Ham

I had a post almost done last night and something glitchy happened and I was too tired to try again. with more rain in Central Arkansas overnight, I really had no idea what to expect we would find water wise. I opted for Bald Knob NWR. Talked to a gentleman that worked at HQ and got some intell. I had seen Poke Break on Google Earth and it looked like Bowfin Central. I hoped it would not be chocolate milk. we had to detour around a low water bridge. It was about a foot deep but flowing hard. I opted to turn around and not drown. but before we left I threw a Baby Brush Hog over by a current swept point in the ditch. I got that solid Bowfin thump. Hard hookset, Bowfin jumped and threw the hook. I was excited and mad at the same time. Dave missed a good bite at a culvert, but that was it. We got to Poke Break and it was like a foot high probably, but everything I hoped for. I doubted we would get to sight cast them, but thought we would get it done. long story short. We didn’t. I got a few bass on a Chatterbait. I managed to micro fish one of the Starhead Too minnows. but we gave it plenty of time and we had other stuff to try. Back to the ditches. I caught a small bass. I jept expecting more, but no. walked up a culvert and there was a Grass Pickerel posted up. I quickly rerigged with a trout magnet and dabbled him out of some flooded brush. Rolled down the road to the low water that vexed us earlier. On the way, I spotted some Gar high in the water column. Dave had one that was interested. I had one that totally ignored my fly. I did pick up a nice Largemouth on fly trying for the Gar. nothing at the low water bridge. I watched like a half dozen ppl cross the low water bridge so I manned up and went across. I pushed all my chips to the center of the table and rolled the dice on a Lake Des Arc. A local said he had caught a bunch of bowfin there a few weeks ago. We added another 90 minutes of driving for an hour of fishing. Dave almost got his Lifer Spotted Gar. I added a Black Spotted Topminnow to the annual tally. I appreciate Dave coming down to fish with me. We gave it a lot of effort, but flood conditions and some missed chances for both of us were too much to overcome I guess. We had fun and saw some new water for sure. I added a couple more counties to the ledger and developed some intell that will help me going forward.

I did notice that access was limited to non existent. I apparently love a challenge

I saw that on google maps and I would like to fish it When it's not flooding. Does the water ever get close to clear?

St Francis County in Arkansas. We were fishing around Hunter, AR.

Weather has really screwed us up on this deal. I was totally confident in my Black River backwater. But that got Shut down. Day 2 is officially scrubbed. I love to fish, but I can’t make myself dive 6 plus hours to fish 5 hours in a steady rain and a 15 mph wind. Real Feel is upper 40’s. Dave might fish close to his lodging. I’m not.

It’s kinda weird. The AGFC is still monitoring them closely, but people have gotten so used to them that they aren’t reporting them as much. Snakehead can be found in the ditches alongside the farm fields near Hunter and any creek, slough, bayou, or river might have them. They can get thick in an area and then wane. People on FaceBook have been posting some impressive fish from backwaters of White River and Little Red River. They have been found in sloughs associated with Cache River also.

So much driving. I left the house before 0700. I think we were fishing by 1100. Pointed it towards home at 1700. Got home at 20:30 we fished a weird little place in St Francis County. BFE. It was as advertised. It had bass, Gar, bowfin, and snakehead. I was concerned that two guys waving fly rods in a canoe = broken rods. I fished the long pole from shore, but conventional gear in the boat.I put Dave in the front of the canoe and tried to ease him along letting him take shots in the slope. It was such heavy vegetation that the flyrod thing was difficult . I threw a Jackhammer, Baby Brush Hog, and a Teckle Sprinkle Frog. The frog is the only thing that got bit. missed a couple tentative bites from under the mat. I had a huge blow up waited a second nudged it forward and got the eat. Set and Fish On! But it was a stinkin bass. I fished a little further and got a strange bite where the fish rushed the frog horizontally. Fish kinda pushed the bait away on the strike. I never felt it. A few minutes later I got another hard horizontal strike. This fish seemed larger and struck much harder and got the frog. I set and felt weight fir just a second before it came off. I am pretty sure it was a snakehead and that was a bummer. I did get another massive strike from a bass that I was able to hook and land. We shifted gears and took the boat out of the water and tried a wide variety of areas from shore. Dave spotted a bowfin was able to get an eat. Sadly, Tge bowfin took the fly down, but didn’t fully engulf it. The hook didn’t grab. You are are not going to hook 100% of your bowfin bites, but I really wanted Dade to get that one. tough to be scouting and fishing new water on a compressed day. The fishing was Good, but the catching was terrible. I did get my fish from St Francis county and I did not have to settle for a Western Mosquito fish to do it.

