hoglaw

That's a likely candidate Muddy. With the buffalo, I at least know what to expect. I did Rush down towards the end of April when the 14 gauge was reading 6' with a group of folks in 2009. It was a great time. We saw a number of flatbottoms but no other canoers. There were a few base camps set up - I suspect they were turkey hunting. We also had a guy motor right past us at night, then stick frogs in our pool for about 30 minutes. I did Rush down again at the beginning of October, just me and my dog. Had high water again and it was a good thing, cause the wind was doing a steady 20mph+ the whole time I was there. It was so bad at night I didn't even mess with a fire, just went to bed at about 8. Sam and I were pretty cold and he kept scooting closer and closer to me at night. Poor guy couldn't get in my mummy bag so he did the next best thing I guess. Even with that wind and the high water I caught more fish than I could count, and every single one was taken on the same Sammy. With the combination of wind and water, it was the only thing I could present decently.

The 11 point is sounding like a likely candidate and I really appreciate everyone's responses. The other two I'm considering are the Glover River in southeast Oklahoma (seriously remote) and the Saline in central/south Arkansas. Nice to have options I guess. Anyone have any experience with either one? The Glover looks pretty awesome and I always have an Oklahoma license for one particular smallmouth spot over there, but there are some funky legal issues for out of state folks to contend with. The Saline is absolutely huge and has like 200 miles of floatable water. I know I've seen bits and pieces of it (grew up in Little Rock), but I've never spent any time on it.

I normally write off the Kings for the reason you mentioned - crowds. However, I've never floated above Rockhouse. It's pretty water dependent, but that's not a bad idea if the conditions are right. I can't remember where I used to float all the time over there. I think it was from the grandview bridge down, and I know I've done Stoney Point to Romp Hole a few times. One of my favorite camping spots is on that stretch.

And to answer the last part of your comment about the mulberry and big piney, the fishing in both is average. We have caught some very nice OLD stream bass in the Piney, but rarely connect with big fish. It's possible the fish are a little better as you get closer to Dardanelle. The mulberry has always been about the same in my experience. There are some good fish in it, but mostly average smallies. I suspect it gets much better as you get closer to the cemetary and the big river though. Someone posted a really cool pic from what I think is the lower river on here a while back. I had it as my desktop background for a while. Can't remember what thread that was, but he had some beautiful pics.

I've done every inch of the Buffalo many many times. I've done all of the Mulberry above Turner Bend many times. I'm more familiar with the Big Piney than anyone in the state. I have access to and frequently stay at the only cabin on the entire west bank (right by Helton's Farm). It's the coolest piece of property in the state. I wouldn't put in above Tyler Bend for this trip. This is more of a take your time and fish trip. Not looking for exciting floating, just good fishing and solitude. Even during peak season on the buffalo, I've rarely bumped into other canoers below Rush. Doubt I'd see more than a handfull on weekdays below Tyler, especially if conditions are good enough for folks to float the upper. I've always wanted to give the 11 pt. a shot. I figured it was pretty crowded, but have never been up there.

So last year I convinced one of the partners and one of the other associates in my firm to do a three day float with me on crooked creek. Fortunately they had a blast and are ready to do it again this spring. The only caveat being they want to go a little bigger - possibly farther away - and for four nights on the river. If you were in Northwest Arkansas and had six days in which to do a four night float, where would you go? I'm thinking it has to be within a 500 mile radius. These guys aren't going to the boundary waters. I don't really want to go north, because this will be an April event and I'd like to stay warm. The buffalo is always an option. We'd be starting during the week and finishing on a Saturday or Sunday, so the crowds would be down while we were above rush, and we would still have some solitude below it. I'm thinking this is a good chance to do something new though. My only requirements are that it be a warm water fishery and that it be a wilderness type area. More than good fishing, I want to make sure we don't see anyone else (or at least not many folks - boats on the lower buff are just a fact of life in April). Any suggestions?

