Crooked Creek (Arkansas)

I just called the dam and noted that the ten inches of rain that we got earlier in the spring (the worst flood since 1982) had raised the lake level about twenty-three feet. This translates into a high water year. They are going to be generating a lot this year and wading conditions on the Arkansas tail waters are going to be extremely limited for the next few months. My first recommendation would be for you to hire me to take you high water fishing in my boat. Another option would be to give fishing for smallmouth on Crooked Creek a try.

Lori and I have been fishing Crooked Creek for the last few years. Last week we went to the Kelly Slab access. Recent improvements have made this a popular destination with local anglers and kids looking for an old time swimming hole. The pressure has not improved the fishing. Armed with five weight rods with woolly buggers and small poppers we started fishing at the access and slowly worked our way downstream. The only fish we caught were small long eared sunfish (goggle eyes). There were a plenty of them and they were interesting to catch but they weren't what we were after.

I decided to pick up the pace and cover more water. As I went along, I caught a few small fish including a little smallmouth. I ended up about a mile and a half down stream of the access. I came up on a nice deep run that had a rock shelf on the bank side. I cast my woolly bugger over the rock shelf and let the current sweep it over the shelf and into the run. When it dropped off a nice smallmouth slammed it. After an intense battle I released the fish and cast into the run again. Standing there I landed five smallmouth and just as many goggle eyes.

I looked up and I noticed that Lori was working her way down stream. I motioned for her to join me. She walked on down and joined me. Fishing a small popper she had caught several goggle eyes but had only landed one little smallmouth. I put her in my hole and gave her my rod. She cast over the shelf and immediately hooked up. Over the next thirty minutes she netted five smallmouth and several goggle eyes. I could not believe that we pulled ten smallmouth from one run but it does show what crooked creek can be.

What we learned that day is that to catch fish you need to go far from the access. A good alternative to wading down from Kelly Slab is to launch a canoe there and drift down to the Yelleville access. This is a float of only three miles but there is plenty of water to fish. To do this you will need two cars or arrange for a shuttle.
The next time they are running water on the White give Crooked Creek a try.