chub minnow

Bitsy tubes on a weedless jig. Like Lilley said 1/16, 1/8, 3/32 are the right weights. All of my biggest fish have come on the trick worm rigged on a spot remover, in the same weights. Right now the water has enough color to use #6 fluoro or copolymer with no problem. I would recommend staying away from the #2 line, you might lose a monster largemouth. For the most bites go with the jig or very small (2.5") bitsy tubes or the YUM craws in the green color. I have caught huge #'s of fish on these (50+ days). As I said before though, you'll catch the big boys on the trick or finesse worm. As for people on the river, the canoe hatch should be coming on pretty strong starting tomorrow. If you go above Cyclone, it's not going to be too bad. Below that, it could get pretty busy. If you are thinking of fishing on the Elk below Pineville it better be real early in the morning. By midday the canoe hatch will be in full swing with everyone depositing their hatch (aluminum cans) on beds (river bottom). It's a real problem on the Elk that is improving, but I don't even go down there during the 'season'.

Losing what little topsoil they had around their roots doesn't help much either.

That's true, the sycamores will probably make it. Maples might as well. The oaks, (except any river or swamp oaks) are done for as well as any redbuds, dogwoods etc. I think most of the brush will come back pretty readily, but I'm not sure. I'm not really sure how the hickories will handle it either, but I'm thinking it will be tough on them. Sassafras, bodark, birches, cottonwood and poplars should weather it depending on the duration of flooding. It will definitely change the makeup of the shoreline for a while. I think the redbuds that have been at our place since I can remember (sometime in the mid 70's) are toast. Hate to see 'em go.

I wouldn't read is as an admission of guilt to breaking the law, but rather that he may not agree with some regulations. Specifically, those that allow people to catch and keep large creels of fish. That's how I took it. What is it Cadillac?

It sounds like CadillacCricket is a catch and release guy, so what's wrong with that Chief? Sorry, I just don't understand your post. Can you enlighten me?

More specifically, small tubes 3" or less and you'll catch more fish (Bitsy Tubes). The shakey head is great as well, try a big zoom trick worm. I also like the YUM 2.5" craw bugs. Tear part of a pincher off and watch out! The smallies seem to love these smaller craws, esp. in a green color.

Good to hear, thanks for the report.

Taxi: As I said before, what you do with your trash on your land is your business. When people start dumping their problems off on other peoples property or waterways is when they are in the wrong. Being poor or uneducated does not give you the right to violate someone else's property rights or pollute our streams. It's not really the cows that concern me, it's the appliances and autos. I'm certainly no city slicker either. Spent my youth in Shell Knob, Newtonia, and Neosho - not exactly the city. My grandfathers farm on Shoal Creek was miles from the nearest dump, yet somehow he managed to raise cattle and a family without creating dump sites on other peoples property or the creek. No matter how you justify or explain it, it is simply WRONG. In my business I frequently dump all sorts of stuff at the landfill that is not bio-degradeable. You just have to pay more. Call Waste Management or some other large waste company and ask. Finally, no one is more sympathetic to the tornado victims than I am. As I mentioned, that is my home turf and I know many people who lost homes and family members, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. There are problems far more important, but a little awareness of the problem is not bad thing either. To sum up, YOUR TRASH=YOUR PROBLEM. Now I'm done beating this dead cow.

Phil, Here's some links that might help. I would definitely want to start out on one of the Sugar's or the Indian. Absolutely beautiful streams and water. Incredible numbers of fish as well. Big Sugar from Powell is my personal favorite. http://www.missouricanoe.org/river-maps/elksugar.html Big Sugar Creek Park -nice trails with great waterfalls and a great place to stop along the creek. http://www.mostateparks.com/bigsugar/map.htm Park description: http://www.mostateparks.com/bigsugar.htm

Nice smallies Russ, looks like you've sparked some interest in the Elk. Funny how one picture of a giant river smallie will do that Looks like the river is in good shape, we might be contacting you about shuttling an overnighter from Cooper's to your place. (I gotta get to 'em before Lilley does!)

If you put enough breading and grease on anything it will taste good.

If you are raising cattle, you most likely have a tractor that you could use to bury the dead cows, it's just laziness in action. No one wants to dig a hole the size of a Cadillac, but that's the responsibility you take on when you decide to raise livestock. It's the same mentality that led to the appliances being dumped. There are places to get rid of them, but it's just not convenient so throw 'er in the crick! Again, if you can afford to buy a new washer, you can afford to dispose of the old one. Laziness and ignorance are at the root of this problem. Thankfully, you might be able to correct the latter. You probably won't change the people who are doing it now, but hopefully their children can break out of the cycle of ignorance and understand that they are not only destroying something beautiful, but possibly poisoning themselves or others in the process. Good work DQ, stick to it. Taxi: In repsonse to your question on sinks, toilets, etc try the landfill next time you trade toilets. You can always find a place to PROPERLY dispose of waste, it may not be easy but it's doable. Contact the county or waste disposal company in your area. Save up your junk and make one big trip to the :gasp: city and pay :gasp again: to dump it. Like my mom always said "You made that mess, now YOU are going to clean it up!" It's all about personal responsibility, don't push your problem off on someone else because it's hard.

