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Post by lipripper1983 on May 21, 2018 16:31:16 GMT -6
I've been kicking around the idea of taking a weekend trip or two this summer up to the little red in arkansas. What's the conditions of that river during the summer months? Is it mass mobbed with crowds like the LMFR? And what's a good access point for a wading fisherman?
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Post by dainw on May 21, 2018 16:58:54 GMT -6
Main thing about the little red that you’ll want to keep in mind when planning a trip is the generation schedule. Almost impossible to forecast a gen schedule on any of those tailwaters more than about a day out. If they’re running anything more than min flow you’re gonna have a hard time wading at all. That being said, if you’re lucky enough to get min flow you should have plenty of water. LRR has like 30 miles of trout water whereas LMF has two that you can count on.
If I was deadset on fishing the little red I’d book a guide with a boat so you can fish regardless of the water conditions. Either that or just be very flexible on dates and be ready to go whenever there’s a good generation forecast.
If you want, pm me and I can point you in the direction of some stuff out there that should be a little more reliable wade fishing wise.
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Post by cigarsnjeeps on May 22, 2018 12:36:33 GMT -6
This past weekend they were generating from around noon to 8pm ish, but it must have been minimal generation, because it wasn't super fast.
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Post by dainw on May 22, 2018 13:04:24 GMT -6
I think the Little Red is on a minimum flow program much like the white and Norfork rivers are so there should be some current going even with no generation. Gen schedule says that they ran about half a unit from 3-6 on Saturday and I think again at 7 on Sunday. They can and oftentimes do deviate from this schedule though and may very we’ll have this weekend. Sounds like if they did it was just about half a unit or so which is why it was still wadeable. River is big enough that if a push is scheduled you can fish downstream until the rise gets to you and then move back up above it once the water gets there if they’ve turned off the generators. www.swpa.gov/gen/sun.htm |
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Post by darrelln09 on Sept 1, 2018 19:30:21 GMT -6
Fished the Little Red today and it was wadable the entire day. I wasn’t expecting that. Nice surprise.
Waded in at Cow Shoals and fished the first 3 hours of daylight with no bites at all. There’s some really nice water there though. Fast and shallow where you walk in at but gets deeper as you go downstream. Still no fish. Maybe 6 other fly fishers there but no one was catching any.
Decided to move upstream and fish near the dam along where the hatchery and JFK Park are. Very scenic area if you look past the Turkey buzzards. Lots of bait chuckers too, sitting in their lawn chairs, but didn’t see too many catching fish. A few fly casters in the mix as well so I decided to wade in. Cool water. Waders leaked at the crotch. Another surprise.
Slow start but then they started to bite for me. Five small stockers followed by about 8 nice rainbows. Midges and Sow Bugs were not producing so I switched to Higa’s SOS, Sexy Walt’s, Mohawk PT Jig, and eventually a Red Copper John. Had action on all of them. People around me were giving me “the look”.
Couldn’t find a tent campground. All I saw were for RVs only. Staying in a motel instead. The A/C alone is worth it.
Heber Springs is in a dry county. Worst surprise of the day.
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Post by danimal on Sept 1, 2018 21:13:23 GMT -6
Fished the Little Red today and it was wadable the entire day. I wasn’t expecting that. Nice surprise. Waded in at Cow Shoals and fished the first 3 hours of daylight with no bites at all. There’s some really nice water there though. Fast and shallow where you walk in at but gets deeper as you go downstream. Still no fish. Maybe 6 other fly fishers there but no one was catching any. Decided to move upstream and fish near the dam along where the hatchery and JFK Park are. Very scenic area if you look past the Turkey buzzards. Lots of bait chuckers too, sitting in their lawn chairs, but didn’t see too many catching fish. A few fly casters in the mix as well so I decided to wade in. Cool water. Waders leaked at the crotch. Another surprise. Slow start but then they started to bite for me. Five small stockers followed by about 8 nice rainbows. Midges and Sow Bugs were not producing so I switched to Higa’s SOS, Sexy Walt’s, Mohawk PT Jig, and eventually a Red Copper John. Had action on all of them. People around me were giving me “the look”. Couldn’t find a tent campground. All I saw were for RVs only. Staying in a motel instead. The A/C alone is worth it. Heber Springs is in a dry county. Worst surprise of the day. There's a small town called Blackwell on I-40 (I'm guessing maybe an hour south of you) that sells adult beverages.. I'd make the drive... |
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Post by darrelln09 on Sept 1, 2018 21:30:18 GMT -6
An hour? Ha! I found a bottle of Trout Camp fireball in my emergency food supply kit.
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Post by darrelln09 on Sept 3, 2018 18:49:58 GMT -6
I continued to fish the remainder of the Labor Day weekend at the Little Red. Sunday’s results were pretty similar to Saturday with about half my catch again being young Brook Trout stockers and the other half medium-sized Rainbow Trout. Given the inside dimensions of my net being 9”x 14” ... most of the brookies were just under 9” and most of the rainbows just under 14”. The rainbows were ferocious fighters and took forever to play out. I wasn’t able to hook any of the infamous LRR Brown Trout though.
In all, I fished the following sections of the river and had these observations:
Just below the dam: Wide, flat water with a few sections sped up by rocks. There are definitely fish in this section, some large rainbows, but I wasn’t able to hook any in that slow, clear water. Slipped on a rock and dunked myself though. That was fun.
Along JFK Park and the hatchery: Well stocked and fished hard by the bait casters. There are a few areas above and below the boat ramp where the river narrows and speeds up pretty good. This is where I had the most success ... with nymphs.
Cow Shoals: Wide, shallow and pretty fast water. A little further down it gets deeper. I didn’t get any bites there but I’m told that’s where the Browns come up to spawn. There are several signs along the road for it and a nice parking area when you get there.
Winkley Shoals: Access it at Barnett Park at an old crossing called the Swinging Bridge. At the park, there’s another bait caster magnet and I believe they stock rainbows in it. For better fly fishing, cross under the bridge and go downstream a bit. There you will find a few nice swift shoals with deeper pools between them and beyond. I fished there in the afternoon and had pretty good success swinging Woolly Buggers trailed by soft hackles off the hook bend.
Libby Shoals: This is the next public access point downstream from Winkley. Again, good signage and a nice parking area. I went there in the afternoon again hoping to find more shoals and pools to swing WBs in but didn’t find any. The water there is wide and fairly flat. I would have fished it in cooler weather because it would be perfect to dead drift dry flies or nymphs but it was just too hot for any of that at the time.
Overall, the Little Red is a fine tailwater and definitely lives up to its billing. The water was surprisingly cool for late September (this year anyway), there’s a large variety of water conditions to fish in and plenty of fish to chase after. If you’ve never been there before it is definitely worth the trip.
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