Fishing report

Lake Ouachita

Todd Gadberry, Mountain Harbor Resort harbor master, said black bass are fair. Top waters, drop shot finesse rigs and jig head worms are working best right now.

Walleye are still good. Spoons and bottom bouncers with small spinners tipped with a crawler are working best right now.

Stripers are still very good. These fish are being caught on live bait on the east part of the lake.

Bream are good with crickets or worms in 15-25 feet of water.

Crappie are good. Try a small jig or minnow near brush in 15-25 feet of water.

Catfish are still good and being caught with trot lines and jugs. Cut bait and live bait are working best.

The water ranges from 78-84 degrees, and the lake is stained at 577.05 msl.

DeGray Lake

Capt. Darryl Morris at Family Fishing Trips says crappie are slowing down but white bass and hybrids are heating up. Trolling crankbaits or Alabama rigs most anywhere from the middle to the up end of the lake has worked best for me and my buddies.

John Duncan, of yoyoguideservice.com, at Iron Mountain Marina said bream are being caught in the brushpiles and fishing edges of cover. With a full moon coming, they will be getting ready to bed soon, so use your electronics and start marking bedding areas now.

Hybrids and surfacing fish are being caugh from Lennox Marcus to Iron Mountain. Go early and look for the breaking fish or boats and be ready to fish deep with a spoon or A-rig.

Black bass reports say topwater early — Chug Bug, Whopper Plopper and Zara Spook — then soft plastics or crankbaits. Carolina rigging works well.

Crappie can still be pulled out of some of the brushpiles between 12 and 18 feet, but most important is staying above the thermocline.

Lake Catherine

Shane Goodner, owner of Catch’em All Guide Service, said that flooding has ruined the rainbow trout season below Carpenter Dam and allowed very little opportunity for anglers to launch a boat with the treacherous flows. Lake conditions are stabilized with Entergy running water in a fashion that allows boaters and waders to safely access the tailrace. Rainbow trout are still present and able to be caught on live bait presentations, although painfully slow. Small live minnows tight-lined over deep water will draw strikes from larger rainbows that seek to feed on larger prey. Redworms, nightcrawlers, waxworms and crickets are proven bait that work in cold or hot weather presented under a bobber or fished just off the bottom.

White bass are thriving in good numbers, but small fish are the norm from the bridge to the dam. Anglers casting jigs in gray or white around rocks and sandbars have caught decent numbers of bass when the turbines are running. Trolling shallow-running crankbaits against the current has produced nice catches of white bass and the occasional walleye that also target shad.

Blue catfish are being caught on cut bait in the deep water close to the dam. These fish spawn in June and migrate into the tailrace.