The North Fork River is one of August's best bets for giant brown trout.

SEPTEMBER
Arkansas River Striped Bass
In terms of the number of fish it produces, the Arkansas River is one of the best striper waters in Arkansas. There are few days when a dedicated angler can't hook several nice fish, but the abundance of 5- to 15-pound stripers provides all the action most fishermen need.

September finds stripers chasing shad on the surface. The fish may roam large areas as they follow bait, but some action continues day after day in the same locales, usually around dawn and dusk. Fishermen watch the water for feeding fish and, when they're sighted, rush to get in a cast before the stripers dive. Any topwater plug or light-colored jig popped across the surface will draw strikes when fish are in a feeding frenzy. Stripers can be taken on any of the river pools from Ft. Smith to the river's confluence with the Mississippi, but the best striper pools, perhaps, are lakes Dardanelle and Ozark in the western part of the state.

Other Choices
Chicken livers and commercial baits can be used to entice big channel cats this month in farm ponds around the state.

DeGray Lake near Arkadelphia is a hotspot for September's hybrid stripers.

OCTOBER
Big Piney Creek Smallmouths
In October, mountain streams are at their best for casual float-fishing. There's hardly a better time to fish for battling smallmouth bass, and Big Piney Creek is one of the best places to go.

Two excellent smallmouth floats are the 10-mile section from Forest Service Road 1004 at Limestone to state Highway 123, and the eight miles from state Highway 123 to Treat (Forest Road 1805). Good lures include jigging frogs, minnow- and crayfish-imitation crankbaits, and small plastic worms. Use medium to heavy tackle. Some people expect that the bass swimming this smallish stream will be small, too, and that expectation can cost you trophy fish. Cast to rocks, underwater ledges and submerged timber.

Other Choices
Lake Austell in Village Creek State Park near Wynne is a sleeper hotspot for big channel and blue catfish.

On the St. Francis River backwaters near Marked Tree, spotted bass are hitting topwaters early and late in the day.

NOVEMBER
Little Red River Trout
The Little Red River below Greers Ferry Lake is among the blue-ribbon trout streams of America, serving up fine fall fishing for visiting anglers. Although plenty of nice rainbows, brook trout and cutthroats are caught here, brown trout are in the spotlight this month as they hit the shoals to spawn. Savvy anglers catch lots of 3- to 5-pounders, and there's always the possibility of a world-record class fish. Flyfishermen take most, with a variety of patterns used by local anglers.

When you're fishing for rainbows, brookies and cutts during high water this month, drift-fishing with the current is a favored method. Bait is cast upstream and allowed to bump the bottom as it drags behind the boat. During low-water periods, still-fishing deep holes, weedbeds and timber from an anchored boat is preferred.

Other Choices
Catfish fans on Lake Millwood often catch big flatheads this month as these brutes go on a feeding frenzy to fatten up before winter.

On Crooked Creek near Yellville, smallmouth action heats up.

DECEMBER
Lake Ouachita Chain Pickerel
Few Arkansas anglers fish for chain pickerel, but these neglected fish are superstar fighters, putting up a battle that will make your knees shake. Best of all, this power-packed predator fires up with the urge to feed at the same time many other game fish are holed up for the winter. November fishing is excellent, especially on Lake Ouachita west of Hot Springs.

Pickerel, being fish-eaters, are drawn to lures mimicking baitfish. A weedless silver spoon with a trailing pork rind is an old standard, but spinners, chugger plugs, slim-minnow lures, streamers and even plastic worms will elicit strikes. Cast along Ouachita's numerous weedbeds, reeling with a steady, moderate-speed retrieve. Or, when using topwaters, cast to pockets in the weeds, let the lure sit until the ripples have died away, and then twitch the lure again, continuing to the boat with a twitch-and-stop retrieve.

Other Choices
For some cold-weather largemouth bass action, try Lake Erling in southwest Arkansas this month.

The Buffalo National River offers a potpourri of fishing action for smallmouth bass, channel catfish, sunfish and rock bass.