Where are all the northeast arkansas guys at?

I started a thread a few weeks back. Talked about fishing at mallard after not fishing much over the last few years. I knew the lake got low last year due the the culvert they replaced. Called game and fish commission and they said they are not gonna restock it with crappie or brem, but that they were hoping for a good spawn this season.

Now im not so sure that mallard is my best bet. How about big lake? In my years of fishing i haven't really done good at big lake. What other lakes are good to fish? I don't have a boat, so i need best places to bank fish and still catch some fish. Heck id be happy to just bring home 3 or 4 crappie! I don't need to limit out, although it would be nice! Ive never really fished outside of mallard or the floodway waters.

This NEAR guy ain't catching, but I also haven't been on the water very much at all this year.

MO welcome from NLR

I have been to Mallard in a boat 2 times this year and caught nothing. Fished the youth lake also and caught really small crappie and bass. Do you ever catch andthing in the spillway?

Forget mallard for a couple yrs, after draining down lake of big to shortstop ducks ( like that was gonna work) it will be bout the same as mallard!! Far as bank fishing , the bar pits up and down the mighty St.Francis rvr can be fished and should be hot this month! Used to put out them yo's over there. Not big fish but some fair size.

What is the spillway? Guess ive never fished it since i dont know where it is lol! I have a friend at work who owns some land right on the st francis river, but i didnt know you could catch much crappie in there. I just didnt think there was enough coverage in the river to produce a lot of crappie

Ahh grasshopper see with your mind not your eyes, there's actually some big specs in that river if you could get u a smAll boat slide it off the levy and bam. Good times can still be had on the francis. Spillways lets water out of big lake. Good for snagging catfish

:hesaid The bar pits outside of Marked Tree have some nice crappie in them if you can catch them at the right time. As far as Mallard and Big lake go, i know nothing about them. I usually fish on this side of St. Francis up to black river. Mostly lake Hogue in between Weiner and Waldenburg.

MS river oxbows

East lake or lake Greenlee most recently.

I grew up fishing the old slews and bar ditches off the cache river and any of em that have tiles with running water are good allot of times


You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take country out of the boy

The barrow pits along the StFrancis River and Swift Ditch all hold fish. Outside of Marked Tree all along the levee road to the siphon is fish able water. If you put some waders on you can get in with them. To the south of that is Montaray with nice boat ramps and bank access. Lake city also has pits. Get a small boat and slide it down the river levee and get fishing

I was the one who posted about it being drained and was going to update but i forgot. Last Saturday I was coming home from the Jonesboro Outdoors show and went by Mallard. I watched Dept. of Con. dump three semi trailors of fish in the lake. Some guys from work caught 12 nice catfish that night. Its been stocked I just dont know how long it will take for the crappie to settle down.

Semo did you ask or see what was being let out? Just guessing here 2-1/2 loads of bass and 1/16 load crappie would sound right!! Just sayin

Has anyone ever fished Tulot near Trumann? I've duck hunted there and it looks like crappie fishing would be good, but i'm not sure of the water levels outside of duck season.

Slabyanker - Tulot is a great place to fish. Look for the StFrancis river level at old dornick to be 10' and steady. Be careful for stumps. Tulot has a good ramp.

Thanks Billy. I've been wanting to try it for a while now. Haven't been able to talk my fishing buddies into it.

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Once the warms up some more, we will get out and sample Mallard Lake. We went out last week but the water temperture was still to cold to be very effective. We will let you know what we see. We did see a couple gentleman out that day and they had caught a couple.

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Originally Posted by mo_86_05

I started a thread a few weeks back. Talked about fishing at mallard after not fishing much over the last few years. I knew the lake got low last year due the the culvert they replaced. Called game and fish commission and they said they are not gonna restock it with crappie or brem, but that they were hoping for a good spawn this season.

Now im not so sure that mallard is my best bet. How about big lake? In my years of fishing i haven't really done good at big lake. What other lakes are good to fish? I don't have a boat, so i need best places to bank fish and still catch some fish. Heck id be happy to just bring home 3 or 4 crappie! I don't need to limit out, although it would be nice! Ive never really fished outside of mallard or the floodway waters.

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Keep this thread ALIVE!!
Anyone ever hit the floodway ditches on both sides of Big Lake?

No joe and have never heard of any body else. Muck ditch has a good track record tho

I have fished both fllodway ditches, the one on the east only catfished. The one on the west I caught a bunch of crappie under the trees on the big lake side of the ditch last year, about a mile north of the boat ramp at Manilla.

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Originally Posted by Semo

I have fished both fllodway ditches, the one on the east only catfished. The one on the west I caught a bunch of crappie under the trees on the big lake side of the ditch last year, about a mile north of the boat ramp at Manilla.

