Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Trout fishing in north Arkansas has a big reputation: Tailwaters gush from hydroelectric dams on reservoirs of 30,000 to 45,000 acres and flow for many miles, producing rainbows that occasionally weigh in the teens and brown trout that snack on fish you'd be happy to put on a stringer. It's world-class fishing -- but the sheer size of the rivers and the force of their changing water levels can overwhelm and even intimidate anglers.

Fortunately, there's excellent fishing on a smaller scale and a more relaxing pace on the Little Missouri River in southwest Arkansas. Jeff Guerin of Murfreesboro has fished the Little Mo for three decades and is the river's sole full-time guide. He and his customers use fly-fishing gear exclusively, but all anglers can benefit from his detailed observations about the river. And if you happen to be a fly-fishing purist, he delivered an exciting revelation during his interview with Arkansas Sportsman when he declared: "I'm going out on a limb, but I'll say it's the best dry-fly stream in the state!"

Here's your guide to catching the feisty rainbows in southwest Arkansas' scenic jewel, the Little Missouri River.

LITTLE MO INFO
After it rises near the Big Fork community in Polk County, the Little Missouri covers 29 rough-and-tumble miles, dropping 35 feet per mile as it flows into Lake Greeson. Part of the steep upper portion is classified as a wild river, which means that only experienced kayakers who can rescue themselves have any business there during high water in the spring. In the summer, these uppermost reaches are often too low for navigation, but hikers and waders tussle with smallmouths, sunfish and catfish in pools, and they may even encounter a few trout. Fishing is popular year 'round in the Albert Pike Recreation Area in the Ouachita National Forest, off state Highway 369 about six miles north of Langley in Pike County.

Rainbows are the only trout stocked here, but those that survive for a few months develop especially feisty attitudes and fight much harder than their hatchery cousins to the north. "The condition the fish are in is incredible," Guerin said. "You'll have a fish that takes off on a 15-yard run that'll turn out to be 11 or 12 inches long."

WHERE THE TROUT ARE
The Little Mo's prime trout waters are in the first six and three-tenths miles below Narrows Dam, which impounds 7,000-acre Lake Greeson six miles north of Murfreesboro and creates hydroelectric power from its three generators. Trout stocking began there in the 1950s to mitigate the loss of native warmwater species that couldn't tolerate the cold tailwater. Fishing is best when the water is low and the dam's generators are idle. "It's the last dam to go online," Guerin said. "When everybody else is running water (in the upper White River system of hydroelectric dams and tailwaters), you have a reasonable chance (of finding fishable water) here. But if it's 100 degrees in Mount Pleasant, Texas, you don't have much of chance, because the generators will be running."