et84

I'll be tying Saturday morning.

Thanks Marcus, been growing it a few years now. The reel is an Allen Alpha II- got it on sale right before they turned out the Alpha III's. I wasn't too sure about the red/blue color at first but I have to say it's grown on me. Great reel for the money too.

Got back yesterday, we had a great time. Got on CC about 9 a.m. Friday, we fished the two access points on the AGFC land, up from Kelley's Slab. Caught several smallies, these were our best two. The larger of the two came on an olive pine craw, mine came on a firetiger Dahlberg diver. Fishing was tough, mainly because of the weather- it was almost 100º, no wind or clouds, and we had to do A LOT of walking. I think I drank 11 bottles of water throughout the day, but it was worth it. Looking forward to heading down again soon.

Yep. If I add a moniker I say Finley River, but 99.9% of the time it's just "The Finley" to me.

I hate the heat as much as anyone, and I stick to R.S.'s method- I usually have a CamelBak though. I've caught some of my best smallies in the middle of a hot, sunny day on deer hair bugs.

Thanks Danimal, I just checked with Shoestring and they will allow us to park there temporarily. Sounds like we'll have some options, thanks again to everyone who replied!

Thanks for the input, guys. I talked with Becca at Dally's this morning, and she wasn't sure whether there was water at the 101 bridge. She did say that at the confluence with the White there is always water, and usually good fishing, but no park and wade access. Looks like we'll be hauling the boats down there just in case. Anybody have any experience floating to this section of CC?

I like FishHead for USGS levels. It's not free, but it's really slick. Monitors tides also, if saltwater is your thing.

Hey all. We're going to head down to AR this Friday, gonna be staying at Wildcat Shoals, and we want to hit Crooked Creek. I've been reading past posts, and we're planning on wading, not floating. I've heard good things about wading at the 101 bridge, but I'm concerned about the water level. Right now Kelley's Slab is at 9.43 according to USGS. Do you all think there will be any water at the 101 bridge? If not, are there any other decent places to wade? We'll be hitting Crooked on Friday, the White on Saturday, tentatively. Thanks in advance for any info, and any P.M.'s with good wading spots would be greatly appreciated, and kept confidential.

Most of my suggestions have already been mentioned, but I'll give 'em to ya anyway: Trampled, Yonder, O.C.M.S., Big Smith, Hillbenders, Infamous Stringdusters, Mandolin Orange, Hot Buttered Rum, Punch Bros, Railroad Earth, Salmon, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck (with or without the Tones), Iron Horse, Devil Makes Three, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Steep Canyon Rangers, Split Lip Rayfield, Crooked Still, Bill Monroe, John Hartford. That should be enough to get ya started. If I could only suggest a few: Trampled, Yonder, Crooked Still, O.C.M.S., Big Smith, and Hot Buttered Rum.

Had to run out and get some Tank 7 after watching this the other night. That, and Long Strange Tripel IMO are the best of the Smokestack series, but my flies just don't look as good after having a big bottle or two! I remember the first time I had a bottle a couple years ago, buzz hit me harder than usual, then I noticed it's 9%!! But a great video as usual, Brian. Keep it up!!!

Ha, I sure didn't. I did look around for other nests in the same general area, but found none, and no birds. That's a pretty neat trick though.

PM sent

Yeah, after checking out the links I have to agree. I guess I ruled out birds because of the location of the nest. Ya learn somethin new every day! Thanks for the replies.

Hit Panther Creek for a couple hours yesterday, caught one smallmouth on a green/brown over white super hair clouser. Stumbled upon this nest, nearly stepped on it. It was directly on the ground, no cover around it. I thought at first they might be turtle eggs, but I haven't had any luck identifying them as such (MDC's website is really hard to navigate and doesn't have very detailed info about certain species). What do you all think made this nest?