In this area, fishin' season started last April 28th......
Crappie in the middle of the summer, evenings usually. Crappie in the late fall, rainy season, so you have to fish between showers. Then the rest of the year it's about anything and everything else. In the mid-summer, when it's nice & hot/humid, I find it relaxing to make a road trip, and wade fish for smallmouth, rock bass, and whatever eats. There's some trout there too. The rivers are full of trout and they'll bite all year long but it's the late spring/early summer when I prefer to fish them-as it's not too hot yet, but warm enough so that when you get to the river, it can be 90° at the top of the ramp, and by time you're at the water, with a breeze it feels like the a/c is turned on. Just a great experience. The White River below Bull Shoals dam is famous for trout fishing; and where I prefer to launch/fish, the scenery is absolutely stunning. And the best part, for me, is that the cell phone does NOT work for about 10 miles either way of the ramp. No crazy ex's calling, no bosses calling, no group text from work, etc. I hear there's a few walleye out in that stretch of river too but I ain't never caught any. They're a rare catch here, in any body of water-mainly because of all the dang bass that will eat anything and everything you throw at 'em, so it's almost impossible to keep them off the hook. I don't eat bass (nasty) and I could care less about them. Give me a walleye or crappie any day over a dad gum bass. I'd just as soon slit a bass's gills and throw 'em up for the coons, but I don't think it's legal so I just throw 'em all back. Trash fish.