If you don’t enjoy hunting and fishing, you’re cheating yourself of the best recreation the Natural State offers.
You can saddle your hunting and fishing trips to other activities like camping, hiking, canoeing and kayaking. There’s enough to do something different every week. Here are a few suggestions to get you started each month:
JANUARY
We start the year with two unrelated suggestions.
If you’re a turkey hunter, apply for a controlled turkey hunt on one of the state’s wildlife management areas. Permits for these hunts are highly coveted because they offer access to good numbers of birds, with limited hunting pressure. The application deadline is Jan. 15. Apply online at agfc.com.
We are in the home stretch of duck season, and the hunting is picking up at public areas like Bayou Meto WMA now that we are finally getting some rain.
People try to make duck hunting at public areas more complicated than it really is. If you are willing to walk, you can get far enough away from other hunters to work ducks without undue interference.
FEBRUARY
If you don’t mind the cold, this is a great month to enjoy superb fishing for striped bass, walleyes and even smallmouth bass in the major tributaries that feed our big reservoirs.
Walleyes and stripers will make their spawning runs up highland rivers and streams. Catch them with crankbaits, stickbaits, soft plastics and live bait. The upper Ouachita River is a great place to catch both species, as are the major arms of Bull Shoals Lake. You can also catch walleyes and hybrid stripers in the upper portion of DeGray Lake.
Some anglers use jetboats to reach these waters, but you also can catch a lot of fish from a canoe, especially one rigged with an electric motor.
MARCH
I’m ready to catch giant striped bass in March, and I’ll find them on lakes such as Ouachita, Hamilton, Beaver and Norfork.
Catching big stripers is fairly easy in early spring. They feed on the surface in the mornings, and this action can last a long time if the sky is overcast. They’ll hit big stickbaits like a Cordell C-10 Redfin in rainbow trout color, as well as topwater lures such as a Zara Spook or a big Pop “R” or Zell Pop.
Stripers are very strong and pugnacious, so use heavy line and sturdy tackle. Your biggest challenge is keeping them from diving deep and breaking your line in submerged timber.
APRIL
If the Game and Fish Commission awarded you a controlled turkey hunting permit, you’ll get to use it this month.
If you didn’t get drawn, you can hunt in the Ozark National Forest and Ouachita National Forest. Each contains about 1.5 million acres of land that’s open to the public.
You can find unpressured birds in remote areas away from the roads. It’s best if you backpack in to the backcountry and camp overnight.
Also consider combining a turkey hunt with an overnight float fishing trip on the Buffalo or Ouachita rivers.
MAY
Crappie are biting all over the state right now. Just pick a lake and go.
With the possible exception of waters in north Arkansas, crappie have finished spawning by May in most areas and have moved back into deep cover.
Find brushpiles, and you’ll probably find crappie. A good depthfinder with high-resolution color graphics makes this a lot easier.
You’ll catch them with light jigs — 1/16-ounce to 1/32-ounce — with small plastic tubes. Use subtle colors in clear water and bright colors in stained water.
JUNE
The most exciting bass fishing is in April and May, but June is an excellent time to catch big largemouths on lakes Conway and Dardanelle.
At Lake Conway, try fishing heavy jigs next to cypress trees. Largemouths sulk in the tree shadows, and they’ll often smash a jig deftly delivered.
Lake Dardanelle is best when water is rising. Fish crankbaits, swimbaits, plastic frogs and jigs off riprap. If water is falling, try deep grassbeds.
JULY
The application period for the Game and Fish Commission’s controlled WMA deer hunts begins July 1. If you don’t have a place to hunt, a permit gives you access to our state’s best public areas. Apply online at agfc.com.
Then go to Greers Ferry Lake to catch some hybrid stripers and white bass.
Greers Ferry has the world’s biggest hybrids. Spend some time looking for schools, and then experience high-octane action that comes in spurts as fish come to the surface and then sound again.
When they come up, throw topwaters and lipless crankbaits to catch small fish near the surface. Throw heavy spoons to catch big hybrids that wait below the schools.
AUGUST
It’s hot, humid and miserable everywhere but in the cold waters of an Arkansas trout stream.
The water is always in the 50-degree range, and it cools the air above to insulate you from the heat.
The fishing is excellent in the deep summer with assortments of flies, jigs and stickbaits. Wade the shoal areas of the White, North Fork and Little Red rivers, or fish from a boat.
SEPTEMBER
Summer is the traditional time to float the Buffalo River, but I like it best after Labor Day. The crowds have all gone home or back to school, so the river is peaceful, and the fishing is insanely good.
Make it a multi-day float to get the river’s full flavor. My favorite section is from Spring Creek to Rush. If you have the time, September is also an excellent time to float the lower Buffalo from Rush to the White River.
Expect to catch good numbers of big smallmouth bass and Kentucky bass. Fish rock gardens and rootwads with soft plastic crawdad imitators to catch Ozark bass.
OCTOBER
Bowhunting for deer in mid-October is one of my favorite pursuits. The weather is pleasant, and the Indian summer days are sublime. In the Ozarks, the fall colors are coming on, and you can hunt in peaceful solitude almost anywhere.
Isolate an area you want to hunt and scout for hot trails connecting feeding and bedding areas. Preparation will give you a better than average chance to kill a doe for the freezer, but early October can also be a great time to catch a mature buck unawares.
If you get one with a bow early, you can concentrate on success with a muzzleloader later in the month. That will get you two-thirds of the way to a Triple Trophy Award, which you can complete with a modern firearm in November.
NOVEMBER
There are so many great things to do outdoors in November, but a modern gun deer hunt is the essence of an Arkansas autumn.
If you scored a permit for a controlled modern gun hunt, you’ll be able to enjoy a high-quality hunt on an Arkansas WMA. If not, there are plenty of deer in the national forests. Maybe a friend will invite you to hunt a private club.
DECEMBER
Duck season is in full bloom this month. You’ll find plenty of birds on our major rivers and our WMAs. Duck hunting in one of our national wildlife refuges is always memorable.
Arkansas has so many great duck hunting areas that we tend to take them for granted. Be proud that we have the best duck hunting in the world.