We were down for a long weekend and had a similar experience. We caught only K's and SM's. The Kentuckies were busting with eggs, but the smallmouth my wife caught had already done her thing and was very lightly colored. She caught her on 4" tube in very shallow water with chunk/gravel bottom while we were bank fishing (waiting for the laundry to dry). We fished mainly on Kings River where we caught all kentuckies, with a couple of goggleye thrown in for good measure. We saw 'em busting shad on points but couldn't ever hook up. All of the fish came off the bottom with various craw imitations. Had one spectacular strike bouncing a spinner through some downed wood, but missed the hookup.

They're biting pretty good now, just go small.

To strengthen your case, there would also be contaminants from batteries, coolant, transmission fluid etc. If there happens to be a refrigerator or a.c. unit there, the freon would be considered a contaminant as well I believe. It sounds to me like people are dumping off of a road onto property that belongs to someone else. It is possible that the landowner would be willing to work with you to stop this. At the very least he might agree to a "No Dumping" sign. That might curtail it a bit. I would definitely try to develop a partnering relationship with the landowner before you go down the adversarial path. No one desires trash on their property, they often just don't have the resources to dispose of it properly.

No cruelty exists? How did you determine that Taxi? I'm not saying these particular cows were victims of cruelty, but I do know that people often get away with starving livestock and other cruelties. This brings us to Hoglaw's needless cruelty statement. How do you define needless? Do we need to stack chickens into tiny cages and drive them across two counties to the nearest processing plant? Probably so if we want to keep prices low, but if you really think about it it is pretty hard on the birds. I think the problem with the weak and seldom enforced cruelty law is the same as our air and water quality. The legislature prioritizes economics over air and water quality as well the animal cruelty issues. Until tourism surpasses the poultry industry in this state, that's the way it will remain. One bright light at the end of the tunnel is that the cost of chemical fertilizer is skyrocketing with the cost of fuel. This could make shipping poultry litter out of our area as fertilizer feasible. It certainly won't help with the old appliances though;) All I am getting at is that I agree with Hoglaw when he says "The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Go take some pictures. If you have GPS, get the coordinates of the dumpsites. They're likely on private property and the landowners may ultimately be responsible. If no one complains, nothing will happen, that's guaranteed. I'm not sure but I would assume the best way to approach this is from a water quality standpoint. The landowner has the right to put whatever he wants on his land, but that probably changes if he is polluting someone else's water (especially the State or Army Corp's water). Taxidermist: Have you spent time on rivers in the two states? Missouri's rivers are much cleaner, with less trash and much better numbers of fish (except the White) on all of the rivers and creeks. Less broken glass, trash and autos, and from what I've seen, less poaching. Arkansas, in my opinion, has only been able to maintain healthy waterways through dumb luck and the hard work of individuals like those that saved the Buffalo. Just one man's observation.

I'll be surprised if you get much out of the ADEQ. I know for certain that due to powerful CFO operators in this state (Tyson, George's, Cargill) that animal waste is not considered a pollutant. I'll bet this definition includes carcasses as well. This lobby would also be the reason for a complete lack of animal cruelty laws in this state, but I digress. ADEQ might do something about the auto and appliance dumping, but from what I can tell, all they really care about is erosion control on construction sites etc., which is a good thing. I just know that the laws regarding water and air quality in Arkansas are weak to nonexistent. This lack of regulation and enforcement at the state level has allowed poultry producers to spread waste in river bottom farm fields directly adjacent to waterways. The state of Oklahoma was suing the producers as well as the state of Arkansas to clean up the problem on the Illinois. I think your best bet is to work locally with judges, law enforcement etc. Many of these people are probably outdoors types, as opposed to the Little Rock bureaucrats at ADEQ. Good luck with this endeavor and keep us posted on how it's going.

The water trick works even better if you freeze them in a ziploc first then fill the bag with water and freeze. This keeps water from absorbing into the meat and damaging it when it freezes. I've kept trout and panfish for up to a year this way with no freezer burn.

There are various length trips you can do. That section is about 4-5 miles depending on exact put in / take out. You can go higher up, but that's about the best all around part. The access points are detailed in the Arkansas Recreation Guide.

I mean Durham and Elkins. I shouldn't post when I'm sleepy like that. That stretch of river is kind of like if the Mulberry and Sugar were morphed together.

You should try the White east of Fayetteville between Durham and Goshen. Not as steep as the West Fork. More like Big Sugar, only a little steeper.

King's River was running at nearly 20,000 c.f.s. after the last rain. I don't see the lake coming down significantly this year. Beaver is brim full behind it and the rivers keep flooding. I may be taking the canoe to the boat dock all summer. Never thought I'd need an extra boat to be able to use my boat!

Just watch the water level. The Mulberry drops fast and if it is below 2 on the gauge it is a VERY slow trip. Add a headwind to the mix and it's tough to get anywhere. It's always hard to plan ahead for a Mulberry trip. Not many springs along the way, so if it doesn't rain you don't float.

You could do it up to 3 - 3.5. I've done it at that level in an open canoe.

Great report. Sounds like a fun trip, you were really flying. You should have fished under that big rock in your last picture. I've pulled smallies out of there till my arm got tired