Share your catch
US

Millwood Lake Fishing Report

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

Arkansas' swamp giant: 29,000 acres of flooded timber and oxbow character, where big bass and slab crappie live among the cypress.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
84 / 84 F
Wind
SE 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.

Millwood Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 6 mph, falling pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 84. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:53 AM-11:53 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 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 86 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 temp84 F
High / Low84 / 50 F
WindSE 6-8 mph
Pressure1019.5 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:27 / 18:32
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 Millwood Lake this week

The best day on Millwood Lake 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
9:53 AM-11:53 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 AM
Minor period
4:14 AM-5:14 AM
Sun
07:27 to 18:32
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 Millwood Lake: 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 Millwood Lake 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 Millwood Lake 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 84 F, wind to 5 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 82 F, wind to 5 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 79 F, wind to 8 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. Bass 14-16 slot on portions: check AGFC. Marked-lane navigation strongly advised.

Access

Millwood SP, Cottonshed, Beards Bluff, Saratoga Corps ramps.

About this water

29,260 acres on the Little River, Little River/Hempstead counties, AR. The flooded-timber giant of the southwest corner.

Fishing Millwood Lake: the full guide

The timber sea

Millwood floods the Little River bottomlands into a stump-and-cypress sea: less a reservoir than a navigable swamp. Boat lanes thread the timber (learn them religiously): and the fishery rewards the effort: heavyweight largemouth in the oxbows, crappie stacked on every treetop, and a wildness southern Arkansas keeps to itself.

Swamp bass program

The oxbows and cypress lines fish like Louisiana: swim jigs and spinnerbaits through the gaps, frogs across the duckweed pockets, flipping tubes to every trunk. Stained water keeps fish shallow year-round: 8-lb bass come off wood in February and August alike. McGuire and Horseshoe oxbows anchor the storied runs.

Crappie in the tops

Millwood slabs live vertical: jigs eased beside cypress and planted tops at 8-15 ft, spider rigs along the river channel's timber edges. Spring scatters spawners through the buckbrush: winter stacks them in the old river bends: and the lake's fertility keeps 2-lb fish true. White bass run the Little River each spring as the bonus.

Navigating the maze

Respect is survival: run marked lanes only (the Corps maintains them), idle everything else, and carry the paper map the marinas sell: GPS trails lie where timber shifted. Millwood SP and Corps ramps ring the south shore: the Saratoga side opens the upper swamp. Gators are residents: mind stringers and dogs.

Common questions

How do you navigate Millwood safely?

Marked boat lanes only at speed: everything else is idle water among stumps. The marina map plus humility equals a long boating life here.

Is Millwood good for big bass?

Quietly excellent: stained-water giants in the oxbows, best in early spring's flooded brush. It trades Fork's fame for swamp solitude and reliable heavyweights.

Is fishing good at Millwood Lake 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

Wright Patman Lake29 miLake Greeson36 miBroken Bow Lake55 miDeGray Lake59 miCaddo Lake67 miLake O' the Pines71 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 33.6800, -93.9700 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.