I haven't fished it but I know it is getting real close for people to start hitting the lake. One might keep it in mind....;)
Printable View
I haven't fished it but I know it is getting real close for people to start hitting the lake. One might keep it in mind....;)
How's it been going Rusty. Did you finally put down the golf clubs? I will be heading to Old Town soon. Have you heard any reports?
Hey Rusty, you been catching any fish lately, haven't seen many posts lately. Good to see your still kicking.
Hey Glenn, I have not heard a thing about Old Town. I'll dig around some though.I know probably by the end of this month one might better hit the lake. They'll spawn out before the middle of April, weather permitting.
Heck no I haven't put the clubs down....YET... been shooting in the low to mid eighties though...which ain't to shabby for a guy like me.
Naw Mr. Jerry, ain't been fishing in a long time. I have been trying to get a honey do business going and have been working weekends. I have invested quite a bit of money in it and better stick with it for a while. I'm trying to quit my regular job. Thirty years of rewinding electrical apparatus is enough, i'm burning out. I do set sundays aside for rest. i'm looking out the window now as I type and it sure looks good, it is a little chilly here but not to cold to fish. I have been seeing those big fish you and your brother have been catching and all I can say is DAYUM. :D
Still no info on this lake?? Has anybody heard anything?? Also, can someone tell me the best way to get to it and where the best place to launch is. I have never been to Old Town, but I am thinking about making a trip. Thanks
Winghunting, I am unsure where you are located but basically get on state highway1 ( goes through Marianna, Forrest City, Wynne and north) and go south until you get to Walnut Corner (Barton) which is the intersection of hwy 1 and hwy 49 (to Helena). There is a Conoco station and a traffic light there. Continue South through that traffic light and you will travel about 10 miles through some flat curvy roads and it will intersect with hwy 44. You will see the lake in front of you at that intersection. Turn right and go about 1/2 mile and you will see a public ramp on your left. Hope this helps. I fish ther fairly often and will be there this weekend with my brother ( "Roll" on this message board). If I can give you any more info just let me know.
I wish yall all the luck in the world. I sure wished i could go, i'll br honey doing....:mad:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
Thanks alot....I have never been there but I am thinking about going this weekend. Have you heard of anybody catching them there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
I know that they were catching them for about a week just before the snow hit. I am thinking that with the warmer weather that the water will have warmed by this weekend. The water is only about 6 or 7 feet deep at it's deepest ( mostly 4 feet or so) so it does not take but 2 or 3 days of warm weather to warm the water back up properly. If you do go, be sure and have what you need before you get there. Stores and gas stations are scarce for about 10 miles around there.
Rusty, I wish you could be there also. I always seemed to catch more fish with you there. Maybe it had something to do with tying my boat off to your boat so that I was always fishing in your spots:pQuote:
Originally Posted by fishingpox
Do you think they will be on the banks or around the cypress trees?
My guess is that will change as the day goes along because the water temperature will change. I think early they will be around the Cypress trees in about 3 or 4 feet. Maybe people will disagree. When I fish Old Town this time of year, I will try the Cypress along the edges to about 50 feet from the bank for about an hour and then if no luck, I will go fish the Cypress in the center parts of the lake where they are not so dense until around 10 or so and then if no luck, back to the denser Cypress along the edges where they meet the center of the lake and then work my way towards the bank during the day. My reasoning behind this is that although the lake is shallow, the water does cool overnight and gradually warms during the day and I am a firm believer in water temperature and I try and follow the warmer water. I think that because Old Town is shallow and the structure is pretty much the same throught the lake that if you find a pattern then you will be successful no matter what part of the lake you are on as long as the water temperature is consistent. I have been there on many occassions when the fish would only hit on an isolated underwater limb coming from a downed tree. You could jig right next to the trunk or anywhere else that you wanted to but the only way to get a strike was to present the blue/white jig right next to that limb sticking out of the water. On other days, the fish might only hit if you put the black/chartreuse jig right in the middle of Cypress knees and no where else. The good thing about this is that once you find the pattern then it is almost always effective throughout the lake because the contour of the bottom is pretty much all the same ( flat and full of limbs and stumps). This is just my opinion and some may disagree but I grew up near this lake and have fished it off and on for most of my life.Quote:
Originally Posted by blairarnold
I very much appreciate your thoughts. I have only fished it one time, and we ended up bream fishing because we couldn't get the crappie to bite.