I've been twice to fish in the Pop's Place Drum Rodeo in Smackover Arkansas. It's a drum "tournament" on the Ouachita river. It's very big and muddy there. Everyone out there fishes eating sized live crawfish exclusively. Both times we had four folks fishing in our boat, and both times we caught about 30 fish. The ones we weighed were all around 8-10lbs. The winners generally weighed 3 fish totaling 45lbs or so. They are a heck of a lot of fun to catch. Never seen so many dead fish than after that tournament. Truckloads of them.

I was just looking at Riley's. I've never been as far down as Calico. I like having the option to fish on the Norfork, but I rarely do anything on it from a boat other than fish the confluence in the evening. Riley's may be a pretty good deal.

Looks like moderately warmer but cloudy and potentially rainy weather this weekend. Great time to get out of the house and into a boat! I normally stay at the norfork river resort when I head that way, but I'm thinking about trying something else since I'm just taking the girl I'm seeing. I thought about White-Buffalo resort since I'd love to take her up the buffalo and show her where I'll be most of this spring, but I'm concerned that there won't be enough water to go up very far anyway. Long story short, we'll be looking at a single day boat rental to get her on some drift fishing and rogue-jerking, (saturday) and two nights of lodging. I'd love to hear some recommendations for a place to stay. Looking for something not too expensive, preferably with a nice view of the river, and a jacuzzi for my .....uh....back. We would also need to be able to rent a boat of course. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I scrapped the camping trip for golf with the boss and the Razorback game this weekend. It was a last minute decision, but I'm sure glad I didn't float. The wind here was horrible. I kept thinking all day - I'm sure glad I'm not in a canoe right now. I would have been cussing up a storm I'm sure. I appreciate all the insight. I figured the water would be sufficient, but would require substantial paddling in 30mph winds. Not my ideal overnight float trip conditions. I'll hit it again in the spring.

Well, I meant that figuratively. Crooked is bad low too. Last time I went was slightly higher and I thought to myself "no lower." The other problems with crooked are that it's a longer float and smaller stream which can be a pain if we have a good sized group. Plus I haven't been on this part of the buffalo in years and it's awfully pretty. But, nothing (well...almost nothing) is worth carrying canoes for half of the float.

sorry for the double post. My bad.

Well, they say the water is low but I'm always a glutton for punishment. It's going to be a pretty weekend, so I've rounded up a group of friends and we're going to do an overnight from Spring Creek to Rush. First question - bobber - is 2.5 sufficient water to do this float in two days now that we have a little less daylight? I'm told it's around 13 miles. Second question - anyone know what the water temp is right now? Third question - I don't think I have ever done a smallmouth float after halloween. What are the fish like right now? Is it a hair jig during most of the day with either a sammy or jerkbait during the heat of the day? The forecast looks really nice at the moment with sunny skies and warmer temperatures - lows above 40 and highs around 70. Pretty dang good weekend if I do say so myself. I think it will be the last float until spring, so I'd like to get a little more comfortable on the colder water.

Well, they say the water is low but I'm always a glutton for punishment. It's going to be a pretty weekend, so I've rounded up a group of friends and we're going to do an overnight from Spring Creek to Rush. First question - bobber - is 2.5 sufficient water to do this float in two days now that we have a little less daylight? I'm told it's around 13 miles. Second question - anyone know what the water temp is right now? Third question - I don't think I have ever done a smallmouth float after halloween. What are the fish like right now? Is it a hair jig during most of the day with either a sammy or jerkbait during the heat of the day? The forecast looks really nice at the moment with sunny skies and warmer temperatures - lows above 40 and highs around 70. Pretty dang good weekend if I do say so myself. I think it will be the last float until spring, so I'd like to get a little more comfortable on the colder water.

it was very cold, but very little dragging. I was surprised. The water was low, but very much floatable. It was a fantastic weekend.

I'm going from Snow to Kelly's tomorrow through Sunday. I think it's going to be bumpy, but Jimmy Walker assures me it's floatable. This is the lowest I've ever attempted it for sure. Going to be a beautiful weekend and chilly camping for sure.

My biggest was 10lb, 8oz while bank walking a big private pond in Hot Springs. Ate a frog. I think there's a picture of it in the big fish thread.

