Steve & Lisa Spencer give tips and conditions for local fishing holes in Saline County in this column. See more info about Steve and Lisa at the end.
Aaron Bailey shows off catfish he caught off of my fresh chicken livers at Sunset Lake. He said they were biting as soon as he threw out his line. Sunset lake was stocked April 1st, This picture was taken Friday 10th, so they are still doing good there.
Saline River – Bass fishing has been good on the river this week. Smallmouth, Kentucky and largemouth bass have been biting well on #12 and brooder minnows, trick worms, lizards, baby brush hogs, anything resembling a crawdad and small spinner baits. Pumpkin, green pumpkin, watermelon/red and watermelon candy are good colors. Walleye fishing has been slow with only a few reports of catching one or two fish. Crappie have been biting well in back waters and bigger holes with weak current. #6 minnows and Kalins grubs in several colors have been catching them. Catfish have been biting fair at night and early in the mornings on minnows, gold fish, black saltys and chicken livers. Bream fishing can be fun almost anytime you can fish on the Saline. Light line and tackle, plenty of crickets or red worms or even a small zing tail spinner will catch them all day long. Use heavier line and tackle and #12 minnows for a tougher battle by casting close to visible gar when the water is clear enough to see them. Often times you can see them take the bait and the fun begins before the line gets tight.
Sunset Lake – Catfish have been biting really well on chicken livers, night crawlers and minnows. Crappie fishing has been fair with #6 and pink minnows and Kalins grubs. Bass are biting wacky rigged trick worms, baby brush hogs and live minnows. Bream are hitting red worms and crickets.
Kendra Well sent Lisa this picture of her husband Josh and son Brayden on one of their recent fishing trips to a private pond. They caught several bream using redworms.
Lake Norrell – Crappie fishing is still good and getting better. #6 minnows and/or Kalins Arkansas and Tennessee shad grubs have been the baits to use. Bass are hitting wacky rigged worms, Carolina rigged lizards and brush hogs, spinner baits and live minnows. Catfish are biting in the early evenings and at daylight on minnows, night crawlers and chicken livers. Bream fishing has been fair and when the water gets a little warmer we know the big ones are there. Crickets and red worms fished on tight lines around fairy deep cover works well on Norrell for big bream.
Bishop Park Ponds – Crappie and bass fishing are good with #6 and #12 minnows, trick worms, Kalins and Bobby Garland jigs and Zing tail spinners. Bream are hitting the zing tails too as well as crickets and worms. Catfish have been biting fair on minnows, worms and chicken livers.
Jeff Armstrong shows off 1 of his really nice crappie from his 20 or so he caught at Lake Ouachita off of Bobby Garland baby shad in the color blue thunder, which just happens to be a very popular color for that lake.
Lake Winona – #12 bass minnows have been catching some slab crappie. Customers report catching them at different depths right now from less than a foot of water to 20 feet deep. Bass have been typical for this time of year and are biting plastic worms, lizards and creature baits like brush hogs, rigged in various ways. Just use your favorite rig. Minnows, crank baits and spinner baits will get bites as well. Catfish have been biting better from dusk until an hour or so after dark. #12 minnows, night crawlers and chicken livers have been working for cats. Bream fishing has been good for some customers tight lining with red worms in water from 4 to 12 feet deep in places that get plenty of sun during the day.
Steve & Lisa Spencer have owned Lisa’s Bait Shop at 2112 Watts Road in Benton since 1985. They are happy to serve you 7 days of the week. Click image below to visit them on Facebook.
