Little Red River AR

[Adough]

Heading down there next month with the guys. One of our crew has fond memories of fishing the white with his dad but after looking on here and elsewhere, I moved the trip to the little red. This s is foreign water to me and didn't know if anyone had some tips. We have rented a river house with a private dock and intend to take several canoes and kayaks. I'll be taking my spin setup with pl nutty of TM's and a fly rod. Any tips for success? Preferred flies or TM colors? Really looking forward to the trip. Thanks!
Andrew

[tcintn]

Heading down there next month with the guys. One of our crew has fond memories of fishing the white with his dad but after looking on here and elsewhere, I moved the trip to the little red. This s is foreign water to me and didn't know if anyone had some tips. We have rented a river house with a private dock and intend to take several canoes and kayaks. I'll be taking my spin setup with pl nutty of TM's and a fly rod. Any tips for success? Preferred flies or TM colors? Really looking forward to the trip. Thanks!
Andrew

Andrew,
I have fished the Little Red maybe 20 plus times.The very best times I have had fishing and catching fish was with I was with Lowell Myers,Guide with Sore-Lip-Guide service. Lowell is one awesome gentleman who knows the Little Red. Others will say the same who have fished with him. He does both fly-fishing and spinning with Trout Magnets.
The best colors to use he last time I was there was pink T M on chartreuse jigs.I have found when I have caught browns,I was using white on chartreuse.
Lowell Myers number is,501-230-0730.

[crosshairy]

I went last fall, and my experience was that you need to check the generation schedules and plan accordingly.

With no generation, the river is mostly a long, skinny, clear lake. It's relatively deep in the area that I was in (about 4-5 miles below the dam), so wading to fish was not practical for us. We rented a jon boat and brought along a trolling motor, and it gave us the opportunity to fish until about 2-3 pm (that's when the generation kicked up while we were there).

If there is any generating going on, we needed a gas motor to stay on the water, and of course the level of the river rose fairly dramatically.

If there is current going, I'd recommend throwing jerk baits like Rapalas or shallow-diving crank baits.

I caught my first brown trout on the last hour of the last day of the trip using a small crankbait on a rocky shoal, but there were guys in gas-powered boats that caught them every afternoon by casting to the bank while the generators were running.

During the slack flow times, we caught fish with traditional trout spinning fishing gear (small lures or powerbait) by fishing the holes in the coontail weeds that are thick in parts of the river. My buddy brought his fly rod, but didn't do any good (I don't think he'd ever been trout fishing before, so skill and experience were not on his side).

I will say this...that river had the biggest wild trout that I had personally ever caught. We had a lot of fun, and saw some absolutely giant rainbows swimming around.

[Alphahawk]

Pure heaven!


Regards

[Adough]

Pure heaven!


Regards

You're killing me. This is six weeks away!


TcinTn, I looked at Lowell very seriously. Unfortunately it's not in the budget. He has earned a great reputation around here and I hope I can meet up with him next year. Which sucks, these guys have been my closest friends for 20years. I'd gladly trade company for keepers! ;)

Crosshairy, thanks for the insight. I'll be sure to add some of those lures to the kit.

I primarily trout fish on the Hiwassee in East Tn so I'm somewhat familiar with the ebb and flow of dam fisheries. Certainly looking forward to some new water!

[Farley]

PM me or email me a few days before you go and I will get you a current report. My son is in school there, he and friends fish it quite regularly. Trout magnets all the way, during generation you might want something bigger but during slack water TM will out fish traditional methods big time. rickfrawley1@yahoo.com

[Adough]

PM me or email me a few days before you go and I will get you a current report. My son is in school there, he and friends fish it quite regularly. Trout magnets all the way, during generation you might want something bigger but during slack water TM will out fish traditional methods big time. rickfrawley1@yahoo.com

Thanks, will do!

[Mikeyrrt]

I just went ther this week fishing was slow coming from the locals bc ther runing the gens 2-4 hrs on then 2-4 off so fish don't kno what to think when the gens are on lately been just one runing it raise fast difficult to do I would bet in a canoe when the gens is on but we used Tm and did ok caught some on sinkin rapala brown trout color gens are on go to a island point and cast in middle of river also jig bank when off jig middle with no float on and twitch it in fishing will bite best when gens are on


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[Adough]

Thanks for the info! We'll be staying at Cow Shoals with a private dock. Hoping to be able to rent some canoes if necessary, not able to carry the plastic navy up there this time. Hopefully flow will be down to one generator by the end of the month. Glad you had a good time!

[Adough]

Headed out tomorrow. Weather doesn't look too inviting but I'm sure looking forward to the adventure!

[Alphahawk]

Headed out tomorrow. Weather doesn't look too inviting but I'm sure looking forward to the adventure!

Best of luck.


Regards

[Adough]

Got out early this morning and to the shoals just in time for the lightning to start. But, caught a nice rainbow yesterday evening with a cotton candy TM on 2lb line. As soon as the lightning passes I'll be back out there!

[Travis C.]

Hope you catch them!