August 21, 2009 | FISHING REPORT - LITTLE RED RIVER
Little Red Fishing Report: August 18, '09 Update: 8/21/09 - Little bitty releases are scheduled for Saturday & Sunday - only one unit for one hour at 6:00 pm. Monday's releases are larger - 2 units for 4 hrs. beginning at 3:00 pm. Wade fishing is going to be good up and down the Little Red River all weekend. Winkley, Libby and Mossy Shoal are fishing the best. Have questions? I'll be in the shop all weekend. Ya'll come! Jed Water releases at Greers Ferry continue to be small, daily and after lunch. This protocol makes wade fishing possible at most locations on the Little Red River. Safe boating is virtually assured as well. I don't know how long these angler-friendly releases will last. The trout habitat enhancement project in the catch and release area below Bull Shoals Dam is finally underway. Low water is required to do the work, therefore, water releases at that facility are being restricted in the mornings. I have been told by Southwestern Power Administration in Tulsa, OK that additional hydroelectric power will have to be generated elsewhere for the two months the job requires and Greers Ferry may occassionally be used for that task. I have been assured that the reservoirs with lake levels higher than ours will be utilized first so I hope it will be a few weeks before we see morning water releases here.
The Little Red River Action Team chapter 722 of Trout Unlimited in
Heber Springs is  hosting the 3rd annual fly fishing film tour in Little Rock.
The event is a fund raiser for the chapter and will occur at the Clinton Library & Museum at 7:00 pm on October 10th. Doors will open at 5:30 pm. There will be finger food, an open bar and TU merchandise for sale. This highly popular two hour mini-film festival features exciting segments from the sport's best filmmakers shot in foreign destinations like Papua New Guinea, Russia, Belize as well as domestic waters from California and Colorado to southern Louisiana and the Florida Keys. The films offer a great blend of sensational footage, hilarious comedy, poignant commentary and some of the largest and most impressive fish ever caught! The Fly Fishing Film Tour is an opportunity for fans of fly fishing to come together to celebrate their sport and support the Little Red River Action Team chapter of Trout Unlimited. The ticket sales are the fund raiser and will be available from TU board members as well as at the Little Red Fly Shop, Ozark Angler in Little Rock and Heber Springs, Lobo Landing, Lindsey's Resort and Holland Exxon in Heber Springs. Donations to the chapter will also be most welcomed. To learn more, please visit The Fly Fishing Film Tour, presented by The Drake Magazine.
The traditional fall Little Red River cleanup is scheduled to occur on Saturday, the 12th of September from 8:00 am until noon. Your local chapter (#722) of Trout Unlimited is sponsoring the event and the Ozark Angler in Heber Springs will be your host.  The Angler is located at 659 Wilburn Rd. next to Sugarloaf Baptist Church. If you want to participate, get your trash bag and river area assignment from the Ozark Angler or the Little Red Fly Shop that morning, return your "collectibles" to the Angler at noon and they will provide a free lunch for you. If you have a boat, please bring it with you or plan to use it. The last river cleanup produced about two pickup truck loads of trash including a lawnmower engine, 2 hammers, 2 spinning reels, one cow's skull, a tackle box with lures, 2 garbage cans, a roll of chicken wire and more. (pic from the Spring River Clean-up)
Small but frequent aquatic insect hatches are occurring every day along our trophy trout stream. The bulk of the bugs "coming off" are midges followed by bwos. What is a bwo, you ask? Excellent question, grasshopper! Why, it's the baetis tricaudatus of course, also known as the blue winged olive mayfly or bwo.  It's a tiny little critter about 5-8 mm (3/16") in size and trout love to eat them. To catch a trout on a dry fly, try an adams (#18), bwo (#18-#20), midge (#22-#32 cream) or crackleback (#14). Sub-surface flies that are working include the sowbug (#14-#16 tan, smokey olive or peacock), zebra midge (#16-#22 red, black or copper), red @ss soft hackle (#14-#18), San Juan worm (#14 red, fl. cerise or worm brown) and woolly bugger (#8-#12 olive, brown or black). (bwo pic from TroutNut.com)
I did an unscientific survey of our fly fishing customers and discovered that about 85% of them release all their fish. We folks in the fly shop encourage "catch & release". "Let 'em go and let 'em grow!" is our motto. There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping fish if the slot and daily limits are observed. Releasing fish so they can be caught another day is good for business, but, releasing them properly can be problematic. Setting the hook, playing the fish and taking it out of the water to release it is tough on the trout. It is like a person running at full speed for fifty yards then stopping and holding his/her breath for one minute. Not a lot is known about the effects of proper resuscitation on survival rates such as keeping a fish in the water and gently supporting it until it swims off. When fish are stressed, their ability to fend off predators, parasites and disease decreases substantially. Certainly tossing an exhausted trout onto the river bank to flop around while you take a picture, or squeezing a trout around the gills or midsection for a "grip and grin" photo, will decrease the fish's chance of survival. In my opinion, photographing a fish while in the basket of a soft net kept in the water prior to releasing is a good thing.
If you have questions about anything in this report, 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 directly to me from the "Contact" page of our web site. I'm Little Red Jed Hollan, mgr. <*((((><
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