central ar. oxbow action

I went fishing last nite, (yo-yo's) with no success. I thought; full moon, close to spawn, should do well. Nope. So, I went to church & came home afterwards, ate & hit the water here at the house on mound lake. The bite was sort of slow, and my buddy was beating me from the back of the boat. He caught 3-4 keepers, and I kept pulling in shorties. I made the switch from black/chartreuse to blue & white jigs & they started whackin' it. caught about 5-6 keepers, and 5-6 dinks in the last couple of hours. The bite was still sort of slow, and all of the good fish were about 10-15 ft off the brushline. We were fishing around 3-4 ft of water, tightlining with 10ft crappie poles, with about 2 ft of line out. Water temps ranged from 50-53, depending on the sun & wind. Here is my big one of the day, we wound up with several 3/4-1pounders, and the big fish here was 1&1/4lbs.

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The water actually dropped 5 degrees this weekend, from 55 back to 50. With the warm south wind coming in tomorrow, it will be back on the rise. You better be ready for the spawn on the shallow oxbows here in central arkansas. Clear lake, plum bayou, old river lake won't be far behind. mound lake is real shallow, with most of the water around 5-6 feet, with a couple of very small deep spots.

Sorry for the blinding glare of the sun off of the water & my bald head. If you also look, it's the 1st time all weekend that the wind layed down for me. I was about to be upset this weekend, with the bad wind that everyone complained about.

Nice fish Randy, next week should really heat up the action.

Nice fish Randy. Hope you have some days this week you can take off early and try em for an hour or two. I think it should be good.

It seems as though this cool front has dropped water temps enough to send the crappie back to deeper water. They'll head back to the shallows this week. At least your close enough to the lake to run out for a couple hours in the afternoon to check on the fanning males...you lucky dog...:D

Glad some are out atleast trying. It sure beats what I been doing. Lying around the house wondering if I'd have to die to feel better.:rolleyes: This flu has had me knocked out for a week. I'm ready to hit the lake if my strength will come back. Atleast seeing yalls posts gives me some encouragement .:D

Hey Nimrod, You haven't really missed much here on the lake. Surface temp in the main lake is 50 degrees with some 53 degree water up towards Prarie. The afternoon bite might be fair but some of us have to work!:rolleyes:

I got out for a repeat today, (made it out of work early) and wound up catching about 18 fish, with 10 keepers (3 green carp). water temp was quite varied too. 52-56 degrees. windy side was warmer. Anyway, the fish were up tight to cover today, which was different than sunday. These crappie are about to get busy!!!

Guess this weekend would be a bad one to ask you to help me move?

Glad to hear you're getting them in AR.

Water temps are on the rise!!!! This afternoon when I got home around 545 pm, I went out to see what the water temp was. 62 degrees!!!!! I got a pole out, and pitched the blue/white jig next to one of my cypress trees, and BAM!, caught one on the 1st cast. wound up catching about 8-10 fish in 30 minutes time right there on my dock, just before sunset. They were a bunch of males up next to the tree, around some cypress knees. You could tell that these fish were fanning the beds, 'cause they had turned black. I wound up cleaning 5 fish, made a nice small mess. not bad for 30 minutes. Gooch, you are right, I think I'll be having plans this weekend, and it involves a boat & some brushpiles. (& I ain't talkin about building any!!!) The only thing is that I've noticed that fish here on "the mound" have been a little smaller than a couple of years ago when the spawn was on.

Is mound lake very close to Faulkner Lake? I used to fish Faulkner but I think they have built houses around it now.

Mound lake is right behind the toltec mounds state park on 165. It's 9 miles from the england exit on 440. close is a relative term, it's about 12-15 miles southeast of faulkner lake.

Thanks Randy, Is mound lake private?

yes it's private.

Had some minnows left over from some friends that came to fish yesterday, so I decided to drown them today. I wound up with some decent fish today, caught them all sittin on my dock. here are 2 big females full of eggs, ready to bust. both fish were 1lb8oz each.

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I used the minnow/cork method on these with the majority of fish coming off of 1 particular cypress tree. I had to be real patient with these fish, they were very slow to take it, and you couldn't set the hook fast. the cork would sit over an area that I know is littered with cypress knees for a minute or longer. wound up w/ 11 crappie & 1 spunky green carp. total for the weekend was 24 fish, but I mostly played around today, just taking it easy on the dock. Very relaxing today. These are 2 of my girls in the pic with me. They came out & enjoyed catching a couple of those keepers.

Nice catch Randy, I bet the girls enjoyed that.