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Lake Hamilton Fishing Report

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

Lake Hamilton: Entergy's hydro lake at Hot Springs, one of four Arkansas lakes that AGFC stocks with striped bass.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
81 / 82 F
Wind
E 5 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 Hamilton lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 5 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 9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:17 PM-12:17 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Tomorrow: Similar at 85 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 striped 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 temp81 F
High / Low82 / 43 F
WindE 5-7 mph
Pressure1020.3 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:24 / 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 Hamilton this week

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

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 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
9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:17 PM-12:17 AM
Minor period
4:11 AM-5:11 AM
Sun
07:24 to 18:28
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 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 Hamilton: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

When to come: the Lake Hamilton 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
Striped 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 Hamilton 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. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 5 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 4 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Striped bass led the card at excellent. 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; AGFC statewide rules apply, and AGFC lists handicapped-accessible fishing piers on Hamilton. Check AGFC's current regulations for striped and hybrid bass limits.

Access

AGFC's Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery ramp, 350 Fish Hatchery Road (from Highway 7 and County Road 290, east about 3 miles). Entergy posts real-time lake levels.

About this water

Entergy Arkansas hydro lake behind Carpenter Dam (1932) on the Ouachita River at Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas.

Fishing Lake Hamilton: the full guide

Carpenter Dam and Entergy

Entergy Arkansas operates Lake Hamilton under a FERC license (Project 271). Carpenter Dam on the Ouachita River, completed in 1932, created the lake; Remmel Dam, 11 miles downstream, forms Lake Catherine. Entergy owns the dams, shoreline and lakebed, but the water is public.

Striped bass

AGFC stocks roughly half a million 2-inch striped bass fingerlings in Arkansas each year, and Hamilton is one of only four lakes that receive them, with Beaver, Norfork and Ouachita. Striped bass do not reproduce in Arkansas outside the Arkansas River, so Hamilton's stripers come from stocking.

Lake levels

Entergy holds Hamilton between 398.9 and 399.9 feet in summer, targeting 399.7. The annual drawdown starts November 1, refilling begins between March 1 and March 8, and the lake should be full again by March 15.

Boating

AGFC's boat ramp at the Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery, 350 Fish Hatchery Road, is a public access point and the jumping-off point for the Electric Island trail. AGFC warns that motorboat traffic picks up on weekends and holidays and that wind and wakes can make the water rough.

Common questions

Is Lake Hamilton stocked with stripers?

Yes. It is one of four Arkansas lakes that AGFC stocks with striped bass fingerlings.

When is the winter drawdown?

Entergy starts it on November 1 and refills between early March and March 15.

Who owns the lake?

Entergy owns the dams, the shoreline and the land under the lake; the water belongs to the public.

Is fishing good at Lake Hamilton 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

DeGray Lake15 miLake Ouachita18 miNimrod Lake34 miLake Greeson40 miLake Conway56 miLake Dardanelle65 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 34.4475, -93.1068 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 8, 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 8, 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.