Late Winter and Early Spring has started with a bang.  Good water conditions and favorable weather the past few weeks have provided good fishing and good times.  Hopefully this trend can continue, but as this article that was in the Memphis Commercial Appeal explains, that hasn't been the case for the last two Spring seasons.  www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/mar/0...

Some of the best pics from the last several weeks:

Let's hope the trend continues.  The lake is right at pool and rains are coming tonight.  Hopefully we avoid the big rains for a little while... if we do, the fishing should only get better.

It was a pretty good Fall in Arkansas all things considered.  The Little Red River was running pretty high for the most part this Fall although there were still some good days on it.  It was still fishable by many standards running one unit, but I found the fishing to be better on the White River most of the Fall.  I found a few areas that did not have any spawning fish around, hence hardly any people, and stuck to those areas.  During high point of the spawn people were running up and down the spawning shoals on the Red over and over again in boats, I'm glad I found something else to do.

A few pics from the Fall:

Also built quite a few rods this Fall for people:

And wrapped it all up with a trip to Mexico, mainly for some R&R on the beach, but of course I got in a day of fishing.

Looking ahead to 2010, what's on the horizon?  We just had 7 inches of rain on the Little Red River a few days ago which means it is likely going to be Feb. before good water conditions are the norm.  The White and Norfork Rivers may get become fishable first.  The Caney Fork in Tennessee is also running water right now so there is pretty much high or crappy water conditions all around for a little while.  Time to twist up flies, build rods and get ready for a Redfishin trip down to Louisiana near the end of January.  Hopefully by the time that is over we will have some good trout fishing again.  Hang in there folks and do your best to avoid the shack nasties this winter.

  The Trout Unlimted River Clean-up was a huge success this Fall.  We had a great turn out and removed a lot of trash from the river.  The following pics are just what 6 of us in two boats did.

As a group the 30 other volunteers that showed up did a great job as well.  I hope that next year we can get even more out and have more participation.  The Ozark Angler provided lunch for all and prizes we given away to many of the participants.  Thanks to all of you for the best birthday present anyone gave me this year... a cleaner river.

Oh yeah... the fishing is still good too.

Phil

  It has been a great summer so far on the Little Red River.  One of the wettest Julys on record has led to moderate temperatures for August.  The lake is near pool, water releases are very fishing friendly and the trout are doing their part.  Fishing has been great and as long as the dam releases water everyday... it should generally stay that way for a while.  Some recent highlights:

  Looking at my last post and how long it's been since I last posted here reminded me about the upcoming river cleanup.  Sept. 12th at the Ozark Angler we will turn loose a big effort.  Last spring we only had 3 boats on the water collecting.  This Fall we are aiming much higher.  We have created a trash scavenger hunt and trophy trash competition to make this into a game.  Prizes will be given away and free food and drink at the Ozark Angler for lunch.  We will have trucks and trailers at boat ramps for unloading plus other volunteers will go to public access points to clean up on foot.  Hopefully we have a good turn out and a much cleaner river as a result.  So far I know of 6 boats committed to run with volunteers... hopefully that is just the start.

 Spring has sprung and the heavy rains have arrived as usual.  Up until this past weekend the lake level had been teetering around the pool level at Greers Ferry, but heavy rains have raised the lake levels by several feet and now we may have to wait a few weeks and hold our breath that another 2.8 inches doesn't fall in an hour like it did Saturday morning.  With guide trips canceled due to the recent downpours a bunch of us that guide jumped in our boats this past Saturday and contributed our efforts to the TU River Clean-up Day.   

With all the heavy rains early in the morning (plus falling water from generation ending at midnight) the lower river was very high and muddy, but it didn't stop some brave souls from loading boats and trucks full of trash. Some areas where trash had collected were not safe to venture into with boats on high water, but a solid effort was made to recover as much as possible with a crew of 6 brave men from the Ozark Angler in 3 boats running out of Dripping Springs. A good time and a good haul was had by all. Some pics from our efforts:

There is a ton of trash in our river... I think we all know that. The next river clean up day, in sept. I think, will be a much bigger effort. We plan on making a scavenger hunt, having trophy trash awards, and a much bigger mobile boat fleet equiped with flat-bead trailers at boat ramps for offloading etc. Thanks to Jed at the LRFS for the lunches and snacky cakes when we all returned from our efforts and thanks to other volunteers who worked the puclic access areas, boat ramp parking lots etc. Chris did a damn fine job whompin up some burgers and dogs on the grill. This was a great effort under tough conditions. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped out in anyway. I know we can do better and get more involvement if we all try harder next time... hopefully under better conditions as well.