Oct-Dec 2009 - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

companies.The most effective presentation is tostart with very light line, such as 4-6lb test, as trout have acute eyesight,and will spook if they see larger line.Next, some sort of weight should beused to get the bait near the trout,which generally swim slightly abovethe bottom. The weight can be heldin place about 12-18” above thehook by any kind of stopper from asmall split shot weight to a swivel Avery small hook should be used,again to avoid detection (sizes 8, 10,or 12).The last piece of the puzzle is thebait. One very common mistake thatis often made is using too much bait.The adage that “big bait = big fish”wasn’t written with trout in mind. Ihave seen people fish with onewhole nightcrawler, or 5 Powerbaiteggs for an hour or more without abite. Try using 1-2 Powerbait eggs,or about ½” of worm, and you willsee more hookups.Lake Maumelle UpdateWe have held several publicmeetings with personnel fromCentral Arkansas Water (CAW), andAGFC Fisheries and Wildlife folksconcerning new regulationspertaining to Lake Maumelle. Incase you missed the last letter, aftermuch debate and publicinvolvement, we have tried toaddress some of the major concernsof anglers to improve the LakeMaumelle fishery. The majorconcerns that we heard were low fishnumbers and lack of access. Toincrease access, AGFC will improvethe launch area known as SleepyHollow in the Northwest corner of thelake, and for canoes, kayaks, andboats with motors 25 hp or less to beable to launch at this ramp andoperate in the portion of the lakelocated west of the Highway 10Bridge.Figure 1. Typical bait rig forcatching rainbow trout.Good luck and good fishing!The issue of low fish numbers is amore complex issue. Havingparticipated in a rotenone sample onLake Maumelle in August of thisyear, I can certainly say that there isa relatively large biomass of fish inthis lake, especially given the fact