Big Hurricane Lake - Henry Gray Mgt. Area

Need some info if any can provide any. My wife was talking to someone recently who told her he slay's them at Big Hurricane Lake in the Henry Gray Management Area near Bald Knob. On the map it looks like there's a series of small lakes there, Big Hurricane being the largest.

Has anyone ever fished this area? Good results? Also, I see on the map there are several ramps in the area -- mostly Game and Fish owned. Are they in good condition? Looks like we are Bald Knob bound Saturday and hate to drive all the way over there from Little Rock only to find the ramps in such bad shape I can't launch my boat (16 ft flat bottom).

Any information or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

It is a great area to fish. The only problem are the yoyo's. Some of the lake are only a few acres and may have 400 yoyo's in them. Nobody to enforce the rules on yoyo's so they catch all they can. But if you can go down on a week day you should be able to catch some nice fish.

Ramps are in good shape, Big Hurricane is the next to the last lake in the refuge. Turn left off of Hwy 64 out of Bald Knob. Follow road into refuge, road will turn into gravel. Follow gravel rd about 4 miles to a T. This will be Whirl Lake, turn left go across metal bridge across spillway and continue on gravel rd for about anouther 2-3 mi. Big Hurricane will be on your left and is the only lake that can be seen from the main road with the exception of Whirl which you have already passed. At times the fishing can be pretty good, I fish a private lake across the river from the refuge, about the same depth and found crappie up on the Tupelo trees tight against them Sunday. Until then I was catching them on the outside edge of stick-ups. But last trip the quality fish were tight against the big trees. If there not biting there try Mallard Pond or Honey Lake. I 've done well there many times. Black and chartruse are hard to beat. There are two bait shops down there with minnows, I would stop at the white store across from the wardens house, they seem to be more generous with #'s and make a fine burger too.
Good luck.
3GD

Thanks guys. 3grls, I assume Big Hurricane, Mallard and Honey lakes are all close proximity. This guy said if you don't catch any in one, just pull your boat and move to another. I'm not enamored with unoading and loading my boat multiple times on one trip.

Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how it goes.

Yea they are all right there together. There are 7 lakes with ramps and Glaise creek right there in the refuge. It is about 14,000 acres in size. Each small gravel road off of the main road leads to a lake. The first road to the right leads to Honey Lake, the lake at the T is Whirl, if you turn right at the T you can put in on the red river, or continue on the road to Mallard Pond. If you go left at the T the first road to the left leads to Big Bell Lake thru which you can access Little Bell if water is up enough. Also thru Big Hurricane you can access Little Hurricane if the water is up. Passed Big Hurricane on the road is Willlow Pond, this is the end of the road and the far north end of the refuge. Glaise creek is also big enough to put your boat in and fishes well at times. All these lakes are within a 2-3 square mile area. Lots of options. Take some crickets if the crappie aren't biting you can probably get into a mess af big bream. Oh,there is a very good map across from the refuge headquarters on the left just passed the white store and before the big paved parking area.

Here is a link to a map of the refuse.
http://www.agfc.com/wma_lakes/low_re...yHurricane.pdf

Are all these lakes decent for fishing?

Yea, I couldn't say one was better or worse than another. Some are bigger than others, but they all recieve flood water when the white gets up. Which it hasn't this year, but was in there last year from Nov-Mar. I have had good luck at Honey and Mallard pond, but I fish them most. Honey is the first lake you come to and Mallard is behind it. It is worth the time, really nice place.I have grown up hunting and fishing there and always enjoy myself. Good luck.
3GD

3girsdad - really appreciate your good information about this area. I feel really comfortable about giving it a try. Unless the weather does something weird my wife and I will be making an early run over there Saturday.

Again, thanks a million.

Joe

i am going to get up there soon too, i knew there was a big lake there but i did not know there were the others, that is my kind of fishing....lake jumping

I've duck hunted Mallard Pond for years. Yo Yo fished it as well. When the fish are biting, I havent found a lake any better. For those that dont know, when come to the T in the road, take a right and that road takes you next to the little red river. The road runs right into Mallard and the ramp is in good condition. Hope it helps.

3GD and Panfish - we spent all day Saturday at the Henry Gray WMA. Fish Big Hurrican until noon. Not much cooking. No one seemed to be having any luck. We caught three. One good size. Had a burger (3GD your right about the burger) at the little white bait shop, then put in the Little Red River and fished it down to the White. With all the brush along the Little Red I thought we would have some luck, but not even a bite.

Do either of you know if people catch crappie in the Little Red?

Anyway, it was a great day and a very interesting area. We'll be taking more trips over there.

JHook, fishing sucked Sat. I was just across the red river at a private lake that I have been catching lots of nice crappie every trip and really had poor luck Sat. I don't think it had anything to do with where you were at, they just wern't bitin. There were seven of us on our lake Sat and only managed 10 keepers. Very poor, I expected to whack em with the weather as nice as it was. Glad to hear you enjoyed the area. I'll let you know when we start catchin them again as we are only 2-3 mi away as the crow flies.

3GD

LOL - always glad to hear it wasn't just "us." I'm really intrigued by the lower Little Red. We fish it often for trout up near Heber Springs. Never fished the lower. I've never fished for crappie in a river. Do you know if they are in the Little Red?

Thanks. BTW the way. The one good sized crappie we caught at Big Hurricane was full of eggs. I suspect by the end of the week with the warm weather the spawn should be on.

Guys it wasn't just you, I only managed four keepers Sat. on the Tenn. River and just about everyone I talked to said they only had two or three fish. It was a beautiful day but the fishing wasn't much count.

I think you guys are right. I fished Palarm Creek on Saturday, only caught six. I fished Wattensaw on Sunday, caught two very small bass, no other bites. I don't think they were bitting anywhere this weekend.

Crappiejones - what can you tell me about Palaram? Where do you fish it? Is it navigable? We've never fished it either but been thinking about it. It's close to home and with Conway going to be lowered, I'm looking for new places.

Thanks.

jhook

I put in at the ramp on 365, from there i went towards the dam. I did not go as far as where it goes under I-40, but i was told you could get almost all the way to the dam. I have a 14' flatbottom and had no trouble getting through. I like what i saw, and plan to fish it again this week. I think if the fish were biting, a man could do some good. I let you know if i catch any this week.

I am sorry to hear that you guys didn't have any luck. We were down at Millwood and had a wonderful day. Me and my wife both limited out. I got in the back of a cove with a smaller cove. There was a small tree at the intersection in 5 feet of water. I caught 15 around that tree in 30 minutes. I wish it was always that easy!!! Sometimes it is good to be lucky. We found areas like that one and had a blast.

We will probably end up at Storm Creek next weekend. I can't wait!!!


Michael

Way to go Spikles, glad to hear somebody caught some fish. Jhook, I don't fish the Lower Little Red much , but have some friendsthat do pretty well at times, throwing blue and white tubes and working back slowly. There are also Walleye in the river but I have yet to figure them out.

3GD

Sounds like a great day fishing Spickles. Millwood is on our list. Thanks for the info 3GD on the Little Red. I've not figured the Walleye out either. A friend of mine fishes for them on the Ouachita River near Camden. I would like to try them sometime at Greers Ferry. But at the moment, I've crappie on the mind.

Will be trying the Henry Gray WMA again soon. Thanks for all your good info.

Joe

Its hard to beat the Walleye on Greers Ferry, Especially on the South-West end.