A Day at Bear Creek Lake

 I spent my Saturday at Mississippi River State Park in Southeastern Arkansas.  The State Park is entirely contained within the St. Francis National Forest, which is on Crowley's Ridge.  Crowley's Ridge rises from the Mississippi River Delta and runs North/South through Eastern Arkansas.  The state park service manages two lakes within the national forest, Bear Creek Lake and Storm Creek Lake.  The lakes are small at just over and just under 500 acres, respectively, with numerous fingers.  The fishing is supposed to be good for largemouth bass, bream, and crappie.  From Google Earth they looked like ideal lakes for my kayak, and I have been itching to check them out for a while now.

Saturday was beautiful: sunny, with a slight breeze, and temperatures in the high 70's.  I went to Bear Creek Lake and launched my kayak.  Spring was in full force in the forest surrounding the lake, and the clear lake even smelled pleasant.  The lake is perfect for a kayak.  There is plenty of water to explore, but it is so broken up that I was never afraid of large waves building or the situation getting dangerous.

I was disappointed to discover that the fishing was less than I had hoped.  Using my spinning rod I unsuccessfully fished for bass for a few hours, before finally switching over to my fly rod and trying to catch some panfish.  Even the panfishing was slow, but I did manage a few, including my first bream on poppers.    

A decent bluegill.  One of these days I'm going to have a panfish fry, but
since this was the only keeper I caught, he was spared.

I took the LONG way home.  I ended up taking the scenic route through the St. Francis National Forest.  It was actually far prettier, wilder, and remote than I was expecting.  Maybe that's because I was lost on a dirt road, I hadn't seen another car in half an hour, and I didn't have any cell phone reception.  Amazingly, I came out right where I wanted to.  Even though the fishing left much to be desired, the setting was amazing, and when the C-ster gets older I'm sure we will be taking a camping trip there.