chub minnow

We had great luck on the 24th as well. The biggest fish went about 16-17" and put up a great fight. I had the best luck on a #8 black ugly bugger, but they were biting on everything including salmon egg and bead head nymphs. My buddy was catching them on white plastic grubs as well. It seems that there are more large fish than ever. Hopefully more people are obeying the catch and release rules.

I'd love to do it, but I think I'm required to watch the Cotton Bowl!

Point well taken ollie.

So this would tend to indicate that they don't stock browns in Hickory. The MDC lists stocking dates for rainbows but says nothing about browns. That certainly doesn't mean that they aren't there, I'm just wondering if there is a self sustaining population.

Maybe this will inspire you to fish the White more often! big_brown.htm brook.htm

Chief - That is one of those new Toyota 4wds, but not as big as it seems. I was surprised to find that it gets @20 mpg. I suppose browns could reproduce in Hickory, I just wonder about the sustained flow on the upper half. Are we talking upstream of Hwy 60, or between there and 86?

We can probably make it by 9-ish. I'll probably have the wife as well. Thats six total? Sounds like we need a couple more for a pack of brats.

I was sorting through some pictures and realized how nice it is fishing the Conservation area on the Crane. There is a real diversity of wildlife out there(aside from the wild trout) I thought I would share these and see if anyone else has some good photos from Crane Creek.

Wow, I may have to hit Capps this weekend while I'm up that way!

Not doubting your catch, I just thought they only stocked rainbows in Hickory. I don't know where I got this idea other than I thought they usually stocked browns in streams that had potential for natural reproduction. I don't think that little stretch of Hickory fits that description, but again, maybe I'm wrong. The ride is a yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Nope I drive a yellow FJ, you can't miss it. As far as a brown making it from Capps, I don't see him surviving all of the bridges and wastewater in between. Have you ever counted the number of chicken houses on Shoal? Now then, how did that golden trout get in there a couple years ago? I think someone is messing with us.

Wow, I've never even seen a brown in Hickory much less caught one. Is the MDC stocking these? Are other people stocking this creek? I'm always full of questions. Just curious by nature, I guess.

I plan on being there. Let me know the rules of engagement.

I will already be up that way the weekend of Thanksgiving. Planned on fishing Capps, Hickory and possibly upper Shoal Creek that weekend.

One of the biggest smallmouth I caught this year was at Gar Hole on the War Eagle. As the name implies - tons of gar. I caught it on a plastic crawfish. Relevant? Probably not.

Nice Chunk!

Little friend? Anyway - we did camp on the beach at The Owl's Nest area. We had a great float. We thought it might rain for a little while, but the clouds broke and it was a beautiful day. The water was up and clear. There was just a little color to it. We didn't get much fishing done (bachelor party) along the way, but I saw some really nice smallies and largemouth. It was pretty tough to fish from the boat due to the current and submerged grass anyway. I'm not sure redfish, but I think it's at around 10 miles from cyclone to the bridge in Pineville on the river.

We're going to be doing the upper Big Sugar on Saturday. It's a bachelor party float-fish-campout-cookout type of thing so we'll probably spook all of the fish up there if it's even clear enough to fish by then. It should be fun though, that section has some of the steepest gradient of the whole run. It was running over 1000 cfs at Powell last time I checked.

We usually just use the 16' Mad River - it handles better than a regular canoe and takes the abuse of low water pretty well. Just as long as I'm not taking it for a drag I'll be happy. Gotta get home so I can post that pic. Maybe I can get out earlier tomorrow and hit the river tomorrow.

Is there still good water up on the Big Sugar? There is a great hidden access upstream of Big Rock that makes a nice fish / float down to Sugar Island. It seems like I always have better luck upstream of Sugar Island. My biggest river smallmouth was caught between Crag 'O' Lea and Sugar Island. I'll post the pic later.

What area were you fishing? I bet it was nice with the moon and all. Wish I'd thought of it.

Understandable - I was at the down there (Mulberry) as well. Great weekend, but I'm ready for some fishing. We'll probably do some trout fishing this weekend but would love to do that stretch this fall.

The numbers of small fish, particularly smallmouth are incredible this year. We did a two day company float back in July and caught hundreds of fish. I think the large numbers keep 'em hungry.

How far is that from highway 45 bridge?

There is good wading access at Hwy 62 Bridge east of Eureka, but lots of swimming / flailing going on there. Try the Stoney Point access north of Eureka on Hwy 143. It goes north off of 62 between Eureka and Berryville. We floated from there to Romp Hole on the 4th and only saw one other group. The fishing was great, we caught lots of smallies and gog's, even a catfish! Everybody said it was one of their best trips ever. The water was kind of high and stained and it seemed like the darker colors were working better. Every smallmouth we caught had a crawdad in it's throat. Hope this helps! BTW- I'll post some pics later. (left the camera at work) http://maps.google.com/maps?um=1&tab=w...0143%20arkansas