FoxMan2099

Amazing. Looks pristine, must've been awesome.

Ah, I forgot something important! I caught my first ever Freshwater Drum at a nearby muddy pond. Man that thing was ugly. It was about the size of a nice white crappie, different shaped body of course. But on our light tackle I had to take my time with it lol. Geez those fish are ugly. But it was cool to catch my first one and mark it off the list in the back of my mind. I've done that twice now up here in NWA, caught that ugly Drum and caught an awesome little Ozark Bass, which I had never seen before (even had to look it up).

That's what I suspected about catfish in the streams, glad to hear it confirmed. And a big yessir about putting the smallies back---the only black bass I keep are spotted bass, and then only on the rare occasion that we're keeping a mess of fish for a fish fry.

Thanks! I've read threads with very little posting, so I decided I needed to contribute more. I do appreciate the good info and fish talk on here.

Thanks, good to know!

No kidding! Although I have to relent and let them have some of that time, too :/ It's weird how schools sort of endorse the that lifestyle. Like, "bring you iPad or i-this or i-that." I'm not anti-technology (I can't be since I teach online courses!), but I wonder what the long-term results are going to be of ingraining it into kids to live on their tech, and that they can't function without it.

These fish are all from within a half hour of Fayetteville. Most are from creeks that feed the Illinois River or in that area, OR creeks closer to the West Fork of the White River area. The first time I caught a smallmouth up here I was skeptical that it was one . . . I had never seen one so bronze and so lacking in dark vertical stripes. Of course, I had only caught a few in my entire life before moving up here, so there's that!

First, I have some fishing limitations. Not my 15-year-old. He often outfishes me. But every time we get ready to head out, I have this perfect little 4-year-old who puts on his hat and sandals and wants to wade the waters with us And though this limits what we can do a bit, we wouldn't have it any other way!!!! Also, we don't have a boat or anything. I hope to start saving for a car rack or bars or something and a canoe or kayaks soon. I have a forester, so I think that'll be perfect, but it's down the road. So as mentioned above, we just make the most of it and bank fish or, more often, wade the clear streams and fish with light tackle. SMALLIES: I grew up a really good ways west of Little Rock in a place called Moody Hollow. I never caught a smallmouth in my life down there (though plenty of Largemouth and, if there's a hole of water down there, you can bet there are Kentuckies/Spotted Bass in it). Up here in NWA, I've caught dozens now. I'm still chasing the big one, as my largest ones are in the 2 to 3 lb. range. But the pick below (I'm the fat guy, not the kids!) is what we catch (and release) a lot in the creeks. PANFISH: Wow, what a blessing to have access to so many panfish around here! We've got some creeks that REALLY produce the Green Sunfish and Longears, plus some Bluegill too. And of course in June we made a couple trips to area lakes to produce one heck of a family fish fry on slab bluegills (and Spotted Bass, which are the only bass I keep, and then not very often; also some Greenies, but they have to be HUGE for me to keep since they don't seem to produce much fillet meat like a Bluegill). ROCK BASS: I guess I could talk about these in "Panfish." I LOVE catching the big rock bass in the creeks up here. I've caught and released some jumbos, that's for sure. I guess folks don't target 'em or anything, but my teen and I do (or try to). I love their fight, and they look awesome up here with their sort of dark and light camo pattern. NON-TARGETING: I love that really, though, we don't have to target anything in the creeks. We use light tackle---I personally like Joe's Flies for creek fishing. I look forward to learning more about Arkie Lures, though, since they're local. Also keep some rooster tails and similar lures in my undersized tackle box. But we target areas more than fish, and as a result we catch a ton of Longears and Greenies in the creeks with occasional Smallmouths and Rock Bass (oh and Bluegill, though we do better in the lakes and ponds with those). Heck, I even caught one fish that I think (after looking it up) is a Golden Redhorse (some beautiful sucker fish) and all kinds of odds and ends. QUESTIONS & GOALS: My teen REALLY wants to catch some catfish (I think he wants to eat some more than anything!), so my goal for the end of this summer (or for next year) is to put him on some. Our tackle is on the lighter side (biggest reals use 8 lb. line). Any suggestions from some of you veteran fisherman out there? Also, someone told me there's White Perch around here. Is that true? I'm talking about the fish that's part of the morone family like White Bass. Anyone know? I've never caught one and would like to mark it off of that list! Here are some pics of me and my boys from Year 1 up here. I love living in the Ozarks and feel really blessed to be here. I hope it shows in this post and in these pics. Eventually I look forward to learning to catch the Trout and maybe kayaking or canoeing to some honey holes we can't really get to yet! Blessings, FoxMan2099

Welcome from another noob to this site

I'm seriously thinking two kayaks, one for me and the teen, and when the teen is gone some day (already starting to get blue over that one!) my son who is now 4 will get it as a hand me down. I'm saving to do that next spring. My brother in law who runs Moro Bay State Park waaaaay down in south Arkansas suggested it's mathematically cheapest to rent boats for half a day. I think he's on to something. Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Thank you, that sounds immensely helpful. One thing I need to learn is simply where to access all these great waters. With two kids and an educator's income (ha!) it'll most likely be a long while before a boat is even an option! I'll get this book ASAP, thanks.

The lakes near us (Benbrook and Worth) and all rivers and creeks in and near the Forth Worth metro are toxic enough to be either a no-eating-the-fish water OR so many restrictions on various fish that you don't feel comfortable eating anything else! We did make the occasional trip to a good state park (Mineral Wells) to bring home some panfish when the craving got too strong

Greetings, My family and I recently moved to Fayetteville. I grew up past Ferndale, which is west of Little Rock. I spent the last six years in Fort Worth, TX. I took my son (and then sons!) fishing a lot there, but: 1. You pretty much can't eat fish out of most of the rivers and lakes in that area; and 2. The fishing was completely different down there! In the warmer waters down there we wore out Green Sunfish and Spotted Bass (and others) with a variety of spinners and tube jigs. The kids loved it. We always had a good time with catch-and-release. I signed up to post on Ozark Anglers because I could stand to learn some new tactics for fishing in NWA. It's a different animal, that's for sure! We wade and fish some of the smaller creeks around us and have had some luck catching smaller sunfish (including my first and only Ozark Bass, which I had to look up online!). I look forward to reading through the forums and posting lots of questions for everyone! I'm a life-long and very experienced bank, river, and creek fisherman, but this is a new region for me and I've got a lot to learn. FoxMan2099