February 2022 Ozark Anglers Crane Creek trip

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Crane town park - All aboard !

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Dairy Farm up creek

[tjm]

Seemed to be a lot more water there when the creek was very low in town. Must be more springs between town bridge and that bridge? can we access the water in that image?

[Gavin]

Crane is a wasting stream...meaning a good bit of its flow goes underground, and pops back up a long distance downstream. 

[tjm]

1 minute ago, Gavin said:

Crane is a wasting stream...meaning a good bit of its flow goes underground, and pops back up a long distance downstream. 

So, in theory the creek could be bone dry in long stretches yet in the  intermittent/scattered flowing sections   still be cool enough and oxygenated enough to support trout?  I know a branch like that will have 1/4 mile of dry gravel then flow with current over a hundred yards or so of limestone with sunfish and minnows in the pools.

Even far downstream of where the trout temperatures normally exist, wouldn't that resurfacing water be as cool as spring water? meaning trout could live through droughts in sections that are normally  too  warm from surface heat?

[fishinwrench]

Every stream in the world is a "wasting stream".   

But fish don't live underground.  

[bfishn]

13 minutes ago, tjm said:

So, in theory the creek could be bone dry in long stretches yet in the  intermittent/scattered flowing sections   still be cool enough and oxygenated enough to support trout?  I know a branch like that will have 1/4 mile of dry gravel then flow with current over a hundred yards or so of limestone with sunfish and minnows in the pools.

Even far downstream of where the trout temperatures normally exist, wouldn't that resurfacing water be as cool as spring water? meaning trout could live through droughts in sections that are normally  too  warm from surface heat?

Like Spavinaw in western Benton County. Trout thrive in the stretch near Gravette, then there's several losing sections west of Decatur, and more trout downstream near the OK line.

[bfishn]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

...But fish don't live underground.  

Wiki sez, "more than 200 scientifically described species of obligate cavefish found on all continents, except Antarctica."

This is one that's in your roaming range.

[JestersHK]

I don't know the legitimacy of the pure strain trout,  and I'm too young to argue with folks who have lived and fished there forever,  but I can say that creek is teeming with trout. They are beautifully marked too.

There are some decent sized fish in there also and they fight like crazy. 

Only been there once last year but can't wait to wander back again. 

[tjm]

@bfishnI used fish Spavinaw when I worked in Gravette. The Osage was full of trout back  then too, releases/escapees from local rearing facilities,  even up to what was then Horse Barn Rd. and  almost to Elm Springs. It was a while ago, '90s maybe.