Lake Dardanelle
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Lake Dardanelle Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from Lake Dardanelle. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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- Species
Largemouth BassTechniqueShallow Diving Crankbaits (0-6')SeasonFallStructureRip RapFishing main lake rip rap where the channel swings away from the bank. This creates a current break and fish are sitting tight against the rock and bank there.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonFallStructureHumps
Bites are hard to come by right now. Slowing down is key. Fish have started transitioning back into the creeks. Water temp fall off this week quite a bit. ~5-8 degrees. Find humps in the back of creeks where they could stage while moving all the way back. Throw bottom baits to catch these fish.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Worming)SeasonSummerStructureBrush Piles
Right now, fish are still in summer patterns. If you want to target backwaters and creeks, throw Texas rig worms and shakey heads in brush piles if you can find them, or lay downs on banks that are deeper than others. Finding good depth this time of year is critical. Once the afternoon rolls around the offshore bite can pick up. Once again fishing brush piles and rock jetty’s. Looking for 15-20ft of water and throwing compact spinnerbaits, football jigs, and bright colored swimbaits. Current is key in this bite, so make sure it is flowing, and position your boat down wind and cast up.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueBuzzbaitsSeasonSummerStructureSubmerged Vegetation
Some fish still in that late summer pattern, but moving into that fall transition. Bigger fish were moving towards the backs of the creeks. Look for willow grass to hold both size and numbers, as well as wood on the main river.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueFrogs/ToadsSeasonFallStructureMatted Grass
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonFallStructureLaydowns
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueSoft Body Swimbaits (Small/Medium)SeasonSummerStructureSubmerged Vegetation
The bite on Lake Dardanelle has been tough with the late summer heat, recent storms and the high pressure from anglers and tournaments. The bites were hard for me to come by in both prefishing and during the tournament. The majority of the fish I caught were on tubes that I flipped into shallow deep cover or on small swimbaits that I ran along edges of floating vegetation or laydowns where the bass were feeding on shad. The water was extremely muddy and dingy in most the areas I fished and the shad were very plentiful as well. I used a texas rigged, tube in deep weed patches in the shallows. The royal gill spark shad also had measured success when run along floating vegetation islands. It is a tough bite but you can find fish there with these methods.
SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueSwim JigsSeasonFallStructureReedsWhen fishing a swim jig j try to get it as far into cover as I can. Especially on a lake like lake Dardanelle this is very important. With so much cover and pressure you need to present you bait to fish who haven’t seen anyone’s else baits.
