Caddo River bass
Fish bite despite low water, flood damage
GLENWOOD — Despite the ravages of recent flooding, bass fishing was very good on the Caddo River last Friday.
My partners Friday were Chris Minick of Benton and my daughter Hannah. Minick, an experienced hand on the Saline River, was anxious to get acquainted with the Caddo, and Hannah was anxious to use a tacklebox full of new lures.
We convened about 10 a.m. at Lucky’s Canoe Service in Glenwood. We were warned that the river was low, and the best water was between Glenwood and Amity. It takes a long time to float that stretch, so the stretch from Caddo Gap to Glenwood was more appealing.
“It’s awful low, but people that know what they’re doing are still catching some nice fish up there,” Lucky said.
He was right. The water was very low, but floods had reconfigured the river. Some old holes were spoiled, but new holes had been created. It would be like fishing a brand new stream in some respects.
“I usually start fishing at the mouth of the South Fork, but we might want to check out some of this new stuff,” I said. “We’ll know what we need to know pretty quick.”
I rented a canoe for Hannah and me, and Minick brought his Ascend kayak. The kayak resists wind better and allows you to spend more time fishing and instead of battling the paddle. It’s perfect for a solo fishing trip on any kind of water.
Minick had two spinning rigs and an arsenal of Zoom soft plastic lizards. He likes watermelon and pumpkinseed colors with red flake, and they are usually productive on Arkansas streams in any season.
We slowed down as we approached the Memory Hole.
“Over there where that rock shelf drops into the water gave me 20 minutes of some of the best smallmouth fishing of my life,” I said. Minick perked up. “That was 21 years ago,” I said. “I’ve never caught another fish there, but I always fish it for old times sake.”
We didn’t get a bite, but our prospects brightened in the next hole downstream. It’s a fine-looking stretch of water with a lot of boulders and shelf rock, and that’s where Minick caught the first fish of the day.
“I switched to root beer color,” Minick said. “That pumpkinseed wasn’t working, so I thought they might want something darker.”
I had switched to a junebug-colored Zoom Tiny Lizard with the same idea, but I wasn’t having any luck.
Finally we reached the deep hole above the mouth of the South Fork of the Caddo. The good fishing starts just above the rock shelf on the right.
Hannah had about 30 new baits, and she was determined to throw every one of them. She threw a Rebel Tracdown Minnow in rainbow trout color and another in brown trout pattern. She threw a couple of Rebel crankbaits, and she finally switched to a Smithwick Rogue.
The treble hooks on those lures are dangerous in the hands of a novice, so I pinched down the barbs on them all. It also reduces injury to the fish you catch.
“Hand me your rod for a sec,” I said.
I pitched the Rogue a short distance from the canoe and jerked the rod tip.
“Notice how this lure darts and dives when you pop the rod?” I asked. Hannah nodded. “That looks like a little fish in distress,” I said. “A bass will smack that more often than if you just cast it and reel it.”
For the next few casts, she looked as if she were whipping a horse.
“Short, sharp strokes are better,” I said. “Give it a good, hard pop occasionally to mix it up.”
She had it down before long, and she paid close attention to the lure. That’s how you get better, by merging your mind with your bait.
“You’re going to catch one eventually,” I said. “The first one is always the hardest.”
I finally got a bite on a sunlit bank upstream from the South Fork. It was a big strike, but I was distracted trying to position the canoe. I tried to set the hook with one hand, but I couldn’t muster enough power to set the hook.
Meanwhile, Minick caught a succession of bass on multiple pieces of cover, including a big Kentucky bass from the end of a laydown.
We ate lunch on the gravel bar at the mouth of the South Fork, but Hannah couldn’t stop fishing long enough to eat.
Minick had the magic with the soft plastics, but I was having trouble with that melding-my-mind-tothe-bait thing. I switched to a Luck-E-Strike squarebill crankbait and immediately caught a 14-inch smallmouth at the instant Minick caught another Kentucky.
I only caught one more fish, but Minick continued catching them all the way to the Flag Hole.
Floating through the Flag Hole is usually one of the most delightful parts of the trip, but there was barely enough water to get through it Friday. We scraped and bumped all the way down to my most dependable hole. It’s a big boulder in front of a small, deep pocket where smallmouths like to hide.
It’s full of gravel now, and a big gravel bar has formed behind it.
Directly downstream is another long stretch that always holds fish, but the combination of low water and flood damage compromised it, too.
Farther down stood the foundation of a home that washed away in the flood. The channel there was narrow, so the flood had surged through the woods on the right. Big chunks of insulation and sheetrock were wedged between trees along with splintered shards of siding, flashing and decking for nearly half a mile. An entire section of a bathroom vanity, complete with a basin and faucet, rested in a rootwad.
We reached the U.S. 270 bridge just before dark. Gravel had created a hazardous pocket next to the bridge pier. Minick and I had to exit our boats and reposition them for the sprint away from the bridge.
We were tired and sore after such a rocky trip, but were also content and relaxed. We resolved to get together on another stream soon.