Hi folks. New to the board. I live in northwest Arkansas and mainly smallmouth fish, but I do a fair deal of trout and crappie fishing as well. I'm somewhat new to the crappie game. While I can manage a few up here, I've had the most success fishing the Arkansas river. Between Lee Creek, Van Buren, Vache Grasse, and the Mulberry back water, I've managed to cobble together a few places where I can catch some fish in the spring. I normally don't start going until it's a little warmer, but with all the rain we're supposed to get I'm afraid my walleye bite above Beaver is going to be blown out this weekend.

I've got a 21' 56" river boat with a 90 jet, so I like to fish the skinny water. I'm sure it's still way too early to catch fish up shallow, but what's the river fishing like right now? I know some areas where they spawn in big numbers, and they're adjacent to protected basins that are 6-8 feet deep and out of the current. Do the fish stage in those areas? I'd like to get down to the river this weekend if possible.