However I've been intriqued by Old Town for a while, partly because it looks so good and partly because of a report I got from a fellow I ran into on Mellwood. He said he had a little cabin or trailer on Old Town and that he fished it exclusively from Feb. through March to May and then would move to Mellwood depending on what the Miss. River was doing. He told me the number of crappie he had caught that year on Old Town. I don't remember what it was, but it was a bunch. He said he would wait to fish until there had been 3 or more warming days and then would fish 12" to 18" deep on the shallow side of the lake on the bank. Of course he may have been shining me.
I think that person gave you excellent information. The shallow side is on the side opposite Highway 44. I certainly agree with his depths ( I'm assuming that he is saying jig depth and not water depth). I also fish Old Town almost exclusively during those months. The reason is as he said. Because of it's minimal depth, that body of water is one of the first in that area to get to the proper temperature. If my calculations are right then by Friday or Saturday then that area will have had at least 3 or 4 days to warm up. That is what I am counting on anyway. I start fishing some of the lost lakes and oxbows on the White River National Wildlife Reserve early to mid April because those waters then start to get up to temperature. I have never had a whole lot of luck with Old Town after May for crappie at least and I feel it is due to the high water temperature because of it's shallowness. The one constant that I have found on Old Town is that it is rare to catch 12 or so. You either catch very few or you catch a limit. Oh......... and you can pretty much count on the wind blowing.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by blairarnold
On another note Glenn, this is a lake where one needs to fish slowly. Thats why I think trot lines work so well on this lake. Of all the times
i fished it rarely did I catch them one after another. Me and my brother caught 15 under one little tree a few years back.
dayum if you see me with a thumb out pick me up...sheeet ,i'm on call this weekend too.:mad:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
Yes, he was talking about jig or minnow depth.
You are absolutely right about that Rusty. I'll be sure and keep an eye out for you when I bust through West Memphis this evening. I will tune in to the local news and if I hear that they have spotted "Sasquatch" on the side of I40 then I will know that you are waiting on me to pick you up. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by fishingpox
Sasquatch huh....i'm going to put dead critters in the back of your truck...;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
I didn't get to go today....do ya'll have any reports??
We did fairly well. Wind was tough............really tough all 3 days. The fish we caught were all big. Rusty no need for the dead critters. Someone already gave me some payback for you. Someone hit my truck while it was parked at the gravel ramp. Bent my bumper up into my rear quarter panel.
I'm really impressed you could stay out in that wind. What kind of cover were you catching them around, how deep, what were you catching them on and how near or far from the bank? In short could you give us the particulars?
We fished there Saturday morning. We fished on the south end due to the high wind. By noon, we had 16 nice ones. We were catching them on red/char jigs with niblett. The fish were on cypress knees in 2-3 ft of water, and preferred the jig that was fished SLOW! The water temp reached 59 degrees by the time we left. The wind got so bad we had to leave.
We were catching them on the south end across from the gravel ramp with Blue/White jigs about 18" deep in 3' of water. The only place we could get them to hit consistently was on isolated twigs stucking out of the water. One peculiar thing that was Friday at around 1:30 to 1:45 we caught 14 or so one right after another in an area no larger than a hula hoop that had those twigs sticking up from a dead tree and every one of those fish were closer to 3 pounds than they were 2 pounds. It's been a long time since I have caught that many quality fish one right after another and I have never caught that many "hogs" from such a small spot. They were really stacked in there.Quote:
Originally Posted by blairarnold
Great trip! This cold weather we are going to get before and during next weekend will probably shut them down or at least move them.
Man that sucks. Thats the only thing I hate about being in that area is campers and people parking to close. The year you and i fished down there several times I had to literally pick my trailer up and move it so I could get out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
you fellows know what the fish are telling you. take some waders and park your boat. don't panic because the bottom is soft,its hard on the back but, fish slowly
I knew i should have been on I40 west...:D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
Sounds like y'all found the honey hole...I'm guessing it won't be too long before y'all get back down there to see if any new girls show up around those stick-ups. I remember the fishing used to be just like that at Midway, you could fish down a beautiful bank and pitch a jig at what looked like one single twig and catch 'em all morning. Thanks for the report.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
Chris, you and Rusty are right. I expect to be right next to that very top in waders not this weekend but the next. They will be having a few colder days so this weekend I will hang around here in Alabama and head back over there the next weekend. The soft bottom does not bother me but them "no legs" hanging in those tree limbs and swimming around.... well....lets just say that when they slip up on me real close like that I forget about fishing for a moment because I am too concerned about the inside of my waders getting wet :D
On a side note Rusty. That crackhead that was hanging around the ramp last year was no where to be seen. I'm glad he's gone.