With Dave along, there will be Good pics of my fish if I catch anything I need a Good picture of. And.... Dave takes Good Selfies too.

So, I’m just Full of Great ideas. For the second time, I put the wheels in motion for another Bowfin centric trip. You may remember how my Bowfin Expedition with John at Big Cypress Bayou turned out for me, but at least one of us got bowfin in the boat. If you didn’t catch the trip report, I’ll try to link it. Bowfin trip to Big Cypress Bayou. So Last year I found a Great backwater area that is Full of Fun and unusual fish species. Even a scrub like me managed to catch some of them. I even managed to target and catch a Bowfin on fly. So, this gets @FishNDave ’s attention. I fed the hype train enough that we planned for a Spring Trip. wellllllllll, we committed to the trip being next week and heavy rains have created flood conditions. My special little place is under 10 foot of muddy water. I’ve been looking online, calling lots of AGFC folks, and studying maps /aerial photographs. I am scrambling to find us a place to catch some bowfin. I have pretty firm plans for Day 1. I have lots of ideas for Day 2 and Day 3, but there is no telling where we will fish. This was gonna be an Eastern Arkansas deal, but even money that we end up in Missouri for a day. Will we fish from shore? For Sure! Will we fish from a canoe? Will Do! Will we fish from Waldo? I don't know. You guys need to remember that If Dave can’t catch them on fly, then he will just do without. I want more Bowfin on fly, but I’m not legally nor morally bound to only fly fishing. I’ll fish fly/spin/ and baitcasting. I try to not go anywhere without a micro rod. Dave is traveling down on Monday and may get his Lifer Bowfin without me. I get to start fishing on Tuesday. Dave has also abdicated all responsibility for choosing where to fish. #nopressure One thing is certain: It’s going to be long, hard days with as much driving as fishing with minimal food and sleep. (Iheartfossilfuels). As always, I hope for the Best, but I can handle and survive lots of frustration. Regardless, there will be daily updates starting Monday from Dave or I or both. It should be photo heavy. I only hope we will be able to develop a Scratch and Sniff card to go with the trip report. Hmmmm Swamp Mud My Favorite! Y’all Hide and Watch. It’s gonna be stupid.

I like the Emo Green.

I’ve used the Suffix 832. I was not wowed by it nor do I hate it. I have no plans to buy more. Ive been a huge proponent of Nanofil. I still believe it casts better than most braids, but lately it just has not held up well enough for me. Im transitioning over to the fancy finesse braid. I’ve had better experiences with both the Spro and the Daiwa 8 strand J Braid. I’m still ok with Power Pro and Power Pro V2

Man, those Table Rock Footballs are Beautiful !

KT’s BBQ in Gassvillie is as Good as any I can remember having eaten. Just sayin.

CP typically are going to avoid current. Look at the grass beds along the shorelines. The dead water areas when the river switches back or corners where a creek runs in. They hit all sorts of lures so you would like to think most flys would work. I found they like pistol Pete flys. White streamers should would too. I want a fly I can see and watch for follows. A chartreuse over white Clouser catches everything. I don’t want an overly large fly. Like a 4 or 6. in theory, a heavier abrasion resistant leader is a good idea, but the reality is that it’s a crap shoot. If the CP gets super aggressive and engulfs your fly and some inches of your leader, It’s over.I’d try to use a 10 lb or higher fluro leader, but Thursday I caught 3 of the 4 I hooked on 2 lb mono. I was try for Flier.

I’m Glad they’re working for you Marty. With proper caution, they are a Great addition for some boat trailers.

