ArkiePrince

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ArkiePrince
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John Not A john

Retired Life

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Updated:
May 17, 2011

© 2009 - 2011
Little Rock
Arkansas

Best Bet

Note: Not keeping my blog up-to-date - busy catching catfish (lazy). Be sure to subscribe to youtube.com/arkieprince for some of my fishing video.

Lake Conway HOA = Current News

The Lake Conway Home Owners Association (LCHOA) has 'tons' of info including current articles such as meeting notes -- plus valuable links to AGFC articles e.g. more news / info than can ever be covered here by a lazy retired arkieprince :) - Hightly recommended for latest news / changes / rules - plus they can use more paying members if you live anywhere near Lake Conway.

Notes

Most popular knot = improved clinch knot
(1) Run end of the line through the hook eye, then twist the end of the line about four to five times around the main line.
2) Put the end of the line through the new small loop just above the hook eye; then push the end of the line through the bigger, new loop
3) Pull the line tight, down to the eye of the hook. Snip off the excess line from the knot.

Hook Size: From smallest to largest:
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, 1/0,2/0,3/0,4/0,5/0,6/0,7/0,8/0,9/0,10/0
e.g. 6 is bigger than a size 8...but size 8/0 is larger than a 6/0.

When air temperature is above water temperature, general rule is that the fishing is best when the barometer is steady or rising. (Of course, fish are famous for not reading the rules so here are other possible barometric pressure tips:

• High Pressure: Very nice weather but fish likely move to deep water and fishing is slow
• Rising Pressure / slightly above Normal: Weather likely clearing / fair and fish likely to be active
• Normal Pressure (around 30 in Hg): Fishing may be slow one day but good another
• Falling Pressure / slightly below normal: Some consider this most active period - especially if preceding a frontal system.
• Low Pressure: Usually storms and fishing very slow especially if pressure remains low for long periods.

Summary: slowly changing (rising / falling) pressure appear to be best conditions.

Fishing is usually best right before a weather front/systems moves through (falling pressure). But the passing of a warm front may not shut down the fishing - while the passing of a cold front may shut down the fishing for a couple days

Cloudy days or a light rain often improves fishing especially a warm spring rain. The warm rain will wash bait into the lake and warm the water at the same time - perfect conditions for a fish feeding frenzy. BTW: heavy rain may have opposite effect for example muddy water may limit the visibility - and also may get in their gills

Many fish are most active during the early morning and late evening hours especially if there is less wind (turbulent waters) which allows the fish to search the shallow water for food on or near the surface. Of course, time of year and temperature makes a big difference e.g. in spring the fishing may be great into mid day - while in hot summer time the 'best' fishing may end before 9AM (you have to think like a fish and remember they like feeding in calm warm water but do not like really hot / bright (sunny) days.

Wind pushes bait fish to the downwind shore and the bank fishing is better when casting into the wind. From a boat - casting cross wind along the downwind shore allows you to cover a larger area and perhaps locate more fish.

Subjects that could fill a book: Building / maintaining structures such as brush piles, etc. What size hooks to use - what type hooks (circle-etc.?) Also types of chum / bait to use for various fish e.g. range cubes seem to work well in brush piles to bring in bait fish (small bream / minnows / shad) - and even crappie / bass / catfish (or maybe the bait fish bring in the crappie / bass / catfish - who knows or who cares as long as range cubes help bring in fish and bait fish :) Range cubes sink so they works better than dry dog food (which has to be pre-soaked and crushed - or put in a porous bag )

Slip Cork Setup

Stop Knot from string or replace knot with piece of rubber band :)

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For large live bait - use cork in noodle (split or not)

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Bottom Fishing w Live Bait

Fishing Live Bait at controlled distance from bottom.

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Use noodle around cork for live bait off bottom
P.S. Stink bait photo from a video tip

Popular Live Baits

Special Youtube video: How to Raise Crickets and Worms.

