LITTLE ROCK — In recent weeks, reports have continued to surface of Arkansans who have contracted the dangerous BOT-B virus.
Symptoms affecting those with this affliction include odd darkening of exposed skin, particularly around the eyes; excessive absences from home; a coma-like stupor induced by watching certain TV shows; soreness in one arm; open wounds on the hands, generally centered on the thumb and forefinger; unusual urges to awaken in the middle of the night; sluggishness at the workplace or in the face of honey-do lists; and an obsessive fascination with piscine behavior.
Furthermore, the members of this group are known to show an eccentric willingness to spend copious amounts of cash in search of the next big thing that will help them curb their illness.
In that regard, it is believed that something about BOT-B, or “bass on the brain,” triggers the amygdala to become overactive. When affected by BOT-B, this part of the brain’s so-called pleasure center is positively stimulated by the accumulation of long sticks, line-retracting tools and sharp barbed metal attached to various shiny bobbles.
While there is no known cure for BOT-B, biologists from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission were recently impaneled to provide remedies that may alleviate the suffering from this disease. The resulting research delivered a handful of locations where BOT-Bers (or Botbers, as they have begun to be called) can find relief through aqua therapy.
Yes, it’s true: The only way to get bass on the brain to subside is to go fishing. So, I asked a handful of fisheries biologists with the AGFC to provide a detailed list of the best bass waters in their areas and across The Natural State. What follows are a handful of destinations that every Arkansas bass angler should try.
Tri-Lakes Lake Ouachita
Kevin D. Hopkins, the assistant biologist with the AGFC’s Black Bass Program, said Lake Ouachita is a wonderful lake for bass anglers hoping to catch good numbers of fish. Stuart Wooldridge, a District 8 biologist, concurred by pointing out that Ouachita has produced “over 110 bass per hour of electrofishing sampling when you combine spotted bass and largemouth bass.”
Plus, AGFC activity at Ouachita, near Mountain Pine, in recent years has included stocking reservoirstrain smallmouth bass that have enhanced fishing on the lake’s lower end.
Ouachita is Arkansas’ largest lake entirely within our state’s borders, encompassing roughly 40,100 acres. It was among the top 100 bass watersas named by a national bassfishing publication earlier this year, and Ouachita is often ranked in the top 10 by many such publications.
Great spawns in recent high-water springs have many largemouths and spots available to anglers in a variety of cover. Fish can be found around Ouachita’s many islands, rocks, trees, dead timber, drop-offs, ledges, old creek channels, flats and aquatic vegetation.
Lake Hamilton
Wooldridge and Hopkins both have Lake Hamilton high on their list of Tri-Lakes bass waters, but for different reasons. Wooldridge points to Hamilton as the region’s bigbass lake, while Hopkins notes Hamilton as a prolific bass fishery.
As proof of the former, Wooldridge said, “Over the last three years, Lake Hamilton has produced several lunkers from 8 pounds up to 14.5 pounds for local tournaments.”
Meanwhile, on the latter, Hopkins said Hamilton is one of the spots he would target if he wanted to catch a limit of fish, partly because it would allow him to stay close to home.
Lake Hamilton is just below Lake Ouachita on the Ouachita River. At 7,460 acres, Hamilton is greatly smaller. Plus, its shoreline is far more developed. That’s both bad and good. There’s going to be a lotmore traffic, especially weekenders on skis, wakeboards and other watercraft. However, the development adds a myriad of docks to the fish cover similarly found in Ouachita. That means another pattern to use to target the fish.
One final tidbit is that trips here can be enhanced by glimpses of The Belle of Hot Springs, a 400-passenger riverboat that regularly carries locals and tourists across Hamilton’s waters.
DeGray Lake
While DeGray Lake does not give up big bass as commonly as Hamilton, Wooldridge said hooking a lunker here is still a possibility. He and Hopkins, however, believe that DeGray, near Bismarck is more of a sure thing for anglers looking to catch fish in greater quantity. Here, as at Ouachita, Wooldridge reported electrofishing samples that include more than 110 bass per hour.
Like Ouachita, DeGray was recently included among the national top-100 bass waters. The 13,400-acre lake was officially impounded in 1972, with the completion of its dam, making DeGray far younger than either Ouachita or Hamilton.
