Post by gui on Apr 14, 2015 12:20:48 GMT -6
Since I've moved to Texas, my opportunities to fish for trout have been scarcer. However, over this past year, I've found that year-round trout waters were actually 3-4 hours away from Dallas, which is not that bad. And so the Lower Mountain Fork River at Broken Bow (OK), the Guadalupe river below Canyon Lake (TX) and the little Missouri river below lake Greeson (AR) have been great to me when I was in withdrawal.
This time, I decided to push it a bit further East in Arkansas and check out the Ouachita river below Blakely Mountain Dam, not very far from Hot Springs, AR. A friend and I left work early on Friday and some 5 hours later we were setting up camp in a USACoE managed campground right below the dam. It's been few years now that I've lived in the US and camped around several artificial lakes managed by the corps of engineers and I have to say that I've been truly impressed and amazed by the number of great campgrounds that the Army maintains. This site by the Blakely Dam was another awesome location. We actually had the campground just for ourselves the whole weekend and enjoyed a great spot right by the river.
The spring colors, with many different shades of green, were amazing in the Ouachita Forest. Here is a nice view of the Ouachita river flowing right below Blakely Mountain dam. Our campground was on the left bank, where the river starts to bend to the right.
I've had read that trout were stocked in the winter below the dam, however I did not really know what to expect. I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised!
As the sun was peaking up through the trees on Saturday morning, I quickly noticed that trout were raising everywhere on the short river section below the dam. The water was crystal clear, and very, very cold. The area is not so wading friendly, however there is a wadable portion next to the campground that provides with enough back room for comfortable casting.
A lot of very small bugs were hatching and trout were feeding aggressively on them the whole weekend. I wish I could say I was successful with dry fly fishing, but the truth is that I only caught 2 fish on a dry fly (using a flying ant)... All my other fish came on small streamers and buggers swinged or stripped across the current.
I caught many 9-12 inch stokers. But they were really healthy and showed very nice colors and fins. Some fish were actually probably the prettiest rainbows that I had ever seen, with perfect fins and amazing colors. Pictures never really truly give justice, but you can have an idea in the pictures below.
Nothing really big, with maybe one or two fish pushing the 14 inch, but these rainbows were very pretty and must have hold over for some time in the river. I saw a lot of potential trout food, including bugs and minnows, which made me believe that some larger holdover trout must be haunting the area.
I had brought my good old inflatable kayak, which was very useful to access more fishing water and enjoy some nice scenery.
Of course, I know that there are some much more famous and outstanding tailwater trout fisheries in Arkansas (and I long for the days when I will visit the White, Norfork and Little Red rivers...). But these are much further away from Dallas for me. If you are on your way through Arkansas and stop in Hot Springs, I think that you could end up being pleasantly surprised by the Ouachita river.
There is another section below lake Hamilton and Carpenter Dam that should hold trout and that I plan to explore one day.
This time, I decided to push it a bit further East in Arkansas and check out the Ouachita river below Blakely Mountain Dam, not very far from Hot Springs, AR. A friend and I left work early on Friday and some 5 hours later we were setting up camp in a USACoE managed campground right below the dam. It's been few years now that I've lived in the US and camped around several artificial lakes managed by the corps of engineers and I have to say that I've been truly impressed and amazed by the number of great campgrounds that the Army maintains. This site by the Blakely Dam was another awesome location. We actually had the campground just for ourselves the whole weekend and enjoyed a great spot right by the river.
The spring colors, with many different shades of green, were amazing in the Ouachita Forest. Here is a nice view of the Ouachita river flowing right below Blakely Mountain dam. Our campground was on the left bank, where the river starts to bend to the right.
I've had read that trout were stocked in the winter below the dam, however I did not really know what to expect. I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised!
As the sun was peaking up through the trees on Saturday morning, I quickly noticed that trout were raising everywhere on the short river section below the dam. The water was crystal clear, and very, very cold. The area is not so wading friendly, however there is a wadable portion next to the campground that provides with enough back room for comfortable casting.
A lot of very small bugs were hatching and trout were feeding aggressively on them the whole weekend. I wish I could say I was successful with dry fly fishing, but the truth is that I only caught 2 fish on a dry fly (using a flying ant)... All my other fish came on small streamers and buggers swinged or stripped across the current.
I caught many 9-12 inch stokers. But they were really healthy and showed very nice colors and fins. Some fish were actually probably the prettiest rainbows that I had ever seen, with perfect fins and amazing colors. Pictures never really truly give justice, but you can have an idea in the pictures below.
Nothing really big, with maybe one or two fish pushing the 14 inch, but these rainbows were very pretty and must have hold over for some time in the river. I saw a lot of potential trout food, including bugs and minnows, which made me believe that some larger holdover trout must be haunting the area.
I had brought my good old inflatable kayak, which was very useful to access more fishing water and enjoy some nice scenery.
Of course, I know that there are some much more famous and outstanding tailwater trout fisheries in Arkansas (and I long for the days when I will visit the White, Norfork and Little Red rivers...). But these are much further away from Dallas for me. If you are on your way through Arkansas and stop in Hot Springs, I think that you could end up being pleasantly surprised by the Ouachita river.
There is another section below lake Hamilton and Carpenter Dam that should hold trout and that I plan to explore one day.
