Lake Arrowhead

Lake Arrowhead has fishing structure with an oilfield history: 15 old derricks remained when the reservoir filled, after the wells were capped and sealed. Those structures give crappie anglers a distinctly different target from the lake’s bridge rock and shoreline vegetation.

Crappie: work a depth, not just a landmark

Try a small jig or minnow beside submerged cover, starting higher in the water and lowering it gradually. A derrick is a place to search, not a promise that fish will be underneath it. Compare bites at the same depth around bridge cover or a brush pile before deciding the fish have moved.

From the Little Wichita River to a city water supply

Wichita Falls built Arrowhead on the Little Wichita River. Construction ran from May 1965 to December 1966, with deliberate impoundment beginning that October. A 2013 survey measured 230,359 acre-feet of capacity at a pool elevation of 926 feet. That is surveyed capacity, not the amount of water in the lake today.

Beyond the derricks

For largemouth bass, explore lower-lake rock, points and available vegetation with a shad-pattern crankbait or soft plastic. In the upper lake, timber and the backs of coves provide another kind of cover to test. Cut shad is a practical catfish offering; keep it close to the bottom without burying the hook point.

White bass call for a more mobile approach. A small spoon lets you cast toward surface activity and then fish beneath it if the school sounds. Make the next move from what you see—baitfish, birds and bites—rather than repeatedly visiting a quiet waypoint.

Reading the numbers

The fishing reference lists 14,969 acres, while the 2013 water-supply survey mapped 14,506 acres at its stated pool elevation. Different surveys and operating levels explain why published lake dimensions need a date and a basis. Neither figure describes a fixed shoreline through drought and refill cycles.