Roaring River

The Roaring River State Park is open for C&R fishing Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 8AM to 4PM.

There is extensive reconstruction of the hatchery area, and the top of the river, and the water is very milky, but there are lots of fish eager to take the fly. The flies only area had only a few people, and they were all successful, with small to huge trout, (that had escaped the holding pool when the work started).

Weather was in the mid 20's with wind chill in the teens, but it did nothing to dampen the spirits of those fishing.

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Trouts don't live in ugly places

Roaring Rivers is a very special place to me..I'm 49 now ..When I was 12 my parents took my sister and I on vacation from Hurst,Texas up through the Ozarks..We had a fantastic time.I forget which lake it was Bull Shoals or Table Rock had just finished work on the campgrounds there..They had firewood chopped and waiting at the campsites and the water came from a hand operated pump. It was good cold spring water and we would fill all the containers we had before moving to the next campground. The lake was so clear you could see to the bottom at any depth.
Coming from Texas the colder water took some getting used to. My sister stayed in till she turned blue while I went to see what I could catch.
That whole area was like heaven ..Beautiful clear streams and lakes around every corner..At least that's how it seemed to me.
We finally made our way up to Roaring Rivers State Park where we visited the source of the river and the trout tanks.
After years of drooling over the pictures in Field and Stream and Outdoors magazines I finally got to see the infamous Rainbow Trout up close and in person..The folks at the shop were very helpful with fly selection and advice. Dad wasn't much of a fisherman his idea of dream vacation was setting up camp and laying back in the foldable recliner..Good for him he deserved a rest..Mom and dad got to spend some quality time back at camp while sister and I explored the park..You know what my main objective was after seeing those trout in the tanks..With a lot of help from an expierenced flyfisherman with a mountain of patience I finally learned what it took to catch a trout on the fly..I am eternally grateful to that stranger wherever he is..Sister found out where the boys were swinging out into the river on a rope swing and had to be coaxed back to camp only to disappear back to the swing the very next morning..Probably the time of my life..