Thanks to Russ and (more particularly) Jean Anne for putting us on at 7:30 last night. Floated under cover of darkness from low water bridge to the city park at Noel. Was hoping to take advantage of the full moon but had heavy cloud cover with lightning in the distance instead. Spooky. Had a few drunken campers along the way who thought we were lost or in trouble. I had to convince them we were canoeing in the dark on purpose! Anyway, fishing was a little slower than expected. After switching patterns a few times, we finally zeroed in on frogs. Probably had 50 blowups but only hooked 20 or so. Caught a couple of good fish but no monsters. The strangest catch of the trip was a bat. They were out thick and dive bombing our lines every time was would cast. Had one get tangled about half way between my lure and me but couldn't see what it was - just felt him thumping around. I reeled it in and thought I had a big leaf or something on my line. Reached up to grab it and stopped short when I realized it was a sure enough bat! Anyway, I cut him loose and managed to salvage my popper that was about 20 feet behind him. I don't think he made it. All in all it was a fun trip - very spooky though. Thanks again Russ. I left your paddle leaning up against the office. Hope you managed to catch up on your beauty rest.

you guys had better luck than I did this weekend. I put in at Snow on Saturday morning and took out at the Slab on Sunday a little after lunch. The water was high and my typical patterns were tough to fish. I should have been throwing a crankbait. I only caught a dozen or so, but they were all big. All bites came in the middle of the channel in fast moving water except for two or three largemouth that came off of laydowns out of the current. All smallmouth hit agressively presented topwater lures. I missed twice as many as I hooked and had a few monster blowups. I spent as much time swimming as fishing because it was HOT.

gone the way of the catalpa worm I suspect.

I've always pan fried them on float trips. Lots of the folks I take want to keep and eat fish and they're a good way to convince them not to harvest smallmouth. I think they eat great fried.

I was fishing a smallmouth stream recently and came across something odd. I'm no bass expert - I float and fish as often as I can. I canoe smaller lakes. I feel like I know what a spawning bass does, but now I'm not so sure. In my mind, when a bass is on the bed they're hovering over a little depression and chasing minnows away. What I saw the other day though completely blew my mind. As the float progressed, I would stop at all the backwater spots to run a frog across them and would pick up a largemouth or two. I got to a big backwater above a deep pool. This one cut back about 100 yards and was at least 6 feet deep in the middle towards the mouth (close to the current of the main stream). As I eased back up in it, my heart started pounding. All over the place were monstrous largemouth. Some of these fish were 8lbs plus. Absolute pigs and I could see at least thirty of them. The ones that were close to me were clearly spooked and swimming with purpose along the banks to get out of my way. The ones that puzzled me though were farther into the backwater and hadn't seen me yet. They were just chilling out - suspended I guess - with their backs almost out of the water. This was over the deep part of the backwater, not over a shallow bed next to the bank. I would toss lures well across them and as I would get close, the fish would spook and take off the other way. I tried everything I had, frogs, spinnerbaits, a sammy, a trick worm, a wacky rigged trick worm, a grub, a hula grub, etc. They wouldn't pay any attention to any of the lures and for the most part they seemed scared of all of them. Now, these fish don't get just a ton of pressure. They were really spooky, and would take off like a bolt of lightning whenever anything would cruise by them, or when they saw me in the canoe. It was just so strange to see such enormous fish hovering on top of the water like that. What were they doing? Were they hovering over beds? They were almost motionless until they got spooked.

I would think the impact on crooked creek from the slab down would be minimal. I don't know that it would affect anything above the slab at all. Anyone feel differently?

Pack light, bring a water purifier and a good pair of boots. It's tough to plan that float a long way out as it could be very bumpy by July. Not to say you won't do well in low water (or that the water might be perfectly fine), it's just a float that gets rough quick. I'd gladly do it with you though, even in low water.

mmmmm, he looks tasty. Neat to catch smallmouth, trout, and catfish from the same water on the same day. I always bring a catfish set-up on my overnight trips but typically don't on the buffalo. Guess I've heard all the no-catfish speculation too many times. How long does a catfish have to be in the river before it hits 20"? Two years after being stocked at 12"?