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.