Definitions
Definitions, Methods
and Associated Regulations
Aquatic Wildlife – Aquatic snails, aquatic turtles,
crayfish (crawfish, crawdads), fish (including
minnows), frogs, mussels and salamanders.
Artificial Lure/Fly – Fishing tackle made by flytying
or made entirely of rubber, wood, metal, glass,
feathers, hair, synthetic fibers or plastic, with hook
attached. Required for some trout-fishing areas.
Bowfishing – Taking fish with bow and arrow
(on line). Rough fish [gar, bowfin, common carp,
Asian carp (grass carp, bighead carp, silver carp),
sucker (including buffalo), bullhead and drum] may
be taken by bowfishing. For season information,
check Page 10.
Bream – Any species of the genus Lepomis
including bluegill, redear, warmouth and other
sunfish.
Catch-And-Release – The requirement that fish of
a designated species must be released immediately
into the water where caught.
Commercial Fish – Bowfin over six inches,
buffalo, catfish, carp, drum, gar, paddlefish,
suckers, white amur and shovelnose sturgeon.
Catfish and paddlefish may be considered either
commercial fish or game fish depending on the type
of tackle used to take these fish.
Daily Limits – A daily limit is the number of fish of
one species (or group of species) allowed to be taken
from midnight to the next midnight. Fishermen are
allowed to have only one daily limit of fish while
fishing or returning from a one-day fishing trip.
Dip Netting – Dip nets may be used only when
fish are caught first by hook and line or bow and
arrow. Dip nets may be used to take baitfish for
personal use while sport fishing. This use is limited
to dip nets with mesh one inch or smaller.
Fish Cleaning – While fishing in waters designated
as having a length or slot limit on sport fish, you
may not possess a fish that has been filleted or had
its head or tail removed while fishing from shore,
boat or while being transported by boat. Check
your destination on pages 56-77 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook to see whether
length or slot limits apply.
Fishing Below Dams – It is illegal to fish within
100 yards below any dam and within the outlet
channels of Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative
Hydroelectric Plant at Barling and the Murray
Hydroelectric Plant at North Little Rock. The
exceptions to this include individuals fishing with
only one hand-held rod or pole, taking rough fish
with bow and arrow or taking shad with hand-held
dip nets for personal use. Additional Corps of
Engineers restrictions may apply.
Free-Floating Fishing Devices – A floating
fishing device not attached to a stationary object or
boat. Up to 20 jugs or similar devices may be used
per person and must be clearly marked with either
the user’s name and address, driver’s license number
or current vehicle tag number. These may be left
unattended only from sunset to sunrise.
Gaffing – Taking or attempting to take fish with a
hand-held hook. Gaffing is not allowed unless the
fish is caught on a hook and line first (or with bow
and arrow).
Game Fish – Alligator gar, black bass, white bass,
striped bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie, catfish,
trout, bream, sunfish, goggle-eye, walleye, northern
pike, muskellunge, sauger, saugeye, paddlefish and
pickerels. Catfish and paddlefish are considered
commercial fish if taken with commercial tackle.
Gigging – Taking fish with a 3-4 pronged device
on a shaft. Only rough fish [gar, bowfin, common
carp, Asian carp (grass carp, bighead carp, silver
carp), sucker (including buffalo), bullhead and
drum] may be taken with a gig. For season
information, check Page 10 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.
Hogging – The grabbing of fish by hand only in or
under the water. It is unlawful to raise any part of a natural or artificial device out of the water thereby
aiding in the capture of enclosed fish. For season
information, check pages 10-11 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.
Noodling – The taking of fish by the use of a polemounted
breakaway hook that detaches at the time
of the strike or catch, or snare type device with an
attached line manipulated by hand when a person
is in or under the water. It is unlawful to raise any
part of a natural or artificial device out of the water
thereby aiding in the capture of enclosed fish. For
season information, check pages 10-11 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.
Length Limit – Minimum Length Limit :
The shortest length of a fish of a designated
species that can be kept. MAXIMUM LENGTH
LIMIT: The maximum length of a fish of a
designated species that can be kept. PROTECTED
LENGTH LIMIT: A size limit that prohibits
anglers from keeping fish within a designated
size group. Unless otherwise specified, all fish are
measured from the front of the lower jaw with the
mouth closed to the tip of the tail with tail lobes
pressed together when laid flat on a rule. All fish
not meeting the length limit requirements for a
particular water or species must be immediately
released into the water where caught.
Rough Fish – Gar (except alligator gar), bowfin,
common carp, Asian carp (grass carp, bighead
carp, silver carp), sucker (including buffalo),
bullhead and drum.
