Family Fishing Trips

December 30, 2010

Crappie, Black Bass, White Bass, Striper, Hybrid Striped Bass and Yellow Bass
It was an honor fishing with Nick today. He's home for a few days from training at Fort Benning, GA

December 28, 2010

Black Crappie up to 2lbs4ozs, Black Bass up to 2lbs5ozs, White Bass and a Yellow Bass
"This week, we had a GREAT time. We not only enjoyed the fishing but hanging out with you as well.
It's obvious you enjoy what you do and enjoy people. Thanks for being a great host and showing all of us a good time!" -- Chet Johnson

December 27, 2010

Black Crappie up to 15", Black Bass up to 2-pounds and Bream
Air temp this morning was 19-degrees and water temp is 47-degrees
Crappie and ample numbers of Spotted Bass are on Bamboo Condos and Brushpiles near the deeper water of the main channel.
Today, jigs did just as well as livebait. Fish slow and small.

December 23, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 16.25"/2-pounds, Black Bass and Bream
"A great big thank you goes out to Chet's wife for the Cinnamon Raisin Bread" -- Merry Christmas Ya'll

December 22, 2010

Crappie, Bass, Striper and Bream

December 21, 2010

After nearly 20 days of making bamboo crappie condos and brushpiles (60 in all) for Lake Hamilton,
me and some of my Boo-Crew went scouting for some crappie.
We ended up with 18 in all, the big crappie when 16.75"/2-3 and the Bass tipped the scales at 3-5.

December 2, 2010

Black Crappie (all females), then we sunk five crappie condos

November 27, 2010

Hybrid and Black Crappie and a Bluegill

November 26, 2010

Black Crappie up to 15" and a Bream

November 25, 2010

Black and White Crappie and Spotted Bass
(Thanksgiving Day Rain Out)

November 21, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.5" and a Bluegill
Thank you so much for our fantastic fishing trip. We just got back from our trip to Hot Springs, and all the kids talk about is the fishing.
They really loved the excitement and fun of being out there on the boat! It was all we could have wanted from a family vacation-- and we
will definitely be back again soon. I hope you enjoy the pictures -- Love, The Littons--- Jesse, Heather, Lorelei and Maloki

November 18, 2010

Black, White and Hybrid Crappie, Spotted and Yellow Bass
Many smaller bass were biting today but were immediately released.

November 10, 2010

Got a mixed bag today...Hybrids, crappie, black, white and yellow bass and bream.
The lake is dropping and we worked hard for them.

November 6, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15"
Lake Hamilton start the winter drawdown today, only three foot this year.

November 3, 2010

Black, White and Hybrid Crappie and a Bream
We also got into a school of Striper, Hybrid Striper and White Bass during a good rain.

October 30, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.5" on Lake Hamilton

October 28, 2010

Crappie, Bass and Bream

October 27, 2010

Crappie, Bass and Bream

October 26, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.5", Black and Yellow Bass, Bream and a Blue Catfish

October 23, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15", Walleye and Yellow Bass

October 22, 2010

Black and White Crappie and Yellow Bass

October 21, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Spotted Bass and Bream

October 20, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.25" / 2.0 pounds - (Bass and Bream not pictured)

October 18, 2010

Black, White and Hybrid Crappie up to 15.75"/2.25# and Spotted Bass

October 17, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15", Black and Yellow Bass and Bream

October 16, 2010

Black Crappie and Black Bass

October 15, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Black Bass, Yellow Bass and Bream

October 13, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Yellow Bass and Bream

October 11, 2010

Black Crappie, Bream and Yellow Bass

October 10, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Striper and Yellow Bass

October 9, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Largemouth Bass and Bream

October 7, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15", Yellow Bass and Bream

October 6, 2010

Black and White Crappie and Black Bass on Lake Hamilton
The water temperature and down to 70-degrees and the crappie are starting to really stack up.

October 5, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.5"

October 1, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.5", Largemouth Bass and Bream on Lake Hamilton

September 27, 2010

Crappie, Black Bass, Yellow Bass and Bream

September 26, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Yellow Bass and Spotted Bass

September 25, 2010

Black Crappie and Bream

Book your Fall trip now.
Here are some samples of last Fall on Lake Hamilton

September 6, 2010 - Labor Day

Crappie, Bass, Bream and Yellow Bass on Lake Hamilton

August 17, 2010

Black and White Bass and ample number of Bream
The water temp has cool off some and was 86 this morning.

