Summertime treats await on Kings River

Wise river rats will testify paddlers can float any river during summer. It all depends how much they want to walk.

Dragging or walking a kayak or canoe over shallow spots is a fact of river floating life during summer. Thankfully, occasional showers this warm season have kept boat dragging to a minimum on many Ozark streams.

That was a pleasant surprise to paddlers in a four-boat flotilla during a trip July 10 down the Kings River. The clear and beautiful stream had ample flow to keep three kayaks and one canoe from hitting rock bottom, except at a couple of shoals.

Kings River starts high in the Boston Mountains and drops through a rugged Madison County landscape. It's a sizable stream by the time it enters Carroll County, flowing near Eureka Springs and Berryville, before joining Table Rock Lake near Carr Lane, Mo.

Most floating is on 65 miles of the Kings between the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Marble access, east of Huntsville, to the Game and Fish Romp Hole access near Carr Lane. This trip covered five miles from the J.D Fletcher U.S. 62 access to a pay access at the Arkansas 143 bridge near Grandview.

Jeff Belk and Shawn Flannigan, both of Fayetteville, were among the wise river rats on this summer day.

"Floating a river, it's all about what you see along the way," Belk testified a mile into the drift.

"There's the scenery, the wildlife. You never know what you're going to see around the next bend. It doesn't get any finer," he said.

A pair of kingfishers cackled and played above the boats at one shallow shoal. The flotilla got a feathered escort from a great blue heron part of the way. The long-legged and long-necked bird flew, landed, then flew again in front of the flotilla for a solid mile.

Belk's son, Jack, 11, was in the front seat of his dad's kayak. Flannigan and his son, Connor, who's a college freshman this fall, took in the sights, sounds and fragrance of this blue-ribbon float stream from their kayaks.

The Kings is known for its hard-fighting smallmouth bass, which are part of the river's wildlife. Anglers may release all the smallmouth they can catch, but can keep very few.

The daily limit is two smallmouths 14 inches or longer on most of the Kings. From Trigger Gap to the J.D. Fletcher U.S. 62 access, the limit is one smallmouth 18 inches or longer. Yet most anglers release every smallmouth regardless of size.

Jon Stein, district fisheries supervisor with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the lower portion of the Kings, from U.S. 62 to the Romp Hole access, has good fishing.

"That particular stretch, from 62 to Grandview, has some of the river's biggest smallmouth," he said.

Low water and the dog days of fishing kept the group's catch rate low. Five anglers caught and released a handful of smallmouths and a couple of Ozark bass.

Tube baits, grubs and top-water lures get the attention of smallmouth bass on any Ozark stream. The paddling anglers tried those lures and more over five river miles.

"I can't imagine life without fishing," Jeff Belk mused, even though the catching was slow.

Wispy white clouds thickened into a gray overcast to cool the breezeless July day. Not long after a lunchtime feast on a gravel bar, gentle rain dimpled the calm water. Rain jackets remained stashed away. The droplets felt divine on warm legs and arms. These summertime showers have kept streams like the Kings floatable this summer.

Low-flow trips have one big advantage. Skinny water keeps the crowds away. There wasn't another boat on the river all day.