Thread: Arkabutla, Sardis, Enid, Grenada???

I am interested in hearing from the Mississippi crappie anglers and those that frequent the Northern Mississippi lakes. How would you compare and contrast Arkabutla, Sardis, Enid, and Grenada? Which lake do you prefer and why?

Thanks for your insight.

crappieranger

They are all good, If you want numbers of crappie with a few biguns thrown in go to sardis and enid. if you are after the wall hangers only, go to grenada or arkabutla. I like the big fish so I choose the last two.

I would agree for the most part with what england stated. My problem with arkabutla is if you manage to catch your 30 you've really done somthing. They suck that lake down to a puddle during winter pool and you don't have to have a phd to know that big fish eat little fish when there is nowhere to hide. The corp needs to install traffic lights at Sardis due to the amount of traffic it gets, you can catch your 30 there and if you consider 10-12 inch fish good size you'll have a blast, Enid about the same. Grenada is a bit better probably because of it's more remote location, less traffic. I was born and raised here and you can have all 4 of em'. I catch more and bigger fish on the Tunica cutoff. There's a trick to catching those big river crappie but after you get the hang of it the reward is much greater. Most folks prefer the corp 4 because the variables on the river oxbows are more extreme and the fish move more. It's hard for me to think 30 10-12inch fish is a good day when I can boat 50 at 14 to 16inches. Wherever you decide to go ranger I hope you catch em' so fast that you leave holes in the water.

Last year the cutoff was not producing. Neither in crappie or bluegill. When the river falls below 4 feet the water stops leaving the cutoff and no new water gets in unless the river goes over 4. We are having a major die off on trees. I thought when the wier was put in the fishing would improve but its not happening. At 4 feet all the water that was in the Big trees and the Northern Chute becomes dirt. I wonder if this is effecting the population not in a good way. Seems that the size of fish also aint getting bigger I've not seen consistant Big Fish in years (14") or bigger.

Tunica, I caught spawning fish earlier last year on the lake than I ever have. The north end willow breaks hold between 1 to 5 feet of water at the start of weir level, before leakage / evaporation takes it further down. It was at weir level at the first to middle of April last year and I did well. Water temps 65 to 68 degrees during this time due to the stable shallow water, north end of the water body. Thats a month early by my clock, your right about the die off it's making it harder for me to hide from the ducks. I still produce more and bigger fish on that lake than say a Sardis or Enid. I had several days last year that produced limits at a self emposed 12inch + limit. What do you think the asian carp are doing to the lake besides nearly forcing me to wear a helmet when i run the big motor at slow speeds.

I think they suck down plankton which of course limits food for other fish. Your right the north end willows will have water (small willows) but all of the other trees Cotton Ironwood etc are high and dry. Those carp unlike other carp are not bottom feeders thus they fly when we scare them. With over 40 years of fishing the cutoff I've begin to wonder if this is really the beginning of the end of a fishing hole.

All a guy can do is plan his trip and then work with what is there when you show up. Last spring, we always go the first week of Aprl, all the Corp lakes were low low low so we ended up at elbow creek below Arkabutla and did Ok. I know I'll never drag a boat down again uless I'm sure the water is up.

I have fished Tunica for 20 years and have seen a variety of changes to this beautiful lake. I thought the weir dam was the answer to making a better fishery but have yet to see the benefit? The trees are dying and the crappie/bream do not seem to be having good spawns? I thought the weir would increase the spawn production because the water would be more stable and the trees would have 2-4ft of water around them = perfect spawning habitat.

I do know one thing and that is the bighead carp are a major problem. I had one jump in the boat running wide open, luckily I had my kill switch on because I did a complete 180 and almost got knocked out of the boat.

Last year during the spawn I was catching male and female crappie in 5ft of water in the small switch willows. I would catch 4-5 males of each tree plus 1-2 females. The activity abruptly stopped when a giant school of bighead carp moved in and started feeding heavily on the algae growing on the willows. I could see hundreds of carp shaking the trees. They must be destroying the spawning beds the crappie are making in these willow trees!
I wish somebody would come up with a remedy to control these carp because they are destroying the Mississippi River lakes. I hope like they don't make it to our inland lakes = Sardis, Arkabutla, Greanda, & Enid. My 2 cents.

Your worrys are over. They have already made it to Reelfoot. I spoke with a fisheries biologist about this and he thinks that the gar have way more effect on the crappie population than the big eyed carp do.

Grenada, Tunica