Snagging – Fishing with conventional rods and
reels where the fish is impaled by the forceful
retrieval of one or more hooks. Snagging sport fish
from a bank may only be done within 100 yards
below a dam (prohibited below the Upper White
Oak Lake Dam). Sport fish may be snagged from
a boat located or anchored from 100 yards below
all locks and dams on the Arkansas River to the
downstream entrance point of the lock structure
and from 100 yards below Dam number 2 to the
boat launching ramps immediately below the dam.
Any sport fish snagged must be kept, applied to the
daily limit and may not be sold. Half the sport fish
daily limit may be taken by snagging, or the lesser
whole number nearest one-half the limit, when the
limit is an odd number, although a full limit of
catfish and paddlefish may be taken. Snagging must
cease whenever a limit of any species is attained. For
season information, check Page 11 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.
Spearfishing – Taking fish with a spear-like
apparatus. For season information, check Page 11 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.
Sport Fish – see game fish.
Tackle – Rod, reel, pole, line, net, yo-yo, minnow
seine or other devices used to fish. Commercial
tackle such as gill nets, hoop nets, trammel nets,
traps or snaglines may not be used to catch game
fish.
To Fish – To take, catch, kill, collect, net, trap,
spear or otherwise attempt to reduce fish to
possession. Fish may not be taken with electrical
devices, firearms, explosives, or toxic, stupefying or
killing substances.
Trotline, Setline and Limbline Fishing
Requirements – Trotline, setline and limblines
are allowed for sport fishing in most areas. (Check
pages 56-77 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook). The drops or hooks may not be less
than twenty-four (24) inches apart and the catch
must be removed daily. All trotlines, setlines and limblines must be clearly labeled with the name
and address, or vehicle operator’s license number, or
current vehicle license number of the person using
such equipment. Information must be attached
on each line at the bank end. Cotton lines are not
required. Anglers may not fish more than 100
hooks at any time between the main levees of the
Mississisppi River. Trotlines may not be used below
any lock or dam on the Arkansas River from the
dam to the nearest arrival point navigation marker
downstream. Stakes used for mounting yo-yos or limblines on AGFC-owned lakes must be made
from wood or cane and must be removed from the
lake when not in use.
Using Live Bait – Baitfish include bluntnose
minnows, bullhead catfish, bullhead minnows,
chubs, crayfish, dace, fatheads, common carp
under six inches (Common carp may not be used
as bait in certain waters. See pages 56-69 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook), goldfish,
shiners, stonerollers, logperch (also called sand pike
or zebra minnows), gizzard and threadfin shad,
gar (other than alligator gar), drum, bowfin under
six inches, skipjack herring, silversides (brook
and inland), buffalo (bigmouth, smallmouth,
and black), river carpsucker, sculpin (banded and
Ozark) and bream under four inches long. Bream
longer than four inches may be used as bait only if
first taken by hook and line and are subject to daily
limit restrictions.
With the exception of shad, baitfish may not be
taken in the area within 100 yards below a dam.
During daylight hours, baitfish may be taken using
- seines no larger than 50 feet long and four feet
wide with quarter-inch mesh;
- square traps no larger than six feet by six feet by
three feet with half-inch mesh and with a throat
size of two inches and round traps no longer
than three feet in diameter and six feet in length
and with a throat size of 2 inches with up to
half-inch wire or mesh;
- lift traps used for commercial fishing must be no
larger than six feet by six feet by three feet with half-inch mesh. Sport fishing lift traps must have
one inch (or smaller) square bar mesh;
- cast nets with one-inch (or smaller) mesh;
- shad trawl nets with one-inch (or smaller) mesh;
- glass, plastic or wire mesh minnow traps no larger
than one gallon with a one-and-a-half inch (or
smaller) throat;
- hand-operated dip nets with one inch (or smaller)
square bar mesh for use while sport fishing. This
method may be used day or night. All other
species of fish must be immediately released.
You may not use live wild-caught baitfish on Norfork
Lake unless said bait was caught on Norfork Lake
(includes the watershed above the lake) or was
purchased from an Arkansas licensed dealer on
Norfork Lake. Dispose of leftover bait properly.
Dump minnows and other live bait in their original
water source or in a trash receptacle. See pages 46, 50
and 51 of the
2010 Arkansas Fishing Guidebook for more information on how you can protect
Arkansas’s waters.
Yo-Yo Fishing – Up to 30 yo-yos (or similar
mechanical devices) per person may be used as
long as they are not left unattended (out of sight
or hearing) during daylight hours, and no more
than one is hung from a line, wire, limb or support.
Yo-yos must be labeled with the owner’s name and
address or vehicle operator’s license number, or
current vehicle license number of the person using
such equipment. Stakes used for mounting yo-yos
or limblines on AGFC-owned lakes must be made
from wood or cane and must be removed from the
lake when not in use.