03-07-2007, 10:10 PM
POWHATAN - Arkansas has walleye fishing opportunities in addition to the well-known GreersFerryLake fishery. Think rivers.
The middle portion of the White River, the Batesville and Newport area, has walleye in fair to good numbers. So does the SalineRiver in the Benton area.
But when it comes to rivers, northeast Arkansas's RandolphCounty takes a back seat to no others. And each of the four Randolph rivers is an underutilized fishery.
RandolphCounty is a place where the Delta meets the Ozarks. It's the place where the Black, Current, Eleven Point and Spring rivers run. All four flow in RandolphCounty, yet only one, the Black, leaves the county.
The Current merges with the Black at county seat Pocahontas. The Spring and Eleven Point join near Old Davidsonville State Park then blend into the Black just a couple of miles downstream.
The Black River has a few walleye but it has other species in good numbers. One of the most common walleye fishing spots is at the confluence of the Black and Spring rivers. Sam Henry, a fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said, "The Spring, Eleven Point and Current are Ozark rivers, but the Black is a Delta-type river." A casual glance will confirm this. Unless you visit the rivers just after a rain, the Spring, Eleven Point and Current tend to have a greenish color. The Black is brown in hue except for periods of low flow when it also turns a greenish color. "That's when crappie and bass fishermen hit the Black River," Henry said.
Henry is a fan of the Eleven Point's walleye. He said, "The Eleven Point is my favorite of these rivers. If you want to catch fish, you can do it on the Eleven Point. It is float-type fishing with a lot of shoals."
All four of the Randolph rivers come out of Missouri, sort of. The Spring has a branch rising on Oregon County, Missouri, but the river really begins with the huge spring a few yards south of the state line that gives the town of Mammoth Spring its name. The Eleven Point, Current and Black all work their ways from Missouri southward into RandolphCounty.
Walleye fishing in these northeast Arkansas rivers is often with jigs rigged with a plastic grub or twister tail for a trailer. Crank baits or minnow-type stick baits also work. Combining a jig with a live medium-size minnow is still another technique that is productive at times.
Not many anglers know it, but sauger live in these RandolphCounty rivers as well as walleye. The two fish are cousins, even lookalikes unless you know how to tell them apart. The main visual difference is the walleye has a dark spot on the tail; the sauger doesn't.
The middle portion of the White River, the Batesville and Newport area, has walleye in fair to good numbers. So does the SalineRiver in the Benton area.
But when it comes to rivers, northeast Arkansas's RandolphCounty takes a back seat to no others. And each of the four Randolph rivers is an underutilized fishery.
RandolphCounty is a place where the Delta meets the Ozarks. It's the place where the Black, Current, Eleven Point and Spring rivers run. All four flow in RandolphCounty, yet only one, the Black, leaves the county.
The Current merges with the Black at county seat Pocahontas. The Spring and Eleven Point join near Old Davidsonville State Park then blend into the Black just a couple of miles downstream.
The Black River has a few walleye but it has other species in good numbers. One of the most common walleye fishing spots is at the confluence of the Black and Spring rivers. Sam Henry, a fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said, "The Spring, Eleven Point and Current are Ozark rivers, but the Black is a Delta-type river." A casual glance will confirm this. Unless you visit the rivers just after a rain, the Spring, Eleven Point and Current tend to have a greenish color. The Black is brown in hue except for periods of low flow when it also turns a greenish color. "That's when crappie and bass fishermen hit the Black River," Henry said.
Henry is a fan of the Eleven Point's walleye. He said, "The Eleven Point is my favorite of these rivers. If you want to catch fish, you can do it on the Eleven Point. It is float-type fishing with a lot of shoals."
All four of the Randolph rivers come out of Missouri, sort of. The Spring has a branch rising on Oregon County, Missouri, but the river really begins with the huge spring a few yards south of the state line that gives the town of Mammoth Spring its name. The Eleven Point, Current and Black all work their ways from Missouri southward into RandolphCounty.
Walleye fishing in these northeast Arkansas rivers is often with jigs rigged with a plastic grub or twister tail for a trailer. Crank baits or minnow-type stick baits also work. Combining a jig with a live medium-size minnow is still another technique that is productive at times.
Not many anglers know it, but sauger live in these RandolphCounty rivers as well as walleye. The two fish are cousins, even lookalikes unless you know how to tell them apart. The main visual difference is the walleye has a dark spot on the tail; the sauger doesn't.