How Bad Is It?

[OzarksRiverman]

Me and a couple of friends were planning on coming down to hog heaven Tuesday and doing an overnighter. The USGS gauges are saying that the creek is at record levels. I know that this weekend and Monday are supposed to be sunny and warm, any chance in hell that it gets down to floatable levels before Tuesday morning?

Sucks cause it's hard for us all to get off for a weekday float then mother nature really jammed us this time.

[GloryDaze]

I have put in on the Big Sugar as far up as Mike's Creek when the water on the gauge is at 4.5- so looking at the history, the last time the water was this high it took approximately 3-4 days to get below 5'. The problem is, that gauge is way up stream from Hog Heaven. I think their campground is under when it's that high, but shoot Wacky Worm a PM and 'm sure he will give you the skinny.

[OzarksRiverman]

right on.

I'm hoping it gets below 5 by Tuesday mid-morning. Preferably closer to 4.

How was it from Mike's creek to cyclone @ 4.5? Fast run? I'm guessing fishing was pretty hit n miss.

As of right know I'm thinking Powell to Cyclone day 1, then Cyclone to Crag o Lee day 2.

[GloryDaze]

Here's a trip report from that trip-

Well I got to float the Big Sugar this weekend and here is my trip report if anyone is interested!

Thanks to Russ at Hog Heaven for taking care of me this weekend- If you ever want a place that will treat you right and hook you up with great customer service check them out!!

You can view my pictures from the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glorydaze/sets/72157604658927822/

FRIDAY EVENING:

I took off at the intersection of Mikes Creek and Big Sugar Creek with the gauge at Powell reading 4.4 on Friday evening. I was going to spend 2 nights on the river so I could really enjoy the weekend. The water level was about perfect, I only scraped once or twice! I was expecting to run into many strainers left over fomr the flood before I got to Cyclone- Much to my surprise, I didn't have to portage one time other than a low water bridge. There was one strainer about an hour in with two trees crossing the river, but I just put my head down and paddled through the branches.

I fished for a few minutes, caught on smallie 8" and that was it for the night. This section of the river is beautiful since there is not as much private land as there is below cyclone. As I started to look for a place to camp (2hrs after I left), I came around a left turn and could hear the sound of loud rapids! I could see they crossed the entire river and were getting louder as I approached. It was actually a rock garden, but the water was so high I didn't drag- What I didn't know was after about 100 yards of being in the waves it takes about a 2-3 foot drop and front half of my canoe was completely under water!!!! NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF EXCITEMENT I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR!!! I manged to run the rapids and continue on with my lookout for a camp site. I ended up camping on gravel bar about a mile upstream from Cyclone and called it a night- (3 hours of floating and almost 7 miles covered)

SATURDAY:

Woke up at 6am to a bunch of fog in the valley and tried some fishing (no luck) The weather was cold last night, but I could tell it would be a warm day. Broke camp at 10:30 and was going to have a casual slow float today so I was not in a hurry. The weather was so nice (felt like it was 80 or so) I decided to not fish and just enjoy the beauty of the river. I was at cyclone in no time and spent 30 minutes talking to a local there who was real friendly. Soon after that I saw the first sign of other people downstream. There were 2 portages on the section below Cyclone due to strainers that I didn't want to mess with being by myself. The stream seemed to get wider as I got closer to the Elk. There was one spot where the river splits, I decided to go right and about a 1/4 downstream it was a dead end! I had to walk all the way back upstream and take the left channel (oops). As the day went on, I realized I was going to finish my trip way early since the water was up and I wasn't fishing much. In my opinion, the last 3 miles were the trickiest of the trip (once you get past sugar island) there was about 2 miles of "S" turn after "S" turn that could be tricky for those less experienced- I thought it was a fun little stretch though!

The river really widens once you hit the Elk and I only had about 1 mile left. I couldn't believe how high the trees were stacked on the banks from the flooding. Going under the 71 bridge the water read at 4' on the gauge painted on the bridge support. I couldn't imagine the water at 18' a week earlier! I finished the trip at 4pm on Saturday. A whole day earliet than what I expected. (Today I floated 14 miles in 5 hours)

What a great stretch of river to float on a perfect weekend!! The only thing I wished were different is I could have floated 50 miles instead of 21. Next time, you can bet I will be on the hunt for smallies and hopefully that next time will not be too far in the future.

[OzarksRiverman]

Man, you were really moving.

Powell to Crag O Lee is almost 16 miles. We're going to be fishing most of the time, so this should slow us down quite a bit more than you. Just hope they're gonna be biting.

[ollie]

We were going to do that same float this year as well! 2 years ago we did the float at 475cfs and we were moving along pretty fast! I would say by next Tue. it would be just fine to float unless we get more rain. We were actually going this weekend, but just not sure if the timing is right. Gauge is over 800 this morning and by tomorrow I expect it to be down there but just not sure where the level will be. I do remember at 475cfs it took half the time to make that float. I prefer that stream at 200-300cfs that way you don't drag and the current isn't too fast.

[chub minnow]

If the water is on the high side of what you are comfortable with you can also start above Powell near the highway 90 bridge - about 6-7 miles upstream. The flow is much less before Mike's Creek dumps in.

[OzarksRiverman]

The river is really dropping fast. Fast than I expected. Eyeballin' it, it looks like by Tuesday it should in the 250-350 cfs range. Nothing to do really but wait and hope for warm and sunny weather.

I've never floated this creek. Any suggestion on tackle? My go to bait for the clear streams is usually a flippin jig with a crawdad trailer, light brown/creek gravel in color. I also like using crankbaits, minnows or craws.

I've heard gitzit tubes do good, haven't fished them much though. Any tips on color or how to fish them (bump the bottom/fast retrieve)?

[wacky worm]

hey there sent you a pm

if you guys want to try it i am 100% for it

will take you way up on big sugar as far as you want to go

i have heard of narly strainers but you never know with recent floods

you could make it from powell to hog heaven in two days easily

lets talk on monday

thanks

russ

[chub minnow]

Gitzits are great, Bitsy Tubes are even better on a 1/8 or 1/4 oz weedless jig head. Bounce 'em off the bottom like a crawfish - bounce-bounce-pause and repeat. If the water is really moving you can probably catch some on spinnerbaits or small crankbaits, but I would look for backwater and use a trick worm to find the big guys. They were on beds, but I don't know what this last big rain did to that.