August 12, 2010

Casting spoons and roostertails at breakers on Lake Hamilton
The afternoon and evening rain we got yesterday cooled the water temp and they were more active today.

August 2, 2010

Did a little trolling and Bream fishing on Lake Hamilton
They ain't big but the action is hot.

July 30, 2010

Nothing but crappie fishing on Lake Hamilton, tough in July but we persevered.

July 28, 2010

Trolling crankbaits on Lake Hamilton -- found this little guy hanging on the bridge in front of the Fisherman Wharf

July 27, 2010

Trolling crankbaits and chasing schools of white bass
Just gotta love the summertime temps, water temp is in the upper-80's and lower-90's

July 19, 2010

Trolling crankbaits on Lake Hamilton
Seven different species - Yellow Bass, White Bass, Hybrid Striper, Largemouth, Spotted Bass, Walleye and Bream

July 16, 2010

Hybrid Striper, White Bass, Spotted Bass and Largemouth (many smaller bass were immediately released)
Just a few hours scouting on Lake Hamilton with my neighbor Jimmy

July 10, 2010

Crappie up to 15" and Yellow Bass
"We had a good time, could of fished all day with you. Take care and Semper Fi." -- F. McCann

July 9, 2010

Fishing in the rain on Lake Hamilton
Crappie, Yellow Bass and a 5lb. Channel Catfish

June 14, 2010

Largemouth Bass, Black and White Crappie, Hybrid Striper, White and Yellow Bass

June 8, 2010

What a super great time on Lake Hamilton this morning catching these crappie, bream and yellow bass.

June 5, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 16", White and Yellow Bass
"Darryl is a great guide with a great sence of humor and love for what he does. He made our trip one to remember for a long time.
Thanks Darryl and I hope we get to do again sometime this fall." -- Bobbi Henington

June 3, 2010

Black and White Crappie on Lake Hamilton
Plenty of fish are being marked on each top at 8-14' deep but the bite is challenging.
The COE reports a 6,000cfs flow thru Hamilton to lower Ouachita out of floodpool.
Launch early and look for schooling bass, later fish hard and precise on brushpiles for the crappies.

May 31, 2010

Some really nice crappie on Lake Hamilton in spite of the holiday weekend madness.
Also pictured is a white bass, bream and yellow bass
(we keep all yellow bass no matter the size because of the damage they do to the crappie and bass population)

May 27, 2010

After a last minute cancellation, my friend Doug and I had a successful scouting trip on Lake Hamilton

May 26, 2010

Black and White Crappie and a Spotted Bass -- This 2.5-pound Spotted Bass was released
The crappie seem to be in transition from post-spawn pattern to an early summer pattern.

May 22, 2010

Black and White Crappie and a Goggleye
I picked these fine folks up at the Country Inn Lake Resort in Hot Springs and we drove out to Lake Greeson.
After we were done we drove back to the Country Inn, took pictures and while I cleaned fish they were able to relax in their suite.

May 21, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15" and Spotted Bass
The majority of the crappie were caught using live bait, the big ones were caught on jigs fished a bit deeper on the outiside edges of the brushpiles.

May 15, 2010

Black and White Crappie
The crappie are starting to show up on brushpiles and bamboo condos
on Lake Hamilton fished 12-15' deep in 18-24' of water on live bait.

May 6, 2010

Black and White Crappie, two 16's, two 15's, and a 14, Spotted Bass and Goggleye.
Go meet Richard Ross, owner of Hot Spring's lakeside restaurant "Dockers" south on Hwy 7/Central Ave.

May 4, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 16" - 2lbs.4ozs., White Bass and Bream

May 3, 2010

Another four limits today - 50 pictured and another 30 not.
We caught these crappie up to 16-inches on live bait and Little Nipper Jigs.

April 30, 2010

The rain showers this morning didn't stop the bite for sure. This is the top 50 of four limits with Crappie up to 15".
Not pictured is 30 more Crappie, a Spotted Bass and a Bluegill.
So far the same pattern is holding - fishing 8 to 12-feet deep on staging tops using live bait.

