Cc. Dont Know Where It Came From

[taxidermist]

CROOKED CREEK

When AGFC stream biologist Jeff Quinn sampled smallmouths from Crooked Creek in July 2009 and determined their ages by examining otoliths — pearl-like stones from the inner ear canal — the oldest specimen was 8 years old and 16 1/2 inches long. Quinn’s results prove that bronzebacks grow slowly even in rich environments with good water quality, a finding that supports the agency’s strict management and limits.

The 90-mile creek starts near Dogpatch in Newton County and courses eastward through Boone and Marion counties into the White River, featuring what many believe is the nation’s best smallmouth fishing. Reports in recent years suggest that Quinn’s senior-citizen bass had plenty of buddies because anglers routinely catch smallmouths in the 18-inch range there. Biologists aren’t sure why, but at times, the fish move downstream of Kelly’s Slab, west of Yellville in Marion County, in waves, gathering in population densities 2 1/2 times the number of fish per acre that Quinn would rate as “excellent.” If you’re lucky enough to witness one of those downstream migrations, your grandkids will tell their grandkids about it.

In addition to providing floating access, the Slab is part of a 2.75-mile shore-fishing area within the AGFC’s Fred Berry Conservation Education Center, which is off Marion County Road 4002 near Yellville. There’s even room in some spots for back-casting with a fly rod, so we like to drift Clouser Minnows and Olive Woolly Buggers there, and then let them swing downstream on a tight line. A short and sweet float of 3 1/2 miles runs from the Slab to the Yellville Bridge, but at least seven public accesses from Pyatt to Yellville make it easy to get on and off Crooked Creek.

Fish the creek when the gauge at Yellville is 6 to 7 feet. Fishing along AGFC property is strictly catch-and-release, and the creek has two trophy zones where you can keep only one fish per day that’s 18 inches or longer. It’s between the U.S. Route 62/412 bridge and the Route 62 spur bridge and from the State Route 101 bridge downstream to the White River. In other areas, Ozark zone rules of two 14-inch fish daily apply.

[Danoinark]

Interesting stuff though....

[Al Agnew]

Looks to me like something some outdoor writer whipped out for some grocery money, although the "waves" of smallmouth moving into one area is a new one for me. Doesn't make much sense...I wonder if he did a quick interview with the biologist and maybe somewhat misunderstood what the biologist was telling him.

The part about "featuring what many consider to be the nation's best smallmouth fishing" hasn't been true since the 1960s and 1970s when the guides and outfitters on the White were touting CC as the smallmouth option for their clients and it got into all the major outdoor magazines. By any measure, it wasn't true then and it sure ain't true now. Although for a while, CC may have been the most "famous" big smallmouth creek because of that publicity. Don't get me wrong, CC is probably one of the better streams in the Ozarks, especially considering its size and the limited amount of floatable mileage. But I doubt if anybody who has fished any one of a few dozen streams I could name across the nation would ever think CC was as good.

[taxidermist]

The low water amounts, since the stopping of gravel mining has certainly decreased to bio-mass CC can hold and grow. We floated it two weeks ago and many holes that were there five years ago are dragging shoals now. thousnads of tons of gravel should be removed to improve CC!

[gotmuddy]

CROOKED CREEK

When AGFC stream biologist Jeff Quinn sampled smallmouths from Crooked Creek in July 2009 and determined their ages by examining otoliths — pearl-like stones from the inner ear canal — the oldest specimen was 8 years old and 16 1/2 inches long. Quinn’s results prove that bronzebacks grow slowly even in rich environments with good water quality, a finding that supports the agency’s strict management and limits.

The 90-mile creek starts near Dogpatch in Newton County and courses eastward through Boone and Marion counties into the White River, featuring what many believe is the nation’s best smallmouth fishing. Reports in recent years suggest that Quinn’s senior-citizen bass had plenty of buddies because anglers routinely catch smallmouths in the 18-inch range there. Biologists aren’t sure why, but at times, the fish move downstream of Kelly’s Slab, west of Yellville in Marion County, in waves, gathering in population densities 2 1/2 times the number of fish per acre that Quinn would rate as “excellent.” If you’re lucky enough to witness one of those downstream migrations, your grandkids will tell their grandkids about it.

In addition to providing floating access, the Slab is part of a 2.75-mile shore-fishing area within the AGFC’s Fred Berry Conservation Education Center, which is off Marion County Road 4002 near Yellville. There’s even room in some spots for back-casting with a fly rod, so we like to drift Clouser Minnows and Olive Woolly Buggers there, and then let them swing downstream on a tight line. A short and sweet float of 3 1/2 miles runs from the Slab to the Yellville Bridge, but at least seven public accesses from Pyatt to Yellville make it easy to get on and off Crooked Creek.

Fish the creek when the gauge at Yellville is 6 to 7 feet. Fishing along AGFC property is strictly catch-and-release, and the creek has two trophy zones where you can keep only one fish per day that’s 18 inches or longer. It’s between the U.S. Route 62/412 bridge and the Route 62 spur bridge and from the State Route 101 bridge downstream to the White River. In other areas, Ozark zone rules of two 14-inch fish daily apply.

If a AGFC person actually wrote this then he needs fired. There are only 5 public access points(6 if you count parking at the George's creek bridge and dragging your stuff down) from Pyatt to the confluence with the white river. I am thinking this AFGC person hasn't floated between the slab and yellville because within a mile you can notice the water starting to disappear and by the time you get to yellville(this time of year) there isn't enough water for anything.

What I am saying is this is likely a bogus article.