MAY
Buffalo River: Rock Bass
Rock bass are among the most plentiful gamefish in scenic Buffalo National River. The entire river offers excellent fishing. To pinpoint fish, look for big rocks in deep pools. Rock ledges, dropoffs, overhangs --all are good places to fish. SubÂmerged rocks seem especially good. People can't see them, so they don't fish them much.

Favored lures include 1/16- to 1/8-ounce gray or black jigs. Rock bass also take live minnows and small crawfish. For information, contact Buffalo National River, (870) 741-5443, or log on to www.nps.gov/buff.

Norfork Lake striped bass fishing picks up this month while these big bruisers are smashing through schools of shad on top. Be on the water at dawn, looking for surface disturbances. Move in close, and cast Boy Howdys, Redfins or Near Nuthins. In the North Little Rock hydroelectric plant channel on the Arkansas River, thousands of gar gather to spawn in May. Catch them fishing minnows 6 inches below a bobber.

JUNE
Lake Ouachita: Bream
Weedbed lagoons encircling islands in Lake Ouachita harbor untold numbers of bluegills, redear sunfish and longear sunfish. Big bream usually hold near weedbed edges, so pinpointing the perimeter is important. Cast too far, and you get snagged. Try to place bait so it falls right at the edge.

Scout from a boat first, wearing polarized sunglasses to cut glare and help you see the weedbeds. The lake is exceptionally clear, so it's easy to see concentrations of bream.

Standard bream fishing gear is an ultralight combo spooled with 4- to 6-pound line, a cage full of crickets, a couple boxes of worms and a cooler of drinks. For more info, call the Lake Ouachita Field Office, (501) 767-2101.

Early summer is also an ideal time for catching blue, channel and flathead catfish in the Mississippi River. For a relaxing float trip for trout, try Spring River near Hardy.

JULY
Horseshoe Lake: Catfish
Horseshoe Lake (2,500 acres) near Hughes is a favorite with Mid-South catfishermen. Angling for blues and channels is excellent in July. Blues over 30 pounds are possible, and 10- to 15-pounders are common. Channel cats run only slightly smaller, with numerous fish in the 5- to 12-pound range.

Catfish lurk in fields of flooded tree stumps and around fishing piers where lakeside residents draw them in with chum. Other hotspots include humps and old boats on the lakebed, flooded riprap along shore, and inundated timber.

Many catters use a two-pole approach. Rig one combo with catalpa worms, night crawlers, chicken liver or other bait, and bait the other with shad, goldfish or minnows to tempt fish-eating blues. For current fishing reports, log on to www.agfc.com.

Night-fishing on Bull Shoals Lake produces a mixed bag this month-largemouths, crappie, catfish, bluegills, walleyes and more. Carp fishing below Dardanelle Dam on the Arkansas River is also thrilling, with fish averaging 10-20 pounds each.

AUGUST
Beaver Lake: Largemouth & Spotted Bass
For excellent summer bass fishing, consider visiting 28,220-acre Beaver Lake in the Ozarks. Night-fishing produces hefty catches of jumbo largemouths and spots.

Beaver has many steep points covered with big rocks. Fish them after dark using a brown on black jig-and-pig or a jig with a salt-impregnated crawfish trailer. Work the lure down points with a hopping retrieve.

Summer bass also frequent shallow flats near mouths of small coves. Most are about 8 feet deep. Those with the river channel adjacent them are usually best; spinnerbaits and plastic worms are the lures of choice. For a map and additional information, visit www.swl.usace.army.mil/parks/beaver.

Trout anglers converge on the North Fork River below Lake Norfork every August hoping to catch another monster brown like the 38-pound, 9-ounce former world record taken in 1989. This is also a blue-ribbon month for catching channel catfish, and all 52 AGFC lakes are kept well stocked. Lakes White Oak, Poinsett and Conway are top picks.

SEPTEMBER
Arkansas River: Black Bass
The Arkansas River, celebrated as one of the finest bass fisheries in the U.S., stretches 304 miles from the Mississippi River in east Arkansas to the Oklahoma border near Fort Smith. The river is divided into 12 pools, none of which differs much from another in terms of the quality of the bassing.

Largemouths and spotted bass are caught year 'round, but August is considered by many to be the best month. Many fish are taken by fishing spinnerbaits, crankbaits and plastic worms around downed logs, ripÂrap, channel/tributary junctions and other structure.

Pool No. 2 near Dumas contains some of the river's best big-bass waters, with 9- to 10-pound largemouths taken regularly. Good areas include Moore Bayou, Pendleton Cutoff, the Big Bayou Meto area and Mud Lake Bend near Little Bayou Meto. For up-to-date fishing reports, visit www.agfc.com.

For September crappie, try Island 40 Chute on the Mississippi River north of West Memphis. Another honeyhole is Lake Charles near Powhatan, where fishing for giant flatheads peaks this month.