Fishing report
Lake Ouachita
Todd Gadberry, Mountain Harbor Resort harbor master, said that black bass are still good. The topwater bite is picking up, and spotted bass are schooled up chasing baitfish. Try a small 3/8-ounce spoon in submerged schools and your favorite topwater in those same areas. Major creek mouths and up the rivers have had the best reports.
Walleye are still fair. Spoons and bottom bouncers with small spinners tipped with a crawler are working best.
Stripers are fair to good. These fish are being caught on live bait on the east part of the lake.
Bream are fair with crickets or worms in 15-25 feet of water.
Crappie are fair. Try a small jig or minnow near brush in 15-25 feet of water.
Catfish are good and being caught with trotlines and jugs. Cut bait and live bait are working best.
The water ranges from 68-73 degrees, and the lake is clearing at 577.89 msl.
DeGray Lake
Capt. Darryl Morris of Family Fishing Trips Guide Service said crappie are doing great on minnows under corks 10 feet deep on brushpiles.
White bass can be found in roaming pods near the bottom in 20-plus-feet of water. Vertical-jig spoons and fill the livewell.
Lake Catherine
Shane Goodner, owner of Catch’em All Guide Service, reports that water temperature below the dam is 63 degrees with clear conditions in the tailrace.
Rainbow trout fishing will return in mid-November when the AGFC’s stocking program begins again for the winter. Trout are normally in Lake Catherine the week before the Thanksgiving holiday or sometimes earlier depending on fish availability.
The beginning of fall finds white bass and hybrid bass still living in the tailrace and feeding on shad. Boaters trolling shallow-running crankbaits that imitate minnows or crawfish have caught these fish in decent numbers this week. Size ranges from 1 to 2 pounds with some hybrid catches over 4 pounds. Topwater action has been observed in the early morning below the bridge.
Walleye still remain in the tailrace and have been caught on minnows tightlined in deep water. The closer to the dam you fish, the more likely you are to catch walleye in the fall. The deepest areas consistently hold walleye that live and feed in the tailrace.
A few catfish have been taken on stink baits around rock structure close to the dam.
No striper activity has been reported this week, but these predator fish migrate in and out of the area frequently.
Lake Hamilton
Greeson Marine reports Lake Hamilton’s water levels down a foot and water temps right around the 70-degree mark.
Bass fishing has been for the most part absolutely terrible over the last week. Fish have lockjaw for several reasons, which is causing a perfect storm for us anglers: no wind, no water (as in rainfall = no current) and it’s hot! The only way to fish right now is to revert back to the summer pattern of getting up well before sunrise and being on the lake as the sun comes up. The water is cooler and more oxygen-rich at this hour. To go after these morning fish we recommend a black and blue football head jig with a black Bandito Bug (or Craw) trailer. Brighter jigs are not getting bit like the dark colors of this jig. Another approach is to vertical-drop a small tube or Gitzit on a Ned rig head when fish are spotted below your boat. Most fish concentrations are at depths of 20-25 feet off points, especially in brushpiles and in creek channel guts (but remember, there is not much current right now except in the main channel.) If you insist on banging the bank, then a white Zoom Horny Toad will get strikes until the sun comes up.
Crappie have been equally as awful, except in the dim light of morning on small jigs and live minnows.
Bream are actually on fire right now and nice eating fish are in the 20-25 feet range in coves and ditches and can be easily taken at most hours with crickets and worms below a slip cork.
Catfish produced no report.