Harris Brake

Anyone have any reports from Harris Brake?

Was there this weekend guy that lives in crappie
cove said game and fish are putting nets out to catch crappie entering cove said they are taking
hundreds of fish out of there and they are going
to put them out 8 more times this winter. I only caught 2

I've heard of a few fish coming from there, but I have not fished it. Where is crappie cove ? Never been on the water there, but I do plan to make a trip at some point. Probably not until I finish my time chasing whitetails though.

Also, curious as to why they would be pulling fish outta there ? Is he sure they are pulling them out and not just sampling ?

Yea they had multiple hoop nets out for four days
he said several fish went in coolers he asked about meat
after they tested them they said they have to keep. them
its illegal to waste game. they told him they will stop the fish from entering the cove

They plan on putting nets out 8 more times

Guys this is nothing uncommon, they do it to lake Conway all the time, a few years back I helped the game and fish do sampling on lake Conway one year when I was out of work and drawing unemployment, my time was donated, I did it for the education, I helped them during the summer on a rotenone sampling, the first day was not bad we gathered and sorted and took data on the first day of the kill, it was hot and the water was hot, however on the second day of the sampling which was gathering the fish from the first day that sunk and picking up the net that had the cove blocked off was tough, a strong stomach was required cause in that hot water over night the fish went into a rapid stage of rot. Then later on in the same year I helped them run hoop nets in gold creek and willamena cove, they took out I don't know how many crappie for sampling it was a tremendous amount, the fish did not get wasted, they collected a scale from each fish and the ear bone also called a otoliths, when the largemouth bass virus first started to come on strong in the state these samplings were very common, they were trying to see if the virus was transferable to other fish and see what affect it had if it was transferable, so the air bladder had to be checked also. they were sent off for the purpose of being tested for age and disease. It is common for them to do this to lakes from time to time. They have done it on Conway before just to stock the nursery pond and other lakes. You can rest assured they did not waste not one fillet. I was there through the whole process. I learned a lot that summer and winter about how the sampling worked and it was very educational and informative.

The deal on Harris Brake is a bad one. There is a "leak at the dam" and the lake is about 2 feet below normal just like last year. AGFC says they are not repairing the dam as they did not include the cost in their budget and furthermore they are in the process of flooding the woods for waterfowl hunting so its not something they really care about. The lake level it was at 2 weeks ago (approx. 2 feet low) does not provide enough water in the coves for fish to really get "docked up" like the previous years and several home owners told my dad that many of the residents are planning to move as a result.

Not to be a bearer of bad news but for those of you that have never been up there here's what I saw a couple years back when me and my buddy had taken a trip to Atkins in search of what all his buds had said were big bass up there. Both lakes are a nightmare to traverse since I suppose they didn't see a need to create boat lanes when building. We stopped back by Harris Brake on the way back and it was the same way. As for the fishing, bass weren't nothing special, we didn't have the crappie gear out. Maybe if they do have to drain/repair the lake they will create some boat lanes better than rusty rebar sticking up everywhere in what was I guess their attempt to put PVC over it and call it a boat lane. After my buddy seen the rebar stickups we shut her down and idled along from then on. There's plenty of brush in both lakes so it should be a crappie haven. Neither were built to be real deep water lakes and from what I remember it was 8-10' everywhere with no change in depths, no humps, no real channels??? Making it really tough to fish breaks when there are none, kinda like White oak was, is. Not sure how the draw down of it has gone but that's another lake. So many lakes with dam problems it seems. I know our crappie lake over in SE OK has had dam problems for the longest and it has been nothing more than a river channel for the past 3 or 4 years now with no real answers as to what they plan on doing??? If anyone is thinking of going to these lakes mentioned be careful cause there's plenty of boat hazards, unmarked hazards at that, when it's normal not to mention when it's low. Sure hate to hear they aren't going to fix the dam up right not to mention the lakes already existing hazards. By the way I did see one of the prettiest Ranger bass boats on Harris when we were there, Baby blue/tan. We told the older gentleman it was sure pretty as they were dock fishing and I'm sure they thought we were crazy for running around out there ourselves but you wouldn't know there weren't boat lanes if like us it was your 1st time out there.

