The folks at Bates Field and Stream said bream fishing has been excellent at Lake Conway using worms, wax worms, crickets or a brown, black or chartreuse Danamax bream jig.  Crappie fishing is still good, although the fish are smaller around stick-ups and cypress trees with minnows.  Bass are fair with watermelon colored lizards and buzz baits.  Catfishing is fair with bream or trotline minnows.  They also mentioned over at Toad Suck Lock Dam fishermen are snagging some catfish and spoonbills below the dam.  Anglers are also catching some catfish around the rock jetties on the river.

The folks at River Valley Bait on the Little Maumelle River said the river has been muddy and the bream and redear fishing is excellent with crickets. 

Crappie are fair using minnows.  Bass are biting good on spinnerbaits, crickets and minnows.  Catfishing is excellent and they are biting all types of baits. Lake Maumelle black bass are on the banks and have been spawning.  Crankbaits, lizards and spinner baits are working well in the early morning hours or at sunset.  Kentucky bass have moved into shallower water and are going after plastic worms.  Crappie are hot and can be found in 5 to 10 feet of water.  The crappie are hitting small minnows.  Bream have moved into shallow water and are being taken on crickets and worms.  Catfishing is improved and they are being taken on prepared baits in 10 to 15 feet of water.  White bass are up the river and have begun to be caught again.

BLACK BEAR RECENTLY CAPTURED IN LITTLE ROCK

A black bear reported in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock was recently captured without incident.  A sighting had the bear near Cantrell Road and the I-430 interchange when the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was called to help capture the bear.  After a short search, the bear was spotted and was shot with a tranquilizer dart.  The bear was tagged and data collected before it was released into the Ouachita Mountains.  There had been reported several sightings of this bear - at a dumpster at the St. John’s Seminary, on North Grandview Street and in the Foxcroft area eating bird feed.  Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officials said it was a little unusual that a bear would be in such a populated area.  The bear weighed approximately 155 pounds and was in good health.  The bear was probably in search of food.  There are reports of bears in and around Little Rock every year.  Arkansas has about 3,000 bears, mostly in the Ozark and Ouachita mountain areas.  Bears were once so plentiful, that they were hunted commercially, and Arkansas was known as the Bear State.  But nearly all were wiped out by the early 20^th century.  A restocking program in the 1950’s and 1960’s brought in 254 bears from Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada making the state’s black bear population one of the nation’s most successful restoration efforts.