Lake Chicot

[L.A. stumpjumper]

I went to Chicot today. The weather started out really nice, with very little wind. I fished in 8 to 10 ft. water around structure, fishing 6 to 8 ft. deep. I caught the fish on a Chartruese jig head with an orange and chartruese tube. I caught a lot of crappie, probably 50 or more and had 11 keepers. The wind got up about noon, so I went into Connerly bayou but didn't catch anything in there except yellow bass, the water was muddy in Connerly. Going to try Chicot again tommorow to see if I can find some bigger fish. The best one today was 14 in., but most keepers were just over the 10 in. limit.

[gooch]

Jerry I know your just biting your lip till the spawn is over. Then we all better watch out for the Cane Creek Slabs post.

[fishingpox]

Thats a darn good catch

[bobberwatcher]

LA, what about lake Paradise? Heard anything good from there or is the river too high?

[L.A. stumpjumper]

LA, what about lake Paradise? Heard anything good from there or is the river too high?

I haven't heard any good reports on Paradise. The river should close to cresting this weekend.

[BamaFan]

You keep looking for those monster slabs and sooner or later you'll run up on em! Stay after em!

[grubby]

nice catch there L.A. they still taste good at any size lol!

[randybenham]

bobberwatcher,

I talked to an old timer that was real familiar with lake chicot & paradise. He was telling me last year that you needed to watch the levels of the miss. river at ar. city, and when the level got to 21 ft, that's the time to get into paradise. He also told me that when the water is rising, you wanted to get to the back of the lake where the levy is. when the water is falling, you needed to get into the slew that fed it, and try to catch them as the water was falling out of it. We went in there last year while camping, and didn't catch anything. It was around mid may. The water was falling, and most of the guys fishing were the creek that fed it. I know one thing, it's a muddy ride into lake paradise. after thinking about it, if the water is falling, you might be better off fishing that muddy moving water on laydowns, points, etc. We camp there every year, (sort of a tradition) mostly trotlining for cats. We went to lake lee 2 years ago, and got on some crappie. I want to go there this year to see if we can get on the crappie instead of going to paradise, unless that water level is just right. I'd always heard a lot of good things about paradise, and then recently, some folks have told me it was silted in real bad, and not as good as it "used to be". The quote he told me about paradise was "it's a funny, funny lake".

[ceb]

Just like any of the old oxbows, they are constantly changing. I don't know much about Paradise, but Island 40 north of West Memphis has had similar problems with siltation. The lower end of the lake is now only a few feet deep, and the fishing there is nothing like it used to be. I believe that it's a mixture of the river current moving through there when the water gets high and the agricultural run-off from surrounding fields. One thing that I do know is silt can ruin a good oxbow.

[bobberwatcher]

Me and 3 of my buddies went to chicot last year around Mid march. We didn't "slay" them by any means, but we caught enough for supper one night. I would LOVE to have a get together with a bunch of the guys and stay the night down there and fish till we drop.. LOL. I have always heard stories of Paradise and every time I have been here, we caught a few, but not like the old timers tell it....