Boston Mountain Bronzebacks!

June 4, 2023 Start time: 9:45 am Finish time: 4:45 pm Water fished: War Eagle Creek Mcloud Ford to Parker’s Ford Water level/clarity: 75 cfs/clear Water temp (Start): 75 degrees  (Finish): ? degrees Weather: Scattered clouds with plenty of sun Air temp: (Start): 80 degrees (Finish): 90 degrees Wind: 5 (or less) mph   Direction:? Frontal Conditions: Post Frontal Barometric Pressure: 29.95 mL Moonphase: Full Moon Aquatic Vegetation: Reeds in bloom Bait Fish/Forage Base: Crawfish, shiners/other small baitfish, TOPWATER Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Post Spawn(?)  Fished with: Dad Lures used: Shiny reddish purple Jewel finesse jig with a watermelon red rage menace grub trailer, PB&J Big TRD Ned Rig, and Strike King sexy shad topwater Smallmouth Largies Spotted Notes Quantity 12+ Many on topwater 3+ 5+ # over 14” 3+ 1 2 Biggest 18.5” (17.5” honorable mention) 14” Biggest came on the jig 14”-15” Both of the big smallies on came on topwater Location Biggest smallie came a...

     A couple months ago, I spoke with my friend Rob about coming to his neck of the woods for a fishing trip. After some discussion, we agreed on the weekend of May 20th. Rob's "neck of the woods" just so happens to be a prime trout and smallmouth location in Arkansas. Although I'm more focused on the smallmouth, most people go to this area for the trout. This prime area is north central Arkansas, where the White River reigns supreme.     The two streams we fished were tributaries of the White; Crooked Creek and the North Fork. We fished Crooked Creek on Friday/Sunday and the North Fork on Saturday. Crooked Creek, as I indicated in my previous post involving it, is an incredible smallmouth stream. The North Fork, on the other hand, is an excellent trout fishery. That  first day was spent fly fishing for smallmouth, the second was spent fly fishing for trout, and the third day was spent in a drift boat using conventional fishing gear (even though Rob made s...

  April 15, 2023 Start time: 9:00 am Finish time: 5:30 pm Water fished: Osage Creek/Illinois River from Snavely Bridge (Osage) to Chambers Springs (Illinois) Access Water level/clarity: 300 cfs/clear Water temp (Start): 57 degrees  (Finish): 57 degrees Weather: Clear/sunny then cloudy and stormy in the afternoon Air temp: (Start): 63 degrees (Finish): 54 degrees Wind: 30 mph   Direction: SW to NE Frontal Conditions: High winds and spurts of rain came in mid-late afternoon Barometric Pressure: 29.8 inHG Moonphase: Waning Cresent Aquatic Vegetation: Bait Fish/Forage Base: Crawfish, shiners/other small baitfish, topwater Pre-Spawn/Spawn/Post-Spawn: Spawn  Fished with: Dad Lures used: Shiny reddish purple Jewel finesse jig with a watermelon red rage menace grub trailer, white/chartreuse spinner bait with small white Z-Man swimmer trailer, and sexy shad topwater Smallmouth Largies Meanmouth Notes Quantity 20+ Joel only caught smallies 1 1 Dad managed to catch a smallmouth...

April 8, 2023       In my last post regarding the Kings River, I discussed Marble to Marshall's Ford. A 10 mile beast of a float requiring a nearly hour long shuttle (if you shuttle yourself). I covered the giant rock walls, staggering beauty, and mediocre fishing of that stretch. For this post, I'll provide useful information for any paddlers/fishermen interested in this lesser known stretch of the Kings.     Dad and I caught upwards of 15 fish each. We got off to a slowish start but at about 11:00 AM the bite went from okay to pretty good. Spotted, largemouth, and smallmouth were all caught in numbers. I used my trusty jig combo that is so reliable this time of year while dad stuck with his bare rage menace grub on a jig head. We did briefly transition away from our soft plastics.  When the bite got slow, dad switched to a red crankbait and had immediate success with largemouth. I followed suit and caught one of my own. But aside from that perio...