Random Thoughts From One Crooked Cr. Float

[gotmuddy]

Keep it up and you might change that.

very few access points and locked up land will make it harder....but you have a point.

[Dan Kreher]

Have not gotten down to fish Crooked in a few years but have probably spent about a dozen days on in over past 20 years. In general, I have found above average fishing for both numbers and average sizes -- generally catch more fish over 14" than I do in most other Ozark streams but have never landed one above 18" or so. Have seen many of those "20+ inchers" sliding off into the shadows though to know they are there.

Favorite streches when there is water is from Harmon to Pyatt and Pyatt to Georges Creek (semi-private take out as I recall). You can put in up at Huzzah Creek and float down to Harmon where there are several potential take outs but I've seen lots of purple bait on those gravel bars bordering the slabs there. Water from Georges to Kelly has some rough spots and it seems about 1/2 the water from Kelly to Yellville is marginal at best. Fish are still there but not the greatest habitat. My first trip nearly 20 years ago was from Yellville down to Hwy 101 bridge. Gravel mining activity was quite active at that time, particularly when sections of the Creek ran dry in late summer, but there was still some nice water in that stretch with quality fish present. I understand that sections from 101 downstream to White are pretty good but descriptions warning of willow thickets which sprout during extreme low water make floating some of this area difficult when the water is indeed high enough to float. That's all heresay though as I've never been below 101. The 18"/1 regs there though hint that there may be some dandies down that way though.

Best bet for SMB population, growth and proportional stock denisty low down would be Arkansas Game & Fish department which has studied Crooked extensively and enacted the most aggressive SMB regs regime in the state here. My recollection is that growth rates in Crooked are quite high by stream SMB standards nationally likely due to high fertility? and that it contains better than average numbers of adult SMB from 14-18". Regardless of where you fish, 20" smallies are still pretty rare in any SMB streams across the country so I'm not surprised at all that fish of this size aren't caught very often on Crooked or anywhere else in Ozarks for that matter.

Even the top SMB streams in the upper Midwest (Flambeau, Chippewa, St. Croix, upper Mississippi, Menominee, etc), whether managed under very restrictive regs or not, don't give up 20-inchers every day. 20 inches remains the standard for true lunker status for stream SMB as far as I can tell. These northern streams provide outstanding angling for SMB from 16-19 inches routinely and aveage sizes on many of these streams routinely exceed 14 inches. But 20 inches? They'll still add your name to the 20-Inch Club when you land one of those babies.

Crooked Creek remains a great Ozark stream for floating, SMB fishing and overnight camping now that the gravel mining/landowner dispute has finally settled down. In periods of good flow (I'd say a gauge reading at or above 12 feet at Kelly Slab), it provides some very sporty water and small rapids in areas with constricted drops as well. Not sure when we'll see 12 feet again on that gauge though.

Historically, Crooked reputedly once produced 5-6 lb smallies, but as Al's points out, I'd like to have seen one of those for myself to prove it. Overharvest by guided groups and local in the 1970s and 80s then led to it being added as one of Arkansas first Blue Ribbon SMB streams in the early 1990s with the imposition of the 14" MLL/2 fish limit throughout. The Fishin' Hole's Jerry McKinnis was the first place I ever heard of Crooked Creek back in the day. He might be able to verify some of those early tales. Later the C&R and 18"/1 regs sections were added along certain stretches. Again, to get a complete assessment of Crooked Creek SMB population dynamics and changes over time, it would be best to inquire with AG&F -- or simply fish it for yourself and enjoy what you find there.

[Jump n Fish]

One thing I'd like to comment on the original post, is that the fish in almost any flow unless the water is spring fed cold, are going to lean out this time of year. It does not mean an overabundance of fish. Rivers will not "overpopulate" like some impounded water can. Rivers are fisheries that without harvest are able to remain in perfect balance of predator/prey due to a lot of factors. This is assuming of course that an invasive/exotic species has never been introduced, to disrupt the natural state of the stream. Rivers were perfect in their creation and do not needs man intervention to maintain themselves, of course we can most certainly screw up the balance via overharvest, runoff, erosion, mining, etc. Its beautiful how perfectly nature works and maintains itself when left in the same state in which God created it. Forgive me if I sound cheezy, but hopefully yall get my point.

When water temps increase especially during brutal summers like these, the fishes metabolism is at its peak. They are simply burning more calories then they can consume to maintain their body weight. Without a change in seasons these fisheries would be doomed. Come fall and winter these fish will naturally fatten back up, when they don't have to exhaust so much energy to catch a meal. Summertime is not easy on these fish especially larger specimens and fishing this time of year one should take extra caution to fight the fish quickly and return it to the water as quickly as possible to avoid heat stress mortality. This is a bigger issue than one might think and is often delayed after the fish has swam off to give the illusion that all is well. I still fish all summer, but make sure the camera's ready for a quick pic and back in the water asap.

[dbaltz]

Good point

[joeD]

I lost a 20 incher this past Saturday. I saw it, felt it, set the hook on it (twice), saw it jump, saw it leave. Saw myself walking back to the canoe to take a dose of Dickel. I know my smallie sizes, and this one was a brute. Pictures and maybe a report to come.

Crooked Creek is wonderful stream and absolutely worth the trip.

I could care less about other streams in other states that produce bigger fish. Good on them. I don't live there. I live here. This is what and where I fish and am quite happy about it.

