Salmo Trutta

I will be making my 1st trip to fish the Little Red for a week starting October 7. Thanks to the great advice received on this board, I had a great week on the White late March 2007. Hopefully I can again receive help from the local expertise. I prefer to fish dry flies and would like to know what hatches I could possibly encounter at that time. Olives? Midges? Caddis? Are there any particular areas of the river where the trout are especially oriented to surface feeding? I see that Cow Shoals is C&R starting October 1. Does spawning activity start that early? Do fish in the shoals rise freely or should I concentrate on the flat water? When generation starts, how long does it take for the rising water to reach the various access areas? What is a good place for breakfast in Heber Springs?

<I'm wondering if ordering barbeque in central PA is anything like ordering a Philly Cheesesteak in Arkansas?..> I wouldn't be surprised to find an Arkansas Philly Cheesesteak an improvement over the "authentic" Philly version. Cheese Wiz is not high on my list of favorite ingredients. It won't be long now. I will arrive in Arkansas Tuesday morning. Thank you to everyone for their advice. I am really looking forward to this trip.

Terry, I live right in the heart of PA Dutch territory. If you find yourself in central PA and go into a restaurant where ribs, pulled pork, and other smoked meats are on the menu and you order a barbeque sandwich you will not get what is described in Wikipedia. However, if you are at a church street fair, or a Little League concession stand, and the hand drawn sign says "beef barbeque sandwich", the sloppy joe type sandwich is what you will get. And you can also get it on your hot dog. So are there any good pizza joints near Cotter?

Yankee style BBQ? Ketchup on a hot dog??

BBQ and peanut butter pie! Looks like it will be KT's the first night. What is Yankee style BBQ?

John and Jimmy, Thank you for the advice. I am staying at the White Sands Motel, so the White Sands Restaurant is certainly convenient. I'm glad to hear that it is also highly recommended. Two weeks to go! Since my retirement, I fly fish about 110 days a year, and have been fly fishing for over 50 years, but nothing is as exciting to me as exploring new water. Thank you for your assistance.

Thank you Jimmy T, Looks like I will spend some time at the vice before the trip. Now for the difficult questions. What is a good place to have breakfast before a day on the river? and What are some favorite places for dinner?

Jimmy T, Yes, very helpful, thank you. As you can probably tell, I have a strong preference for dry flies. I will probably be prepared for anything that may be on the surface, including shad. As far as underwater flies go, my arsenal is usually minimal. What underwater flies can I not afford to be without for the White River?

John, Thank you for the reply. I imagine at 8 units, it is "game over" for the wading angler anyway. At what levels of generation is wading still possible at some or most locations? Also, do caddis and mayflies emerge all the way up to the dam, or is it only midges near the dam.

I am from South Central Pennsylvania and will be visiting the Cotter area March 27 through April 3. My previous experience in the area includes many mornings on the special reg. area of Taneycomo while on family vacations in Branson and one day below the dam at Bull Shoals. I have been reading this board for several weeks and have learned a lot. Many of the questions that I had have been answered by the collective wisdom of this group in the posts that I have read. One of my unanswered questions has to do with the effect of generation on insect hatches. If, say a caddis hatch, is in progress when the water starts rising, does that usually end the hatch, or do the caddis continue to emerge? If the hatch continues, will the trout continue to rise as the water comes up, switch to emerging pupa, or stop feeding?