Overcup, a 1,205-acre AGFC lake, lies just north of Morrilton in Conway County. Newcomers can target manmade brushpiles marked by signs or fish old stumps that dot the lake. Access for shorebound or disabled anglers is especially good here: it features two wheelchair-accessible fishing piers near Overcup Landing, a mile-long dam and an earthen jetty on the southern shore.

The AGFC drew down 6,700-acre Lake Conway for several months last year for repairs, and it began refilling with rainwater in December. It may not regain normal water levels by spring, but that may not be a deal-breaker. "It has a lot of fish in it, and it's had heavy spawns," Bly said. "We also stock crappie there every year to fill in between some of the up and down cycles that fish populations go through."

Greers Ferry, a 33,000-acre Corps reservoir in Cleburne County, is great for many species, but it's not the crappie factory that many smaller AGFC lakes are. However, if you look for water with some color in it and fish your way up tributaries, you'll find some crappie.

"Lots of people troll just off the timber that lines major creeks and tributaries," Bly said. Numbering among those tributaries is the South Fork of the Little Red River.

PULASKI COUNTY
Almost 400,000 Central Arkansans enjoy good-tasting municipal water from 8,900-acre Lake Maumelle; the crappie seem to like it, too.

"Not that many people out there target them," said biologist Clifton Jackson, who also heads the AGFC's statewide Family and Community Fishing program. He noted that the crappie in Maumelle are still sizeable, even though you won't run into large concentrations of papermouths there.

Use electronics and maps to find old farm ponds, homesteads and roadbeds that were inundated when Maumelle was impounded. A few folks make illegal fish attractors by sneaking brush and Christmas trees into the lake, according both to Jackson and to Roger Nesuda, who operates the lake's only marina and boat ramp. For special regulations, see the Central Arkansas Water utility's Web site, CarKW.com