Help with Crappie on Greer's Ferry

Ok, I must admit that I'm a noob. I love fishing for, catching and eating crappie, but I can't say I'm very good at it. I live near Cabot and have fished Pickthorne on occasion with some success but I'd really like to learn how to fish Greer's Ferry. My family lives up there but they don't fish the lake very often. I ran into a friend of a friend up there the other day (don't know the guy well enough to ask him to teach me about the lake) and he had two big cooler full of monster crappie. Some of you might not have considered them monster, but they were bigger than any of the crappie I catch!!!

I'm looking for any info that you guys can provide on fishing the lake as well as any really good resources for learning about fishing for crappie in general. I appreciate it.

Thanks,
Billy Miller

Welcome to Cc Billy. You might try Grizzlyjig.com and request a free catalog from 'em. In that catalog are many good articles and the chance to buy good books on the crappie subject. (Not to mention they can provide you with the latest anything needed to catch 'em.) :)

great suggestion bill...i love grizzly jig...you can find goodies in there that can't be found anywhere else....welcome to the site billy m.

I have my best luck trolling. During the Spring I troll Road Runners tipped with a minnow. After the water temp get in the upper 70's I start trolling Bandit crankbait. Hope this helps. Oh welcome to crappie.com.

Welcome, Billy, to the forum!!!

You're in a pretty good situation having family on Greers. Go to our archives and read, read, read. Take good notes. THEN, go to the lake and put the time on the water, keeping good notes on what works and what doesn't.

In the course of a day you may meet some old timers up there that will be more than willing to let you in on some of what they do. Also, stop by some of the bait shops and marinas in the area and ask questions like, "If you had but three days to fish Greers, where (generally) and how (specifically) would you fish it?" That will be the budding of many a conversation. Again, take good notes.

Get on the lake and keep your eyes glued to the DF. When you find brush piles, mark 'em with a GPS (Best) or triangulate them (not the best) sos you can find 'em again.

Wishing you the best and looking forward to your reports.

aj

Welcome to the site. I have never fished Greer's, but there are several people on this forum who have. Good luck!

Look on google maps. Look for Harper's Cove Rd, Clinton AR.

This will show you the area of Greers that I'm most familiar with. You will see the lake just to the south of the road. You will notice that there is an island there. The west side of that island has several stick ups there and its great fishing in the spring and fall, but it see's a lot of pressure.

This end of the lake is where the Red River comes into the lake. Find the channel and look for the drop offs into the channel on each side. Greers is an odd lake for Arkansas, in that it has very steep and quick drops and it goes to well over 80 feet in some places. What you're looking for is drop offs into the channel in about 12 to 40 feet of water. Since the lake is impounded (man made), there is still a lot of habitat by way of submerged trees. When you find these trees on that drop, take a good look and you might find Ole Paper Mouth.

I've had decent luck fishing crickets and minnows (although, I know of only one place, in Choctaw, to buy minnows around Greers Ferry Lake. For some reason, the marinas only sell worms. I don't know why.

Anyway, I hope this helps you some. Greers Ferry is a huge lake and its hard to figure out. Oh, and the idiots are out in spades on the weekends there, so take care to fish early and late.

Good luck

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll head over to grizzlyjig right now. Hope to make it to Pickthorne one night this week and Greer's this weekend (assuming my schedule doesn't get wonky... work seriously interferes with my fishing!!!! =)

Howdy Brim. I too am learning to fish Greer's. I started fishing it seriously this past spring and what I have learned is that you have to break the lake down into small sections and treat each one just like you would a smaller lake. Look for pole timber in the deep parts of creeks for pre and post spawn fishing. Also know that there are many creeks in this lake that can't be seen. Good fishing.

Welcome aboard Brim, and enjoy fishing Greers. You may fish a lot of other lakes and rivers, but overall you cannot beat the GF when the day is done. I would recommend that right now you fish the thermocline around standing timber in about 20 fow. 2 of us have brought home approximately 100 nice Crappie this past week. Some of them in the 2 to 2 1/2 lb range. Jigs and minnows in the middle fork area. I am sure you can pick some up trolling also. Just fish about 15 feet deep, thats the secret.;);)