Little Red River Adventure

[lipripper1983]

So I got to fish some new water for a change. The Little Red in Heber Springs, Arkansas. One word for that place. GORGEOUS!

It's so pretty there I was having a hard time paying attention to my fly line!

Anywho. I met my aunt and uncle up there friday evening. They stayed in a cramped looking cabin while I slept in a comfy hotel room. Accommodations were nice and the hotel was clean enough to eat off the floor (not that I would.) My uncle and I got up at the crack of dawn and headed straight down to JFK camp ground to explore and fish. Mostly explore. We walked down to just below the dam and saw 2 people wade fishing. We fished there for awhile and despite the active fish around us couldn't catch anything. We eventually made our way back to the parking area and decided to head over to cow shoals and see what that access was all about. Very pretty here! I managed to hook up with two fish that spit the hook out. And finally caught a third one and netted it. The water here is at most 8 inches deep. About like evening hole depth  with some good pockets here and there where the fish liked to hold. That's where I landed that first rainbow. Average size bow. Nothing to write home about. Eventually I decided to head back to JFK camp ground and fish between the parking area and the first discharge pipe. At one point while I was tying on a fly I saw a very large fish swimming up stream. I wasn't sure what kind of fish it was because it was so big so I stopped to watch it and figure out what it was I was looking at. It wasn't but maybe 8 feet in front me. I could dip my pole in the water and touch it if I wanted. The thing was as long as my arm, middle finger to shoulder. 30+ inches eaaaaasy. It wasn't until that thing was directly in front of me that I noticed the red stripe down the side indicating a rainbow trout. I was shocked and couldn't believe what I had just saw. Didn't have time to get my fly tied on to throw at it before it eventually vanished upstream.

Finished tying on that size 14 adams and made a few casts. Got a hit on my second cast but didn't get a good hookset (like usual, gotta work on that.) After about 6 or 7 more casts I got another taker and managed to get a good hookset on it this time. Finally fought the fish to my net when I realized it was a trout I hadn't seen before. I inspected it closely and soon realized it was a brook trout. Never caught one those before. Or seen one (in person.) So that was a very pleasant surprise. Casted that adams a bit longer with no takers so I tied up a nymph rig. Used a Thread Frenchie I had tied the previous weekend and on my first cast I had a good size rainbow in my net. After I released that one, on my second drift, I had another bow in my net. Damn this Thread Frenchie is killing it out here! Need to tie up more of those things.

Decided to meet my aunt and uncle at a steak house for dinner and chat with them about day. Went back to the hotel and crashed for the night. I woke up sunday morning on the 28th and decided to see of I could catch a fish on a blue wing olive soft hackle I tied. Got three takers, all came off. One was pretty big, it had jumped atleast a foot and a half out of the water and threw the hook out. I was very happy to have hooked into three fish swinging a soft hackle I tied myself. Never swung soft hackles or caught a fish on one before so that was satisfying. Fished until about noon before I loaded up and headed back home to Tejas. Was fun and would like to go back soon! Here's some pics I took:

[huntnfish2much]

Excellent post! I’m planning to head up there sometime before January.

It seemed to me, when I was going there annually, that the spawn got later and later each year. You are certainly right about the water depth around cow shoals. That’s the main reason it’s illegal to fish there at night.

I saw photos of a monstrous rainbow trout that was caught at Lobo Landing. The folks there said that guides would clean fish & throw the guts off the end of the dock. Trout would come and gorge on the flesh & eggs. I’d love to hang into one of those bruisers.

Man, you’ve got me jones-ing to head up there! I just think it’s a little early for those big browns to start romancing.

JR

[FlyAndStream]

Glad you had a good time. Those large fish swimming around JFK are large for one reason, they’re dang hard to catch. I like the Little Red, one of the only places around where you can catch a rainbow, brown, brook, and cutthroat all the same day. Lots of fishable water when they’re not generating.

[darrelln09]

Great post! I fished the Little Red over Labor Day Weekend and your post and photos are very similar to mine. It really is gorgeous there! I also caught my first brook trout at JFK that weekend ... several actually. My best fly was a Mohawk Pheasant Tail which is very similar to a Frenchie. A Red Ass soft hackle also worked well on the swing.

Next time you go, be sure to fish Winkley Shoals. It’s just a little ways downstream of Cow Shoals. Park at the Swinging Bridge, walk down and under the bridge and keep going about a quarter mile more. That’s where the shoals starts and there’s some nice slower water just beyond that. It’s a little deeper there as well, 3 feet or so.

[lipripper1983]

Oct 31, 2018 19:44:54 GMT -6 darrelln09 said:

Great post! I fished the Little Red over Labor Day Weekend and your post and photos are very similar to mine. It really is gorgeous there! I also caught my first brook trout at JFK that weekend ... several actually. My best fly was a Mohawk Pheasant Tail which is very similar to a Frenchie. A Red Ass soft hackle also worked well on the swing.

Next time you go, be sure to fish Winkley Shoals. It’s just a little ways downstream of Cow Shoals. Park at the Swinging Bridge, walk down and under the bridge and keep going about a quarter mile more. That’s where the shoals starts and there’s some nice slower water just beyond that. It’s a little deeper there as well, 3 feet or so.

