Hey fellow micropterus salmoides anglers! Hopefully everyone had a decent New Years.
I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas which happens to have the Arkansas river flowing adjacent to the city. What i just found out recently from viewing Google maps satellite view is that the Arkansas river system has an extremely complex network of backwaters, sloughs, huge ponds/small lakes, and oxbows.
Ive been going to one particular backwater area near my house for a few years now and it has really made me appreciate these type of fisheries. One example of why I like the spot is in 2017 i spent atleast 100 hours on my kayak and on shore at the backwater area down the road from me. Ive maybe seen a dozen people. Second, the fishing is awesome. It can be challenging to find them but they are always quality fish.
This year i really want to venture out further and explore some new locations so i have been searching on google maps. Some of the spots that have really caught my eye are two medium sized Oxbow lakes in my area. The oxbows ive been looking at are cut off from the river. The bigger of the two, Hollis Lake, is completely separated from the open channel by a dike so it never gets flushed (I am prepared to find it silted over, but i am being optimistic at the same time). The other, Cherokee Chute, recieves water from the river during flood season when the water is high enough. There are many, many more unnamed oxbows as, well. Some completely separated, some recieve water in flood season, and some are connected to the open channel.
When the weather gets more comfortable, i plan on waging an all out war with these river bass starting with these oxbows. I plan on getting a fishfinder/SSS for my kayak so i can fish (and map) these 'new' spots as efficiently as i can. If i can help it, i will be going to several dozen new spots on the river system in 2018. Im just curious if any of yall have spent much time fishin oxbows and if so what type of attack plan would u recommend?
-GT
The pics ive included are of Hollis Lake, Cherokee Chute, and an unnamed oxbow. Btw there are approx 20 platforms/docks on Hollis lake that i have seen on satellite view. Im extremely curious as to what these are...
