Share your catch
US

Lake Chicot Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Mississippi’s abandoned bend: Chicot is Arkansas’s largest natural lake, a 20-mile oxbow full of crappie and bream.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
82 / 82 F
Wind
NE 3 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Lake Chicot lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 3 mph, falling pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 82. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:41 AM-11:41 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassExcellent

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Excellent

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieGood

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

White bassGood

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar at 81 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Arkansas requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $10.50 for residents. What a Arkansas licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with AGFC before you keep anything. The season dates for Arkansas, read off the agency, are on the Arkansas seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp82 F
High / Low82 / 48 F
WindNE 3-5 mph
Pressure1019.6 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:15 / 18:21
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Chicot this week

The best day on Lake Chicot this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:41 AM-11:41 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM
Minor period
4:03 AM-5:03 AM
Sun
07:15 to 18:21
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Chicot: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Lake Chicot calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Chicot today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 81 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 78 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Arkansas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Arkansas license. Crappie 25 per day and bass limits per current AGFC regulations.

Access

Lake Chicot State Park ramps at the north end, plus public access points around the lake near Lake Village.

About this water

A 5,000-acre oxbow lake of the Mississippi River in Chicot County, Arkansas: the largest natural lake in the state.

Fishing Lake Chicot: the full guide

An oxbow with history

Lake Chicot curves twenty miles through southeast Arkansas, a cutoff meander of the Mississippi River and the largest natural lake in the state. Cypress line the banks, the water runs fertile, and the fishery is classic Delta: crappie in numbers, bream that reach hand size, largemouth in the cover and catfish through the deeper water. A pumping station built decades ago improved water clarity dramatically.

Crappie and bream

Crappie are the mainstay: cypress trees, brush and any wood hold fish, with spring shallow fishing the most productive and winter finding them deeper along the old channel. Bream fishing in late spring is exceptional: bedding bluegill and shellcracker around the cypress and shallow flats take crickets and worms as fast as you can bait a hook, and the fish run big.

Bass and cats

Largemouth relate to the cypress, laydowns and any grass: spinnerbaits, jigs and topwater over the cover in warm months. The lake is shallow and fertile, so summer heat pushes fish to shade and the deeper channel bends. Catfish work the bottom throughout and are fished with trotlines and rod-and-reel alike, a Delta tradition as old as the lake.

Lake Chicot State Park logistics

The state park at the north end provides ramps, cabins, camping and a visitor center, with additional access around the lake. Lake Village is the local town. The setting: cypress, herons and the old river bend: is as much the draw as the fishing, and the park’s birding programs bring visitors who never wet a line.

Common questions

Why is it so long and narrow?

It is an abandoned meander of the Mississippi River, cut off centuries ago: the shape is the old river channel.

When is bream fishing best?

Late spring around the full moons, when bluegill and shellcracker bed in the shallows: exceptional fishing for families.

Is the water clear?

Much clearer than it once was: a pumping station diverts sediment-laden inflow, which transformed the fishery.

Is fishing good at Lake Chicot right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Lake Ferguson8 miLake Washington22 miEagle Lake60 miBig Black River76 miOuachita River79 miLake D Arbonne82 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 33.3500, -91.2200 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.