Lake Dardanelle Striper Fishing
Lake Dardanelle Striped Bass Fishing is virtually untapped as far as striped bass fishing goes, stocking of stripers started in the 70s when AGFC Riley Donahoo and fisheries biologist Andrew Hulsey had fingerling Striped Bass flown in from south Carolina and put into the newly formed Lake Dardanelle. They thrived reproduced and migrated up and down river.
Lake Dardanelle spreads westward behind Dardanelle Dam into Pope, Yell, Logan, Johnson,
and Franklin Counties. Two miles wide in places, it reaches 50 miles upstream to the
Ozark-Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam and has 315 miles of shoreline. It has nearly 35,000 acres
of striper habitat and is lined with choice picnic and camping areas.
Most Parks have drinking water, toilet facilities, and picnic tables. Several have boat
launch ramps, trailer dump stations, electrical sites with water, and group picnic
shelters. Public boat docks offer boat and motor rental services, fuel, food, and other
supplies and services.
Stripers weighing up to 20 pounds show up frequently and fish weighing two to six
pounds are common.
Stripers can be found around the mouths of larger tributaries, such as the Illinois Bayou
and Piney Creek. The waterworks damn up the Illinois Bayou, a short distance from entering
Lake Dardanelle, is a known location where stripers are located year round.
Below the dam the stripers will stack up in large numbers during running water and the
fishing can make you hide your rod to rest.
Fish up to about 20 pounds show up pretty regularly and fish in the 5 to 15-pound range tend to keep Striper fishermen busy.
During heavy water-flow situations, when stripers are in the tailrace, cast toward the dam and keep the grub as close to the top as possible. Allow the water flow to work the lure downstream, and reel drop and pop the grub while fished downstream.
Boats are not allowed in the 100 yard area from the dam so concentrate your efforts from the 100 yard mark down a mile or so. Fish rips between current lines, on the backsides of sunken rock piles and in cuts in the banks. River Fishing Tips for Stripers
Bucktail jigs or Storms minnow-bodied baits on leadheads will work beneath the surface. Depending on current, adjust your weight size from 1/2 ounce to 1-1/2 ounces.
Cast along overlook wing dams within the first few miles downstream of the dam, especially if water is running. Stripers will hold along break lines formed by the rock walls and ambush shad as they come by.
Stripers will hold around lays and submerged cover off banks. When the stripers are working on the river in the quite morning hours, you can hear them tail spacking over several acres. You might have several lines out and every one of them will hook up with a fish.
Striper fishing on Lake Dardanelle with the population reproducing itself since the seventies is loaded with stripers waiting for you to create some awesome memories
Contact us
at Ben Sander's
arkansasstripers.com
Privacy Notice I Striper Links I
Glossary of Fish
Terms I Arkansas Striper Site Map
Copyright ©
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
Arkansas Parks and Tourism
Striper Fishing
Waters in Arkansas
Arkansas Record
Striper
Striper Recipes
Striper Fishing Guides
Fishing Tackle
Striper Pictures
Striper Facts
Striper Boats
Fish Finders
Live Wells for Stripers
Rulers of the Lake
Live Shad
for Stripers
Catch and
Release Can Kill Stripers
Fishing Line
Striper Age
Weight Chart
Spawning
Bait Tanks
Cast nets
Best Times To Catch
Stripers
Striper Seasons
Buy-Swap-Sell
The National Striped Bass
Association:
Search the Outdoors
Fishing-Hunting
Local Fishing "Slang"
Morone saxatilis