NWA FISHING REPORT

Beaver Lake

Fishing is good one day, tough the next.

That’s the word from Jon Conklin, fishing guide. Summertime fishing tactics are still the norm. Striped bass are scattered on the north end of the lake from Point 6 to Beaver Dam. Locate schools of shad in open water with a depth finder and stripers should be nearby. Try brood minnows, shad or small sunfish for live bait. Lures that resemble shad or minnows may work.

For walleye, fish 25 to 30 feet deep with nightcrawlers on a nightcrawler harness behind a bottom bouncer weight. Gravel or rock points in the Prairie Creek and Rocky Branch areas are good to try. Catfish are also biting trolled nightcrawlers.

Crappie are suspended 15 to 25 feet deep over brush. Use jigs or troll with crank baits. Average surface water temperature is in the low to mid-80s.

Southtown Sporting Goods in Fayetteville reports black bass fishing is fair at night with spinner baits, plastic worms or jig and pigs along rocky banks and around brush. Bluegill fishing is good with crickets or worms. Channel catfish are biting fair on liver or worms.

Beaver tailwater

Beaver Dam Store recommends fly fishing for trout with midges, scuds, sowbugs or woolly buggers. Power Bait, worms or nightcrawlers are effective trout baits. Good lures include small jigs, small spoons and small crank baits.

Power generation usually starts around 2 p.m. creating good wade-fishing conditions much of the day.

Lake Fayetteville

David Powell at the lake office said bluegill fishing is good with worms. Catfish are biting liver. Crappie fishing is slow. Try minnows or jigs near the bottom.

Lake Sequoyah

Angler Mike McBride said the usual catfish baits, such as stink bait, nightcrawlers and liver, should work for catfish. Try fishing for black bass early with top-water lures. The lake is open sunrise to sunset.

Bella Vista

Chip Wiseman at Hook, Line and Sinker in Bella Vista said catfish are biting well at all Bella Vista lakes on liver. Try for crappie with minnows or jigs 18 feet at any Bella Vista lake. Lake Ann is fishing very well for bluegill and catfish. Crickets will work for catfish or bluegill.

Please note that fishing in Bella Vista is open only to POA members and their guests.

Swepco Lake

Kenny Stroud in Siloam Springs recommends fishing for black bass with topwater lures at sunrise and sunset. Use plastic worms at midday.

Illinois River

Stroud recommends fishing for black bass with tube baits, grubs or 4-inch plastic lizards worked in deep pools.

Eastern Oklahoma

Black bass fishing at Lake Eucha is best at night, according to Stroud. Try spinner baits or chatter baits in dark colors. Use top-water lures at sunrise.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation reports largemouth bass fishing is fair at Grand Lake with crank baits, plastic worms and jerk baits around bush, rocks and docks. Crappie are biting fair on hair jigs or minnows around brush and docks.

Lake Tenkiller black bass are biting fair on plastic worms and crank baits around brush, rocks and along points. Crappie fishing is fair with hair jigs or minnows around brush and docks.

Table Rock Lake

Focused Fishing Guide service reports black bass fishing is good early with top-water lures along ledge banks. Whopper Ploppers and buzz baits are good to use.

Later in the day try a plastic worm on a dropshot rig 25 to 35 feet deep along gravel points and humps. Football jigs and tube baits may also work.