Brown @ Richie

[marcusearlt]

I had Richie all to myself for about 2 hours, no people, no birds, and very few fish. Yes boys it was a slow grind. My usual go to tactics I guess no longer the strong and steady fish-foolin' tecniques they used to be, but then again I ponder that situation a little whenever I don't get my way... I did manage to bring in this good lookin' brown via the sow bug, a big surprise I know. Water is very low, be careful if your out runnin' and gunnin' in your boats. The weather is supposed to be getting colder this week, dress warm and tight lines my friends.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Nice report, guess I'm not familiar with Richie.. I'm headed down that way tonight to head to the inlaws. I"m pulling my Supreme down there, so I'm going fishing after the Christmas. The forcast is calling for 9 inches of snow here in Northeast AR, but down there like maybe an inch, but gonna be cold, so I'll be prepared.

I'm thinking about going to a place I haven't been in a couple years, it will require pulling my boat through a shallow spot or two to get two it in this minimal flow, but if I can get there, the fishing should be great!!

[Phil Lilley]

Thanks for reporting on the Little Red. I've only had the chance to fish there once. Would love to get down there again... May be next year. Love the pic of the brown.

[marcusearlt]

LRF-----Richie Shoals is in between Barnett access and Cow Shoals. If you follow up river from Barnett you will eventually see a 180 degree turn, Richie is on the left side of the turn where the river flows south. It may be difficult to identify on Google maps because their image of the area is during generation. It's one of those shoals where you have to get out and do some dragging even if you have a jet boat. I have however drug small/large outboard/jets up/down this/other areas in pursuit of fishes. Wow, that was one heck of a way to word a sentence but you get the point, it is doable. A couple weeks ago I was floating through Richie and got cussed out by some ultra-cranky senior wade-only-nazis, really got a kick out of it actually. You shouldn't have any run-ins with the locals this week though, the cold will have the river pretty empty and void of people, except for areas like Cow Shoals and Winkley, which as a general rule of thumb always have some anglers. Ya, I can't wait to get back out there this week and put a bug in their mug, probably going to go 2 or 3 more times before I head out of town. Good luck out there bro, be sure to update us on how it goes. Thight lines. that

lilley- Ya, the LRR is a fun place to hang out, but so is Taney. I don't get to make to Taney enough. That place owes me big time!! Soo many follows that I thought I was imagining fish after a while. We caught some but saw a million. Branson is always a ton of fun tho. You can't beat $25 hotel rooms at the Crescent Inn either. Tight lines sir.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Thanks Marcus, I'll have to check that out sometime. Have you ever heard of Jacks Shoal? That's a place not very well known I don't think, plus was just named that recently from an angler that lives around there, he fishes like every day on that river and got recognized for it I guess. It's up a ways from dripping springs, and you have to drag to get to it. You won't see anybody there usually except some of the local guides, as you have to work to get to it in this low water. I went there a couple years ago, and it was crazy good.

I don't plan to let the cold run me off, I'm here as we speak at the In laws with my supreme hooked up, have to see what this blizzard we are suppose to get is going to do....

[hoglaw]

Man the retireees on the Little Red really piss me off sometimes. I have been on the little red since I was an infant. I was 2y/o and asleep in the bottom of the boat when my step dad caught his pb rainbow out there, a 9lb pig of a fish that's on his wall at home. His family has owned land on it since he was a kid...maybe before the water was cold. It's one of the coolest lots out there - downstream from lobo a mile or two where a little creek comes into the river. It has grown up into a big nice mega bucks home subdivision, but we're the ones with the trailer building a cabin. I fished cow shoals at night before the made it illegal and many folks thought about the ethics of yanking big browns at night in November, but as soon as I was old enough to put on rubber waders we did it. So I come by the place as honestly as anyone.

Anymore, we prefer to float it in canoes with little 3h motors for the long deep pools. A year or two ago my little brother and I were floating to cow shoals. As usual, it was elbow to elbow and some guys were fishing some really skinny water right where we had to come through. I called out ahead to them and asked them where they wanted us to go. Nine times out of ten, most folks will say go right ahead and not let it bother them. These guys looked up at me and didn't say a word. So I beached the canoe right above them and was going to CARRY it around them. We were pretty much at our takeout and I'm a nice guy like that. Our aluminum canoe hit the rocks probably 30 feet above them with the typical aluminum-gravel sound, and one of the guys said to the other in a voice you could tell he wanted me to hear...."they should outlaw those darn things this time of year." Well, I let that get the better of me, so I pushed right back into the current and went over their run beating the paddle on the canoe every time I switched sides.

You encounter that sense of entitlement to a river in lots of places. I fly fish just as much as the next guy and I hate to lump folks into categories, but it's generally the simms waders chest pack 10 spools of tippet on a lanyard guys I hear it from the most. Again, I have nice stuff and I don't mean to offend anyone else that does, but that retiree-I just bought everything out of the Orvis cataloug BS really pisses me off.

Nice fish Marcus. Richie is a cool spot and takes some work to fish.