txspecks04

Still keeping an eye on this, but I am not really "in the know." Any news?

Still keeping tabs on this. Any word from those in the know?

Bump. Any more news creekfreak?

I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on this thread as Spavinaw is the closest fishery to me and though I used to fish it several years ago (just hopped in at the two state highway bridges and waded up or downstream), I was also scared off by grumpy landowners, no trespassing signs, ropes across the creek, etc. Hopefully we will have some good news from creekfreak sometime in the near future. If it does go public, it should definitely be catch and release only and it will need to be well patrolled/enforced; it's just too small to sustain a catch and keep type fishery unless they want to turn it into Roaring River and stock it like crazy (not my preference). Just my 0.02.

I will be camping with some friends at the Bull Shoals State Park over the next few days. I live in the Fayetteville, AR area and I know that the temperate bass are definitely moving up the creeks and rivers here for the spawn so I figure it can't be too different over that way. Does anyone know of any good locations in the area to fish for white bass, hybrids or striped bass on the annual spawning run right now? I will be fly fishing and on foot so I will need wade in access points if possible. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hoping to be out there on Friday night with some friends. Any suggestions on where to start? We will be on foot. I was thinking we would just hop in at the state park or just down from the dam, but I am not real familiar with the water out there so I am definitely open to suggestions. Assuming they are not generating, are there any deep holes that we need to be concerned about?

Well, it looks like there has been a change of plans and my group will now be headed over to the White near Cotter for the weekend; should still be a good time, but my report for the weekend will be found in that section of the forum now

Thanks again for the tips guys. Can't wait for the trip, I would love to find a brookie down there. I have caught rainbows, browns, and cutts, but never a brookie.

Thanks! Do you usually use #20-22 midges?

Headed out to the Little Red with a group of guys the first weekend in February. I have never fished the Little Red before so I am looking for pointers, maps, access points, etc that those familiar with the river are willing to give. I am not organizing the trip, but I believe we will all be on foot wading and fly-fishing. I have fly-fished for trout in several of the other tail waters of the White River system (Beaver, Norfork, and Bull Shoals); would you say the Little Red closely resembles any of the other White River system tail waters? Any info is greatly appreciated and I will definitely post a report after the trip (hopefully with some good pictures).

I have been out many times in the spring on the spawning run, but never even heard of a winter run before. What sort of signs should one look for? Water temperature, water depth, other? Unfortunately, I live far enough from the White and Twin Bridges that it is not reasonable for me to just drop in and have a look at things several times a week. I am lucky to make it out once every other week so if there are any indicators that I can monitor from a distance it would be very helpful.

Thanks for the responses guys. It looks like we will probably cruise from Vancouver up to Seward. Once we get to Seward we will get off the boat and stay for at least a few more days, maybe a whole week. We really haven't decided where we want to go/stay once we get off the boat, but I figured somewhere on the Kenai Peninsula would be good. Gavin, what are your suggestions for Cooper Landing and Soldatna? You could PM me if you prefer. One other thing we had considered was heading up to Denali National Park and staying somewhere nearby there. Any suggestions for this area? I'd really like to fish some of the smaller river systems (places where I could wade and maybe cover some ground on foot) on the fly for any of the following: salmon, rainbows, steelhead, and/or char. Does anyone have personal experience on the smaller rivers up that way? I plan on taking my 5wt and 8wt set-ups to give me some flexibility. From what I have read, Sockeye are a hoot to catch and probably the best table fare around so I'd like to try and get into some of those if possible. Chinook would be fun just based on size, but I think I may be a bit outmatched with the tackle I will be taking. Thanks again, guys.

Looks like I am probably going to make a trip up to the great AK in June of 2014 so I am starting to do some research now to try and make the most of it. Most of our time will be spent on the Kenai Peninsula so I was wondering if any of you might have suggestions on places to stay, fishing guides, or anything else that might be of interest. Looks like the early run of King Salmon is in mid to late June so I will definitely be checking into that. Thanks in advance for any information.

Thanks for shooting me straight, Ham. I kind of thought this might be the case, so I appreciate the confirmation from someone more familiar with the region than I.

I will be in Jasper for a couple of days around Thanksgiving this week. Are there any good places to fish nearby? Since we have had a pretty mild fall season, I was hoping that I might find some bronze backs on the Buffalo. I don't think I will have a ton of time, so I am just looking for a place with pretty easy access that I could hit for an hour or two. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have very little experience down that way.

A buddy and I are looking to camp out in the park for a night or two during catch and release weekend; are the campgrounds still open during the winter season or will they close them up until spring time? Figured I'd better check ahead of time...

Well, I talked to the wife and the timing is wrong for us right now. Hope you find him a good home.

How old is the pup? Do you have blood lines any further back than the mom and dad? May be interested. We have a two year old Vizsla now and have been considering another.

I am enjoying seeing everyone's opinions on this stretch of water. Similar to what a few others have said, I have rarely seen a fish over 15 inches come out of this tailwater. Should we attribute this purely to poaching or even legal takes from the fishery or could it be that there is something about the habitat which stunts the growth of the fish as well? I understand that there are some bigger fish in there (some big browns lurking around I am sure), but I have never actually seen one of them. On a side note, what size buggers and crawdad patterns do you typically throw Bill? I have tried some streamer fishing out there before and just never had much success with it; I usually just try to find some moving water and fish nymphs.

Yep, there is some sweet outdoor gear posted to this site everyday. They don't always have fishing stuff, but if you like to camp, hike, climb, or do just about anything else outside its a cool website to check out.

I can't see the pic.

That is one that I had not considered; good point Greasy B.

Thanks for the input ollie. There are some places where the bottom is down to bedrock, but I would say the majority of the river from the dam down to parker has loose stones (fist-sized or a little smaller for the most part) as the bottom substrate. I have been checked for license twice, but never for the barbed hook. C&R starts just above parker and goes up to the bathhouse at the next campground, right? I have definitely seen people keeping fish in that stretch. Obviously, something is lagging in this fishery. I know that there is no overnight fix for this sort of thing, but I am hoping to gain some knowledge and I'd love to see this fishery built up to its full potential. This leads to the next question: what is the full potential of this fishery? I saw that Feathers and Fins thinks it could be like Taney if managed correctly; what is everyone else's take on this? I am not sure that it could be quite like Taney just due to the size difference of the two waterways, but I don't see why it couldn't be similar to the Norfork...

rps, you make some good points. I couldn't agree more with number one on your list; that is why I said I didn't think minimum flow regs were realistic. Are items two and three that much different from the setup at Norfork or Bull Shoals Tailwaters? I honestly don't know...I do know that both are run by Southwest Power as one can check that website for generation schedules at all three of these locations. On item four, this is why we were talking about making some changes to the river bed; obviously, the elevation doesn't change much right now, but with some dredging work I would think we can improve this. Having trout in Table Rock Lake is great for people who fish the lake; personally, I don't fish the lake so I would love to improve the tailwaters above. Zack, I am assuming the AGFC is the Commission; could you expand on the issue more? Feel free to shoot me a PM if you don't want to discuss publicly. I read through the management plan; I am excited about the change to start stocking more brown trout. Hopefully enforcement of the regulations goes up as stated in the plan. Has there been any discussion of changes to the riverbed? Do you think it would be effective to try and create a more regular flow? Thanks for your input guys.

Do you think there is enough interest in the fishery to at least get the AGFC thinking about making some changes? With the population of northwest Arkansas I would think that general angling public could apply enough pressure to get the ball rolling here...