April 29, 2010

After scouting Lake Hamilton and Lake DeGray the past several days,
we headed back to Lake Greeson and caught these crappie up to 17.5-inches.
The pattern seems to be holding. We fished staging tops 8 to 12-feet deep using live bait and jigs.

April 24, 2010

We waited out the first round of rain this morning, hit the water and got soaked by the second round.
The weather cleared, the wind blew and we boated these crappie and bass.
The water temperature is 70-degrees and the level will rise. A little color to the water probably won't hurt either.

April 23, 2010

In the midst of all the rain and lightning we managed to get these 40 fish.

April 19, 2010

Black and White Crappie and two Bass caught on the same pattern as before.
By late morning the weather cleared and warmed and the fish bit a little better.
The water is warming back up quickly.

April 18, 2010

Black and White Crappie all caught 8-feet deep on staging tops. Conditions were cool, wet and windy.
With the passing of the weather front the water temperature has cooled off considerably.
I predict this will extend the spawn and it is possible some crappie will move shallower than they have been holding.

April 17, 2010

Black and White Crappie, Bass and Bream
We fished staging tops eight-feet deep using live bait.

April 14, 2010

Just like the old days, friends camping at Kirby Landing and catching a mess of crappies.
Things started a little slow first thing this morning just before first light but soon heated up.
We started fishing staging tops shallow at 8-feet and ended the day fishing deeper at 16-feet.

April 13, 2010

Black and White Crappie caught on Lake Greeson
It's definitely an early morning bite. We caught these from 6 to 15 feet deep on live bait.

April 11, 2010

Hammered out Lake Greeson again fishing staging tops from 8 to 14 feet deep.
The big Black Crappie tipped the scale at 2/6.

April 10, 2010

Great morning trip on Lake Greeson with three limits of black and white crappie.
We had several 2-pounders and the big one went 17"-3lbs.1oz., a new boat record set by Coach Ben Burton of Hot Springs.

April 9, 2010

An afternoon trip on Lake Hamilton.
All white crappie except two.
No doubt the crappie will be back on the feed once they enter post-spawn.

April 5, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 2lbs.4ozs. and a White Bass and a Largemouth
Fished Lindy jigs and live bait from 6 to 12-feet deep on staging tops.
We had a great time fishing and talking with Larry Lacewell (center), a member of the Dallas Cowboy's coaching staff.

April 2, 2010

Lots of Crappie on a windy day. We even got a little light rain but look at how great the day was.
Water is warming and they're stacking up on the staging beds. Today we fished 8-12' deep and used extra small shiner minnows.

April 1, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 15.75" - 2lbs.6ozs.
Today we caught most of the fish on live bait but some were harvested using Lindy's Little Nipper jigs.
We fished from 6 to 12 feet deep. The water temperature started today at 59 and we saw 62 before we got off the water.

March 31, 2010

64 Black and White Crappie up to 15" (14 not pictured) caught from 6' to 16' deep on live bait.

March 29, 2010

Great day on the water with 43 black and white crappie.
I've never seen a dog watch the bobbers slow closely.
We caught these fishing staging beds 8-12' deep.

March 27, 2010

Despite lake wind advisories we were able to land these 48 beauties fishing from 3' to 14' deep.
The big one on the morning trip went 17" - 2lbs.13ozs., plus another nearly 2lbs. and three more hawg males.

March 26, 2010

Another beautiful day on the water. The big one went 16.5" - 2lbs.8ozs.

March 24, 2010

Full day trip with a family group. Happy Spring Break guys.
I was able to split the day up and put everyone on fish.
We boated at least 140-150 fish on the day and ended up keeping 117.
The morning trip (above) was a pure feeding frenzy. Most of the larger crappie came in the afternoon session (below).
We fished staging beds again today and most were caught on live bait fished 5-12' deep.

March 23, 2010

Great mess of crappie up to 15"-1lb.12ozs. caught 6-10' deep on staging beds near shallow spawning areas.
The fog was very thick and near freezing first thing this morning. Water temp. started at 52 and was 55 when we got off the water.

