Page 10 - Crappie NOW | June 2015
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Arkansas’ I-40 Crappie
the south. Casting a jig or spinner near brush
fish attractors around the pier will almost
always produce a few crappie, regardless of
the time of year.
If you bring a boat, you could fish every
day for a year and not run out of topnotch
crappie spots to try. Some of the my favorites
in June include the Spadra Creek and Little
Spadra Creek arms just south of I-40 at
Clarksville, the Shoal Bay area near New
Blaine on Highway 22 and waters around
Shiloh Park on U.S. 64 just west of Russellville.
For more information, visit the park
website at www.arkansasstateparks.com/
lakedardanelle/.
Michelle Sutton of Wynne, Arkansas, Lake Overcup
caught these crappie while fishing Lake Continuing east on I-40 from Lake
Austell in Village Creek State Park just a Dardanelle, one soon arrives at Morrilton.
short distance from her home. Austell’s Just north of this Conway County community,
only a five-minute drive off the interstate, is
sister lake, Dunn, also harbors lots of another exceptional honeyhole for Natural
crappie. State crappies—Lake Overcup.
This 1,025-acre Arkansas Game and
park’s fishing tournament weigh-in pavilion is Fish Commission (AGFC) lake has forged
a covered, barrier-free fishing pier, a popular a place in the hearts of crappie enthusiasts
facility for bank-fishing enthusiasts, sightseers throughout central Arkansas. Catching 30-fish
and photographers because of its sweeping limits is a cinch when conditions are good,
view of the lake and 1,350-foot Mount Nebo to and stringers are likely to be anchored with
crappie in the 2-pound class.
You can bankfish from the lake’s mile-
long dam or from a jetty at the lake’s south
end. Lake Overcup also has two wheelchair-
accessible fishing piers: one adjacent Overcup
Landing on the lake’s northeast corner and
another beside Lakeview Landing, an angler
concession just off Highway 95. At times,
fishing around sunken brushpiles in deep
water near the ends of the piers can produce
dozens of 1- to 2-pound crappie.
Much of the best fishing is in brushy,
10 Crappie NOW June 2015
