Dardanelle....anyone been there recently?

[bilontical]

Leaving for Dardanelle on Monday for a tournament. Have never been there. Anyone been on it this year? Been all over the maps I have found and the internet reading all the info I can. Just looking to see if anyone has some first hand knowledge of anything from this year.

Scott

[BigBass]

Lets bump this up........

Any of you guys got any info for him?

[BigBass]

Here is some information;

http://www.bassboatmagazine.com/lake-dardanelle-t2185.html

[geezer1]

Looks like you're getting no help here, so, here goes. I fished it a few years ago about this time of year. There's normally lots of pads & grass throughout the lake, but the extended cold wx they've had there may have slowed that growth down. If I were fishing it Monday,I'd be paying very close attention to water temp. If the water temp is in the mid to low 50's, you should find fish just off the major points, pre spawn staging. If the temp is mid to high 50's, the males and some females should be found in cover (look for grass & pads). If it's 60 & above, you should find fish all over the shallows in & near cover. The main food source in that lake is shad, so that's what I'd be trying to imitate. I'd put in at Illinois Bayou, near Mill Creek, & fish the Mill Creek area first, if the water is colder than 56 degrees. There's lots of good water at the mouths of Newton Bay & Mill Creek there. If warmer than 56 degrees, I'd probably put in at Dardanelle Bay & fish there. We caught quality fish at both places with water temps in the high 50's. This may, or may not, help you. Hope it does, and good luck!

[1FASTLASER]

THANKS GEEZER!!!!.........I havent fished that lake but always heard good things about it. Maybe with your help bilontical will be able to take home a check

[bilontical]

Thanks for the info. I'll see how next week plays out. Should be fun either way. I have high hopes going in as the conditions should fit my style really well. We shall see. Ill keep you all posted.

[geezer1]

Has anyone heard how bilontical fared at Dardanelle?

[bilontical]

We didn't fare as well as we would have liked. We weighed in 4 fish over two days for 8.14. Took just shy of 30lbs to win with 23 and some change taking the last check. We finished 28th out of 63 boats.

The fish couldn't have been any closer to moving up without moving in to bed. I heard rumors that a couple fish were caught off a bed but I did not see any beds personally. I did see some males roaming real shallow wanting to bed but the cold nights were keeping them from moving up just yet. We found some good quanities of fish, but nearly everywhere we did so did others. We did have 2 areas to our self. One which was our primary area was a small cove that the water clarity never changed and the deepest point was 3 feet. Had it not dropped 8 degrees from the thursday morning to friday morning the fish would have still be stacked in there.

We started off the tournament on the wrong foot. First ten minutes I broke a fish off on the hook set (bad knot i think). 5 casts later lost a 3lber. I kept my head down and had two keepers in the boat in the next 30 mins, and then missed another good bite. I had a real problem executing on this morning. We ended up leaving our primary area and picking up our 3rd and last keeper of the day in out back up area.

Day 2 we broke down 10 minutes after launch. Had some motor issues. We were able to get these fixed or at least patched up to allow us to get back on the water for the last 3 hours of fishing. We went to a place right around the corner from the launch i had caught some 14inch spots earlier in the week and picked up our only bite and keeper for the day.

All in all it was a fun time and a great body of water. I liked the upperend of the lake way more than the lower end, but thats just because it resembled more of a river than a lake. We caught some decent fish and found some good things, we were just unable to execute the first day and were limited to where we could go after getting the boat problems fixed on the 2nd day. Our 2 primary spots were 35 mins from launch way up the river.

I am looking forward to getting back down there in the future, I believe I could improve greatly. But those fish should be on the bed by now after this full moon and past 4 days great weather, that is how close those fish were to moving up.

[geezer1]

Scott...Good read! Those tournaments are tough enough without the addition of motor problems. Sounds like you were able to figure a few things out, though. During that transition period you described, vegetation should have been a player (water generally warmer there). What is the grass situation on Dardanelle now?

[bilontical]

We didn't see alot of new growth of vegetation, there was some floating vegetation from last year that was just starting to green in some areas. All the pads were still dead from the winter no growth at all started on them. The areas we found were up the river and had little to no vegetation at least while we were there.

According to some of the locals I talked too, the vegetation is coming back after the flood from a couple years back but its coming back in new places and filling in alot different than it has been in the past.

[BigBass]

Scott, you invited to come down here on the 4th , so is your group of mizzou....