With great spawns in recent years, large numbers of spotted and largemouth bass are to be found in a variety of cover, including points, flats, rocks, wood and submerged creek channels. The cover is similar to both Ouachita and Hamilton, with the key to any outing often being the baitfish. In other words, if you find the food, you’ll find the bass.
Across the state Greers Ferry Lake
Hopkins has Greers Ferry Lake among his top three in the state for numbers of bass. Meanwhile, the district biologist, Tom Bly, put the lake at the top of bass fisheries in his area.
The attraction of Greers Ferry near Heber Spings is simple, according to Bly.
“Greers Ferry is the only one of [the good bass fisheries] that offers all three species of black bass - largemouth, smallmouth and spotted,” he said of Three Rivers waters.
“The past several years of above-normal lake elevations on Greers have made the lake much more productive with significant improvements in the overall fish population. High water has improved survival of young bass as a result of increased food production and increased cover. Shad, gizzard and threadfin are the driving food sources in Greers, and the populations of these forage fish are excellent in providing good growth for adult bass,” Bly said, further explaining Greers Ferry Lake’s bass boon.
With its relative proximity to central Arkansas, Greers Ferry can get a lot of Little Rock traffic. Still, with roughly 40,000 acres of water to fish, there’s lots of space to find bass around trees, rocks, coves, bluffs, humps and other cover similarly found at other U.S. Army Corps of Engineerslakes in our highlands.
Another commonality between this lake and other Corps impoundments is that there are the remains of communities beneath the waters of Greers Ferry. So, you might be catching fish out of someone’s old chimney. Just something to ponder.
Lake Dardanelle
For 50 miles, the Arkansas River backs up to wash over more than 34,000 acres, forming what we call Lake Dardanelle near Russellville. Bob Limbird, the AGFC District 9 fisheries supervisor, noted Dardanelle as one of two big-bass hot spots for River Valley & Ozark anglers.
Of Dardanelle and similar river-system impoundments, professional bass fisherman Denny Brauer once said that if you are fishing deep, you are probably fishing too deep. That’s often true of this lake, where rock revetments, small islands, riprap, shallow flats, woody cover, creek-channel edges and various aquatic vegetation serve as the home to Dardanelle’s largemouths and spotted bass.
The lake is known as a big-bass hangout partly because, for years, the Arkansas Big Bass Bonanza has been dominated by fish taken from one of two pools on the Arkansas River. While the Dumas area is often in the winner’s circle, Lake Dardanelle has given up its share of true lunkers - largemouths in the range of 6 to 8 pounds or more.
One factor that makes Dardanelle so attractive is that several highland streams, bayous and smaller rivers empty into it. Names like Illinois Bayou conjure up images of some of the better fish taken from Dardanelle and its backwaters.
Staff writer James K. Joslin can be reached at (501) 399-3693 or jjoslin@arkansasonline.com.
Bass fishing elsewhere in ArkansasA group of fisheries biologists
from the Arkansas Game and
Fish Commission was recently
polled regarding the best bass
waters in The Natural State.
While lying outside of our
coverage areas, these rivers and
lakes are worth a visit for an
glers looking for bass in either
quantity or quality.
Lower Arkansas River: Pool 2
near Dumas-famed backwaters
include Merrisach and Coal Pile.
Lower White River: 300-plus
lakes are on the White River
National Wildlife Refuge.
Bull Shoals Lake: High-water
springs meant huge catches for
the Bassmaster Elite Series held
there earlier this year.
Crooked Creek: This is one of
two blue-ribbon smallmouth
streams in The Natural State.
Buffalo River: The other blue
ribbon smallmouth stream in
Arkansas is the first national
river in the United States.
Lake Chicot: The largest oxbow
in the United States is also the
largest natural lake in Arkansas.
Millwood Lake: Florida-strain
largemouths swim here, and
there are 29,000-plus acres of
water to fish.
Lake Conway: The venerable
statesman of AGFC lakes still
produces largemouths in the
6- to 8-pound range.
Lake Atkins: At 752 acres, this
AGFC impoundment is now be
coming big-bass central, thanks
to a renovation project and the
stocking of Florida-strain large
mouths.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 143 on 06/24/2012