Bear Creek Lake at Marianna

I can find information about bream and bass fishing on the lake but not much about crappie fishing. It is a nice lake and I was just wondering about the potential for crappie fishing there. I'm not asking for coordinates to your honey hole, although I will take notes. Haha!

Thinking about going over to give it a try and I'm just curious if it is worth a trip. The camping area looks nice and they have a really nice visitors center there. Looks like the lake was man made and should have some good structure for crappie, especially black crappie.

Thanks!

They have a decent crappie population and I sold an engine to a guy Friday that said he was catching some nice ones. Not sure what his definition of nice ones is tho. It is a killer redear, and bream lake. Big fish.
10hp limit on engines. Must take prop off anything bigger to be legal.

We caught some nice crappie on ratltrap when we were bass fishing. Seen some guys trolling just to the right of ramp catching some nice ones. That lake was the reason I bought a 9.9 the first time around. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply's!

We had a local that was bass fishing there tell us that you could have a larger engine on your boat but had to disable it by like BRM mentioned removing prop, pulling plug wires, gas line etc... I hoped to get by just pulling a plug wire and using my trolling motor.

I was told you had to remove the prop. Wires can be plugged back up so that wasn't an option.

Some friends of mine used to catch good crappie trolling by the dam in early spring.

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

I was told you had to remove the prop. Wires can be plugged back up so that wasn't an option.

Some friends of mine used to catch good crappie trolling by the dam in early spring.

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I will check into it more! We got this information from a gentlemen putting a Triton Bass Boat in with a 150 hp motor there. He was unhooking plug wires when I asked him about crappie fishing on the lake. He mentioned motor restrictions and said he has been ticketed before but he has been able to get by with pulling plug wires after getting a ticket. He also told us he usually gets checked but I will make sure before I meet up with Mr. Green Jeans to see if plug wires will work! Haha! We did ask if he was checked by park rangers or Arkansas Game and Fish, he told us game and fish. A couple of other gentlemen were in a Bass Tracker with a 60hp that were loading from bass fishing they said they unhooked a gas line and got by without being ticketed. So not sure but will call AGFC before going.

Thanks

Cool. I wasn't sure, but was told about the prop thing.

I've been told you can also leave the fuel tank and line at home and fish it.

My 2 cents from an experience at storm creek just a little further south with same motor restriction depending on the green jeans u encounter, disabled means a part required to run must be removed completely from boat, it can be left in the truck. Where u can't go around a point, hook it back up and run. Prop is safest bet. the one I encountered didn't consider unhooking a wire and fuel line as disabled. I figured this out by his tone and him feeling my motor from top to bottom. Also if u have a big motor and a 9.9 on a boat, still "disable" the big motor. Just sayin...

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Originally Posted by Jbrewer

My 2 cents from an experience at storm creek just a little further south with same motor restriction depending on the green jeans u encounter, disabled means a part required to run must be removed completely from boat, it can be left in the truck. Where u can't go around a point, hook it back up and run. Prop is safest bet. the one I encountered didn't consider unhooking a wire and fuel line as disabled. I figured this out by his tone and him feeling my motor from top to bottom. Also if u have a big motor and a 9.9 on a boat, still "disable" the big motor. Just sayin...

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Exactly what I was told. Not supposed to leave the engine where it can be used on the water at all.

I have a call into Larry Summerhill at the AGFC Brinkley, AR location. I will give an update when I find out. My local warden said that removing a plug wire, removing the fuel tank (which is not an option for me) would be sufficient for him in his area. He did say however that it would be up to the officer in that area so I'm making sure!!!

I found out that you can get by removing the plug wire, be sure and note removing plug wire not just unhooking it! You can remove the fuel line but it cannot be in the boat, you can remove the fuel tank or remove the prop.

The fine ranges from a minimum of $100.00 up to a maximum of $1,000.00 which is determined by the warden. This came from the AGFC!!!

Jbrewer is correct. You can disconnect the plug wire, fuel line or prop; the main thing is they must be left in the truck, not in the boat. Saw some guys get a ticket there last summer for using a 25 hp motor; cost them $250. The AGFC did a shocking there last week and found good bass numbers, but not many crappie. Bream and shellcrackers aren't on the beds yet but should be soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MaggiesMaster

Jbrewer is correct. You can disconnect the plug wire, fuel line or prop; the main thing is they must be left in the truck, not in the boat. Saw some guys get a ticket there last summer for using a 25 hp motor; cost them $250. The AGFC did a shocking there last week and found good bass numbers, but not many crappie. Bream and shellcrackers aren't on the beds yet but should be soon.

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Thanks for both reports.