Thread: Arkansas trout fishing?

The music minister in our church, Bro. Jeff loves to trout fish. I am thinking about bringing him to Arkansas and giving him a trout fishing trip to show him my appreciation for his dedication to our church, Unity Baptist Church in Cotton Valley, LA., which is about 12 miles from the Arkansas line, at Springhill.

I am a crappie fisherman and know nothing about trout fishing or where to go. Since I would like to surprise Bro. Jeff, I don't want to ask him where to go. I also don't have a ton of money to spend so this is going to have to be a do-it-yourself trip. In other words, no guides. LOL. I do have a travel trailer to stay in so accomodations aren't a problem.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. I would like to keep the trip time under 4-5 hours if possible. Thank yall, in advance, for your help. I already have an out-of-state license. Will I need anything else to be legal for trout fishing? Is boat necessary? I have my crappie boat if one will help. If we come I promise to leave the crappie alone. LOL.

Lots of options for you, Pastor. In the natural state we have three trout tailwaters and one trout stream, Little Missouri, Little Red, White, and Spring. At a mere 2 1/2 hours from Cotton Valley the Little Mo is your closest potential destination. I don't really know aything about that one except it's probably conducive to wade/bank fishing and Albert Pike is probably your best bet for fifth wheel camping. And, if you get tired of the little pink fish there's Lake Greeson, an outstanding crappie lake from what I understand, nearby. There's a trout guide there named Jerry Guerin who would be happy to provide you with beta even if you don't book him. The next closest to you is the Little Red. That will cost you 4 - 4 1/2 hours of drive time. There are numerous lodging opportunities there with the best fifth wheel camping being at JFK park or Wagon Circle RV park. JFK is much nicer but tends to fill up quickly. Your crappie boat would come in handy on the Little Red provided there's water. Lately it's been really low, which is good for those of us who like to don waders and fly fish, but bad for those of us who like to run boats up and down the channels (I like doing both, so I'm happy either wayThumbs Up). Little Red has good wade/bank and boat fishing.There's also Greers Ferry lake there, which is a dandy. You may be familiar with it. Approximately equi-distant from Cotton Valley are the White and the Spring. The White is a gorgeous river and is my personal favorite of the four, but it can be daunting without some local knowledge just because there's so much awesome water. Your crappie boat would work there as well given decent flow conditions. If you decide to go there I can provide you with more detail in terms of where to launch, what to use, etc. Others can too. The Spring is a beautiful little river that's cold year round and full of fat sassy trout, walleye, etc. The fishing is great, but depending on when and where you go you may or may not bear witness to all sorts of shenanigans that couldn't be easily described from the pulpit.:o Most of the riverbank is privately owned, but there are numerous opportunities for fifth wheel camping and wade/bank fishing. Waders will be necessary for wade fishing unless it's summer. That's all I've got for now. Hope it helps.