Worms: Red worms best for bream. Nightcrawlers best for catfish and bass. (Canadian nightcrawlers are sold at most bait shops - but the nightcrawlers found in leaf beds are much better. (Many people raise worms - or maintain mulch or manure piles to dig for large nightcrawlers)

Crickets: Are best for bream. Bream fishermen constantly debate the worm vs cricket issue :) IMHO you lose less bait when using worms but you get fewer bites than when using crickets - so it evens out in the end :) Sidebar: when trying to catch trotline size bream - a small piece of worm on very small hook is best bait

Minnow: Pink minnows best for crappie. Larger minnows for bass and catfish. Shiners (Very Large minnow like bait) for Catfish

Catawba (Catalpa) worms: Great for catfish (seem to catch more eating size Channel Cats) - Harvesting the worm is best from June through October (around here) but varies from year to year with some seasons yielding only 'one crop' in June. Frozen catalpa worms (usually in corn meal) can be dropped into room temperature water just before using them to prevent them from 'turning' black and less effective.

Shad and Skipjacks: Excellent bait for catfish but shad are difficult to keep alive. Both are found below the spillway/dam at various times (mainly when the river is high and backs up to the spillway.

Small bream (less than 4"): Excellent bait for Flathead catfish (a popular target). Good 'job' for young kids - fix up a cane pole and tiny hook and watch them smile while they load up your bait pen :)

Crawdad's - not very popular but good for bass or catfish if you find a good supplier.

Note: Too many lures to make recommendations except for crappie - which seem to like chartreuse jigs as well or better than other colors (or perhaps the majority of the crappie fishermen are brain washed :)

Bream

You don't need expensive rods, reels, or lures. A cane pole works well - just put on a cork and a small split shot about 9" above the hook. Using a Fly rod to tight line fish is often productive for shallow water / bank fishing. You do not use a weight - just let the live bait drift slowly down in front of that big fat bream then hang on with that limber fly rod. BTW: using tied flies / fly fishing is just not as good for lake fishing (flies are better for creek, streams, etc.)

Many debates on size / type of hooks. Some people like the expensive (2/$1) weedless hooks but in area's of thick brush piles (both above and below the surface) - it's hard to justify weedless hooks in some area's. For trotline size bream a #8 hook is usually okay but size #6 is usually better for larger bream.

If you are going to fish for bream in a lake (instead of creek / stream), you can use crickets, worms, shrimp, or can corn (leave the rooster tails and jigs in the tackle box for best results in the lake). BTW: This is a 'most of the time' tip because in the winter time - it's possible to catch bream while fishing for crappie - using a small jig can produce both bream and crappie.

Once you find one bream, there are usually many more in the same area so the trick is finding the first bream. Bream often return to same area so when you find / catch them in one area be sure to come back. You may have to move around to find where they are biting i.e. along the bank in shallow water- 20-30 foot from bank in slightly deeper water e.g. The trick is finding where the bream are that day - and what they are biting.

Worm tips: Keep you hook covered - especially the tip/point. Don't leave a lot of pieces of worm dangling - fish will nibble off the pieces (especially if fishing for bait size fish :(

Best bait / method to catch Redear: Bottom fish with worms - especially in late March - to early May as water temperature approaches 65-70F. BTW: Male has a cherry-red edge on its operculum; females have orange coloration in this area.

Most likely times to find a bream bed (spawning bream) is 4 days before a full moon - until 3 or 4 days after a full moon. With that in mind - here are 'best bets'. Of course, weather variables and especially water temperature may cause variations

Most likely days:
May 14 - 20
Jun 13 - 18
Jul 13 - 18
Aug 10 - 16
Sep 10 - 16 *
Oct 10 - 16 *
* Reminder - if March, September and October are cold the bream may not 'bed'
* Likely spawn temperatures: Redear 65-70F (sometimes lower) while Blue Gill like temperature closer to 70F (or higher)

Chum tip (for pan fish /bream/crappie): soak dry dog food overnight in bucket (can be a bucket with holes hanging in lake). The cheapest cereal base dry dog food works best - it swells up more than the dense dog food - and some will float and some will sink (if you soak it long enough). You can throw it out so the part that floats ends up trapped in your brush pile - and them smash some to sink in your 'secret fishing hole' :)

Bass

Favorite lures seem to be spinnerbait and plastic worms (of course).

