Striper Fishing in Arkansas

If you want to catch a big fish in Arkansas chances are your best bet will be a striper. These striped bass can take over a half hour to land and strip 200 yards of line off your reel so fast you may need to cool off the reel with water. The smaller ones run in packs and feed in frenzies. While they are feeding you can catch them till your arms get tired.

Arkansas Striper Fishing Lakes

Choose from Beaver Lake, Bull Shoals Lake, Lake Dardanelle, Greers Ferry Lake, Lake Hamilton, Norfolk Lake and Lake Ouachita as the best lakes to catch stripers in Arkansas. The Arkansas state record striped bass was taken out of the White River.

While stripers are native to salt water, they naturally migrate into fresh water streams to spawn. Their eggs must remain in motion in order to hatch so the fresh water rivers and streams which drain into the ocean become the spawning grounds for stripers.

Striped Bass
Morone saxatilis
World Record: 78.8 lbs

In natural settings striped bass live the majority of their life in the ocean and migrate into freshwater rivers to spawn. Once it was determined that stripers could survive in fresh water they were introduced into fresh water impoundments as a test. Results ranged from complete failure to resounding success. Often successful to the extent of eating the local species out of house and home. Stripers can live up to 30 years if conditions allow.

Striped bass generally spend their time in the middle sections of the lake, in deeper water than most fish. Their primary diet is shad. They prefer the larger shad which are too big to be eaten by the vast majority of other fish in the lake. Stripers will eat just about any fish they can get in their mouth. As a schooling fish which can grow to enormous size they can deplete a school of baitfish in very short order. When you catch a striper you can rest assured that there are probably more close by.

Fishing for Striped Bass in Arkansas

When fishing for stripers concentrate on the deeper waters in the lake. If you can locate schools of shad, stripers are often close by. When the baitfish are shallow over the deep water, you can catch stripers on crankbaits or by swimming spoons at appropriate depths. And for the ultimate thrill try large topwater baits if you see any surface feeding action. When the stripers are deep, jigs and jigging spoons work well. Live and cut bait will also take striped bass when they are in medium to deeper water. Fish nearby or in the river channel if it is a defined depth change. Trolling is also an excellent way to fish for stripers. Use flashy lures in bigger sizes.

Hybrid Bass - Wiper Bass
Morone saxatilis - Morone chrysops
World Record: 27.3 lbs.

A cross between a white bass and striped bass, created by by fertilizing female white bass eggs with sperm from male striped bass. Also known as whiterock bass. They prefer water temperatures from 70 to 78 degrees. Wipers excel in the warmer waters of the southern region. They tend to school like both parent species and feed primarily on shad and other bait fish. They can be caught on light to medium tackle using jigs, spoons, live minnows and most lures imitating bait fish. Look for these hybrid striped bass near the middle sections of the lake over deep water. Fish for them as you would their parent, the striped bass.

Striped Bass Organizations & Resources

Stripers Forever
Stripers Online
Interesting Quotes About Striped Bass
Striped Bass Research

If you have information, articles or photos relating to striper fishing in Arkansas which you would like to see published here, please submit them for consideration. We will gladly give you credit for your contribution.

Attention Guides

If you offer guide services we would like to include you as a resource for our visitors. We offer a complimentary listing for your guide service on our Arkansas Fishing Guides page or you can see other options to promote your striped bass fishing guide services in Iowa by visiting our Advertising opportunities section.

All About Fishing for Striped Bass and Hybrid Stripers in Arkansas.

Landlocked 67 lbs - 8 oz

64 lbs - 8 oz

55 - 70 Degrees

Spends part of its life in the ocean and to spawn enters streams and rivers which drain into the ocean.