Everyone knows about the trout fishing in the White, Norfork and Little Red rivers, but those aren't the only places to catch trout in Arkansas. The Natural State has some obscure trout waters that many anglers don't even know exist. However, if you'd like a change of pace or just want to experience something new and different, these waters are certainly worth visiting.

Unquestionably, the tailwater fisheries below Bull Shoals, Norfork and Greers Ferry lakes are three of the world's finest destinations to catch trophy trout, but you can also catch rainbow trout on the other side of Bull Shoals Dam, in Bull Shoals Lake itself. This is a kind of fishing experience totally different from what you'll find in the tailwater, but it has its own distinct charm that draws anglers not only from Arkansas but from neighboring states as well.

There's also a dandy little trout fishery below Lake Greeson, in the Little Missouri River. It's hard to reach if you don't live in southwest Arkansas, but those who visit agree that it's worth the effort. Even fewer people know about the trout fishing available in the upper end of Lake Hamilton, or in the Ouachita River directly below Lake Catherine.

Another relatively new opportunity is the urban trout fishing available in Little Rock, in Rock Creek at Boyle Park. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission also stocks rainbow trout during the winter in several of Little Rock's municipal park ponds, as well as in Lake Atalanta in Rogers.

Stocking trout in reservoirs has a checkered history in Arkansas. Starting in the 1960s, the AGFC stocked rainbow trout in Bull Shoals Lake and developed a thriving fishery, said chief of fisheries Mike Armstrong. The agency also stocked rainbows in lakes Ouachita, Hamilton, Norfork and Greers Ferry. For various reasons, only Bull Shoals and Hamilton developed a following.

The AGFC also stocked lake trout at Bull Shoals and Greers Ferry in the early 1980s. Those experiments failed, and the rainbow experiments at Greers Ferry and Ouachita were discontinued when it became clear that they were producing some unintended consequences. The AGFC has even divested itself of the Bull Shoals program. Private marinas have taken it upon themselves to keep it going, but on a much smaller scale.

"We used to stock over 100,000 trout per year in Bull Shoals, but now it's down to about 30,000 a year," Armstrong said.

Emergence of world-class walleye and striped bass fisheries at Greers Ferry and Ouachita, respectively, ended the trout programs at those lakes. Greers Ferry produced the current world-record walleye in the early 1980s, and Ouachita is still one of the nation's best lakes for trophy stripers. One reason those fish got so big was the abundance of stocked rainbow trout. They're very nutritious, and hatchery-raised rainbows are too stupid to avoid such aggressive predators.

"In the case of Greers Ferry and Lake Ouachita, what we ended up doing was feeding walleye and striped bass more than we did anglers," Armstrong said. "It was kind of a conflict. Lots of folks, including ourselves, believe that rainbow trout is what drove the trophy walleye fishery in Greers Ferry in the 1980s. As soon as we quit stocking those fish, we stopped getting the growth rates of 10-plus pound walleye."