures which would be the most physical effective manner of the vegetation growth explosion in all the creeks, oxbows, Little River and the main lake; as well as which methods could be the most cost effective to maintain.

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!!