kkparks_3

How long does that float from Pyatt to Snow usually take you? I've been looking at doing that one for a couple of years, but didn't know how long it would take to do it.

I saw a couple of pontoons last year on Crooked Creek rigged with trolling motors (no oars at all). Those guys were just cruising along going wherever they wanted. I had always ruled out the pontoons because of having to deal with oars, but after I saw that it made me think that might be the sweetest way to go.

Wow!!! Awesome fish. When can I schedule my trip with you coldwater? Looks like you guys are on the fish big time.

Crooked Creek is usually good every year we go up there. I have to make the drive from Russellville at least one time a year. I've only fished from Kelly's Slab to Yellville and would like to fish other stretches just never have. That little stretch brings me and a buddy of mine back every year though. Have had a couple of slow days from year to year, but overall good fishing. No matter where you go, please practive C&R.

8 lb Seaguar Invisx for me lately has been good. I'm one of those fishermen that is prone to buy into new fads though. I do like the lack of stretch and it has less memory than other fluoro I've used. Spiderwire Mono 8 lb. in natural green is a good choice too if you like mono better.

I have a Tals chest pack stuffed with various plastics and sometimes an over the shoulder pack filled with various baits just in case nothing is working, but when it gets down to it all I end up throwing are natural colored grubs, finesse worms, tubes, or flukes 99.9% of the time. I would be better off carrying just a few packs of those baits, but I usually can't help myself and overpack.

Hello, I'm new to the trout fishing game (only catch and release) and am trying to broaden my horizons past just soaking powerbait or live bait (Although there is nothing wrong with that when its working). I am a spin fishing guy only, not ready to get into the fly fishing gear. I found some articles talking about a method using a bubble that can be filled with water. Below the bobber, a swivel is tied with a leader several feet long to a fly. Then, you can either let the bubble sink and work the fly in or partially fill the bubble and let the fly drift near the surface. I have a few questions about this, first, do any of you guys use this technique? Second, I've found the bubbles to use but what kind of fly would you suggest to be best for this? Lastly, is this a slow water technique only or is it good for drifting fast water also? Thanks for the help, Kevin

Thanks Bret. I didn't have a boat this trip. We were using a drift rig from the bank. Ended up having a little luck (Four fish, one ~18" rainbow) on Sunday at JFK. Everybody around us that we saw weren't catching fish either. I heard one guy say they had been there since Tuesday or Thursday and had caught one fish. We swapped from power eggs to nightcrawlers towards the end of the day and started getting bites. I will take your advice next time I get to go up there and use a boat. I appreciate the reply. Thanks, Kevin

They are generating all weekend and I'm not used to fishing the bigger water. Pretty much have been using powerbait on a drift rig to no avail with the family all weekend. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

Thanks, that clears it up. Appreciate your help. Hope to get up to your place and visit sometime.

Could someone explain in a little more detail on how to tie the drift rig that Phil Lilley wrote about in his article on "How to fish Lake Taneycomo". The main part that I am confused by is how to tie the 30-36" piece of line that has the hook on one end and the weight on the other to the main line. I'm not understanding how to tie the loop. I apologize for my ignorance. I'm a primarily bass-only fisherman trying to broaden my horizons to trout fishing. Thanks a lot, Kevin

Been there a couple of times the last couple of weeks. Looks like some of the improvements suffered a little bit of a setback. They had planted many trees on the west side of the bank just upstream of the slab and they took a beating from the flooding a couple of weeks ago. However, all the rock work they have done along the bank looks good and held up well. The fishing was pretty good too. Went on the weekend of the 14th and caught 90 between three of us. Largest being around the 18" range.

Wow, you are one heck of a salesman. I will have to check that place out. Is there any good smallie fishing on the Little Buffalo? I stayed at Summerfield Cabin in Boxley. Very nice place. From what people have written in the guestbook, lots of elk are able to be seen around there, although we didn't see any. It was kind of an exploratory trip to check out the upper Buffalo's fishing opportunities. First time I had seen any of the Buffalo west of Hwy. 7. I think for this time of year, I was probably a little too far upstream for fishing. I went and checked out the Ponca bridge, Steele Creek, and Kyle's Landing. I didn't get to do any hard-core wading, so there may have been some awesome pools isolated somewhere along the way that I didn't get to see. Beautiful scenery up there. For float fishing, what would you guys say would be the farthest upstream, most productive possibility on the Buffalo in the late spring/early to mid summer time period? Thanks for the info, Kevin C. P. R. -- Catch, Photgraph, Release

Just wondering if you guys could advise me on a place that has nice, affordable cabin rental for a family of four on the upper Buffalo around the Ponca area. Thanks, Kevin

What outfitter did you use and what stretch of the creek did you guys fish if you don't mind me asking? Thanks, Kevin

