NANFA-- Arkansas Ozark Gathering of Fisheads part 2

BILL HOPPE (zzzzzzbill_at_yahoo.com)
Fri, 23 May 2003 10:02:14 -0700 (PDT)

Clear Creek was a mile or so off the main road to
Harrison from Yellville .Clear Creek was to be the 3rd
of 4 sites . Actually I hadn't announced this location
but had it in mind in case of problems at other sites
.
There must have been recent heavy rain upstream
because the creek was at flash flood stage .Water was
flowing over the top of the slab bridge .The 3 large
culverts on the up side of the bridge were completely
submerged and on the downside the culverts were
spewing water like giant fire hoses . On the downside
is a deep pool where Smallmouth bass hang out to
ambush fishes passing thru the culverts .The up side
is normally no deeper than knee level at most . Now it
might have been neck deep with fast current .Next to
the bank on the up side is an extensive flat hard
surface area often used for parking . This time it was
1 to 3 feet under water with sharp drops and gullies
.That is where we did our collecting . Wild and wooly
. Kevin and I used a seine net as did Bob and Dave .
Thinking about getting sucked thru one of those
culverts kept things very steady and careful of where
you were at all times .
The fishes collected/sampled/netted and released
were..
Rainbow darters , Orangethroat darters , Arkansas
Saddled darters ,Spotted topminnows , Northern
studfish , Hornyhead chubs , Slender madtoms and young
no ID shiners .

Our next stop was to be Harrison lake filled and
drained by Crooked Creek . This was a location I was
very interested in sampling to note the difference in
diversity in the different habitats . The creek above
the lake is relatively deep followed by a shallow
section of lake with sandbars followed by a deeper
section of lake and the weir . On the other side of
the weir is an overflow pool and then a shallow
section of Crooked Creek . It would be a nice location
for snorkelers to work in good weather.
When we got to the city there was bad news . It was
Crawdad Days in Harrison .Thousands of people sucking
crawdad heads . Couldnt even find a place to park
.There would be no collecting in the Harrison Lake
area today . Thus ended our little expedition .
Everyone talked of a repeat and truth be told most
were worn out anyhow . Didn't even get to suck a
crawdad head . Bill Hoppe... Arkansas Ozarks

=====
Bill Hoppe
Yellville Arkansas
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