Black River Ox Bow's

[bobberdown]

Do any of you guys in AR, fish the Oxbow's off the Black river near Imboden AR? I have heard they have some great crappie, bass and perch in them. I traveled through there last week and they are all flooded now I bet the area will be good after the water settles.
I would like information if anyone has any. Thanks.

[ceb]

Hey Bobberdown, I went to undergrad at ASU in Jonesboro. I have fished Shirey Bay, which is a black river oxbow just south of Imboden. I only fished the lake a couple of times because of not having my boat with me in Jonesboro very often. I took a wading trip there during the spawn, but the timing wasn't right. On the couple of trips there in my boat, I did fair considering that I really didn't know the lake. I guess that I caught about a dozen each time, but the size was always on the smaller side. The one thing that I can remember about Shirey Bay is that it is very deep (at least on the outside bend) for an oxbow lake. Sorry that I can't be of much more help than that. There's some pretty water up in NE Arkansas, but the crappie fishing is somewhat less than desirable.

[ad870]

I've been reading and learning on here for a year or so and decided I might as well finally sign up and post up.

I fish Portia Bay, Shirey Bay and Horner Bay quite a bit for bass. You usually won't catch a lot of fish at any of these places (at least that is my experience) but you will get a good bite on most every trip and pull a real nice bass out. There are some good crappie taken out of Horner and Portia but so far not by me. Hope with some of what I have learned on here that will change this year.

I'm new to crappie fishing and have only been at it for a year and a half or so. Most of the crappie fishing I have done in NE AR has been on Lake Charles and Lake Ashbaugh. Lake Charles seems to be over populated with crappie. You can catch a lot of fish but not many would meet the 10 inch limit. This year they have taken the limit off and a lot of those 9 inchers will be going to the skillet.

One other note, Portia and Horner Bays have private ramps. It is a dollar to launch at Portia and $5 at Horner. Shirey has a AGFC ramp.

[L.A. stumpjumper]

Welcome to the board ad870, from lower Arkansas.

[golferbob54]

hey bobberdown i have fished shirey bay and portia bay serveral times lots of bream never caught many crappie plus all small
good luck

[bobberdown]

When I was younger I watched a guy on TV (Rayo Breckenridge) that had a show on Chanel 8 Jonesboro. He did a show from Portia Bay on Crappie fishing. I remember the show and the size of the slabs he was catching and when I went by the area last week I thought about it.
Also I have a friend that Bow hunts for Gar, He killed a 85lb Gar in Portia Bay two years ago. He said you can catch the huge Gar with a spinnerbait with a wad of 20lb test on the hook. They hit the bait and get their teeth tangled in the wad of line and you can land them. Their mouth is to hard to set a hook in, and that is the best way of getting them.
Thanks for the information.