Report from 5/4 trip: Water was flowing pretty good (150 cfs) at the slab and height was 11.5 ft. The west side of the slab had been washed out by the extreme flooding. The power of mother nature is pretty amazing. We caught between the two of us 41 fish, mostly smallies, with really no size to any of them. Maybe 14" being the largest and they were almost all taken on grubs. We did catch two rainbow trout just around the corner from the slab, so that was kind of weird and a first for me. I guess they had migrated up from the White River's high waters. I was reeling in a smallie when I saw another larger fish that I thought was a smallie trying to steal the bait out of my fish's mouth. I told my buddy to throw in there and he instantly hooked up with about a 14" trout, so that was pretty cool. Only other info I have to pass along is if anybody is missing a tan colored dog, she may be in the middle of town. We had a pup follow us the entire 2.5 miles and don't know where she went when we made it to the city park. If anyone has any info on a reasonably close take out after the Hwy. 14 bridge, I would really appreciate it. I would like to fish down that way because it probably doesn't get the traffic that the slab to the city park sees. Thanks, Kevin

Heading up to Crooked Creek on Sunday. Anyone fished there lately? Going to go from the slab down to the hwy. 14 bridge. I'll post how things go. Thanks, Kevin

Dubya, I haven't been to the Spring this year, but would like to hear your report when you get back. Kevin

Wow, that had to be an interesting experience. I better start taking a towel.

I wouldn't be quite so sure about that. A split shot finesse worm is pretty productive. In my opinion, fishing them on jigheads also gives them better action than a normal Texas rig. Kevin

Thanks for your posts guys. I'm going to have to check out that book and do some exploring when I get up there. Kevin

Terry, ATU alumni here also. Thanks for the reply, what section should I put something like this in? I wasn't quite sure either when I posted it. Thanks, Kevin

Yeah, I read that thread and those guys are either crazy or a heck of a lot better fisherman than I am to say that live bait isn't easier than artificial. Yeah that's what I thought too, but the game warden I stopped said the catch and release immediately area stops at the slab. Anything after the slab downstream to the Hwy. 101 bridge is a limit of two at least 14" long. That's too bad because every Tom, Dick, and Harry that fishes, fishes off of the downstream side of the slab. Taxidermist said he heard a rumor that they were changing the limit to one fish 18" long next year. I sincerely hope he is right. At least that would be a step in the right direction anyway. Kevin

Well, it took me almost a week to get over it and get around to posting my report from last weekend. Me and a buddy fished from the slab down to Yellville. Using our float tubes, it was kind of chilly at sunrise so we fished around the take-out point for a while before we went to the slab. Within a few minutes my buddy hooks a 15" plus and I catch a spunky 12". So, at that point we are thinking this is going to be a good day. However, we were wrong. The creek put a spanking on us. We caught a total of 10 on the trip with none being larger than the two we caught that morning. Our last trip netted over 120 between us and my buddy's teenage boys, so needless to say, we were disappointed. Along the way, another canoe passed us (saw more traffic on this trip than ever before and there were people all over the slab) and informed us they were doing well on minnows. Being an artificial fisherman and not having a dip net anyway, we fished on. We go back to the slab and decide to fish a little longer being that we had driven two hours and figured they were bound to get a couple of bites at the slab before we made the long trip back. When we get there, a couple standing on the little point in the middle of the creek that the flow is split by after it goes through the slab is absolutely tearing 'em up on split shotted live minnows they are catching with a dip net. At the same time, we are continuing to not get bit with just about everything we have in our tackle bags. Not that watching them tear it up hurt our feelings enough, but even worse they were keeping them (puke!!!, they so need to do something with the limit sizes). They had their limit of four 14 -16"ers caught in about 20-30 minutes of sitting there watching them, with several small fish also being caught in this timespan. If this practice is very common, and I'm afraid it is, surely it has to have a big effect on the quality smallie population. There were smallies busting everywhere on minnows in the really swift current. So, kind of copying their rig, I split-shotted a fluke. First, I tried white with no success. Second, I tried watermelon red, hoping it would king of match the dark-backed minnows. Within 15 minutes of doing this, standing on the slab, and just tight-lining the fluke in the swift current, I caught two fish around 14". But, unfortunately it was time to go home and a large group of kids from something going on at the conservation center came down to the slab anyway, so we called it quits. I guess I'll just have to chalk this up as a learning experience. Have any of you guys ever had an experience where it seemed like only live bait would work? What other tactics could I try when they aren't going for crankbaits or bottom bouncing plastics? I've read some of Al Agnew's posts about his special spinnerbait, so maybe I need to try a spinnerbait. The main thing I'm concerned about is I don't know if the poor fishing was because of all the meat hunters, just a bad day, or we're just bad fisherman. I really hope it was bad fishermen, not a depleted smallie population from meat-hunters. As a side note, I was suprised to see how much the gravel had been washed around and huge laydown trees were gone at various spots on the creek. You guys must have really got more significant rain than I thought up there earlier in the year. Anyway, I'll stop my rambling for now and go to bed. Kevin

Pardon my ignorance, but who is Chuck T and what is the name of his book? Do you have a link to where I can read or buy his book? Thanks, Kevin