Spent the weekend with my niece and her husband in Hot Springs, and brought the boat with me. Took my son and my my nephew-in-law fishing. We launched at the Carpenter Dam Park public launch just below the dam, probably around 1:00 PM. Fished until about 6:00 PM. The dam was letting water through from Hamilton. Wind was off and on, and so was the rain, but the rain was light enough that I never bothered putting on my wet-weather gear even though it was in the boat. Water clarity changed pretty drastically depending on where you were at. Some pockets were very stained, some were super clear. Water temp was around 62* when I looked.
We fished several pockets, and caught a couple and lost a couple. I've never caught a ton of fish there the few times I've gone, but I've always enjoyed fishing there. It's a good place if you don't feel like fighting the boat launch traffic and party-boaters on the big lakes on a Saturday. Plus the water is always pretty and a lot of the lake is pretty protected from wind, although bigger areas like Spencer Bay will whitecap like crazy when the wind whips down off the hills.
I guess there must still be some fish in different stages there because the 2 lb-er I caught was fat as a butterball and clearly pre-spawn. My son caught one later that went 2.4, but it was skinny as a rail and looked like it had already spawned out.
We didn't catch that many, but we all had a good time. I love our lakes in NW Louisiana, but it's nice to fish something different once in a while.
Congrats on the catching there. Tks for sharing the trip with us also. Safe travels back home for ya.
Thank you for sharing your report with us! Productive outing.