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Under the trees off the bank I havent seen many trees in the water. If you go agian I will follow!! I always thought that ditch looked really good.

All along the Big Lake side of the ditch there are trees that hang out over the water, when they dreged all that 2 years ago they didnt go all the way across and there are all kinds of ice storm stuff in the water still.

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Originally Posted by Semo

All along the Big Lake side of the ditch there are trees that hang out over the water, when they dreged all that 2 years ago they didnt go all the way across and there are all kinds of ice storm stuff in the water still.

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Sounds good to me. Thanks alot for the help!

Going to try something in the area this week!! GOT THE BUG!! Got to catch a hoola hoop mouth!!!

I dont know where half of these places you guys are talking about are! I know the river that runs through lake city, but as i stated i dont have a boat so i couldnt go thru there. When i called the guy about stocking mallard, he had told me they might add some catfish, but were not planning on adding crappie. I hope they changed their mind and added some crappie, as this use to be one of my favorite fish to catch there! I actually live in etowah, and floodway runs back in behind my house, but i catfish there and catch mainly catfish and gar, but have never caught crappie from it.

Anyone know if Asbaugh is still drained down??? Been thinking about driving up there and looking, but gas is burnin a hole in my billfold...but what about those two lakes (in parks) close to wynne...should be some bank fishing there...

I've heard of people catching crappie at the siphons in marked tree. Supposedly where the concrete stops and has an eddy under the trees. Also wondering if you couldn't catch any below the damn in the eddies. Seems like the mississippi guys catch a lot of them in the spillways.

I live about 3 miles from mallard. Been out there once this year using jigs. Not much luck. Can't get any minnows around here right now. Wish someone would open a bait shop that kept minnows all the time and stayed open. So frustrating.

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Originally Posted by jclark835

I live about 3 miles from mallard. Been out there once this year using jigs. Not much luck. Can't get any minnows around here right now. Wish someone would open a bait shop that kept minnows all the time and stayed open. So frustrating.

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I'm guessing you live at Halfmoon, Pillows bait shop is right as you get into Paragould on 412. 25 miles and they have rosey reds which are my favorite for winter crappie

Never tried rosey reds. They sell by the pound?

Yep live in halfmoon. Paragould is just too far to drive to get bait.

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Originally Posted by jclark835

I live about 3 miles from mallard. Been out there once this year using jigs. Not much luck. Can't get any minnows around here right now. Wish someone would open a bait shop that kept minnows all the time and stayed open. So frustrating.

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I live in Blytheville and the nearest place I have found to get minners is Hayti. Take the Hayti exit and get on the outer road on the east side of the interstate and go north about a mile and a half.

I sure wish we had one closer though.

Hoxiedog,

We have pumped Lake Ashbaugh up to almost full. It was really windy yesterday to tell how much we have left to go. I would say that it will be full by the end of the month at the latest.

mo_86_05

We still plan on just doing our annual stocking of catfish. However, we will still be getting out there and sampling Mallard when the water warms up some more.

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Originally Posted by hoxiedog

Anyone know if Asbaugh is still drained down??? Been thinking about driving up there and looking, but gas is burnin a hole in my billfold...but what about those two lakes (in parks) close to wynne...should be some bank fishing there...

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Originally Posted by Mojorig

Hoxiedog,

We have pumped Lake Ashbaugh up to almost full. It was really windy yesterday to tell how much we have left to go. I would say that it will be full by the end of the month at the latest.

mo_86_05

We still plan on just doing our annual stocking of catfish. However, we will still be getting out there and sampling Mallard when the water warms up some more.

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So, when is the plan to stock it with catfish? Someone on here said they seen a truck the other day stocking. Can you confirm what was stocked? I dont see how many fish survived with the water level getting so low. I know catfish are planned to be stocked. Are there any other fish that will for sure be stocked?

No need to stock crappie in mallard.

And y do u say that?

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Originally Posted by Gomer Snerd

No need to stock crappie in mallard.

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If its because there are plenty in there I would like to know where and how to catch them.

In 2012:
29,900 yearling bluegill were stocked in 3/12
250 catchable channel catfish were stocked in 4/12
522 catchable channel catfish were stocked in 9/12.

In 2013 nothing has been stocked yet:
Channel Catfish will be stock likely in March or April and then in the fall around September or October.

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Originally Posted by mo_86_05

So, when is the plan to stock it with catfish? Someone on here said they seen a truck the other day stocking. Can you confirm what was stocked? I dont see how many fish survived with the water level getting so low. I know catfish are planned to be stocked. Are there any other fish that will for sure be stocked?

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Thanks Mojo. I know you guys are doing what you can. Are Saugeye still being stocked in any of our NEA water. I have caught some monsters in Hogue.