Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Paradise for paddling
Stream’s beauty dazzles river runners.
One the sweetest streams in the Ozarks is aptly named.
Big Sugar Creek flows cool and clear through the southwest Missouri hill country, much to the delight of floaters, anglers and swimmers seeking summer relief at their favorite swimming hole.
It’s a jewel in the sparkling crown of streams that meander lazily through Missouri’s southwest. Little Sugar Creek, Indian Creek are others. All are tributaries of the Elk River, which forms where Big Sugar and Little Sugar creeks meet at Pineville, Mo.
The Missouri Department of Conservation’s “Paddlers Guide to Missouri” book lists the highway bridge at Missouri 90 and KK, east of Jane, Mo., as the highest possible upstream access for floating.
From here, Big Sugar swirls, gurgles and flows for 24 miles on a westerly course toward Pineville. River runners like Drew Holt will testify to the stunning beauty and sheer joy of floating Big Sugar Creek.
“It’s my favorite,” Holt said. The former Fayetteville resident now works for The Nature Conservancy in Springfield, Mo.
“The water is crystal clear and cool,” he added. “You see a few cabins here and there, but for the most part it’s natural, rural scenery.”
He watches fish more than catches them when he’s adrift on Big Sugar. Holt was tickled on his last trip to watch two spotted gar swimming beside his boat 30 seconds after he launched.
Watching smallmouth bass leap from Big Sugar was the main attraction for Russ Tonkinson of Rogers and a river-running friend during a float trip at the end of May.
It was Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Tonkinson expected to encounter an armada of boats this perfect May day. Pat Tinsley with Big Elk Camp at Pineville did the shuttle and hauled the paddlers upstream to the Crag ‘O Lea bridge. They planned to float four miles on Big Sugar and take out at Big Elk Camp.
A fishing lure tethered to Tonkinson’s rod caught Tinsley’s eye.
“See you’ve got a Whopper Plopper tied on there,” he said. “That’s a red hot bait on Big Sugar and the Elk right now.”
The Whopper Plopper is a top-water lure with lots of splash, like it’d scare fish more than catch them. But it’s become legendary on area streams and Beaver Lake.
Last fall on the Elk River, smallmouths hammered Tonkinson’s Whopper Plopper. Funny though, smallmouths wouldn’t touch it on this springtime Big Sugar float.
Smallmouth bass had an appetite for deeper offerings like tube baits and plastic worms in shades of brown or green. Dancing a Zoom Tiny Fluke soft-plastic lure across the bottom drew hard hits. A couple of 14-inch smallmouths capped the 30-fish day on Big Sugar. All fish were carefully released.
Fishing was only part of the float trip’s joy. The boulder and gravel stream bottom swept slowly by under the canoe with Big Sugar’s transparent water and gentle current. At one spot, kids flew from a tree on a rope swing and splashed down in a deep, cool hole. Now that’s summer in the Ozarks.
The paddlers watched schools of redhorse suckers, gar and bass on patrol below. Big schools of minnows were part of this natural aquarium. One wonders why a fish would ever bite a lure with so much natural food.
A gravel-bar lunch in the shade of a leafy sycamore is fine dining on any Ozark float.
They drifted into Big Elk Camp at midafternoon. The parking lot was packed. Memorial Day weekend had arrived, but the armada of floaters evidently opted for an Elk River trip downstream from the camp.
The pair had Big Sugar to themselves all day and never saw another canoe.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at fputthoff@nwadg.com.