Everyone loves to eat crappie and around Lake Ouachita in Arkansas many frying pans are filled with crappie fillets. Crappie can be found around or in the numerous brush piles that the Army Corp of Engineers put in or anglers who are making their own personal crappie fishing honey hole. To be successful fishing

for crappie an angler has to know where these brush piles are, or make their own brush piles or know that they are up on the bank spawning in buckbrush. Another option is to hire a guide to take you fishing for crappie. A crappie fishing guide can put you on fish quick and even cleans your catch. On Lake Ouachita, Chris Darby guides for crappie year round.

On Lake Ouachita, crappie love brush piles. You can take that to the bank; I guarantee it! It’s strange, but when I fish down there, I never catch crappie off standing timber and unless you know where the brush piles are you will spend a lot of time searching for them. Darby (Phone #(870)867-7822) who guides out of Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa (www.mountainharborresort.com) fishes for crappie using mostly artificial lures. “I will use a 6’6” or 7’ rod lined with 2-pound test green monofilament line and either a 3/8-ounce Cotton Cordell spoon or 1/16-ounce jig head and 2-inch Kalin Grub,” Darby continued, “I like the Tennessee Shad or rainbow trout color patterns for catching crappie on Lake Ouachita. Darby fishes the spoon or grub straight down and watch his graph for bites or fish. He ties his fishing line directly to the spoon, but uses a loop known as the jig/grub combination. “It gives the jig more action or swimming movement,” explained Darby. When all else fails, Darby will use minnows as backup to catch crappie, but only if he has to. “When fishing with a minnow, I use a slip bobber, split shot weight, and a gold Aberdeen straight shank hook. I fish it right over top of brush piles or just deep enough to get in the top of the brush pile without hanging up,” said Darby.

In the spring, Darby will fish shallow brush piles or buckbrush in pockets, flats, or creeks with productive looking wood. “Depending on the water level, Lake Ouachita can have lots of buckbrush in the lake and that makes for great crappie fishing in the spring,” explained Darby. Two areas that consistently have good crappie fishing is the South Fork arm and around the Crystal Springs area.  “Crappie fishing is different every year. It all depends on the water level where you are going to catch them,” said Darby.

Lake Ouachita presents anglers with a number of navigational hazards including standing timber, submerged humps, and rocky islands. Any boater venturing out should have a good quality map and GPS/sonar unit that marks hazards, underwater features, parks, and marinas. Most of the submerged rocky humps are marked with buoy markers.  In general, anglers should stay in the main lake area or follow the old river channel when up on plane especially when up the North Fork, South Fork, or Ouachita River arms.

Anglers will find cover and structure abundant in Lake Ouachita. Aquatic vegetation which was once plentiful on the reservoir has been depleting due to high water levels vegetation can still be found in some areas of the lake. Brush piles put in by the Army Corp of Engineers and by anglers can be found sunken around points, humps, or break lines. The Army Corp of Engineers brush piles are marked with blue signs that indicate a brush pile is located out in front of it. Anglers will find most banks consist of lime stone, slate rock, and clay. A limited number of pea gravel banks are located throughout the reservoir.

Lake Ouachita is Arkansas’s largest lake with over 66,000 total number of acres. The lake doesn’t have a closed season on stripers which bite all year round. It’s a unique Corp of Engineer lake with no homes allowed close to the shoreline. The 600 plus miles of shoreline and over 200 islands offers lots of places to fish.  That equals 40,000 acres of surface water with an average depth of 40 feet. The lake is deep with some of the depths around 200 feet deep, but most of Lake Ouachita averages around 50 feet. Lake Ouachita is located in the Ouachita National Forest with over 1.6 million acres and located near the resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas.