Lake Hamilton is a very popular lake to fish. With its location right in Hot Springs and all the homes on the water, this lake gets so much angling pressure. The lake still provides a lot of action with some big fish too, but don’t expect to find too many spots to have all to yourself while fishing here. Anglers target a variety of bass, crappie, catfish, walleye and bream.
Bluegill
Bluegill and other bream are in the lake. Anglers usually target them around all of docks and shoreline cover. You will have to sort through plenty of smaller ones to find some fish to eat.
Catfish
Catfish are here too, although, most anglers do not target them. Channel catfish and blue catfish can be found in the lake and some big fish are here too. Fish the shorelines early in the year and then find deeper water from summer through fall. They will also suspend out over deeper water and feed on shad.
Crappie
Lake Hamilton does have good numbers of crappie in it and some very big fish are here too. There are better crappie lakes in the area, but if you’re looking to target them on Lake Hamilton, spring is best for most anglers. You can find crappie around the brush piles and docks along the shorelines as they move shallow to spawn. Once the summer patterns set in, plan on fishing for crappie on the deeper brush piles and out in open water as they school up and suspend around schools of bait fish.
Hybrid Striped Bass
Lake Hamilton is stocked with hybrid striped bass. There are plenty of them in the lake and they can provide good action for anglers that are targeting some open water stripers on Lake Hamilton. Many anglers will fish the deeper, open waters here and they will catch hybrid striped bass and regular striped bass too.
Largemouth Bass
Lake Hamilton has good numbers of largemouth bass in the lake, but there is a lot of angling pressure on these fish. Most anglers will fish the obvious shoreline cover, which consists of lots of docks and anything that is near the docks such as rocks and brush piles. You won’t find a lot of big largemouth bass in the lake, but there are some big bass here too. It is definitely more of a numbers lake, however, it can be tough on some anglers due to all the fishing pressure, pleasure boats, etc.
Spotted Bass
Spotted bass are here too and can be found in many of the same spots as you will find largemouth bass. Once the spawn is over though, most anglers will report the better bite for spotted bass in a little deeper water than where you will find the majority of largemouth bass.
Striped Bass
Even with all the angling pressure on Lake Hamilton, anglers catch some absolute giants every year. Striped bass up to and above 50 pounds are common on Lake Hamilton. Just don’t expect to catch tons of striped bass though. The angling pressure combined with all the recreational boaters can make it tough at times, but the fish are here.
Walleye
There is a fishable population of walleye on Lake Hamilton and some anglers do come here to specifically target them. It is a lot easier to target them early in the spring and in the winter when you have a lot less boat traffic. During the summer, you need to get away from the shorelines and fish deeper, but that can be a little difficult with all the pleasure boaters in the summer. Fishing early in the a.m. and at night will usually give you the best chance to catch them in the summer and fall.
White Bass
White bass are common in the lake. Some anglers target them exclusively when they spawn in the spring. Many anglers will run into white bass while targeting crappie. They can be fun to catch and when the bite is tough, they can provide some excellent entertainment for the kids.
Yellow Bass
Yellow bass are here too, but secondary to the other species of bass.
