Crane Creek (James River)

Crane Creek is a 23.2-mile-long (37.3 km)[1] stream that flows through the town of Crane, Missouri and is notable for its trout fishery. The creek, a tributary of the James River and part of the White River drainage basin, is a part of the Missouri Department of Conservation's trout management program and is classified as a Blue Ribbon Trout Area. It is one of five wild trout management areas in the state that receive no supplemental stocking of hatchery-raised trout. Even more impressively, it is reputed to contain one of only three remaining populations of the pure-strain McCloud River rainbow trout — even the McCloud River no longer has this strain of fish in residence - though this claim is largely anecdotal and is to this point been unproven by scientific analysis.

Despite folklore that Crane Creek was stocked only once by railroad workers in the late nineteenth century, and that this explains the "purity" of the fish found there, in fact the records of the National Fish Commission show that the creek was repeatedly stocked between approximately 1890 and 1914 with rainbow trout from the nearby Neosho National Fish Hatchery.

Crane Creek has enjoyed some notoriety over the years, including articles published in well-known outdoor magazines and segments on sporting television shows. However, this publicity has not led to crowds of fishermen, largely due to the remoteness of the stream, the difficulty of the fishing conditions and the wariness of the fish. Even so, the creek has its share of devoted anglers who try their luck throughout the year, attempting to catch this truly rare trout which lives in a very small and rugged brook. Even though the water is small, there are trophy-sized fish present, with 20+ inch fish caught throughout the year and several documented catches ranging from 25 to 30 inches and nearly 10 pounds in weight.

Fishing regulations call for flies and hard lures only, and harvest is restricted to no more than 1 fish daily of at least 18 inches (0.46 m) in length. While spin fishing is permitted, fly fishing is generally the most productive fishing tactic.

Location

Mouth
Confluence with the James River in Stone County, Missouri 36°50′46″N 93°26′55″W / 36.84617°N 93.44852°W / 36.84617; -93.44852 (Crane Creek, mouth)[2]
Source
Lawrence County, Missouri: 36°58′25″N 93°38′09″W / 36.97367°N 93.63575°W / 36.97367; -93.63575 (Crane Creek, source)[2]

Other creeks

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) lists another Crane Creek in Hickory County, Missouri.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-04-05 at WebCite, accessed March 9, 2011
  2. 1 2 "Crane Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  3. ↑ "Crane Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2014-01-17.


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