March 20, 2010

We kept 67 crappie on this trip and many more small yearlings were released.
Today they bit equally well on live bait and the Lindy's Little Nippers
(white/char and orange/char) from 5-feet to 12-feet deep on staging tops.
We timed it perfectly and got off the water just before the cold front and rain hit.

March 19, 2010

Caught this boat limit of crappie (60 fish) plus some bass and bream not pictured.
Some were caught on live bait but most were caught on Lindy's Little Nippers from 1-foot to 8-feet deep.

March 18, 2010

Fished Lake Hamilton again today and caught this mess of fish.
We probed everything from 2-feet to 15-feet deep.

March 17, 2010

We fished Lake Hamilton today and got this mixed bag of crappie, bass and bream. The smaller bass and crappie were released.
The weather conditions changed some on us with overcast skies and a cold wind.
The water temperature started at 52 and almost made it to 55 when we came off the water.

March 16, 2010

These crappie, bass and bream were caught on Lake Greeson
fishing staging beds 8 to 12-feet deep.

March 15, 2010

We started off the morning fishing staging tops 8-12' deep and by the afternoon fishing 2' deep was most productive.
The morning trip kept 35 and boated the big one for the day, a 14"-1lb.13oz. black crappie.
The afternoon trip took 33. Many more were caught and released for another day.
The water temperature started at 55-degrees and broke 60-degrees when we came off the water.

March 14, 2010

Here is the top 50 and 18 more are not pictured plus we release at least another 30 or more.
Water temperature was 53 this morning and 58 when we got off the water.
We landed these fish from as shallow as 18-inches and as deep as 15-feet.
The big one in the middle went 16.25" / 2lbs13ozs.

March 13, 2010

The shallow crappie on Lake Greeson didn't bite today but the ones on the staging tops did.
Not a bad trip overall for post-front conditions, high wind and a significant drop in the air temperature.

March 8, 2010

This fishing trip started on Lake Hamilton but finished on Lake Greeson in the rain.
The big crappie in the middle weighed 2lbs.3ozs. and was caught about 2-foot deep in 5-foot of water.

March 6, 2010

The crappie are definitely in transition on Lake Hamilton moving somewhere between deep and shallow.
The surface temperature was 52-degrees when we got off the water today and rose at least 4-inches.
The crappie in this trip may have been small but the bluegill were huge and yielded large fillets.

March 4, 2010

Caught these bass and crappie scouting Lake Hamilton with my neighbor.
Deb caught the big one and for only being 14.5" long it tipped the scale at 1lb.13ozs.
They are still deep, 20-24 feet, and were hitting shiners and roseys equally.
The water is starting to warm up which should start the crappie moving more shallow.
Lake Hamilton's rise to summer pool starts March 6 and will be complete by March 14.

February 27, 2010

Started this trip out of Swaha Marina, caught the two bass on the southern end of the lake, water temp was 43-degrees.
We moved to the northern end of the lake and caught the bream and crappie
16-feet deep on bamboo condos just off the main channel, water temp got up to 46-degrees.

February 25, 2010

Black and White Crappie caught on Lake Greeson during a late afternoon trip,
using live bait 7 to 17' deep. Water temp was almost 47 degrees
and the lake level was 545.66msl at 7:00 p.m. and falling.

February 22, 2010

We caught these crappie on Lake Greeson from 8 to 18' deep.
The day never warmed like the weatherman promised and the wind was chilly out of the north.
Water temperature started at 45 and when we got off the water it was 47. At 5:00 p.m. the lake level was 546.55msl.

February 20, 2010

Caught a few crappie and bass and had a beautiful, windless day on the water.
We started our trip at the Country Inn in Hot Springs and shared a ride to Lake Greeson.
The water temperature started at 45-degrees and before we got off the water we saw 50-degree water.
Our most productive fishing depths were 18' to 24' deep and the lake level at 3:00 p.m. was 546.52msl.

February 7, 2010

Black and White Crappie up to 14", Black Bass and a Yellow Bass
Did a quick scouting trip this afternoon after the sun popped out. Water temperature warmed up to 47-degrees.
Rosey Red minnows and Lindy's chartreuse Fuzzy Grub caught these.
All the females were full of eggs, so it won't be long for them to move into the shallows.
Did some GPS work today and marked a bunch of shallow water cover.