All,

The AGFC is using a net called trapnet. This is our number one sampling gear for crappie. The standard operating procedure is to put 10 to 15 nets out throughout the lake for 2 to 3 nights per month. This occurs for 3 months usually starting in September or October. The Harris Brake sample may go an extra month because Arkansas Tech University is doing a stocking study. We run them every day. Each day, we run the nets and remove the crappie from the nets. If we are conducting an age and growth study, we will keep some fish to accurately assess their age. Otherwise the rest are let go. In NEA, we are currently doing this on Lake Charles. Next year, we will move to Lake Poinsett. Most of the districts do trap netting somewhere in the district each fall.

Lkconwayguru is referring to a Rotenone sample. These were conducted in the summer. We stop this sampling technique a couple years ago.

If you have question about Harris Brake call the Mayflower office at 1-877-470-3309. If you have questions about trapnetting, you are welcome to contact me on here.

Jeremy


D5 aide mending trap net 2012 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Harris Brake is now marked. You can go anywhere you want. They (AGFC?) did a great job marking the lanes. You'd have to be blind not to see them now. MUCH better than Atkins and Conway.

I think they are over doing it for spite jmo
old people are happy no one is fishing in their
lake guess they won I'm not going back.

ps. south east and south west trails are dangerous
when lake comes down another foot be safe

Thanks for the info Mojig. As someone said the lake really needed to be marked, lanes that is. There are several more lakes in need of the same, lake Columbia, parts of Millwood, as mentioned Lake Atkins and I've never been to Conway lake. So my next question would be where can we find population reports per lake? Per acre or however y'all gauge population vs lake size?

constructskeeter,

We write annual reports for each lake we sample during the year. Normally these are submitted around February the following year. These reports have what we found this year and how it compared to the previous years. It includes all sampling that occurred on the lake. You are welcome to contact the regional office over the lake of interest for these reports. You can also contact the little rock office. They have copies of all the reports. This is all public info.

Jeremy

Where can I get one or two of those nets.... That could drastically increase my catch, while allowing me to log a few more hours at the office. That would make my clients, wife, and bankers all a lot happier and easier to get along with !! LOL !! I am interested in seeing the published results, I can't wait until February. In spite of the sampling that's being done, I've still heard of some decent catches coming from Harris Brake this fall. I still haven't been over there but it looks like Friday-Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend may present an opportunity or two for me to go try it out. As a whole, I commend the ARGFC for their efforts in all regards to Arkansas outdoors whether it be fishing, hunting, etc. There is always a rule here, or a practice there, that I may or may not agree with, but like I said, as a whole I think they do a very commendable job. We live in a great state for outdoor activities and while their practices may/may not affect our results on any particular outing and/or season, I truly believe their efforts are in the best interest of the angler/hunter/outdoor enthusiast. It's pretty evident from the posts and pics regularly made on this site alone, that there are many quality animals and fish harvested in this state on a regular basis and done so without a great deal of difficulty. I don't think that is accomplished by accident or in spite of the ARGFC's efforts. On the contrary, I strongly believe it is "because of" the ARGFC's efforts that the opportunities are available to attain such harvests. Right, wrong, or indifferent the ARGFC is gonna co-exist with all of us, as a partner to all of us, so I choose to embrace their body of work as a whole and believe that they have made wise decisions in hiring smarter folks than myself to continue to improve our fisheries and wildlife here in the great state of Arkansas. Happy hunting/fishing/observing.....

Well my vessel isn't a barge like the game&fish might use but I plan on dumping some brush out in deeper water on our home water, Gillham lake. I know over in OK they have some good fish structure bouys that hold fish most all year around, don't see as many in AR waters. Just seems some lakes have always been better than others for whatever reasons. As for the hunting areas, you don't see food plots like you used to??? Gotta be off the road though or they get shot via truck windows. Even on our deer lease we don't have what it takes to make good plots, room, right soil, implements to work the areas like say game&fish would have. I see guys on the water and in the woods all the time but its more of a funding thing I think and your avg. guy you'll meet out on the water or on a forest service road can't help much seems. The thought of a chainsaw and a mission out on the lake seems more temping all the time these days!

Jeremy,

Thanks for sharing that but by trapnetting samples of crappie at the Brake you're painting the hood on a car with a blown motor. In other words there's a much more pressing issue that the AGFC has yet to own up to. Harris Brake will not be the same until the dam is repaired and its foolish for any AGFC employee to spend any available resource on that lake until it is fixed. Make your boss proud and press him on it and don't take no for an answer. He'll respect you for "owning the situation".

Thanks for the info and all the hard work we arkansas have some of the best hunting and fishing anywhere.Thanks Mojorig and the rest of the AGFC keep up the good work!!!!!!