marcusearlt

Ham, don't forget about those hard fightin' hybrids aka wipers. Drew, do you happen to know the binomial nomenclature for the mean-mouths? Or if they even have one yet?

I'm seeing water level of about 5.5ft with CFS of 1840, both dropping steadily. Might get some rain this Saturday but overall the river looks to be in pretty good shape. Y'all canoeing or yakkin?

Or you can call it a Goggle Eye, right?

Trips like that will keep you, her and the fish hooked. Good for you budman!

I have been on the Little Red in bass boats, Supreme style boats, and johns, both jets and props in all flow levels. For me personally, I am a fan of the jet every time. Right now I run a Merc 25 with a jet foot on a semi-v 16ft john. I fished the Little Red for years with a prop and, except in high high water, always had a worry in the back of my mind of when I was going to bang the prop on something get slung forward to the floor of the boat. If you have ever been in a boat with a prop when you hit something hard you know the motor shoots right up in a locked and raised position with the rpm often times roaring loudly right before the motor dies. After all that, especially in good flow, you boat starts to turn, it catches water and turns faster and pretty soon your headed wherever the river takes you. You still have to lean over the back of the boat to lower the motor down, start it and regain control of the boat. Trust me, when this happens a few times you will want a jet. With the jet I can rest easier knowing that there is a good clearance between me and the river. That reduction in worry and increase in assurance makes a huge difference with me in how I feel and how I operate a boat on the Little Red. Yes you will clean a jet some but it is worth it when you cruise up shoal after shoal to places you've never been in a boat in low water before, places most prop guys aren't going to be. For maintenance you have to grease the jet pump every ten hours of operation which takes only a couple minutes. The Little Red is a prime example of a river that creates the need for a jet. Say goodbye to skegs and $100+ propellers. Get the jet, it will change your life.

Those are going be some prime time flows boys. Get down there and check it out if you can, I know I will.

http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/greers-ferry-power-plant-to-undergo-repairs/21341/6anNtv7N0E2rBwSkBJ1rDw HEBER SPRINGS, AR. (News release) - The Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District will be taking the Greers Ferry Power Plant offline March 10 through April 24 for necessary repairs. Throughout the outage, one turbine will continuously release about 300 to 500 cubic feet per second into the Little Red River. A normal low flow release rate is 40 c.f.s. In comparison, a full power release from one turbine is about 3,500 c.f.s. If rainfall causes the lake to rise above the conservation pool elevation of 462.04 feet, flood control releases will be made using the spillway gates. Release rates are dependent on downstream conditions and generally will not exceed the equivalent of two turbines, about 7,000 c.f.s. Updated release rates are available by calling (501) 362-5150. Officials at the Army Corps of Engineers' Greers Ferry Project Office regret any inconvenience this may cause, and asks for the public's cooperation until this operation is complete. For more information contact the Greers Ferry Project office at (501) 362-2416, or stop by the office near the dam on Highway 25, three miles north of Heber Springs.

Too cool.

It was much colder than we planned for with the whole "polar vortex" and all. Supposedly the coldest couple days in 20 years or so for Florida. Hey, we learned a lot and had a great time though.

Did some fishing at Lake Toho and Indian River. It was pretty tough but we got a few.

You can land whites on rod weights 4 through 8 of many different lengths with a bunch of different lines and flies but I like to target them with a 6 weight 9 foot rod. I fish floating line and when I want to go deeper I loop on a sinking leader, 7 inches per second or so. I use an 8 pound leader with 8 lb flourocarbon tippet. I have the best luck with clousers or anything like a small to medium size minnow imitating fly, even woolly buggers work well too. Whites are a ton of fun on fly rods of all sizes, so go get 'em!

J-Doc, I'm diggin' the new deck, fantastic modification. Now you can fit the dog and all your baitcasters up there. However, those leather lounges looked super comfy and I bet it was hard to say goodbye to them. I am going to look in to that soft plastic storage technique you've shown us here for underneath the deck lids. I think that set up would work well on my bass boat. Thanks for sharing.

