Aug 31, 2015 - Fishing oxbow lakes can provide that get-away-from-it-all experience perhaps not found on most popular rivers and lakes.

Arkansas outdoor writer and crappie enthusiast Keith Sutton provides some tips for fishing oxbows and enjoying a productive crappie trip for Bass Pro’s 1Source. Done right, fishing crappie on an isolated oxbow is “heaven on earth,” he says.

A sample:

Oxbows are formed by a timeless cycle of eroding floods, meandering channels and resettling earth. Big lowland rivers follow the path of least resistance, eroding the outside shores of their broad bends. In time, some bends become isolated from the main river as it changes course. These bends are called oxbow lakes, because they resemble the U-shaped piece of wood on an ox yoke.

Mastering oxbow crappie fishing requires knowledge of the types of oxbows. Some remain connected to the parent stream; some are not. Some lie within the floodplain of major streams, while others lie entirely outside the floodplain. Differing conditions dictate the manner of planning necessary to enjoy a productive crappie trip.

Oxbows connected to the parent river normally provide the best fishing for big crappie. When the river floods the oxbow, inflowing nutrients enrich the water, feeding bountiful crops of forage animals on which crappie feed. This yearly overflow cycle also provides temporary but important spawning habitat for crappie.

Good stuff. Read the full post.