Arkansas County Quest

[Ham]

16 minutes ago, grizwilson said:

I take partial responsibility, trout trips, talk of hybrids, white bass and crappie seem to distract Ham from his task at hand....sorry😂

No worries Les, you keep being you. I always have 4-5 conflicting goals going at any one time. 

[oneshot 1]

Iived in Arkansas but never fished even though we lived by Beaver Lake. 

Still kicking around about going to Louisiana. 

oneshot 

[Ham]

On 10/11/2022 at 11:52 AM, oneshot 1 said:

Iived in Arkansas but never fished even though we lived by Beaver Lake. 

Still kicking around about going to Louisiana. 

oneshot 

I made sure to get a Lifetime Fishing License in Louisiana when I started thinking about moving away (1994).

fiahing for Redfish in Louisiana is the best in the world. You can literally catch them off the side of the road at times in Venice. 
That would not be the way I would try to do it, but still.

[Ham]

So the smart move would have been to let this sleeping dog lie, but I just had to have one more kick at the can.

the plan was Perry County and Logan County. I’ve been wanting to try the spillway below Lake Nimrod and below the L/D at Morrilton. I had a warm day and they were releasing water at Nimrod.

off I go. I arrived at Nimrod and the place was devoid of human life. This is not a Good sign. The locals would know if it were right. 

as it turns out it was also devoid of fish willing to bite. I tried three locations. Soaked night crawlers, tried fly, and Swimbaits. Not a whiff. Tried for hours. All the micros I saw were only in the mood to run. No interest in bait at all. 
I stopped and tried a creek. Nothing. I drove to Harris break and dropped worms by pickings on boat dock and fished around a boat ramp and the rip rap along the dam. Nothing. I also tried below Harris Brake. They appeared to be draining it down to winter pool And I tried the outflow area. Nope. 
Perry County was a fail, but there will be payback coming.

on to Conway County.

I started at the boat ramp. And in just a little bit was rewarded with a little Largemouth. I tried flyrod first with a Billethead Clouser, but I had  to throw the little swimbait to get bit. he wasn’t much, but I was Dang Glad to have him. Conway County completed. I got another bass there, but that was all. 
Then on to the dam and power station.

they were letting a little water through the dam and generating a little bit also. I tried at the power station first. I had a beautiful back Eddy and  current seams, but nah. Scrambling down the rocks was extra sucky yesterday because there was water condensation on the rocks. I remain completely appalled by the trash people purposely leave on their fishing spots. Hard for me to tote my gear and their trash out too, but you can Dang well believe that if I carried stuff down the rocks that I am carrying it out also. 
I moved over to the riverside and finally found a few fish at a point facing downstream. A Little current was moving across it. I put my baits down near the bottom hoping for a Sauger. No soap on the sauger, but I picked up a few White Bass and a Baby Striper. tough day, but it got better at the end. I put my eyes on Some new places and learned for sure that cold water and most micros is a bad mix. 
more counties will be fished in 2023, but I am done with this quest for a few months. 

[Ham]

Pulaski County. 
looking for something weird. I’ll settle for White Bass, Spotted Bass, a Longear and a top minnow. 

[Ham]

Perry County Completed

I made the 3 hour run after making sure that an appropriate amount of water was being released. And the water was warm enough this go around. And I had intell from yesterday. the water being released draws in a lot of different species. It also puts a slick glaze on the rocks which made them so tough to successfully travel over. 
first fish was a Green Sunfish. I’ll take it. 
I didn’t come to settle for one Green Sunfish though. 
After today, I kinda hate riverside sycamore trees. casting under trees, up current with a double streamer rig. I felt a tap and set. I came tight to a heavy fish.  Sadly, when the Smallmouth Buffalo came to the surface, the hook pulled.

later, I did a little roll cast into a back Eddy under some sycamore and I got a tug. I set expecting another Green Sunfish. But no, a had a decent Spotted Gar hooked up. He went crazy and before I could get him on the bank, he came off. I got several chunky Largies pulling a Circus Peanut close to larger mid current boulders.

I got a Bluegill. I got an ugly drum. I got a White Bass. I got more Green Sunfish. I spent a lot of time fishing for another Gar  and another Buffalo with the fly rod, but it just didn’t happen.

I quit and starting climbing up out of the hole. 118 steps up and a 1/4 mile to the truck carrying too much gear. After that, all I had was the three hour drive home. 
Long Day, but mission accomplished. 

[Ham]

It’s been a while, but I got back after it. 
I made a trip to Florida. No, a second trip to Florida and I drove this time. Newsflash, Pensacola is a long way from Flippin, Arkansas. You can’t sugar coat that turd. 12 hours in the car is not a fun way to spend the day.

I did my Florida things wrapping up at like 5 pm Thursday. I immediately beat feet to get a few hours closer to home. It sucked and then sucked some more BUT it gave me the time to hit three far flung (well not close to Flippin) Arkansas counties. Got to hotel and had problems. Finally got to bed about 11:30 and was up at 0515 the next morning and on the road after the complementary breakfast at 0615. 

I did my digital pre fishing and had some spots to check out. I mapped them and took my swings with preset allotments of time. 
First up was Phillips County. I crossed the Mississippi at Helena, Arkansas and got to Storm Creek Lake about 10 AM.

My gear was a train wreck from running and gunning in Florida. It took a few minutes to get it lined out. 
About my third cast, I got a hard take and a decent scrap. 
Male Bluegill. I wish I had a few days there. That lake has lots of fish. It’s up on a ridge and just down the hill is a swamp bayou and beaver ponds and stuff too. 
I could root around and have real Fun.

Phillips County Conpleted and off to the next spot. Ahead of schedule for a change. 

[Ham]

Lee County :

After catching my first fish in Phillips County, I was sorely tempted to fish a ponded area below the lake, but time and stuff. I could not resist looking at Porter Bayou which looked yummy for weird stuff, but most likely completely worthless for game fish. 
I fired up Google Maps and it told me Bear Creek was 9 miles away and 15 minutes. Woo Hoo let’s go!!! It was a beautiful tree covered drive through a wild terrain. Mapping kept updating and the drive got longer and longer and longer. Was it in crow mode? It didn’t take too long, (51 minutes between the fish I caught in Phillips Co and Lee County)., but the was weird.

Bear Creek Lake was beautiful and lots of ppl were fishing. I parked at the swimming area. I Headed down with the trusty Bug Launcher. 4 Big Largemouth were cruising around. Blackspotted Topminnows easing around. Bluegill everywhere. It took two casts.

 

[Ham]

I had failed on two previous attempts to catch a fish in this county. Both times I had tried from shore at Wapanocca NWR that I am sure can fish wonderfully at times, but would require a boat and putting your time in. 
progressing from Phillips into Lee, and then into Crittenden County from the southwest lead me to target Horseshoe Lake. 
Public access to Horseshoe Lake from shore is pretty limited. I headed for an AGFC boat ramp. The boat ramp parking lot was nearly Full. People were either really catching them or people had really been catching them recently. It is that time of year.

well, I caught my fish on the first cast.

a hybridized Longear. Happy to have him. I cast around a few more times and I had a small LMB hooked up, but he self released.

As always, I had another card to play. I threw my stuff in the card and headed to Imboden, AR.