fishing report AR river

[jay bird]

Fished below zinc dam today not in the most ideal conditions. Wind, rain, and more wind. We started fishing about 10:00 am and stopped at 2:00 P.M. They stopped generating at the dam about ten and started again at two. After checking flow rates it never dropped below 1000 feet per second while we where there. Total we had only six fish nothing huge. This is a real learning curve area with the water running, but I would be willing to try again. I did have one very interesting thing happen. About 10 minutes after we started fishing I got hit hard and had one of the best fights I have ever had on a fly rod. I was using an eight weight and this fish pulled me all over the place, taking drag and making great runs. When we finally got is close we saw that what ever I had was hooked in the tail. In ended down stream about 10 yards away and I could not budge it. The hook came out and all we really got a good look at was the tail. I am pretty sure it was a spoon bill after seeing one on the bank dead that had the same color and tail. It was a great fight and for about 5 min. I thought I had a monster striper on.

Would like some more input on this fishery. Thanks

[Okieflyfisher53]

Jay bird,

I would say that you are correct about the spoonbill. There are a lot of them in there. The first time I fished that area I hooked into one of them and fought it for about 15 minutes before the hook pulled out. It's been a couple of weeks since I've fished there because of generation from Keystone Dam.

Steve

[jay bird]

Steve what area do you fish when the water is low. We got yelled at by some locals walking over the bridge that we where to close to the dam. On nice man actually informed me and my friend that we where both dumb asses which is always nice to know. Two different people did say that some one died there in that last couple of weeks.

[Okieflyfisher53]

Steve what area do you fish when the water is low. We got yelled at by some locals walking over the bridge that we where to close to the dam. On nice man actually informed me and my friend that we where both dumb asses which is always nice to know. Two different people did say that some one died there in that last couple of weeks.

I have fished the area directly below the dam, as have other people, without being harrassed. There are jerks everywhere, unfortunately. Another area that I fish is on the west bank next to PSO. I have not tried it yet, but I've been told that the area just upstream of the I-44 bridge is a good area. I'm hoping for lower flows for this weekend so I can explore a little.

Steve