winona lake

[rieve]

I squirrel hunt in the national forest near lake winona and it looks like a great place to fish. has anyone ever had any success there. I would like to give it a try someday

[LRJoe1]

Where is it?

[rieve]

it is near paron off highway 9 in the oauchita national forest. look on google earth or maps to the west of paron.

[rieve]

i was looking at your other thread LRJOE and saw lake norrel but i have never fished it but it is just east of lake Winona. Winona is probably less than a 40 minute drive from little rock.

[gooch]

A few tips I can give on Winona are first its a water supply lake so no swimming. I didnt know the first time I went and the locals had shot the sign up so bad you couldnt read it. Thank goodness I didnt get caught.

Second I see someone posted its a 40 min drive from LR. Its not and in fact may be a 40 min drive from hwy 9 to the launch. Its one of those drives that seems 10x longer than it realy is but the road can get rough at times after a rain so watch out.

Finaly Winona is one of the lakes on the mercury warning list. They say dont eat more than so many meals a year and no prego's should eat fish from there.

Finaly its a beautiful lake worth a trip if you have never been out there. There are some big brush piles again thanks to the locals with chain saws and at times the fishing is great. I used to work with a guy that mopped up on the bass in the summer out there

[DRPEPPER]

The road Gooch mentioned is one of my therapy spots. It is a dirt road that goes between hiwy 7 and hiwy 9 and is about 20 miles long. Great for just looking and stopping to do some hiking or exploring.
One time I was PO'd about something and just went to this area to hide. They had dammed up a draw to collect water, so I stopped to investigate any animal tracks or activities around this new pond. I heard a distictive "grunt" behind me and turned to see a bear stood up on her hind legs. She was between me and my truck. I thought to my self "I came here to find some peace and now I am going to get my a-- whipped by this bear." I don't have much bear experience; so, we just stared each other down. Finally she got bored of looking at me and mosied on away.

[Slipcork]

If you live in Little Rock then Winona is your drinking water supply. It is piped all they way to L.R.

The only time I have been was to hunt and the road was the pits. And lots of other hunter as well.

[LazyJ]

I haven't made the trek out there since they closed it down for 9-11. Would love to hear a report. Caught very few crappie but there's some huge bream and bass in there. We'd always fish till dark then get out the frog gig and limit out on legs. Take a tool kit cause that washboard road will test the torque of every bolt/nut on your truck/trailer.