At the Quarter Pole, I’m at 68 species and and 537 total fish caught. I had to check ; the Life List is up to 194.

Probably Donald Cranor. He has a stable of guides that he works with. I think if you state out front that you want to spin fish with artificial baits he should be able to take care of you. I have no idea what it will cost. I went the expensive route and bought a boat. Ahhh Lodging. If you had a larger group, the answer would be Riley's Station and it still might be your best choice. I would consider Rim Shoals resort with Gary Flippin. Good barbless wade fishing right there at the resort which I guess wouldn't matter too much on this trip. Lots of rental options in Cotter for 2-4 people. VRBO or a web search. I wish you guys were going to be able to fish two days.

I appreciate y’all’s concern. Those fish were cold to the touch. They pulled (better as the day warmed), but we’re pretty tuckered out by the time I was getting hooks out. The Honorable Duane Doty gave me a set of Boga Grips. I will most definitely use them when necessary , but ONLY when I think it is necessary. Boga Grips can injure fish. I also have a set of the floating lip lock fish holders. Ai would have used those on the channel catfish, but they were at home with my catfish bag.

I tried to match the bait to the conditions. Depth, water temps and water color.

I got a little bit of a late start. My gear was in disarray and I had a goal today. I wanted to force feed them crankbaits. I wanted to try various rod combos I have and see if I really need another fishing pole. I was also hoping to add a few species for the year. and run the BassCat. and Not Die. So I had a successful day. I didn’t die. BassCat ran great. I was Happy with the combos I used today.no need at all for another cranking rod. And I force fed a few. water temp was about 50 degrees at the boat ramp (Fouts). Water had a little color. If you ran towards the main lake the water cleared in a Hurry and temp dropped to 49.7 I tried some clearer water and then ran back up to a transition bank near the launch. Caught one pretty quickly on RK. I moved further up the creek arm and got a little more color. I fished another transition bank with a wart. Caught a few. I ran a little further. It got just a little warmer and I caught a few spots on Teckle Drunkered. I ran back in a side pocket which was warmer and more stained. I kept the boat in 6 ft and threw to 3 foot with a Rapala Tiny OG. Water temp was like 52.5. Poor little OG got eaten. while I was there I found a nice brush like that looked to be loaded with crappie. I caught a couple to prove to myself it was. I’ll get some groceries off that pile. First White Crappie of the year for me. ran further up and found some 54 degree water, but no takers. I had a final spot I wanted to try. I ran further up and found some shallow stained water that was 56.5. A little bit of surface activity told me that White bass were there. I picked on them for longer than I should have, but not as long as I wanted too. There was a bank I wanted to grind on with a square bill. It worked. too well. I got a pretty decent channel cat and the lost my bait to what I think was a Big Flathead, but I never turned the fish much leas got him to the surface. That fish took me into some wood and broke the 15 lb Abraz X. The replace squad bill caught several Spotted Bass and LMB. I tried a Jack Hammer, but the fish didn’t like it as much as I did. No Bites. I quit with 14 Bass, 8 White Bass, 3 crappie, a Bluegill, and a Channel Cat. All fish were released. I was Very Happy with my day. I left them biting, but I have a Lifer Quest tomorrow so I needed to not bw after dark getting home. so I got a few Spotted Bass, a White Crappie, a few White Bass, and a Channel Catfish as new for the year species. That gets me to an even 60 Species for the year. I’m going to try to add to that tomorrow.

There’s all kinds of random crap in there. A chain saw chain. Some random metal pointy thing.

Here is the aforementioned display case. I want to free all the Rapalas, Spooks, the Hellbender, and a few of the old crankbaits from their illegal detention.

ACC has lots of different models. I’m Happy with mine mine. I have the 8 foot spinning rod and I deep vertical jig and spoon with it. I don’t think it would be a great choice for casting and retrieving jigs etc

We had a phenomenal couple of days using a dark smoke with copper flake. I also have done well with smoke and purple flake. Watermelon red, Green Pumpkin, and Black Blue in low light conditions.

i'd guess there is a You Tube video that I could learn from.