Arkansas River 5/21/2012

[Allen Morgan]

I decided to try something new this time, running the camera steadily to capture myself catching some fish.  I only captured video of me catching 1 small Channel Cat (I'm the chunky guy in the waders).  The other gent caught two Drum that I captured on video.

We were using cut shad on bottom drift rigs, just casting out, letting it come to rest in the current, and waiting for a hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDAULmilWcA&feature=youtu.be

We both tried various artificial baits as well.  I caught one small White Bass / Sand Bass on a 1/8 oz chrome Rat-L-Trap.  I used a few other baits, but the hot bait proved to be a size 6 Rapala X-Rap in Clown.  I caught several White Bass / Sand Bass, even more Drum, and two small Stripers that hammered that lure right at the current seam.  I also had a few Unidentified Fishy Objects that got off, and a brief hookup with a Spoonbill for about 5 seconds.

I also had one really strange thing happen.  I got a couple light taps, tried to set the hook, and felt my rig get snagged.  I pulled like crazy, and it started to move a bit.  I didn't know what the heck I had.  It could have been a rock wrapped up with fishing line that I had snagged, we speculated that it might have been a big turtle, but we dismissed that, for the same reason we said it couldn't have been a big Flathead; I wasn't feeling any head-shakes.  I got it to within 6' of me, and started dragging it to the waterline to get a look at it.  The object got hung on a rock, so I had to drag it around that.  We really couldn't understand what it was, when I started getting into shallow water, we could see my swivel, split-shot, even my bait, but could not see the object.  I dragged it above and water and couldn't believe my eyes.  It was a tangled mass of fishing line, with about 5 lbs of sinkers, a few hooks, and some jigs all clumped together!

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures, just the video, because I ran the battery down on the camera.  I'll have to get some spare batteries so I can keep capturing video after I swap out a battery.

[Leo Nguyen]

Nice video. Is that the Redhead neoprene wader?! Sexxeeeee..LOL

 

Great time on the river. I'm surprise the river like that has such a slow flow. I would expect on the magnitude of 500cfs minimum at the concentrated point where you're at.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I wanna see the wad of crap - sounds like enough supplies for a while!

[Allen Morgan]

Leo, the brand name is "Game Winner", from Academy Sports.

David, I just took pics of the recovered loot.  I'll get it processed and uploaded later; busy cooking dinner right now.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Okie dokie!

Or is that 'Arkie darkie'?

[Vince Fusco]

Academy Sports.....I love that store. I call it a no frills BPS. Good prices too!

[Allen Morgan]

Ok, here’s the pics of all the stuff I recovered.  This first pic is everything, in the bucket it came home in:

 

[IMG]http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5171/20120521loot1.jpg[/IMG]

 

Since that doesn’t really give a good sense of scale, I pulled out the big “wad of crap” that I snagged and brought in:

 

[IMG]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8056/20120521loot2.jpg[/IMG]

 

I managed to put that on my scale, which registered 7 lbs.  Now, that’s not 7 lbs total of lead.  There’s still some mono, plastic, hooks, some sand grains, not to mention it’s still damp.  But, still!  7 lbs!

 

Here’s EVERYTHING I’ve recovered over few days.  I didn’t weigh this mess, but there’s got to be over 10 lbs of stuff in there.  There’s even a brand-new 8 oz bank sinker in the mix.

 

[IMG]http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7562/20120521loot3.jpg[/IMG]

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I love it - the weird and wonderful always interests me. Talk about 'Heavy Metal.'

[Allen Morgan]

David, I've seen the river even lower!  About 95 cfs coming down-river last year.  Yes, there isn't much.  The reason is, about 12 miles upstream, is Keystone Dam, a hydro-electric dam.  No floodgates were open, and the turbines have been off for over 24 hours.  This flow is just the little bit of water that hasn't made its way downstream, plus the flow from all the small creeks between this spot and the Dam.

When both turbines are on, they put out 12,000 cfs.  That will raise the water level about 6'.  The rock bar that I has deposited all my equipment on will be completely underwater.  Where I was standing, would have a few feet of water over my head.  I've got some photos of this area with 40,000 cfs coming downstream.  It's unbelievable.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Sweet - what a varied environment to fish.

[Allen Morgan]

Don't get me started.  You have to time your fishing with the water release, and how much flow is coming down-river. There is a schedule posted online when they are going to turn the turbines on.  It doesn't mean they follow it.  They were supposed to generate for a few hours Sunday, and they never did.  If they do turn the turbines on, you have 6 - 8 hours before the "surge" hits where I'm fishing.  Since they don't always follow the schedule, you have to keep an eye out.  If you notice the water coming up, get the heck out of Dodge!

The Dam has a website as well, so I can check the dam to see if they are generating, and since it's listed hourly, I know when abouts to expect the "surge" at my fishing spot.

Different levels of flow move the fish into different areas.  Had there been about 1K cfs coming down-river, I probably would have been catching 10-lbs cats, or 10-lbs or bigger Stripers.

[dick tabbert]

Allen good movie and love that river fishing. Never know what that next bite will be its always a surprise.