Fishing Reports News

The February 2008 issue of Field & Stream has the “Best Fishing Towns in America” listed with Glenwood Springs, Colo., as No. 1 and Mountain Home as No. 2.

I have lived here for six years and was a Glenwood Springs resident for 19 years. Their scenery is beautiful and so is ours. They have a world class trout fishery and so do we. They can trout fish eight months of the year and we can do it for 12.

They also have more crowds, one-dimensional fishing (mainly trout), fewer fishing access points, more snow and higher prices. We have friendlier people, two gorgeous lakes with a wide variety of fishing species, open water year-round and a milder climate.

Upon further comparison how can they say we are No. 2?

In this colder weather it is tough to get fishing reports since few people are out on the water.

Bull Shoals Lake: The report is short and sweet — slow. The crappie have stopped biting. Casting stickbaits to shore in the evenings is producing an occasional walleye but, those that are caught are good sized. Bass fishing is up and down — depending on cold fronts, wind direction, etc.

Norfork Lake: Crappie and walleye are slow. Some bass are being caught by working shore-line structure with grubs or crankbaits. A slow presentation works the best this time of year.

Some stripers are being caught from 80 to 120 feet of water by spooning or using live bait in mid-lake areas. We caught some smaller ones trolling rogues shallower but the bigger fish right now are holding way deeper. Our best results for white bass this week were trolling with 3-inch swim tails at 1.5 m.p.h. in the upper lake — Red Bank and Bennett’s Bayou.

Tip of the Week:From now until spring one method a lot of us use is casting a light jig head with a paddle-tail grub or swim-tail type body. This is productive on points, etc., but next time try casting it to the deeper bluff walls and letting it sink down slowly while retrieving back to the boat.

You’ll be surprised at how many bass, walleye, and stripers hang near cliff walls in the wintertime. If there is a channel swing at either end — make some extra casts.

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