Arkansas River Question

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.

Welcome from Searcy. If you know were they spawn I would sure try that deeper water just adjacent to it. I dont river fish much, but that sounds like a good starting place.