Mine and another family are going to Ouachita the week of Thanksgiving. I'm gonna load up the camper and the boat. We have a guide trip, but it's on the last day we'll be there. We are staying in the State park. Boat's got GPS but that doesn't show stumps ect... I hear it's tough to net bait. Would like to fish that end of the lake (State park). But, could load up and go to a different spot if need be. Would like to get the kids on some fish. May have to tether the rods to the boat though. lol. Any help really appreciated. Spots, coords, depths, baits, warnings, ect... PMs welcome.
Thanks.
anton

Yeah let me know how it turn out when u get back i was planning a trip there this past summer but between the high gas prices we blew it off to save money. But we had fun we stay at Mount Nebo State Park and i got to fish in the Arkansa River got 4 nice cats made more then enough for 2 people. Well i hope you have fun and really would like to know how you did.

III

Here is what I know.

That area of the lake should work for fishing this time of year. Remember that this lake has lots of other kinds of fish besides stripers and the fishing is pretty good.

Bait is hard to catch and even harder to keep alive. I thought bait was bait untill I went to this lake. The ones you catch out of the lake are very hard to keep alive. You can catch bait on the way to the lake(Texakana) and at the sh#*T hole around the air port in Little Rock. Alot of trouble while on vacation with you family. Another solution would be to buy some shiners. Lots of folks catch fish on them in Arkansas and they stay alive for days.
I have not been in a couple of years so I can't help much with a report.

I would take some dowriggers and casting equipment with you. Call your guide and ask his suggestions.

Thanks Randy! Anyone else???

Ask your guide where you can get brood minnows and make the arrangements. Pull planers and balloons.

anton, my family and another family stayed at the state park's cabin exactly a month ago. Its a beautiful, very clean, and well maintain gov owned park! The limited campsites I saw were all nice, all next to the water. Wife and son want to go back again. We only did a short weekend with only a full Saturday and the guides I called were booked for the slot that I can go. As far as fishing, IMO, guide would be your best bet. The water is so clear that I can see my lures The marina there does sell live, large thumb-size minnows. Ask them to feed the huge LMB at the boat slips, they called them their pets, 5-10 lbs LMB pets hehe.

I only fished by myself for a couple hrs on a rented 10HP aluminum. But I was more awe with the scenery than fishing Be careful, Oachita has so many fingers, coves that one can get lost easily without gps. There are a few hundred islands. Besides the big brims and LMB I saw hanging around the marina, I didnt even see one bird or anyone catching anything. The few boats I saw were all bass boats. Did saw one bald eagle. The water can drop off to below 100 ft on certain areas. My group enjoyed teh canoe-ing the most! Very scenic and the water is flat calm due to the protection from the hills.

Good luck! Hope you have better luck catching! The leaves didnt turn yet when we were there but should be beautiful now, take lots of pictures

Anton,
We went last year and it is a beautiful lake. In many places the depths are over 200ft . Catching shad before daylight or after dark is against the law on that lake. Like they said your gonna need your GPS because of the many fingers on the lake. Lake Hamilton is right there in Hot Springs and thats where the discharge from Ouachita goes. You could try hitting it one day. You might try goldfish as well as shiners for bait. I heard that by the dam in the early A.M. is pretty good but I didn't hear that till we got back. When I say early I mean 4:00A.M. Ask your guide if he can give you some pointers for the days before your trip. Best of luck to you. We didn't catch that much but it was so beautiful it really didn't bother us too much. Let us know how ya'll do.

try to find a good map, most of this info will be on the map.

Fish the Dam area the water intake the water is about 100 feet there and stripers show up around 4:00 am... we used gold fish the last two times but that was in the summer. better get there early space is limited there.
also there is a good spot out by the state park point...two sunken islands and lots of submerged trees...last time the fish were stacked up thick on top of the trees...we caught 3 over twenty pounds there...my boat is in storage or i could give you the gps info on it.
the third spot i would try is called brady east & west out by brady marina there are a lot of ditches & humps there.

we trolled the last 2 spots with 1 1/2 ounce striper jigs white & chartruse with , also trolled large 10 inch swim baits trout color worked the best.

good luck this is my favorite lake to fish, any species you want...clete

Looks like you had a great time! How big were the stripes?

The biggest was right at 15lbs. and they say that is just an average fish that they go much bigger. Can�t wait to go back. All but one would've been considered very nice fish around here.

Anton is that a picture of a giant squid in one of the photos above?

Looks like had a great time, been thinking of doing that with the family also.