Fishing is fun, catching is better, and peace on the water makes it great. Going to take you for a peaceful ride upriver.
As you leave Holiday Island Marina and go left, look for walleye, bass, and crappie around the trees you see sticking up out of the water on your left, to the Beavertown bridge.
Slow down for a good pic of the train bridge and castle, then get a pic of the Golden Gate. Then give her some gas and cross under.
Butler Creek is on your right, and from the mouth of it going upriver fishing the bluffs can be productive for all our warm water fish. That little shallow island with stickups on the left can be a great walleye and bass spot.
Trolling upriver from here, two bends up the straight stretch called the washboard, keep your eyes open and you might see longhorns, eagles, and if you open those eyes enough you might even see a nest. I fish this to Cows Creek where you have black cows on the right and red ones on the left.
Sometimes you catch better below the red cows and sometimes below the black cows. If the cows are mixed, then you might catch more fish.
Watch for the water cooling from here to Houseman Access. Downsize your tackle and think more of catching trout and walleye. You will need a trout permit if you keep any trout, and you can’t fish the water past the Houseman sign without a trout permit.
This week’s pic is of River Warren who will be 5 next week, he came up with his grandparents, Billy and Sandie Warren from Alma, Ark., to do some fishing for crappie here at the Island, which he got using a slip float with minnows 10 – 12 feet deep in the sunken brush.
You can also keep a kid happy catching sunfish now from the shoreline near the shallow brush.
So, take a kid fishing and enjoy the peace, fish, and scenery the river can give you.
Johnson Guide Service fishofexcellence.com (479) 253-2258