I Talked To A Native Of Yellville Today

[KrookedKreekKing]

Fish from a creek with moving water of the same size as a lake fish will normally be a bit heavier due to muscle verse flab. Lake fish dont have a lot of current to fight.

That's a plausable assumption. Yes, muscle weighs more than fat, but you have to consider the fact that river fish consist of lean muscle mass, that in no way compares to the overall amount of fat that lake fish can have. Its not like you see river fish with huge, bulging muscles. That's like comparing a man from Ethiopia to an overweight American. Yeah the Ethiopian is all muscle, but it's not enough to compare to the weight of the fat American. I guess if you compare one fish from a lake and one from a creek with the same length and girth, the one from the creek would probably weigh more, but if you find a lake fish that looks like your run of the mill creek fish, he probably isn't very healthy, and the lake fish of the same size would also probably be younger. Lake fish have shad and other larger forage to feed on. Shad can REALLY put some weight on black bass. Also, shad and other larger forage are very rich in protein, so they will still gain some muscle as well. Crayfish is a favorite of black bass, but it doesn't fatten them up like shad, giving the lake fish the biological upper hand when it comes to potential or average size.

[dbaltz]

I talk to Jimmy walker every time I rent from him(you have no choice in the matter), and he always says that the people who rent from him are sportfishermen, they never keep any. I imagine most people who fish CC do it for the fun of it, but I could be wrong. A friend of mine caught and kept a 24" smallie from the mouth of the buffalo this summer

I agree I spent the weekend on CC for the first time on that water. WOW i got Jimmy's contact from a fellow sport angler. Now my good friend who is also a fellow ozark brown bass aficionado is going in a couple days. While on the river I only saw three anglers. They were all catch and release anglers. I am very proud of Jimmy for promoting the release of fish. He told me about how he convinced a guy from Oklahoma that you only need pictures and measurements of a fish to make a mount these days.

Leave it to us Arkansans to have to teach okies a thing or two about fishing!

[taxidermist]

I have been mounting fish for over 30 years and have seen everything from fat light weight fish to fish that were all muscle,no they dont ripup like a weight lifter but there is a difference. over the hundreds and hundreds of fish I have cut into, I know for a fact what I said was true and solid facts. You can even tell by the feel of the flesh.

[Ham]

Or you could just turn the fish loose quickly and and not worry about it. If I ever get tired of catching > 14 inch smallies from an Ozark Creek, somebody needs to shoot me.