A group of outdoors writer and industry representatives had a blast fishing Arkansas's gorgeous Lake Ouachita during the last week of April. We were targeting striped bass - the lake has had a successful stocking program ongoing for some four decades - but the fish were finicky. No matter. A couple were caught. It was feisty spotted bass, red-eyed fish that slurped in lures with the eagerness of smallmouth bass that gave everyone many fun moments. An occasional largemouth added to the action.
This lake is magnificent. Just west of Hot Springs, it's more than 40,000 acres in size with more than 900 miles of mostly pristine shoreline.
What made it particularly fun was it wasn't the least bit crowded as we fished from Old Town Predator PDL kayaks equipped with Raymarine Dragonfly 7 GPS/sonar units. I've had a Predator PDL for a year now, but you can bet I'm adding a Dragonfly 7 to the boat. The images are stellar and it's so easy to rig as the video linked below illustrates. The St. Croix Mojo rods, Z-Man and LiveTarget lures we got to try were first rate.
We stayed at Mountain Harbor Resort, which has a wide range of accommodations, up to luxury cabins. Myself, and writers Kenny Kieser and Brent Wheat shared a three-bedroom cabin. Each had its own bathroom and the common, great room area with fireplace was massive. The cabins feature amenities such as big hot tubs on the porch. A day of fishing, especially when pedaling a kayak can leave you a little creaky at times. The big two and three bedroom cabins are affordable, especially if you split the costs with friends or family.
Click on the link here to my article about the trip in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. Then check out the pics and the linked videos. Old Town's Dave Hadden well explains the Predator PDL's features and Raymarine's Jim McGowan talks about the Dragonfly 7. Dave also explains (click here) easy "stand-up" fishing and Jim shows (click here) how easy it is to rig electronics
Good fishing. I sure hope to make it back to Lake Ouachita in the spring someday, maybe working in a little turkey hunting as well as fishing. Click here (coming soon) for some nice aerial footage of Lake Ouachita and fishing kayaks shot by licensed drone operator Jim McGowan.