Fly Fishing the Little Red River. Tom Hawthorne

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      Little Red River (Central Arkansas)

       Location: Central Arkansas, 65 miles north of Little Rock. Major cities are Memphis, 3 hours east; Tulsa, 4 hours west; Dallas, 5 hours southwest; and St. Louis, 6 hours north. Little Rock is served by all the major airlines. All types of accommodations, including motels, resorts, and even private rentals on or near the river, are available in the Greers Ferry Lake, Little Red River, and Heber Springs area.

      Nestled in the foothills of the Ozarks is a little-known gem of a tailwater fishery. The Little Red River’s 35 miles provide anglers of all skill levels several classic types of water in which

      to catch—and release—trophy rainbow and brown trout. Greers Ferry Lake and the Little Red River are not far from several large cities, but the area is generally unknown to most of the angling world.

      Trout fishing in the Little Red is made possible by the Greers Ferry Dam, constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1960s. The dam holds some 40,000 acres and controls the floodwaters of the Little Red drainage. The other primary function of the dam is to generate hydroelectric power through its two turbines, which can generate up to 100 megawatts. This coldwater release allows the growth of trophy trout, even a 40-pound, 4-ounce world-record brown trout caught in May 1992.

      The Corps of Engineers maintains a fish hatchery below the dam for rearing rainbow and brook trout. The presence of brown trout, on the other hand, is the result of some local fly-fishing clubs, which, with the blessing of the Corps and the Arkansas Game

      and Fish Commission, stocked the river with browns. In 1975, club members floated the river in canoes and planted fertilized, Bitterroot-strain brown trout eggs—contained in Whitlock-Vibert boxes—in the gravel-covered shoals. The following year, they came back with a supplemental stocking of 5,000 fingerlings. This was the last time the river was stocked with brown trout. Sixteen years later, the world record was landed in the upper part of the river.

      The Little Red River features excellent access points, even though it flows through private land for most of its course. The access below the dam is also a Corps of Engineers full-service campground, with facilities including a fishing