lake ouchita

anyone know any thing about the striper fishing in this lake?i know they have big fish but i need to know about catching shad and places to fish and any info>my mom lives about ten minutes from it and ive never really fished it.
thanks Adrock

Big fish for sure, but a tough lake to fish. It's deep and crystal clear. There's standing timber in most of it that will eat tackle alive. Shad are hard to come by, and all of the guides and tournament folks haul them in from other locations. There's so much cover and excellent structure, that it really takes some work to figure the patterns out.

All that being said, it one of the best striper lakes you'll find. There's BIG fish to be had, and in the open lake, schools of 8-10 pounders running the river channels.

Your best bet is going to be to hire a guide that's been on the lake for a long time, and tell him that you want to learn the lake. Sure you want to catch some fish, but make sure that the mission is to get as much education as you can fit into one trip.

We fished with John T. Hall a couple of weeks before the NSBA Regionals up there, and got a lot of good information from him. Another local is Greg Willingham. His boat won the tournament with a 43 pounder.

mark

thanks mark.my mother lives in hot springs village and is on one of the lakes there i think i can get shad there.is it leagle to take shad from one lake to another?

Yes one of the most intriguing striper lakes around, monsters roaming all over. Jim Thorwarth is the guide we always use, retired football coach who always puts us on fish. Post a pic of our 38 pounder we caught two years ago when I get home. Most guides get their giant gizzards from Lake DeGray about 25 min away.