July 14, 2009 | FISHING REPORT - LITTLE RED RIVER
UPDATE: July 18, '09 - Virtually no water releases are scheduled for this weekend. Only one unit for one hour beginning at 4:00 pm on Saturday, same on Sunday and one unit for two hours Monday beginning at 3:00 pm. Ya'll come! Little Red Fishing Report: July 14, '09 Mother nature has blessed us lately with a few weeks of dry weather. It is a refreshing change from the previous 18 months of unstable atmospheric conditions. As a result, the Greers Ferry Lake level is near top power pool (461 feet above mean sea level) and water releases have been reduced. Wade fishing opportunities abound on most every shoal on the Little Red. If we don't get heavy rain events, this protocol could last for a while. The average dissoslved oxygen in the water surging through our turbines is 8.2 parts per million with an average temperature of 53 degrees fahrenheit. These are good numbers. While our releases have decreased in both volume and frequency, Norfork Dam is running 16 hours per day (beginning at 6:00 am) and Bull Shoals is generating around the clock. The reason is that their lake levels are still into the flood pool and must be lowered.
President John F. Kennedy spoke at the dedication ceremony of the Greers Ferry Dam on October 3, 1963. It was his last public appearance before being assassinated in Dallas the following month. In his speech, he addressed the controversy surrounding the construction of the dam since some people were against it from the beginning saying it was merely a "pork barrel" project. He said, "which is more wasteful - a multi-purpose project which can be used by all of our people - which is more wasteful - to fail to tap the energies of that river, to let that water flood, to deny this chance for the development of recreation and power - or to use it and to use it wisely". Please take note that the president of the United States was under the impression that the new facility would be used for recreation/tourism. It's a shame that the Corps of Engineers doesn't consider the state's largest industry when scheduling water relelases especially in this troubled economy. To quote Colonel Donald E. Jackson, Jr., Little Rock district engineer with the Corps, "recreation is not an authorized purpose for making release decisions".
A really big fish was caught on the Norfork River last July 3rd. Greg McGowan guided his customer, Melanie Baker, as she landed a 39 inch brown trout. There is a photo on our web site blog. They were fishing on the Norfork River near the McClellan area using live "slicks" (a name for a local shiner minnow). I would estimate the fish weighed about 15 pounds. It was released.
Aquatic insect hatches are occurring sporadically most every day. I saw tons of midges everywhere I boated the other day when fishing from Libby to Mossy Shoal on the Little Red. A few caddis were coming off downstream below Lobo Landing. If you are dry fly fishing, tie on a foam hopper pattern (Dave's Hopper, e.g. - #12-#10). You can also use the hopper as a strike indicator and tie on a nymph dropper 12"-18" below (a hopper-dropper). Other effective dries include bwo (#18-#20), elk hair caddis (#16-#20 tan), adams (#18) or march brown (#14). Fishing below the surface, try a sowbug (#14-#16 smokey olive, tan or peacock), copper john (#14-#16 red, green or copper), zebra midge (#16-#22 red, black or copper), San Juan worm (#14 red, worm brown or fl. cerise), red or green @ss soft hackle (#14-#18) or woolly bugger (#8-#12 olive, brown or black).
If you have questions about anything in this report, please direct them to me at the Little Red Fly Shop of Heber Springs, Arkansas. My numbers are #888-442-4022 toll free or #501-887-9988. You can send an e-mail to me from our web site: www.littleredflyshop.com. I'm Little Red Jed Hollan, mgr. <*((((><
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