Thread: Arkansas River Advice

Hey guys! I fished the Arkansas River yesterday up Lee Creek all day. I started by spider rigging minnows in 17-20ft of water around the bridge pillars. After an hour of that without a bite I went shallower to around 10-12ft of water still spider rigging and pushing jigs in black/chart and yellow/white. No luck. Changed colors probably 3 times while still spider rigging minnows. THEN after no luck of that I started fishing shallow structure with jigs and didn't catch a single crappie. What is going on? If you were to fish the river right now what approach would you take and where would you go/look for. Thanks!

I don't fish the river any at all. My new "go to" when I can't get them to bite vertical is to slow troll (1 mph or less) jigs in a color I have confidence in. Good Luck!!
DP

I have never fished the river man. Sounds like you gave them all you had though!!!

Man, Hogwild...sounds like you must have been fishing with me!!!! Ughhhh. Keep trying, you'll strike on something that works and have a great day soon

it is very hard to fish the river because it it oes up and down so much i think any way i have caught some in lee creek the old sand plant is better it is across from garision creek up river a little ways whene i do fish the river i fish clear creek pool

I live a couple miles from the Ar river and I rarely crappie fish it any more. If I was going today, I would do the same thing you did and probably have the same results. I would say that right now it is especially tough because of the low water flow. At best 10,000 cfs. Thats hardly any currant and the crappie could be roaming anywhere. If the flow was 30,000 - 40,000 cfs then they would be pulling in closer to cover. The baitfish even gets more concentrated. At least that narrows down the search. Just my humble opinion.