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Lake Dardanelle Fishing Report

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

A 34,300-acre pool of the Arkansas River at Russellville, where backwater bass, crappie and white bass share the water with barge traffic.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
65 / 80 F
Wind
ESE 6 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 Dardanelle sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind ESE around 6 mph, falling pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 80. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 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 83 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

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 temp65 F
High / Low80 / 49 F
WindESE 6-12 mph
Pressure1022.6 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:26 / 18:28
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 Dardanelle this week

The best day on Lake Dardanelle this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 5 out of 5, against 4 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

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

Solunar majors
9:50 AM-11:50 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 AM
Minor period
4:12 AM-5:12 AM
Sun
07:26 to 18:28
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 9 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Dardanelle: 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 Dardanelle 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 Dardanelle today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

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 82 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

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 76 F, wind to 8 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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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 fishing license required. The Corps notes there is no closed season on the lake. See the current AGFC fishing regulations for statewide creel and length limits.

Access

Lake Dardanelle State Park (Russellville site boat ramp and fishing pier); Corps parks at Old Post Road, Piney Bay, Shoal Bay and Spadra. Russellville Corps site office: (501) 340-1762.

About this water

A 34,300-acre Corps of Engineers pool on the Arkansas River behind Dardanelle Lock and Dam, extending about 50 miles upstream through five counties.

Fishing Lake Dardanelle: the full guide

A navigation pool with backwaters

Lake Dardanelle is the 34,300-acre pool behind Dardanelle Lock and Dam on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The Little Rock District of the Corps of Engineers describes it spreading west into five counties, reaching 50 miles upstream with 315 miles of shoreline, and lists bass, catfish, white bass, bream and crappie as its fish. The same Corps page calls it Arkansas's most productive bass fishery, citing Arkansas Game and Fish Commission studies.

Bass and the backwater problem

The AGFC has documented why the bass population swings: in 2022 it reported that three years of above-average flow and floods had hurt Dardanelle's bass, that many backwaters have been cut off from the main river by years of siltation, and that high water strips the vegetation young fish need. That summer it stocked 103,882 largemouth bass fingerlings across the lake. Backwater cover and the edges where current meets slack water are the places to start.

Crappie on the river

Crappie support a busy fishery here. In 2018 the AGFC tagged several hundred crappie with yellow reward tags worth $5 to $100 to learn how the river population survives and moves through the year, with Illinois Bayou and the Spadra area among the sections named in the study.

Russellville logistics

Lake Dardanelle State Park has a Russellville site and a Dardanelle site; the Russellville site has the park's boat ramp, a fishing pier, a sport-fishing weigh-in pavilion and a visitor center with aquariums. The Corps runs Old Post Road, Piney Bay, Shoal Bay and Spadra parks on the lake. This is a commercial waterway, so give tows and the navigation channel plenty of room.

Common questions

How big is Lake Dardanelle?

Arkansas State Parks and the Corps put it at 34,300 acres of water, reaching about 50 miles up the Arkansas River with 315 miles of shoreline.

Does the AGFC stock bass here?

It has: in summer 2022 the AGFC released 103,882 largemouth fingerlings after high flows and floods reduced natural reproduction.

Where can I launch?

The state park's Russellville site has a ramp, and the Corps lists Old Post Road, Piney Bay, Shoal Bay and Spadra among its parks on the lake.

Is fishing good at Lake Dardanelle 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

Mulberry River29 miNimrod Lake31 miLake Ouachita52 miBuffalo River56 miLake Conway62 miLake Hamilton65 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 35.3540, -93.3961 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.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
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 text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was 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.