It has been quite some time since I have been to Old Town. Can somebody tell me if there are places to park a camper for a weekend.
Yes there are. You can camp at the store that is right in that big right hand curve past the school and the spillway or you can camp at Rudy Mauldin's bait shop. I have the number for Mauldin's somewhere. Mauldins has a boat ramp and a place to keep your boat on the water and the campsites are right on the water. The problem with it is that that hill coming off the road to the lake is a bit steep but I prefer it because of the bait shop. The camp sites at the country store do not have a place to leave your boat on the water.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiekiller870
went to old town yesterday, 3/10, with my dad. We managed 17 nice keepers. caught alot of small ones also. early we caught a few shallow in 1.5' of water then caught the majority of them in 2.5' -4' of water. When I cleaned them I noticed that they were all females and about half of them had already spawned. the others had bloody eggs so they were very close to. Hope this cold spell doesn't mess them up to bad. The water temp got up to 68.3
Good Lord!!! 68.3 degrees!!!!! Last Friday and Saturday it was only 58 degrees. The weather has cooled over there since then so that confuses me.:confused:
Confused as whether to go or not?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gut Shot
Not in that way Rusty. I will be there the weekend after this one. I am confused in how the lake temperature increased by 10 degrees in 4 days when the the air temperature was steadily declining. We fished there Friday and Saturday and the surface temp in the cypress trees was 58.7 degrees and the air temperature was about 75 degrees. Saturday night it rained and it got down to about 55 degrees. Sunday when I left that cold front was moving in. I am not trying to discount what mcc is saying, I believe him. I am just trying to understand how the water warmed that much (even at all) when the air temperature dropped steadily and the wind was blowing for the last few days. I always thought that those were the primary factors in water temperature other than an influx of fresh water. What am I missing? What could cause this? How hot did it get there on Tuesday? Educate me. The only thing that i know of that could have caused that was you were down there on Monday and Tuesday peeing in the water while you were fishing in your waders ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by fishingpox
It confuses me to. I don't think that my fish finder was messed up but I guess that could always be a possibility. We were on the water at 7 am it was still dark. The low monday night only got down to 62 so there wasn't alot of cooling off that night. The water temp first thing in the morning was 64.5. Then throughout the day it warmed up some, with late in the evening the highest I seen it was 68.3. It wasn't getting below 67.5. I wandered the same thing. Would say maybe my fish finder is wrong, but with half of the fish having empty egg sacks I don't know if it is wrong or not. Talked to an older gentleman there that said we missed it by day. He said that on monday there were a lot of people wearing them out in anywhere from 1.5' of water to as little as 10" of water. I don't have any idea of there next movement after this cold spell, but it isn't gonna stop me from going next weekend! :D
I was there on Sunday & the water temp was about 60. We went back Monday & around lunchtime the water temp was 64 - I even asked my Dad (who was in another boat) what his water temp was showing - it showed 64 also. Monday was beautiful & the air temp got up to around 80. We fished north of Rudy's boat ramp - so that may be the difference in the north & south end of the lake.
I think people underestimate how fast that lake can warm up - things down there can change hour to hour. By the way, Tuesday was the full moon - if you believe all that lunar stuff! LOL
My brother (roll on this board) lives in Jonesboro also. He used to coach football at Nettleton. he and I fish Old town together most of the time. We expect to be there the weekend following this weekend. Maybe we will see you there. I will be in a camo boat with Alabama registration and a 25 Merc. Stop and say hello if you see us. It is always nice to meet my crappie.com brothers.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc
Who is your brother? I used to play and went to Nettleton.
Mike Mathis. He coached there for about 5 or 6 years I guess until he got out of it last year. He has also coached football at Marvell Academy, Desoto ( West Helena), Helena ( Central), and Barton. He still lives in Jonesboro. That is him in the picture above. He is on the left. I'm the ugly one ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by LRJoe1