Greg Keefer.

APRIL
Lake Jack Lee Catfish
Channel cats and bullheads are active now in 10,000-acre Lake Jack Lee in Union and Ashley counties. Chicken livers, minnows and red worms are prime baits for whiskerfish in all Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge waters. Get your bearings at the visitors’ center on U.S. Route 82 west of Crossett before exploring the 65,000-acre refuge.

Crown Lake Saugeyes
The saugeye, a laboratory cross between a female walleye and a male sauger, is prized more for its flesh than its fight. The state record -- 6 pounds, 1 ounce -- came from 640-acre Crown Lake near Horseshoe Bend in 1993. Saugeyes strike plastic grubs or jigs tipped with minnows or red worms fished near the bottom.

Arkansas River Paddlefish
Anglers who dredge the tailwaters below dams on the Arkansas River with heavy-duty snagging gear consider paddlefish as a special prize. The fish’s trademark is its elongated, paddle-shaped snout, and 15- to 25-pounders are common when dams on major rivers halt their spawning runs. These plankton feeders are caught only by snaggers or commercial fishermen, who sell their roe for caviar and smoke their succulent meat.

MAY
Lake Dardanelle Carp
Calm, vegetation-filled backwaters within major pools of the Arkansas River, such as Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, provide perfect carp habitat. Wear polarized glasses as you stalk the shallows and sight-cast to individual fish. You’ll find supplies and a generous ramp at Dardanelle State Park.

Hot Springs-Area Stripers
If your heart can stand the shock of 30-pound fish blasting topwater baits, fish the Ouachita River lakes surrounding Hot Springs this month. Straddling Montgomery and Garland counties, Ouachita routinely produces jaw-dropping stripers up to 50 pounds. Cast big jerkbaits and chuggers to the outer edges of schooling stripers to avoid spooking them.

The AGFC operates three lakes in eastern Ashley County, all oxbows of Bayou Bartholomew, which offer an enticing mixed bag of sport and rough fish. Grampus Lake, Wilson Brake and Lake Enterprise are peppered with ancient cypress and buckbrush. Fish all-purpose baits like minnows or worms and see how many of these species you catch: largemouth and spotted bass, bluegills, crappie, channel cats, yellow bass, bullheads, chain and grass pickerel, bowfins, carp, buffalo, drum, redears, longears, warmouth and green sunfish.

JUNE
City Pond Channel Catfish
The 14- to 18-inch channel catfish stocked in municipally-owned ponds make it easy for adults to introduce children to the joy of fishing. The AGFC’s Family and Community Fishing Program offered catfishing in 2007 to at least 15 communities statewide. Find this year’s list in the Fishing section of www.agfc.com.

Bois d’Arc Lake Redears
Bream specialists hold redears, or shellcrackers, in high regard. These robust panfish are decked out in olive scales flecked with orange or gold and bear the namesake red slash on their gill covers. The population in 650-acre Bois d’Arc, southwest of Hope, includes plenty of 2-pounders. These shy sunfish prefer red worms fished on the bottom.

When water levels fall on other smallmouth streams, the Caddo in west-central Arkansas remains deep enough for summer float-fishing in calm Class I and II waters suitable for inexperienced paddlers. Tempt its smallmouth bass with inline spinners, crankbaits, jerkbaits, plastic worms and tube jigs during the 7 1/2-mile float from Caddo Gap to Glenwood.