Headed to Arkansas

[Big Bad Wulff]

Gonna hit the Little Red.

Hopefully pictures to follow.

[Baithog]

Cross some fingers. If'n we get much more rain, we're gonna change its name to the Big Flooded Red.

Larry

[51BC]

Have fun. I wish I were going to. Can't wait to see the pictures!

[Big Bad Wulff]

Here's the situation as best I can describe it.

The White river flooded it's banks, leaving a lot of water to subside. Greer's Ferry dam(the dam that controls the Little Red) is a good bit above generation pool. Now, Greer's Ferry needs to get water off the dam but can't because the Little Red runs into the White. So, temporarily there is somewhat restricted generation out of Greer's Ferry. So the fishing is at least decent...as long as you fish in the morning that is. They were generating from (about) 9am -noon(And then some I think). Afternoons were a washout for the most part. The generation schedule said only on hour of generation in the am and that cost a whole afternoon of fishing. I HATE when they do that!! Just stick to the %#@$%@# schedule!!

Got to fish with my daughter who attends a nearby college. We had a blast together. She really has the fly fishing gene and needs to stick with it. She's only fly fished maybe 3 times before and she spent the whole morning fishing a slow-moving water section and NEVER ONCE got her line tangled up! She caught 3-4 rainbows on drift flies.

I drifted from the dam to Cow Shoals in the kayak on Sat afternoon. A waste of fishing time since they generated but a nice float anyway made easier by faster-moving water.

White river out of it's banks:


"Island" at well-known spot


Greer's Ferry dam (don't bust now!)


Daughter with a nice rainbow


Roughly a 16 in. brown

[zhoyt]

The whole White River is high. Lakes are above power pool and close to flood pool. Lots of generation going on.....glad you guys were able to get out and catch some.

[Arkansastroutbum]

You left out the part about snapping your rod trying to get your fly out of a tree. I wasn't watching, but I heard it. I hate that sound. Sorry, couldn't resist. Did you stick around to fish Sunday? It was by far the best day water and fishing wise out of the last several days.

[Big Bad Wulff]

YOu were in the boat. Cool. I was a bit po'd at that point as if you couldn't tell. Was told "the river is low". Saw the generation schedule and came up. They changed the generation. That is just simply dangerous! I am used to the generation schedules on Tn rivers and for the most part they stick to them. When the rod snapped I figured it was time to move on and do something else. At least I wasn't working. That was the only bright spot at the time.
Did you do any good in 'the hole'?

Fortunately there are warranties on rods.

Sunday I fished below 'the bridge' and did OK. I pulled that brown out of a pool after switching to a 'seasonal fly'. Caught 3-4 out of there with that fly then it was 'dead'. Funny. Out of that pool I caught trout on: zebra midge, dry flies, soft hackle, egg pattern, sow bug, dry and dropper, wooley bugger. I tried about everything. Was a nice little hatch going on and they were rising pretty good there. It was a much better day and helped get me in a better frame of mind.

[Arkansastroutbum]

We didn't do anything really notable up there that afternoon. We had a really good morning that day downriver in between Lobo and Dripping Springs. We pulled the boat out and went to lunch with plans on heading up to where we saw you to get behind the water for the afternoon, but as you noted they didn't stick to the plan. I had beginners that day so anything after the water came up was just gravy.

It looks like you got in a trip just before the dams ramp up, so be thankfull you got some fishing in. It could be a while before the water levels look good again.


Phil

[Big Bad Wulff]

Yup. Ought to be rough month for you guys.