Report 6/20 and 6/21

[joeD]

Two days of the worst wishing on CC I have experienced. There is much to discuss, but I will abbreviate and give broad strokes.

Monday: Georges Creek to Kelly slab. Put on about 11am or so. AR game and fish working on new access. Georges creek had water in it, so it was easy to float the canoe down to Crooked. Those of you who have schlepped your equipment up or down the creek when dry will know what I am talking about. Of great importance, look at what happened last week to the gauge at Kelly. No mistake. There was 5 inches of rain that fell just above Yellville that caused a flash flood in Georges Creek. The water apparently came up to the 62 bridge. Trees down everywhere on Georges creek. Gravel pushed across into CC. Water damage across the stream at least 5 feet up the bank. Area unrecognizable. Anyway, we got in the canoe at the mouth of the creek and had to immediately go around a new, large gravel bar, as a large backhoe was in the water, scooping gravel. Once past the construction zone, we were certainly disappointed to find the creek an absolute mudhole. Zero visibility. We had no idea whether we were in 2 inches or 2 feet of water. Which was worrisome, as there are rocks everywhere, which we could not see. As luck would have it, we scored early, when a 10 inch smallmouth jumped out of the Georges Creek riffle onto my lap. I squealed like a girl, it startled me so much. Anyway, we were less than hopeful, convinced the creek would be muddy the whole way. About 2/3rds of the way down, things seemed to be clearing. We figured we had caught up to the slug of muddy silt. Excitement and hope ensued. CC looked like itself, with an added bonus of a slight coloration. Then, nothing. I caught a fish. That's it. Winter and spring floods definitely changed stream. 

Tuesday: Snow to Georges. Fired up as this section apparently unaffected by rain. Missed a couple nice fish in first fast run that always produces. Then, basically, nothing. Maybe 6 fish. I caught a 17 incher. But, it was not enough to cover up our disappointment in the two days of fishing. In fact, we were quite surprised at how murky the creek was, even as far up as Pyatt. The long holes seemed longer, there seemed to be more channelization and less current, more gravel pushed around, and, there seemed to be no explanation on how murky the water was. I realize there was a super bright full moon, and I am by no means an expert angler. But, I have fished the creek in the summer for years, and it is almost impossible NOT to catch fish, regardless of what you throw, the fish are so aggressive. 

So. I think the recent floods have changed the creek, more than I have ever seen. I look forward to using a ramp at Georges creek access. Arkansas continues to kick me in the balls and tell me to git. 

[mojorig]

Yep, the December 2015 Flood really changed the river.