Ham- The spoon was no problem. This is the third time she has hooked me so were getting pretty good at hook removal now. All we had with us was hemostats so she pushed the barb through, took off the spoon from the split ring, and we just went about fishing for the next couple hours with the hook still in. Later on we borrowed some pliers from Lobo Landing and took care of it about 2 minutes. The hook in my head was a great bargaining chip for the rest of the day, I'd say, "honey, I think we should fish for a few more hours" and she agreed so it all worked out. I'm just glad it was a new spoon and not one the old rusty ones we found in the trees at JFK!

JFK is always cold and clear! I just love the Little Red, and it doesn't hurt having permission to access a couple awesome spots from people's property either. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I moved up here to Fayetteville when the LR calling me back! Dang river-itis I suppose... Here are some of the browns we landed. My gf's brown trout is way bigger but that is totally cool, I promise. I think you'll get a laugh out of the third pic...

I was at the Lobo area on Thursday and you're right LRF, it was super dirty and filled with suspended debris. We ran up river and I was constantly having to stop and clean out my jet's intake as well. They were running 96 and with all the stained ice melt coming in from the feeder creeks and the high water picking up leaves and stuff off the bank it was tough conditions. We did a LOT better at JFK on Friday. JFK down to Lindsey's had much clearer water and next to no trash suspended in the water. Plus at JFK we were able to motor to the trees on the banks and pick up several spoons and bobbers tangled up in the limbs, free tackle! Saturday was a grind with the water still being kind of fast and dirty back down at Lobo, and probably because I was determined to trophy hunt with nothing but big streamers with no one else in the boat. I lost 5 browns all over 18', just a hook up, head shake and they were gone! Today was an epic day, really favorable CFS and clarity. We caught browns and bows from Mossy to Fat Possum Hollow, on the fly and with spinning gear. Man, I hate to hear that y'all got sick, that sucks! I hope y'all get to feeling better soon!

Longs for Cutts - I just watched all the videos, 4 on youtube, about the Stealthcraft 18' ATB (All Terrain Boat), and wow, that thing is awesome! I really like all the well thought out features such as the lights, the 12V outlets, anchor pulley, and trailer cat-walk. Lots of the benefits of a drift boat but just fire up the motor and you're cruising like in a jon boat. The video spokesman planed right over water he claimed to be only 4" deep, and I like being able to clear skinny water. Probably going to be bumpy ride in serious chop though I'm afraid. But hey, get one anyways, it's a sweet boat!

Hoglaw - Do y'all still float in canoes if there is generation? Or the possibility of? And I had no idea that a fish kill occurred, that's terrible. Do you have any other details about that, like how many or why? LR - Upon closer inspection there is a dam, small but probably impassable in all but the highest generation, just a little ways above Riverside Park. I asked around about the smallmouth. The same guy who caught that Brook I posted the pic of the other day said he has caught smallmouth from 305 to Riverside area, but he didn't say any other details about it. I'm going to put that stretch on my to do list and get that taken care when we get some buggy action happening in the Spring. Good luck sir and y'all have fun!

Well, honestly I have only heard that from one guy ever, not to say it couldn't be possible but I have no other source that has ever said either way. I suspect the cold tailwater flows help keep the water at good temps for smalls, but however, the lower river to my knowledge is not composed of typical smallmouth river habitat such as steady flows, gravel, stick-ups, root-wads, etc. I have been on the Little Red a good ways up and down river when I have put in at Riding Access on 367, which parallels 67, in the NE corner of Searcy. Go up river for a while and you come to a darn, we have gone down a ways but I don't recall ever ever catching one smallie ever. Now, we did catch lots of drum, some sunfish, a pickerel, and a few LMs so that might give you a clue as to water quality, I'm not sure. I will say this, if you put in at 305 in Pangburn area and float all the way down to Riverside Park just north of Searcy, you will hardly see just a handful of docks here and there, very few if any people and to my knowledge NO OTHER boat ramps between those two places which are miles and miles apart. Point being, it's a huge vast section of river that is never talked about, which could mean it is barren or a friggin' gold mine the locals are trying to hide...