I had drove over the bridge you mentioned sunday when I was leaving. I saw several people fishing what appeared to be some good runs. Will definetly have to hit that spot next time.

[lipripper1983]

Oct 31, 2018 18:04:46 GMT -6 FlyAndStream said:

Glad you had a good time. Those large fish swimming around JFK are large for one reason, they’re dang hard to catch. I like the Little Red, one of the only places around where you can catch a rainbow, brown, brook, and cutthroat all the same day. Lots of fishable water when they’re not generating.

Yeah I guess I got lucky with the no-generation that whole weekend. Or if they did generate it was over night and not very much. I will say it was a tough weekend of fishing for most. I didn't see a whole lot of people catching fish. My uncle had only netted one fish over the course of two days. And it was on a rainbow warrior I tied up and gave to him. He's a fan of those things haha.

[lipripper1983]

Oct 31, 2018 17:57:47 GMT -6 huntnfish2much said:

Excellent post! I’m planning to head up there sometime before January.

It seemed to me, when I was going there annually, that the spawn got later and later each year. You are certainly right about the water depth around cow shoals. That’s the main reason it’s illegal to fish there at night.

I saw photos of a monstrous rainbow trout that was caught at Lobo Landing. The folks there said that guides would clean fish & throw the guts off the end of the dock. Trout would come and gorge on the flesh & eggs. I’d love to hang into one of those bruisers.

Man, you’ve got me jones-ing to head up there! I just think it’s a little early for those big browns to start romancing.

JR

Yeah I didn't see any browns. Not a single one. They were all rainbows except for that one brookie I had caught. I did notice that Cow Shoals had a ton of Redd's in it. So they've either already spawned or those Redd's were from a previous spawning and they haven't actually come up to spawn just yet. But being that I didn't see any browns at all I'd say it's likely they haven't come up to lay their eggs yet.

[turfdawg]

Sounds like a fun trip. I’m going to have to give that place a try sometime

[jonbo]

Darrell: Oh, that's called Winkley Shoals? Yeah, I guess I've heard that name. I always just say, "Park at the Swinging Bridge, AKA Barnett Access, and walk downstream". It's my favorite place at LRR to fish, in any case. Now I'll know to say "Winkley Shoals"! Interesting, Lipripper, that you didn't find browns when, last time I went there, about a year and a half ago, that's all I caught. At "Winkley Shoals!" I caught several, all under 11 inches, then a nice 18 incher at Libby Shoals on a sowbug.

BTW, 2 things for further reference to those who may want fish LRR. There is no swinging bridge at "Swinging Bridge". The name refers to one that was there a long time ago but was removed after some kind of bad accident. Its official name, I think, is "Barnett Access". The other thing is, as some guys taught me the last time I was there, the locals fish the LRR a lot by using sowbug flies near the shoreline. I looked in a puddle along the shore and there were hundreds of the things. The fish scour the shorelines looking for them. I saw a fisherman picking fish after fish in the little backwater/shoreline areas with a sowbug under an indicator. I think it was at Swinging Bridge/Winkley Shoals.

[darrelln09]

Jonbo: I only know that because I read it on a map! Just beyond Winkley Shoals is nice water as well. It’s a little deeper and slower which held the fish during the heat of the day.

I tried sow bugs at Cow Shoals but to no avail. No one was catching anything there at that time - Labor Day weekend. Soft hackles were very productive at Winkley. Up at JFK Park, the Rainbow and Brook Trout stockers were very interested in a Sexy Walt’s and a Pheasant Tail as well.

[huntnfish2much]

The swinging bridge broke when a church group loaded up on it for a photo. There’s a plaque memorial there to explain the incident.

Several of the guys in the East TX Fly Fishers tent a cabin on Winkley Shoals every year, usually the first week in Dec. They catch LOTS of brown trout.

Sowbugs in the LRR are the main staple. Fly boxes for fishing there should have several, in different colors. The Deena fly, I believe, became popular there. I know it is mentioned in the little book that details fishing that tailwater.

Another fly you should never leave behind when going to LRR is the Red A$$. Many other types of soft hackles flies have produced for me there, but the RA is the best by far. I’ve also caught lots of browns and rainbows on chocolate midges. I tie mine on a 16 or 18 hook and always with a black or dark bronze tungsten bead.

I’ve fished both directions from Barnett Access. I got into a pocket one day upstream from there that was holding several 16” male browns, all kype-jawed and colored up. I’m sure they were tending to a spawning female, but I never got a look at her. It was a great day!

JR

[sulross]

How do those of you who fish the Little Red regularly handle the releases? I am up in Batesville, AR., to visit my son. We want to go fly fishing and the LR is the closest place, but the release schedule is not on our side all week. Perhaps today from 1-5, but that's it. We can drive further over to fish the White up in the trout areas, but it's an hour further. So, I want to keep it specific to the LR; do most of you use boats to get in a full day, wait for the schedule to slow down and come only then, or just fish pocket water driving from shoals to shoals and access points trying to stay ahead of the rising water?