Mountain Home, Arkansas -- Dick Engel (above) recently had a handful to deal with: a massive Norfork Lake striper that he caught while fishing with guide Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters. Stripers are on at Norfork, Tom says, thanks to the water warming, leading the stripers to move from the main lake to the midsection of creeks. Tom says he's been seeing stripers on the creeks that drop into the channel.

Bigger stripers are starting to show up and are actively feeding on mid-sized gizzard shad and threadfin shad. Anglers should be looking at creeks that have long flats and stained water, he suggested.

Wind played havoc with most anglers' attempts at fishing in recent days, according to our contributors, but there are still some promising reports from around the state, including good walleye and crappie news. The crappie are kicking into gear in the Little Rock pool of the Arkansas River, and Lake Maumelle has turned out some nice numbers of crappie, according to guide Eric Watts, although the lake's drawdown to allow for dam repair has made it difficult to access Maumelle in recent days, he said.

Black bass are in excellent shape at Lake Ouachita, according to reports from Mountain Harbor Resort. And, of course, trout fishing is going well in area tailwaters, including below Greers Ferry Dam, now that Greers Ferry Lake is back to normal pool and the constant water releases have ended as of this week. In the Beaver Lake Dam tailwater, Erin Henry (below), a University of Arkansas professor, landed a nice rainbow trout while fishing with guide Austin Kennedy this past week.