chub minnow

Interesting, I saw the same thing - filleted crappie off a bridge on the upper Spavinaw in Benton County (another small wild trout stream). Probably just people cleaning or dumping their fish they caught in a lake somewhere else was what I figured.

If that 7x fluorocarbon spends any time in the hot car it's done. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on, but now I always (almost) bring my vest inside at the end of the day. This seems to have really extended the life those fine 6x and 7x fluro tippets.

Yep we were gonna do it, but the 2 year old was a little grumpy, probably not the best weather for a fussy toddler. I was interested in their future plans. No need to meet the MDC enforcer, we've met several times

Not blown completely out of proportion, FWS states that the Neosho hatchery faces potential closure due to it's mitigation role. They just spent big money renovating the hatchery with new visitor center, educational rooms etc. It's madness to spend millions(?)on something only to turn around and de-fund it. It sounds like the COE is at the heart of the problem (as per usual). Let's cut out some high paid engineers over at the Army Corps to come up with the money. Maybe if we quit giving money away in Afghanistan we could take care of our business at home. Seriously, if we don't cut defense and entitlements we might as well quit trying.

Yes, it is the old highway and bridge so it's actually paved (sort of) and starts right across from the gas station McDonald's etc. right there at the last Huntsville "exit".

Found 'em 15' down in about 25' of water on the main lake. Dock is over a series of drop offs directly adjacent to a gravel / chunk rock beach on a main point. I don't think that there are a lot of trees, but I'm not sure what exactly is down there -especially at this level. BTW- the little ones are bluegill, we weren't poaching.

I don't know who they are targeting their soft plastics at, but they don't carry anything I use in the right size or color. Same deal at the Joplin store. I haven't been to the Fort Smith location, but pretty sure they are all EXACTLY the same. That's why they didn't want the vacant Sportsman's Warehouse location right across the street in Rogers. You can't carry different merchandise and keep the stores exactly the same, so they apparently have decided they don't need to target their merchandise to local conditions. Sportsman's Warehouse had much better selection and service, but I guess that model isn't profitable anymore. Southtown and Hook Line & Sinker will get 95% of my business now.

Yep that's kind of what the map indicates. You can park on highway property if you have 4wd, but I wouldn't leave my car there for very long.

Lots of streams between the Boston and Springfield flow north - King's river, War Eagle etc. In fact almost no rivers flow south in Northwest / Central Ark.

Yep pretty sure a buddy and I saw a few Quail down at the field adjacent to the last parking lot. There's a wooded area near the the confluence w/Shoal. They were in the field near that treeline. Filed was recently cut. Now I'm not an expert ornithologist or anything, but we both thought they were quail.

Quail - yes.

No there aren't any fish below Stoney Point at all. Don't even bother going down there - you wouldn't like it.

Sounds fishy to me. -Sorry, couldn't resist. Really though, that thing must have been bigger around than it was long.

They check your ID at the same time as license (trust me), so you can't give it to a buddy (unless he looks like you and has your ID). If you don't have ID and can't recite SS#, you are going to get a ticket no matter what fishing license you have.

No doubt.

Sure I can see it as being possible, but I'd say if Vegas was setting odds it would be 10 to 1 in favor a record coming out of a reservoir where they can feed on balls of shad AND crayfish etc. I guess my point is that I probably would have released a 24" CC or Buffalo smallmouth (after pictures and measuring)knowing that it's not a state record. Now if I thought it was way over 7#, then things might be different.

Here's a 21" creek smallie that came in around 3#, so I'd say a 5-6# 24 incher is a definite possibility. This guy just about broke me off on 6# test, but wasn't the trophy I though I had at first. They can just be really lean and mean so I doubt a state record will ever come from a creek or river (unless connected to a reservoir). The creek he came from was surprisingly small and low at the time, so he was thin and I'm guessing, pretty darn old. With any luck he still swims.... maybe he's 24" now.

All the ramps on the upper end had heavy ice (@1") yesterday, but it was starting to melt later in the afternoon. Even War Eagle creek was iced over! I'm guessing the lower end will be fine by tomorrow.

Yum Dinger...

Our trip was June 11-14th starting at the low water bridge at McDowell. We floated 3-4 miles to some point upstream of Stubblefield access the first night. This was the area where we caught several crappie as well as lots of bass. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise that would signal the start of a great day. At some point a few miles downstream there was a bluff that was absolutely covered in growth thanks to the numerous waterfalls seeping out between the rocks. Camp the second night was in the national forest stretch I believe (between 39 and EE). We woke up to a heavy fog that was as slow to rise as we were on this Sunday morning. We ate a HUGE breakfast of 24 eggs, 2 pounds of sausage, 4 peppers, 2 onions and a bunch of greens. We did finally get going and headed out for highway EE bridge where we would be losing three members of the party. This stretch is pretty shallow, but we still managed to catch lots of little fish, including a nice catfish that would be part of Sunday night dinner. Once we departed from highway EE bridge we were down to the three buddies that have been hanging out since high school. At some point in the afternoon we digressed to our youth and put away the poles in favor of a few of the numerous rope swings (I swear there is one on every bend of this stretch of river). After this, the river starts to pick up speed and current as it plunges faster towards the old James River. We camped just a few miles above the start of flat water for the night and had a dinner of beans and greens with catfish and goggleye. We hung out all morning the next morning after another huge egg breakfast and joked about old times until the storm clouds started gathering. We had been worried about flooding the whole trip, but now we weren't worried because we were close to the lake. We should have hurried a little more. We fished our way into the lake I managed a nice little walleye right before our own private hell started, at least for the two of us in canoes. The wind started to pick up right as the lake widened and our progress was limited to a crawl while expending huge amounts of energy just to keep the boat heading into the wind. The two of us watched the kayak disappear around the final turn as we tying together to battle the wind in tandem (at least we would have a paddle in the water on both sides!). We did finally make it to the dock at the Flat Creek Grill and headed up to have a burger. That tasted great after 4 days of beans, greens and fish. Once we loaded two canoes a kayak and all our gear in the (short) bed of pickup we made our way (slowly) back to the put in to see if the shuttle car was still there after 4 days. Thankfully it was fine.

We did McDowell to Cape Fair with almost no dragging. Tree is still across the river and the portage was a pain, But other than that we had a great trip. Caught all species of bass We also caught crappie, catfish and I managed a nice Walleye right as we hit the lake. I'll post pics and more details later.

Zack - Is the highway washed out, or are you talking about that little goat trail under the bridge? I almost got stuck down there before the rains (3 weeks ago). I assume that it's completely washed out now.

You'll have to have an outfitter drop you at McMullen, don't know if they'll let you leave the car. Any of the outfitters will shuttle your vehicle to the 62 bridge downstream. King's River Outfitters, or Riverside Resort are your best (but expensive) bet. King's River Retreat (next to K.R.O.) will probably do that for you as well. Paddling very far upstream from McMullen farm would be quite the feat especially in these flows. As long as you're paying for access - I'd go for the shuttle.

Gitzits are great, Bitsy Tubes are even better on a 1/8 or 1/4 oz weedless jig head. Bounce 'em off the bottom like a crawfish - bounce-bounce-pause and repeat. If the water is really moving you can probably catch some on spinnerbaits or small crankbaits, but I would look for backwater and use a trick worm to find the big guys. They were on beds, but I don't know what this last big rain did to that.

If the water is on the high side of what you are comfortable with you can also start above Powell near the highway 90 bridge - about 6-7 miles upstream. The flow is much less before Mike's Creek dumps in.