Little Red River

TIME: 9:00 AM TO 2:30 PM
WEATHER: PC, Low to high 80s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Little Red River downstream of Greers Ferry Dam and Downstream of AR Hwy 110 Bridge (Swinging Bridge)
FLIES USED: #14 Lil' Red River Sowbug, #14 San Juan Worm (various colors), #20 Ginger Cockleburr, Big Ugly, #10 Chernobyl Ant, #10 Hopper, #14 Flying Ant, #14 Peach Salmon Egg
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with Kay and Wayne. Lil' Red River is still off color as a result of Greers Ferry Lake being turbid from the spring flood. There was very little flow, but thank goodness for leakage through the dam gate seals which provided some additional discharge of water. We fished the pool immediately below the dam and there was almost no velocity. Wayne picked up a few fish, Kay caught two, and I did not catch any. Kay and I played with some fish in a small riffle and I had a couple blow up on a Chernobyl Ant, but could not get a hook up. We drove to the JFK overlook, had lunch (and gave extras to a fellow who looked down on his luck; he was very grateful), and proceeded to the AR Highway 110 bridge access. As with a couple weeks ago, there were geese everywhere, and they were putting the fish down, consequently no rises. Also, aquatic vegetation is abundant, making fishing with a weighted fly impossible in the shallow water. However, I immediately picked up a rainbow on a Chernobyl Ant just downstream of the bridge. Wayne hot footed it down to the first and subsequent big riffles, and Kay and I fished our way slowly downstream, concentrating on the right descending bank (if you're walking downstream, it's the bank on the right). The scenery looking downstream is awesome, with Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. I managed to fool a couple of browns on the Chernobyl Ant, missed several others, and had lots of looks. I switched flies at least a dozen times to find one they would take, but ended up coming back to the Chernobyl Ant as I couldn't even get a look with another pattern. Kay and I sat on the bank above the first deep riffle, and watched Wayne pull one after another fish out; don't know how many he caught, but we saw him catch 3 out of 4 casts, using the San Juan Worm (and variations) below a strike indicator. He is the most incredible fisher we've been blessed to fish with, and he immensely enjoys fishing. Kay was nursing a tennis elbow and proceeded upstream towards the truck, and I fished the deep riffle with a worm/egg combination. I caught two fairly quickly. Wayne worked his way upstream and we all walked to the truck, too out-of-shape from lack of fishing. It was a pretty good day!

Little Red River

TIME: 11:30 AM TO 4:00 PM
WEATHER: PC, Low to high 80s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Below AR Hwy 110 Bridge (Swinging Bridge)
FLIES USED: #14 Lil' Red River Sowbug, #14 San Juan Worm (various colors), #20 Ginger Cockleburr, Big Ugly, #14 Red Ass, #14 Ice T, #14 Peach Salmon Egg
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with Robert. Robert is department chair at ASUMH and this week is his last week before classes resume. Following a dental appointment, we met at Harp's at Calico Rock, and drove to the AR Hwy 110 Bridge over the Little Red River. The water was turbid, looking like coffee with a little milk added. There were geese everywhere, and they were putting the fish down, though we saw a few rises. We fished the shallow water below the bridge and I managed to take a couple on the Cockleburr and Big Ugly, respectively. Both of us had several misses and refusals. We waded down to the first large riffle and I caught 5 others over the next 3 hours, on various combinations of flies, with the most success coming on an Ice T with a San Juan Worm dropped about a foot below. All in all, about half the fish I caught were rainbows and the other half browns. Robert fished downstream at the next riffle on the right, then worked his way back to the large riffle where he managed to take 2 or 3 fish on the same combination I was using, and then switching to an egg with a hot pink worm dropped below it. It was a a good day on the water, but the fishing was tough. Also, all the fish were long and thin, as opposed to the football-shaped fish we're used to seeing on the Norfork and White Rivers.