Access to streams is great for anglers, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission should account for how access affects fish populations.
By access, I don't just mean physical access to surface water, but also the more efficient access to fish that modern electronics provide.
Crooked Creek is a prime example of physical access. Crooked Creek is the gold standard for smallmouth bass fishing in Arkansas and has been long known for trophy size smallmouth bass. That is partly because of its excellent habitat and forage bass, but limited access traditionally protected fish by limiting harvest.
Duane Hada, a renowned fly fisherman and owner of Rivertown Gallery in Mountain Home, is also a committed conservationist. He is appalled and alarmed at the number of big smallmouth bass that anglers remove from the creek.
"There's a guy that let me fish a section of Crooked Creek that runs through his property," Hada said. "He always used to tell me to bring him some fish.
"I'd say, 'I won't do that to your creek. As often as you let me on here, I could do some damage.' He'd laugh and say, 'Ain't no way you could ever fish out a creek.' "
Hada disagrees. There's a limited number of dominant brood stock smallmouths in a particular creek hole. If you remove 20-inch or larger brood smallmouths, smaller fish will replace them. But if anglers remove them, too, the net result is the fishery's diminished quality.
Over the years, the Game and Fish Commission has opened Crooked Creek to the public by establishing access points near Yellville at Snow, at the Fred Berry Conservation Education Center, and at the new Mark Oliver Access. I like the accesses because they give me access to portions of the creek I couldn't visit before. I release every smallmouth I catch. Seldom do I fish Crooked Creek that I don't see anglers with a couple of big smallmouths on stringers to take home to eat.
We love eating fish, and we encourage eating fish. We also understand that anglers in all localities believe they have a greater claim to natural resources than nonresidents. However, stream smallmouth fisheries are limited resources that are especially vulnerable to over-exploitation. Hada said that the economic value of these fish on a catch-and-release basis is far greater than their one-time value as a food source.
According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, a smallmouth bass can take six years or more to reach 12 inches. Growth rates are faster in Crooked Creek, but like the Buffalo River, erosion is diminishing habitat quality. Continually removing adult brood stock smallmouths is also diminishing individual fish quality.
I've certainly noticed it. Highly skilled anglers rave about catching 30 or more fish per day, but most are about 12 inches, with occasional 14-inch fish. We grew accustomed to catching at least one 18-inch fish, and we were surprised and disappointed when we didn't. Now we are surprised when we do.
Ever-improving electronic graphing technology is another form of access. Modern graphs dramatically tilt the odds in favor of largemouth bass anglers who generally release their fish, but they also improve catches for crappie anglers and walleye anglers that keep their fish. Not only is it more likely for a crappie angler to catch 30 crappie per day, it is also increasingly easier for more crappie anglers to catch 30 crappie per day.
I know highly competent walleye anglers who go out with friends and catch multiple limits of six walleye every day. That trend will only increase.
The Game and Fish Commission should examine the effect that improved access has on angling efficiency and determine whether adjusting daily limits of popular species is justified.
Catch-and-release fishing facilitates a self-sustaining resource that keeps on giving. People can come from all over Arkansas and from other states to catch trophy-size smallmouths over and over.
Unlike trout, the Game and Fish Commission does not stock smallmouth bass in streams on a put-and-take basis. A proactive examination of the effect of access on the resource would be more progressive than a reactionary response after long-lasting damage has been done.