Color of spinnerbaits 'skirts' don't seem to matter much but some believe you have better visibility with: 'blue and white' - 'black and white' - chartreuse and white. Then in muddy water and/or nighttime, they use: black and blue and red.

The most popular rig for plastic worms is call the Arkansas Rig (okay so I lied - it's called the Texas rig but we were using this rig in Arkansas when I was a kid around the time the 'plastic worm was invented (look it up if you want to 'age me') One online description is: The method of securing a hook to a soft-plastic worm so that the hook is weedless. A slip sinker is threaded on the line before tying a hook on the end . The hook is inserted into the head of a worm for about one-quarter of an inch and pulled through until only the eye is still embedded in the worm. The hook is then rotated and the point is embedded into the worm without coming out the opposite side. Will just mention that some use the Carolina Rig around here but this rig is more popular with the catfishermen (see description in catfish section)

For plastic worms the local favorites are black, dark blue or purple. But this debate will create a lot of discussion e.g. you can always find someone to disagree on the color. From online discussions : use darker colors early and late in the day, and at night. Then on the bright days use translucent colors (see through) in blue, green, pink, etc. Many agree that black is the best color at night and that black/chartreuse working well during moonlit nights.

The trick is to find cover - feeding spots - right temperature. Bass like warm water - but what is warm water e.g. in winter time warm water may be 55-60F while in the summer warm water may be 78F. So finding brush piles with bait fish in water at right temperature. In the spring (during the spawn) the bass move to shallow water when temperature is around 63 to 68F

Crappie

These paper mouth pan fish (crappie) cause a lot of debate about hook size but when they are biting 'good' - they don't seem to worry about what size hook you use (more below:) And the fishing line size is another 'point to debate' - usually in muddy water 6lb test line is fine but when the water is clear 4lb test line is recommended. Jig size is another debate - but usually small jigheads of about one-sixteenth ounce are most popular. Usually fished with a cork in this shallow lake.

Type of rod n reel can vary as long as light weight line will work (or rig up a good cane pole - a cork - a split shot/weight - about 9" down to a #2 to #4 hook - add a minnow. Back to hook size debate - people afraid of loosing too many of the slab crappie often use a #2 size hook (or larger). My favorite size for minnows is #4 which is not as likely to kill the minnow. Most of my jigs have a size #4 up to a #2 since I use small / light weight jig heads.

Docks, cypress tees, brush piles and sometimes stumps provide good habitat because those are likely places for minnows :) While on the subject of minnows - it's strange how they seem to like small pink minnows better than #4 or #6 regular minnows. Maybe the pink minnows taste better - but I've never tasted them so I'm not sure :) Also the smaller minnows are still favorites for the big slap crappie with mouth size bigger enough to eat much large bait (still a subject that is a puzzle to some :) Of course, there are times that crappie like jigs e.g. they seem to one of the few fish that go for artificially bait even when live bait is available. It's true that on some days - changing from live bait (minnows) to a chartreuse 'twist tail' jig will produce more and larger fish.

During spring, the male crappie move into shallow water around 60 - 63F degree and females follow around 64-65 degrees.

The black crappie is white or gray with dark gray or black spots covering most of its sides but it has 7-8 dorsal spines on it's back. The white crappie is usually lighter in color but a male white crappie can appear to be a black crappie - but white crappie have 5-6 dorsal spines

Sidebar: I know that I have crappie in my brush pile - I keep seeing a blue heron catch them. In fact, as I type this I just finished making the third video of the dang Blue Heron (or his cousin, brother, sister). This time I got him as he went and got the crappie (other two video's show him eating it - but not catching it. I'll post this latest video (Feb 3, 2008) and upload to my youtube site and probably to my blog (links on left). I'm not sure how many bass, bream and crappie I've lost to these blue 'ratfink' bird - I can't keep up count Not to mention the dang water turkeys that keep popping up with a fish going down their 'gully' - they are too fast for me to catch on video. BTW: I'm taking a break and going fishing - cause I know the brush pile has crappie in it RIGHT now (just one less thanks to the dang Heron)

