Cache River and Bayou Deview

I'm a new Arkansas resident. I have been driving around checking out boat ramps and water bodies up and down the Cache River and Bayou Deview. My fishing rig is an aluminum boat with a 25hp motor.
I am looking to get out and catch some catfish and crappie in the coming weeks. I'm not looking for any special fishing spots but I wanted to know if any of you might have some general information regarding the crappie and catfishing in the Cache River or Bayou Deview. I know this is a heavy agricultural area but I assume the fish are okay to eat from these two water bodies.
I am hoping to find decent fishing somewhere within 30 miles of Brinkley. I am open to other waters if there are better fishing waters than these in the Brinkley region.
Also, any recommended bait shops for buying minnows and catfish bait between Lonoke and Brinkley?
Anyway hello from a new comer and thank you ahead of time for any responses. I will hopefully have some pictures to post in the coming weeks.

Peckerwood and White river (river and oxbows) are know for CRappie and catfish. Welcome from Nimrod lake.

Welcome to the board. I've never fished that area, but maybe someone has and will give you some help. I know there is some good fishing around Clarendon and Holly Grove when white river gets right.

thanks for the welcome and the response.

Crappie Magnets under a Crappie magnet float is a killer combo in those areas!!! We fish hurricane bottoms home of the hurricane lake and little red!!!

Welcome aboard.

Peckerwood, and the White River NWR is full of lakes, you could fish one a day for a year and never fish em all. And they have some really good crappie in them. Old Town Lake wouldn't be too far either. Its got all the catfish you would care to catch I guarantee ya, although the crappie fishing has really went down hill the last couple years it can still be phenomenal if you hit it right.

Old Town , between Helena and Elaine has some good crappie in it. When the White River is below 14 ft Maddox Bay and East Lake, below Clarendon, can be some pretty good fishing and like dblevens said The White River National Wildlife Refuge has so many oxbows on it that some of them never get fished. Indian Bay off of hwy 1 at St Charles is another one you should try. It's only about 20 minutes from you.

There is an outdoor store in DeVall's Bluff on hwy 70 can't miss it . Lots of oxbow lakes in that area my sister lives in Biscoe so I know it fairly well. Before you go on either the cache or white river refuges be sure you get a general use permit some gung ho ranger might want to give you a ticket

Welcome to the board, There a lot of good fish over there as you seeing from above post.

Welcome. Man you are smack in the middle of a lot of awesome places to fish. Lower White Lake in the White River refuge is one of my favorite places to crappie fish. Good luck.

I grew up fishing all around Prairie county and there's lot of good fishing around there but it's frustrating at times because alot of waters are so dependant on what the river is doing. as said, the gas station in DeValls Bluff sells minners and there's a bait store right across the street from it. Horseshoe lake is just east of the the gas station/bait shop a couple of miles and there's good crappie/cat fishing there. The cache river is a good place to catch cats and there are several oxbows off the cache that are excellent depending on water levels. Peckerwood is an awesome crappie/cat lake but i can't stand to have to pay that much to fish. Webb lake is a small lake that can be excellent too and is a good place to camp. Wattensaw bayou is also good when it's right. if you take hwy 70 to biscoe and turn right beside the little IGA grocery store and follow that road back into the bottoms there are a few good scattered oxbows but PLEASE watch out for the dang flying carp! they hurt! these lakes are a little hard to find if you're not familiar with the area but google earth can help you spot em. Good luck!

Thanks for all the great information. I figure there is a lot to learn regarding the river levels and the different small lakes. As soon as this weather turns to spring, I plan to get out there and fish as many of these different water bodies as I can. I've been studying the water levels for the White River Basin on the www.rivergages.com site. I'm too new to the area yet to have a good understanding of what the different high water marks are just based on the gages.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/river...%5D=hydrograph

here's what i use to gauge the white at des arc and clarendon. i like for des arc to be in the 8-13ft range and clarendon to be 14-18ft. if you get impatient and want to fish in the next week or so i heard they've been catching some on Horseshoe in devals bluff.

Thanks again for the info on the relative water levels. I would guess the fishing in the river lakes is best just as the river is falling out of the lake and just after.
I'm not rushing it with this weather. I really like the cold weather for hunting the ducks but I prefer to do my fishing once it is above 50 degrees outside. I don't care to be freezing while I watch for that bobber to disappear, then again its really never too cold if you are wearing them out.

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Originally Posted by dblevens

Peckerwood, and the White River NWR is full of lakes, you could fish one a day for a year and never fish em all. And they have some really good crappie in them. Old Town Lake wouldn't be too far either. Its got all the catfish you would care to catch I guarantee ya, although the crappie fishing has really went down hill the last couple years it can still be phenomenal if you hit it right.

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Amen to this and welcome to the board from Lake Conway.