Interstate Sportsman
INTERSTATE
Sportsman
by Don Kirk
Arkansas’ Little Red River;
Fabulous Trout Fishery
Is there anything finer than the feel of a frisky trout flailing
etting bang for your buck and favorable time away from the road is always a prime consideration be it to attend a football game or going hunting. This month when the temperatures are soaring, there is special place located smack dab in the middle of the country where you can make great fishing trip. Located downstream from Greers Ferry Lake in northern Arkansas the Little Red River is North America’s finest hot weather fishing for trout. The Little Red River is not a natural trout fishery, but one that owes its existence to man. When the dam was buil across the Little Red River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a trout hatchery. Heavily stocked, there are year-round releases of 9- to 12-inch trout. Stocking large numbers of keeper-size trout also provides a source of food for the larger trout in the Little Red. To everyone’s surprise, a couple decades ago brown trout started spawning in the Little Red. Trophy brown trout in the 5 and 15 pounds are routinely caught from these waters. Fishing is never better than during the dog days of summer. Except during period of peak hydroelectricity production at the upstream dam, during the summer the Little Red are highly conducive to wading its many shallow areas. The river boasts incredible rainbow and brown trout fisheries, fostered by a year round growing season, high water quality and more macroinvertrbate per cubic yard of water for the trout to feed than has ever been measured anywhere else in a cold water fishery. Downstream from the dam on the Little Red, the temperature ranges from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. These
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Summertime Most
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The state of Arkansas offers plenty of good trout fishing, and many streams are easily accessible by big rig.
August • 2010