Has anyone heard any reports coming from Pendelton on the Arkansas River? I know this time of the year is really hot up there with the snagging and catfishing. don3778
Fishing at Pendleton is tough right now. We just got back from spending more than a week down there. The flow is fast and the river is HIGH from all the rain. So high in fact, we only saw 2 boats attempting snagging below the dam. They have slowed the flow about 25=30k (flow still hovering around 160-170k) but the river is still rising due to the level of the Miss. It may be 2=3 weeks before it's stable and low enough to do any good. The White river is so high down there, the boat ramp at the end of the canal is inaccessable...the entire parking lot is now at least 2-3 feet underwater! I'm patiently waiting for the water to recede as that is my favorite place to go cattin'......
I was down in Gillet setting some trotlines two weekends ago. The river was really high following the storms so we put in at Morgan Point rather than directly into the river. We put in three lines in the river below the damn and six lines in the calmer waters of buzzard beach. The best set we had was in the river below Pendelton where we caught three nice looking fish in really nasty waters. However, the biggest fish was in calm waters back off Morgan Point-a 25 pound blue.
Thanks for the reports guys. I had a day off the other day so we hopped in the Jeep and took off just looking. Drove to Pendelton, water was really high, only saw about three people fishing there. Talked to a man fishing off the bank, he said he had one catfish about 5 lbs, but that there was a lot of trash in the water which made fishing hard to do. We left there and just for the heck of it went to Greenville Ms. to see the Mississippi. It was definately up and rolling. Watched a few barges making their way up the river and then went to the new Casino just over the Mississippi River Bridge called Harlow's. We made our little donation and then headed home. Had a really nice day of driving, lol. I'm glad to see all the high water for the catfishing is always better after high waters, especially if we get two or three years of high waters back to back. I'm ready to catch a few cats now though, lol. don3778
I've been watching the flow on the websites and it seems they have slowed the flow dramtically at the dam below Pendleton. That doens't make a lot of sense to me since the flow all the way down the AR from Dardanelle has been a constant 175k-200k for quite some time. The only thing I can figure is that either the gauges are wrong or they are moving a lot of the water through the canal out into the White river...but that doesn't make since either since the White is currently so high. Maybe they are diverting water due to the high level of the Mississippi??? I've decided to make a trip down there Friday night thru the weekend to check things out. We usually catfish below the dam/hydro there, so if the flow charts are correct we may be able to do some good. I've been cooped up for long due to the high water that my cabin fever has set in and I just have to get out and do something! I'll let y'all know what the conditions are when I get back Sunday. If worse come to worse we'll fish the slack water around Morgan Point and hope for the best.
Thanks here to yall. Thats a place ive never been but herd so much about. so any info is greatly appreciated .I"LL GET THERE SOON :confused2:
It's a pretty neat place to camp and fish. We generally have a gathering down there sometime every summer. Don't have one scheduled yet for this summer, as far as I know.
My dad and I are planning a trip down there sometime probably end of May or middle of June (depending on the river levels). What is usually the best flow rate at the dam/hydro, and is there a website to check the flow rate?
Since Wilbur Mills dam isn't a navigational dam, the Corps of Engineers doesn't post information on the flow there, at least where I can find it. But here's a link to COE info on water flow at dams upstream. That should at least give you some idea of what's happening at WMD. http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Daily/ark4cast.txt
Here's a link for the flow rates for all the AR dams http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/arkansas_river_projects.htm It's usually 2-3 hours behind but certainly useful. I've been watching the flow rates there for a few years now. I do best when there is flow from both the hydro and spillway. When both are releasing, I like around 20k from the hydro and 30-40k from spillway. During the summer months they usually shut off the spillway and release only from the hydro and 20-40k is the best flow rate. If there is no flow from either hydro or spillway, you'll have to travel downstream and fish the deep scour holes around the wingdams. Right now the gage height is 158; it got as high as 160 last week. I've done best when it's in the 130's to low 140's. It has to be at least 122 to launch from the Tichnor boat ramp. On the other side of the river at WDM you can launch if it's 120, but 122 or less is VERY DANGEROUS. There are long submerged jetties that will remove your lower unit!!! I just got back from there today. We fished all day yesterday but came back empty handed. The flow was 130k, but there really wasn't that much current. The Miss river is so high and the water is backed up so much, it was kinda like fishing in a lake. I marked a lot of fish and we set up on a lot of different places, but they were not interested. We were the only boat out there which surprised me, but undoubtedly they already knew the fishing stinked! We even tried bank fishing below the dam with several other folks and we all got skunked. I'll keep going every weekend. Looks like the Miss is finally dropping. Maybe in a couple of weeks we'll be back in business!
A good friend of mine went mon to pendleton and him and his father caught 22 small eaters ,the best was around 7 lbs. He said the flow was at 168 . im going to check it out next week . I will report the results when i can
I just checked the flow at Dardenelle. It was 148,000 fri and is going to be down to 105,000 monday so its going down fast. Maybe it will be down enough for me soon.
We spent 5 days down there for Mem day weekend. The catfishing was really really slow for this time of year. Usually we are tearing them up right now. The flow was still fast and the river is unusually high which is the reason for the slow bite. I noticed the flow slowed considerably yesterday but it's pretty fast again right now. Looks like next weekend it will be much better. We'll see!
Had a trip planned for this weekend; now the flow is a little too fast for my blood....100k from spillway and 44k from hydro. Probably try again next weekend, but with all the rain up north I bet it will continue to rise...it's back up to 147 feet now. Looks like a repeat of last year with high water and fast flow. That's too bad cuz I'm ready to go!
Well, we are going the weekend of the 28th. Veritok and me. We are going to drift fish the dam at Dardenelle come hell or high water! We might just have to start our drift a little farther from the dam than I would like, but I just can`t stand not going any longer.:angry:
