Lakes Ouachita and Greeson tops for spring bass
It was an extraordinary week of spring bass fishing, to say the least.
Jeff Samsel, then public relations director for PRADCO Outdoor Brands in Fort Smith, and Chris Elder of Mount Ida, one of Arkansas’ top bass anglers, met me at the launch ramp at Lake Ouachita’s Mountain Harbor before dawn on Day 1. When the sun started rising over the Ouachita Mountains, Jeff was working a Rebel Super Pop-R over shallow cover. He’d just made his first cast and was tugging the lure this way then that to imitate a shad spritzing across the surface. A 5-pound-plus largemouth couldn’t resist. When it nailed the lure, it was like someone pulled the plug on the lake.
“I hope this is a sign of things to come,” Chris said as he netted Jeff ’s bass. Turns out it was. Chris caught the next bass, which was a pound or two bigger than Jeff’s, then three more just slightly smaller. I caught a pair of 2-pounders, and Jeff nailed several more in the 1- to 4-pound class.
When action tapered off at midmorning, Chris positioned his boat over an underwater hump, and we lowered live crawfish to the bottom. Each tail-hooked bait was weighted with a split shot, and each barely touched bottom before a nice spotted bass struck. For a solid hour, we caught one spotted bass and then another, as quick as we could bait our hooks and lower them to the hump. When the crawfish ran out, we tied on crankbaits and other lures and kept on catching bass. We didn’t keep count, but between us, we caught dozens up to 4 pounds.
Later that week, Lisa and Henry Snuggs from North Carolina joined my wife, Theresa, and me for a bassing trip on nearby Lake Greeson. We fished with guide Jerry Blake of Pearcy, and like my day on Ouachita, this outing was extraordinary.
Jerry ran his boat out to a deep, rock-strewn hump in midlake, and all of us baited up with live crawfish. We used the same rig I had used on Ouachita, and once again, the spotted bass (and a few largemouths) proved very cooperative. At one time, Lisa, Theresa and Henry were all fighting bass simultaneously, and the action proved steady the entire time we were there. Henry landed one real trophy, a spotted bass that weighed a little over 4 pounds.
Lakes Ouachita and Greeson serve up extraordinary fishing for largemouth and spotted bass in west-central Arkansas near Hot Springs. If you’re looking for some prime black-bass fishing this spring, you’d be wise to give the lakes a try. Here are some particulars to help you get started.
LAKE OUACHITA
This big blue impoundment sprawls across 40,000 acres of the Ouachita Valley west of Hot Springs, the lake’s clear waters bristling with largemouth and spotted bass. Recent stockings of smallmouth bass have made that species available, too. Bass fishing is excellent year-round.
Numerous trophy-class largemouths are taken here every spring, and there’s a distinct possibility of catching a 7- or 8-pounder. Ten-pound largemouths aren’t common here, but they do surface occasionally.
Most Ouachita anglers begin their search for spring largemouths “in the moss” — in beds of coontail and elodea. A fish-finder can help you pinpoint these mats of vegetation, which are in 15 or 20 feet of water, often around the lake’s many islands and coves. Many local anglers favor a deep-diving, minnow-imitation crankbait like the XCalibur Fat Free Fry for fishing this submerged vegetation. To use one, locate a weed bed, move away from it a few yards, then cast the lure, crank it down deep, and bring it in with a stop-and-go retrieve. Work the lure right along the top of the vegetation; the bass will come up out of the moss to nail the lure.
Short plastic worms are also favorites. Rig each with a 1/8to 1/4-ounce leadhead jig; then swim the worm around the weed beds, and get ready for action. Spinnerbaits are superb spring enticements as well.
Ouachita’s spotted bass are usually found deeper than largemouths in spring, usually on rocky ledges, points and humps. Some may hold as deep as 40 feet, and the best way to catch spotted bass is to drop live crawfish into the basses’ feeding zone. Many lures entice them as well, including crawfish crankbaits, jig-and-pigs and small spoons.
Spring bass fishing seems most consistent in the upper half of Lake Ouachita, perhaps because there’s more shallow water there. There is a lot of good bass fishing in the midlake area, too. Good bets include the Joplin, Tompkins Bend, Crystal Springs, Mountain Harbor and Big Fir public-use areas on the south side, and Irons Fork, Avant and Buckville on the north shore.
Lake Ouachita is accessible throughout its length from U.S. Highway 270, west of Hot Springs (south side) or Arkansas 298 between the towns of Blue Springs and Story (north side). For more information, visit Mountain Harbor Resort’s website, www.
mtharbor.com, or contact the Mount Ida Chamber of Commerce at (870) 867-2723 or www.mtidachamber.com.
LAKE GREESON
Completed in 1951, Narrows Dam near Murfreesboro backed the waters of the Little Missouri River some 12 miles up its narrow valley to create Lake Greeson. This 7,000-acre U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
impoundment has remained a recreational secret compared to other major man-made lakes in Arkansas, but that has more to do with the lake’s size than the quality of the fishing here. Greeson is less than one-fifth the size of Lake Ouachita, for example, yet there are plenty of nice largemouths and spotted bass to make any day on the water here exciting.
I’ve fished Greeson often in recent years, usually out of Kirby Landing at the town of Kirby, about 40 miles west of Hot Springs. There’s little visible cover, which can make finding good bassing spots tough. But with a good fish-finder and some time, visiting anglers can pinpoint good cover and structure, such as humps, man-made fish attractors and bottom channels that concentrate bass. Good areas to try include the Rock Creek Arm on the west side, Self Creek on the north, and the Bear Creek and Kirby Landing areas on the east.
In spring, many bass are caught in rocky shallows near shore, often on long, sloping points and often using crankbaits and other lures that imitate shad or crawfish, the two primary types of bass forage in the lake.
Spotted bass here, like those in Ouachita, typically stay in deeper, rocky haunts, and live crawfish are the best enticements. Jigging spoons, jigs and other lures that can be worked with vertical presentations are local favorites as well.
The best way to fish Lake Greeson the first time is with a guide who can show you how to find and catch bass there. One I highly recommend is Capt. Darryl Morris at Family Fishing Trips ((501) 844-5418, www.familyfishingtrips.com). For more information about the lake, visit www.lakegreeson.org or Self Creek Lodge and Marina’s website, www.selfcreek.com.