[Al Agnew]

While I would ordinarily agree that smallmouth do not overpopulate in the usual sense of the word in a typical stream, I've seen too much evidence that heavy densities of smallmouth TENDS to mean leaner fish. These fish aren't starved, and perhaps the typical summertime Ozark river smallmouth is a fairly lean fish. But the thickest fish I catch tend to come from streams where I don't catch great numbers of fish.

Having said that, I'd rather catch two lean 20 inchers than one fat one. If greater protection means more big fish, lean or not, I'm fine with that.

[Jump n Fish]

While I would ordinarily agree that smallmouth do not overpopulate in the usual sense of the word in a typical stream, I've seen too much evidence that heavy densities of smallmouth TENDS to mean leaner fish. These fish aren't starved, and perhaps the typical summertime Ozark river smallmouth is a fairly lean fish. But the thickest fish I catch tend to come from streams where I don't catch great numbers of fish.

Having said that, I'd rather catch two lean 20 inchers than one fat one. If greater protection means more big fish, lean or not, I'm fine with that.

I hear ya. I have no doubt that there is some competition for food especially in the summer. So naturally a stream with less predators and more prey fish will produce thicker predators generally speaking. But I do believe a healthy stream where the fish population is in a natural balance and the population is at its full potential, you will see the fish lean out in the summer and fatten back up in the colder months.

I don't think I've ever caught a really skinny fish in the winter months on most rivers I've fished. Although some less healthy fish might take those characteristics, I think as a whole they should be pretty thick in the colder months. If you're catching fish in a stream in November where the majority are skinny, then there is probably something really wrong, more along the lines of disease, or bad erosion causing a sudden lack of food source from silt covering up food sources by choking out vegetation and shellfish. I have seen this happen on what used to be one of my favorite rivers here in Mississippi. A clear flowing good gravel bottom loaded with healthy fish got silted in badly with sand from clearcutting river banks and development of shore. There are literally homes washing into the river because of this and massive amounts of sand. The water is always cloudy now and the I watched the course over a few years where the fish's health and numbers plummeted.

[Greasy B]

I have seen this happen on what used to be one of my favorite rivers here in Mississippi. A clear flowing good gravel bottom loaded with healthy fish got silted in badly with sand from clearcutting river banks and development of shore. There are literally homes washing into the river because of this and massive amounts of sand. The water is always cloudy now and the I watched the course over a few years where the fish's health and numbers plummeted.

That's a sad story. Were the authorities notified? Are there any water quality laws that could have been enforced?

This type of degradation is happening on our Ozark streams but generally at a slower less obvious rate.

[Jump n Fish]

That's a sad story. Were the authorities notified? Are there any water quality laws that could have been enforced?

This type of degradation is happening on our Ozark streams but generally at a slower less obvious rate.

I wrote a very long and courteous letter and sent it to a few of the developers responsible for the clear-cutting showing them that there were some violations regarding buffer zones and such and what the result of their actions had been, but never got a response from any of them. I don't know about Arkansas, but the attitude here is that its nobody's business what we do with our own land. Many of the landowners here treat the rivers as their own personal landfill to keep from having to haul stuff to the dump. Sad, but thats just the mentality down here. I don't know what is actually law and what are just guidelines and who to even contact about it. I wrote a letter to the Mississippi Fish and Game as well and never got a response from that either. I've reported many "dumping" violations to the MDWFP as well anytime I come across one, and have never got a response or seen the trash ever cleaned up either. Everybody wants that riverfront piece of property and this was a beautiful river, still is to some extent but its only a fraction of its former self. I wish I had the before and after pictures of what this river once was to what it is now. Some of the extreme upper stretches are still in good shape, but its barely floatable up there and development just keeps on continuing that direction. I watched as miles of shoreline in about a 5 year period of time were clear cut and developed. Much of the stream had already been developed and was more or less a matter of time. We had a very very wet spring with some high flows for a very long time that was the catalyst though. When 50 feet of shore line disappears and washes into the river in some bends, thats never a good thing. Theres a few places where corners of homes have washed out and are starting to crumble, and then landowners to salvage their property dump tons of concrete and garbage in place to try and preven any further erosion. Too little too late though, and its still silting in worse with every flood.

It really is stomach churning if I had a way to show you what the river once was to what it is now. It was my favorite fishing hole and was loaded with some really good spotted bass fishing. I don't even waste my time fishing it anymore.

We don't have the rocky substrate that yall do in the mountains, so your erosion problems are going to be on a more delayed schedule. Here with mostly dirt and clay substrate with a layer of gravel in there, when a river goes downhill, it goes fast. Doesn't take much to smother that gravel with sand and mud.

[cnr]

I lost a 20 incher this past Saturday. I saw it, felt it, set the hook on it (twice), saw it jump, saw it leave. Saw myself walking back to the canoe to take a dose of Dickel. I know my smallie sizes, and this one was a brute. Pictures and maybe a report to come.

I was with Joe on this trip and witnessed his "agony of defeat". The man went to his knees in grief, it was a BIG fish.

I don't know how all the other streams are since I have not fished them extensively like a lot of folks have but this one holds a special spot for me. Having floated CC 6 times this year I have seen a lot of big fish, but never anything over 20". I think Dan is accurate in that CC does hold a good quantity of 14-18" fish. I have tallied 7 18" fish in total this year on CC and every one of them fought like crazy.

I only have one photo of a CC fish, not sure if it was one of the 18's or not. I do think that CC has some of the prettiest SMB I have seen, almost every one of them looks like the photo attached.