Hey, if they are generating you should really consider below the 305 bridge. You will catch less in terms of numbers but in my opinion will have a good chance of catching a big brown. I know we have had some results like that down there before, especially this time of year. Plus it's a really neat stretch of river with lots of cypress trees and just overall a much different look then parts of the river you might be used to. You technically don't even need a trout stamp to fish below the 305 bridge but there is trout down there. It also is closest to Searcy and I can guarantee it gets wayyy less pressure than the upper parts. FYI there is a nice new AGFC boat launch there now.

Ya, it sure is one heck of a fish. The record will not change though because I'm pretty sure you have to beat it by a 2 ounce minimum, that fish being 5.08 lbs is only 5 lbs and 1.28 ounces. I think that's how it works...

Here you go, this combo is what it costs for just the reel, a Pflueger President, at most places. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Rod-Reel-Combos/Spinning-Combos|/pc/104793480/c/104762880/sc/105791580/Pflueger-PresidentCabelas-Tourney-Trail-Split-Grip-Spinning-Combo/1325675.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fspinning-combos%2F_%2FN-1102843%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105791580%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BMMcat104793480%253Bcat104762880&WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104793480%3Bcat104762880%3Bcat105791580

Hoglaw- No I didn't see y'all on Friday. We were at JFK and 305 and Dripping on Friday. We were wading Wednesday on some of the same stretch y'all did on Friday. Ya we caught 'em on the left and right side of that island, but they were fussy. 6X and 18/20 midges and a palsa did the job. I'm going back down between semesters in a couple weeks and hopefully we will get a little generation for streamers and jerk baits. I wish I could make it over the White River trip but I got to go boss up on some finals. This OA trip to the White will be epic!

Hmm, kind of makes you think. If this place was so wonderful and full of so many trophy fish then why are they selling it? Could just boil down to lack of demand for such a premium priced service in the area. Also, I wonder if a guy could buy this place and sell off different tracts, keep the river frontage and recoup a lot if not all or more of the original investment, all over several years that is. Heck, if we all just didn't buy tackle for a month or two we could probably just buy it outright!

Almost forgot... Here is that Brook.

LRF- ya you can catch a couple Brookies every now and then. According to this webpage,http://wildtroutstreams.com/streams/arkansas, Collins creek at JFK is the only place in Ar that supports a wild population of Brooks so ya they are there. In fact, a know a guy who just caught a 5.08 lb Brooke a few weeks ago. Caught it off a sow bug at JFK. He is always catching some big fish down there. Only about 2 or 3 guide services down there and really not a lot of pressure except at the public access places so if you are in a boat or know people with houses near some good spots it is easy to get away from the crowd. If am I going back down there this Christmas between semester I'll let you know how I'm catching them, and heck maybe we'll get some generation and throw some rogues at 'em! BTW, I'm scared now just thinking about being in a fishing boat on the Mississippi, that's wild! That place your talking about between Lobo and Dripping is one my favorite spots. It's called Mossy Shoals and it's always good for a couple fish. Hoglaw- Ya, we fished Wednesday and Friday. We have permission to walk in to the island, maybe Charlie's island?, on the SE side of Sugarloaf mountain. It's just down from Barnett's(Swingin' Bridge) so I'm sure you've fished it a bunch before. I always catch a brown there on river right. I've done that stretch a couple times and you're right, a canoe is the ideal vessel for it. Or maybe a drift boat would do well, but I have never been in one so that is just a guess. We also went to a spot we can access on Coooterneck and got skunked. We just didn't see any fish down there. I guess they were all up stream for some spawning related activities perhaps, they just weren't around down there. But ya, those shoals were crazy right now due to low water. I have been drifting some bugs for a while now so I'm ready to throw some meat soon! I know the LR is going to gave up a 10 lber this winter, I can feel it. Sounds like your fiancé is becoming quite the angler and that's awesome. Really cool being able to bring the better half with rather than always saying bye to them. My girlfriend loves it when we get out there and get into some fish, it just takes some convincing to get her out there sometimes! I'm thinking Shearpin Shoals sounds like it's right between Wagon Wheel and Gary Green's property.