Loving Arkansas

Start with a background. I've been "White Perch or sacalait fishing my entire life, mainly the same three lakes in Louisiana, mostly spider rigging. My last boat before we retired to Hot Springs Village was an Excel 210.
Never been "crappie fishing". In other words I haven't wet a line in Arkansas. I just bought a used boat, other than a good down/side scanner I kept everything else.
Excited to explore but it is a little overwhelming. I'm used to fishing lakes that are chocolate milk an 18' or less, so I am a newbie to fishing here.
Any advice on where to start?
Any advice on a side/down scanner stern mount that will continue to work after you plane out? I want to find some of the brush piles you put out. Lol


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Welcome to the site from Batesville. All I can say about your electronics is that bigger is better. It's hard to see some details that are important when you share the screen with down imagining, side imaging, and charting. So go big. I love my Lowrance touch screen. Then spend a lot of time learning to use it. I think people often times spend money on good equipment but won't stop fishing long enough to learn how to use it to improve their fishing results. I personally fish new lakes by myself the first time or two because if I have someone with me I feel pressured to start fishing right away and not spend 2 or 3 hours scanning looking for productive fishing areas first. Hopefully others will chime in and help you out some. I'm not too familiar with the lakes near the village. Good luck.

Side note,I started out going to devote all my time to golf. But every pond on the course I would look for fish, after looking for my ball.


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We have a wide spectrum of lakes from ultra clear and deep to shallow and muddy . I use Humminbirds , they are most user friendly IMO . But to answer your question on side imaging does not work at planed out speeds but they also have regular sonar on these units . I vertical jig cover most of the time . Never spider rig or use minnows myself. Welcome to the forum .

Join one of the fishing clubs in Hot Springs village. My dad lives there and he is in one, they go fishing for crappie and other species as well. They also have a group who does a annual long weekend trip at a lake, they usually spend 2 or 3 nights at a cabin or something like that.

Nimrod ain't a bad place to start.

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There are 2 active fishing clubs in the Village, Baitcasters (used to be team trout) are all species and non-competitive. The Anglers have frequent bass tournaments and focus on bass fishing. Baitcasters meet on 4th Monday and anglers on first Tuesday of the month..... both welcome guests.

Crappie fishing in village lakes is tough due to clear water and lack of habitat (our fishing clubs and Lakes manager are working to help out by adding lots of artifiical and cedar tree habitat to the lakes every year and intend to keep it up. Bass fishing is generally better than crappie. Area lakes (Ouachita, Catherine, and Hamilton) are also clear water lakes and take a lot of learning for crappie. Usually best up in the headwaters where water is less clear.

It will be interesting to see how the Wally Marshall (Mr. Crappie) tournament planned for October on Lake Ouachita comes out. Supposed to have 100 boats completing in a multi-day deal. Rumor has it we may get Wally to come to the Village to present a crappie seminar. Hope it happens.

Talking about this [emoji51]

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Welcome, there are a lot of good lakes within a fifty mile radius, I tend to fish Nimrod which is twenty eight miles from the village I spider rig pull cranks and vertical jig, I have caught crappie all three ways, you must have a Sidi on the boat. I meet Nimrod some years back and have listened and learned tons from the great fisherman that he is. So pay attention to him on CDC. I have fished the majority of the lakes in the village and have meet some great people fishing. There are some good crappie and gills in them lakes and bass (green carp) lol. It's fun to catch them bass and release. Good luck to you!

If you golf like me, you can look for fish and your ball in the same location! LOL Good luck with the new crappie spots!