You might remember the meaning of the character 溪 with this easy mnemonic:
You'll feel droplets (氵) of water fall on you if you stand by the creek, but also be careful of bear claws (爪) trying to catch fish with short threads (幺). These claws can be surprisingly big (大).
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.