Catfish

Catfish prefer nighttime (sorta like us rednecks in our party days). In the daytime, they like deeper water such creek channels - hiding under logs or other cover. It often necessary to move around a lot to find the catfish and can especially difficult in shallow lakes with stumps, logs, etc. where fish / depth finders are not very useful (catfish don't tend to 'school' like other species but they will often gather together when there is a school of shad around :). Channel catfish spawn in late spring or early summer when water temperatures are about 75F (or higher) while flathead spawn at lower temperaturs. However, catfish seldom feed while on nest and fishing is more difficult (not better) during the spawn (unlike other types of fish)

Danny King's punch bait for smaller channel (eating size) - so many types of bait - stink bait - from Zote soap - to chicken livers - to mixtures with dead shad / cheese - anything rotten. Or just stick a hot dog on a hook - blue and channel catfish are not picky :) Blue cats and Channel cats eat just about anything - while flathead's favor live bait - especially bream or very large minnows (shiners) e.g. very lively bait works best for flathead (they can feel the vibration is one rumor). Another rumor is that the winter time is best time for catching Blue Catfish (and I bet it's true but bunch of 'chickens' don't get out in the cold on 'my lake') Of course coming up with my favorite catfish live bait can be tough - if there are warm water outlets such as a nuclear power plant - you can get skipjacks. But even frozen skipjacks seem to be better than frozen shad, etc. Special Update: Recent side x side test with Catalpa worms, Magic bait, Danny King and a new (to me) bait (Secret-7) proved that the Teamcatfish.com, Secret-7 bait is the best ! ! (see my youtube.com/arkieprince video for proof

Carolina Rig - A style of terminal tackle normally used to keep a lure a foot or two (or more) off the bottom. This is most commonly used with a plastic worm, but is also used with floating crank baits and other lures as well. A barrel slip sinker of 1/2- to 1-ounce is first slipped on the line and then a swivel is tied to the end of the line. A piece of line 18 to 30 inches long is then tied to the other end of the swivel and a hook or lure is tied to the end of this piece line. Rigged Texas style (weedless with the hook buried in the body of the bait), the combination is excellent for fishing ledges, points, sandbars, and humps

Another live bait tip - is to use a hypodermic syringe to inflate a nightcrawler. Adding a shot of air in the body lifts the worms up, making them more visible to catfish. Your sinker moves along the bottom while your crawlers ride high.

Many ways to kill a catfish - such as hammer blow on the flat of their head. But the BEST way is to cut their tails off and let them slowly bleed to death (more like just putting them to sleep :) This makes a difference in the taste of your fish and easier to fillet without all that blood. You end up with nice white fillet strips instead of red/pink meat. Yep I said fillet - much easier than skinning a catfish. You have to be careful when you fillet the meat from the skin or you may leave a little skin. If necessary, you use needle nose pliers to peel off any skin you missed.

Some people bait a 'catfish hole' by sinking bales of alfalfa hay / bags of range cubes and many types of 'stink bait' but IMHO does not work that well in this shallow lake (water temperature affects movement of fish more in a shallow lake) You still should use stink bait and chum place where you fish but don't depend on one place working over and over i.e. move around and find where the catfish are 'working' - and use your chum / stink bait to make them more active / aggressive. Then move your trotline to these spots if you want to fill up your freezer.

Trotline tips: Use a piece of vanished wood instead of jugs to mark ends of line (less likely to be seen by passing boats :)

Pre-made trotline with "snap on" drop lines (such as Big Catch Trotline) are good but it's better to replace the 4/0 regular hooks with 5/0 Stainless Steel hooks that will not rust.

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Split noodle with clips in split then wrap and hook - easy to grab
knot in drop line prevents looping over clip
Alternate colots of drops for alternating bait

Lake Conway
Arkansas, 72106