Catfish No Report

Crappie No Report

Stripers No Report

Largemouth Bass No Report

White Bass No Report

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you all a Happy New Year. The report this week will the last one for the year and we will take a break until February. Here at Wilderness Trail we feel blessed for all the support we received throughout the year. Thank you.

Temperatures were mild this week with some upper 50’s for a few days. The lake temperature has stayed in the upper 40’s and the water clarity is around 12 feet. The Corp is still generating and the lake level is at 644.99, which puts us at 9 1/2 feet below normal pool. When you go out on the lake be extremely careful, there are a lot of points, humps and flats that are now very shallow.

Largemouth, Smallmouth and Kentuckys are all in their winter homes and fishing will be spotty and slow for a while. Now is the time to downsize your line and baits if you wish to be successful. My suggestion is to go to 4 pound to 8 pound line and downsize to grubs, 4" finesse worms and small jigs, such as Spider Jigs or Boo-Yah Baby Boo Jigs. On extremely windy days you might find some bass up on the banks. Small crankbaits such as Wiggle Warts or Bandits will be work the best and spinner baits with small blades will also trigger a few. The bass are along the bluff walls, off main lake and creek arm points and in the middle of pockets or cuts. For live bait anglers, shiners can work well during the winter months when fished on a split shot rig pulled along the bottom. Remember shad will be their main source of food until spring.

Crappie are normally pretty good during the winter and the best bait, of course, is crappie minnows but this year with the lake down and the brush piles or crappie cribs shallow it is going to be tough to find them. Check watersheds, pole trees on the bluff walls and deep structure in the cuts and pockets for holding areas. Use 4 pound line or even 2 or 3 pound line and a very small bobber. This will help you detect the light bite.

Walleye, if you ask anyone from up north love cold water conditions. Except for reservoir walleye, which we have here in Bull Shoals; they seem to like the warmer water conditions. Therefore our winter walleye bite slows down making it a little difficult to hook a few. Look for walleye over the top of the flooded timber or on the bottom of flats in 40 to 48 feet of water. The professionals have shown us a few ways to catch the winter walleye. One is a grub called "Munchies" made by Lindy, which you fish on a MaxGap jig – the jigging lure. This bait allows you to place the lure down in front of the walleye and with very little movement it will swim in a circle.

Fishing for trout on the White River has been good on Berkley Power Eggs in yellow and pink. With generation the Buoyant Spoons, in line spinners and Rooster Tails are the bait of choice. The fly fishermen did well on olive Woolly Bugger and unreal eggs in peach and white. The Brown trout are being caught on Rogues, nightcrawlers and sculpins. Remember that the Trophy Area between the dam and the State Park is still closed until February 1st and the Seasonal Catch and Release area is in front of the State Park.

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 12/20/05 <º)))><{

Largemouth (Black) Bass remain fair to good between 2-5 pounds, on War Eagle spinner baits in copper-peach, spot remover or aurora colors, along the pad stems in Little River. We are putting clip on weights on the arms of 1/4 oz size spinner baits to fish them deeper and slower the last few days.Crankbaits and Rat-L-Traps in various shad patterns, are taking keeper black bass and Kentuckys between 2-3 pounds. The slightly deeper running crankbaits remain taking the larger bass. We have had success with the mid-to-deeper running cranks like the Deep Little N, in Sun craw color, in the 7-9 foot depths of creek mouths around Snake Creek, Mud Lake and Hurricane Creeks in the last week. Points were yielding some nice 2-3 pound black bass along Little River using the larger sized Rat-L-Traps. We are still noticing the water temps remain much warmer, further up Little River than the main lake body. Differences in water temps remain up to 11 degrees, and can be found up river, and back in the oxbows, as compared to the main lake. Mud Lake, Horseshoe, McGuire Lake, and other oxbows, were in lower 60ºs this week, while main lake was a chilly low 50ºs. The activity level of the bass in these different areas of Millwood is dramatic. We actually observed juvenile bass and Kentuckies trying to school in the lower 60º water up river this week. The jig bite continues improving the last few weeks. Texas Craw or pumpkin/ watermelon rind, or black/purple/blue seem to be the best colors. We continue using the back half, business end, of Larew Hawg Craws in black or green pumpkin as our jig trailers with some success on Largemouth's over 4 pounds each on bases of cypress trees close to the river. Best bite remains on the sunny side of the tree knees and root wads 2-4 feet from base of the actual cypress tree trunk.

The White bass have moved to deeper water in the river, and not been schooling the last few weeks, with the passage of the recent cold fronts and water temperature reductions.

Kentuckys (Spotted Bass) are still fair to good, along the river on the white/chart Rocket Shads, twitch worms or trick worms in green pumpkin, and small Rat-L-Traps in spring bream colors, around creek mouths and where they dump into Little River. Kentuckies remain stacked up in the mouths of Snake Creek, Hurricane Creek early this week, but bite has dropped a notch due to recent cold frontal passages.

Crappie are excellent, with many limits of huge slabs, coming in daily. Crappie remain slightly deeper in Little River, from last couple weeks. Crappie remain suspended approx 13-18 feet deep along Little River. Best on jigs, in contact with planted brush piles and tops. The best bite remains mid-day this week. Areas working Crappie well are along Little River in front of Mud Lake oxbow, between White Cliffs and McGuire Lake oxbow, and between Yarborough Point and Outlaw trail on north side of Little River.

 Channel Cats this week no report on

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

Water clarity improved again from last week, in Little River and is approx 2.5 feet. Clarity on the main lake is also slight improvement at approx 2-3 feet. North eastern sector of the lake around Okay Landing and Cottonseed, remains stained but improving. Lake level is just slightly below normal (259.2) at 259.13. Discharge at the dam is 157CFS with one gate open 0.4 feet. Cosseted and Little River current is slow. Several river marker buoys are missing or out of place due to recent high wind. Use caution in low light navigations.

The upriver oxbows on Little River, still have much better water visibility, estimated at approx 3-5 feet in places. We have noticed the water temps remain much warmer, further up Little River than the main lake body. Differences of up to 6 and 7 degrees warmer water can be found up river, and back in the oxbows, as compared to the main lake. Mud Lake, Horseshoe, and Cemetery Slough oxbows were in lower-to-mid 60ºs this week, while main lake was a chilly low 50ºs. Increases of surface temps have been noted later in the day, depending on area of the lake and wind and sun.

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!!

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.