Top 12 places to catch crappie

Where is the best place in Arkansas to catch crappie?

Yes, that's a good way to start an argument. The best place to catch crappie is probably the lake you are familiar with; your home lake. You know the territory, how to fish it, you've caught crappie in the past, and you can catch crappie again - sometimes.

For discussion purposes only, and no brick throwing allowed, let's compile the Arkansas Best Dozen Crappie Lakes.

These are waters where crappie have been productive and catchable in the past and at present. The listing is highly subjective, based primarily on crappie fishing reports from local anglers, boat dock operators and other onlookers. The list is in no particular order, meaning No. 2 here isn't necessarily a better crappie place than No. 9.

No. 1: Lake Chicot. At Lake Village, Arkansas's biggest natural lake is also a renaissance lake with a second comeback now underway. A siltation problem was reduced a couple of decades back, crappie rebounded and today good strings come in. The new program is for a long-term lake management strategy, and local anglers are encouraged.

No. 2: Lake Nimrod. Arkansas's first Corps of Engineers lake has produced good strings of crappie since World War II. True, it has its ups and downs with fishing as well as its water level, but crappie are the top attraction for good reason.

No. 3: Lake Millwood. Bass fishing makes most of the noise here, but crappie are productive and catchable nearly year round and have been since the lake opened in 1966. The lake is fertile and with heavy submerged and standing timber. Someone once called Millwood "a big Lake Conway" in this respect.

No. 4: Lake Conway. Some fishermen say Conway has declined in fishing, and a major restoration project has helped correct this. But the crappie fishing is still there to a significant point. The lake boomed first in bream and bass fishing then in catfish. By the 1960s, crappie were in full swing. Today, veteran Lake Conway anglers say crappie are certainly on hand but in particular spots instead of all over the largest lake ever built by a state agency.

No. 5: Lake Hamilton. Year-in and year-out, the power company lake on the southern edge of Hot Springs produced great numbers of good crappie. It also shoots down the theory that fishing declines on old lakes. At age 80 or so, Hamilton is the second oldest major man-made lake in Arkansas. Ringed with houses, heavily traveled by pleasure boaters, it still is great for crappie fishing. Anglers continually sink brush piles in it, often under the cloak of darkness and unmarked.

No. 6: Lake Ouachita. This is Arkansas's biggest man-made lake, and it may rank first in versatility of fishing also. Like Millwood, bass get the most attention, but Ouachita's crappie action is strong, especially in spring. Anglers have to be adept at changing conditions and patterns to take full advantage of it.

No. 7: Lake Dardanelle. A tip from a veteran on this lake: Start with the old strip-mining pits for crappie then move to the tributaries like Big Piney. And don't overlook the rock dikes.

No. 8: Lake Norfork. Versatility is a byword here also with striped bass, black bass and walleye fishing. Crappie quietly hold their own as legions or retirees and area visitors can attest.

No. 9: Beaver Lake. Brush piles are much of the crappie success story here. Just outside the bursting growth cities of northwest Arkansas, Beaver has benefited from years of Christmas tree collection efforts. And they work. Get a map, find a brush pile (and most are marked) and work at it for good strings of crappie.

No. 10: Lake Charles, near Powhatan and Black Rock in Lawrence County, northeast Arkansas. Local anglers camp at the state park there and get into good crappie action.

No. 11: Bull Shoals Lake. If it's fish, Bull Shoals has it, crappie included. Think brush, think ledges, think backs of creeks, think channels. There is plenty to explore in crappie fishing on Bull Shoals.

No. 12: Horseshoe Lake. An old Mississippi River cutoff south of West Memphis and Forrest City. Ringed with houses and cabins, it's had problems in recent times, but the crappie are still there in large numbers.