Little Missouri Fly Fishing

FYI: we got texts from the TX,OK & AR Fish and Game about there trout stocking, the Sunrise Productions LLC are scheduled to videos them this year. We will see this information will go out again.

I've now been advised that fish will not be stocked here until next Monday (a new rumor!!) the 16th of December!!  The bunger is still running at 7% and the water is still cloudy and a consistent 56 degrees on the entire river. Wow Dennis, must be nice to have a contact who texts you out in Texas and tells you when they are gonna stock here in Arkansas on the Lil'Mo'!!  How about letting the rest of us know more often!!? I wish anyone with info on this river would share it with all of us here on this forum, you are welcome anytime to chime in. Can't wait for Dennis's next report because he has better contacts than I do.

Got a text from the AGFC this morning, they said the next stocking will be closer Christmas. Maybe it will be after they get the lake down we're they it to start the work they need to do.

At 8:00 am this morning the Corp opened the bunger valve. That's the bad news, the good news is it's running at about 7 % which is fishable. Not ideal, I wish they had just opened it up and got their 4 foot in about a week. This 7% won't even make a dent in the lake so I don't expect it to stay this way, I think they will open it up further,soon. Also the water coming from the lake is very dirty and muddy looking. Kind of a baby s——- brown. So my number 3 rumor was true, let's hope one will follow suit!!😁. I fished the flow this morning and caught a few down around the "big rock hole".

There is a lot to be happy about in what you've written. I came over in October from Pine Bluff to do some diamond hunting but also to do some recon for another place to trout fish. There was water gushing out of one of the two whatever you call them. The water was cold but almost no one fishing other than some first-timers at that first public access area almost within sight of the dam. I did a tiny bit of research on the dam - enough to find out that the hydro part doesn't work and they will have to lower the lake enough to be able to fix whatever's broken. I figured all serious trout fishing was over until that got taken care of but your update makes it sound like the fishing will continue. One question - is there any number to call to find out what the river is doing or what they are going to do with it that day? Or better yet, what the flow schedule is for maybe two days out?? I ducked into all of the public access areas on the left side of the river, facing downstream, and could just imagine so many places to fish. But I don't want to drive over from Pine Bluff if it's super high or low. Thanks for your information!! BT

There were no fish stocked either the week before or the week of thanksgiving this year but there are a ton of fishermen out looking for them!!  I looked back on my calendar and this is first year in the past few years that we didn't get a thanksgiving stocking. Seems like the AGFC just forgets about us down here in south Arkansas. With just a little attention this river could become the next Broken Bow of the Mountain Fork river. It almost is now, it's the closest place for Louisiana and west Texas people to trout fish. It is phenomenal how much this area has grown over the past 10 years, yet the trout program has done nothing to keep up with the increasing pressure and demand. O well, don't get me started☹️.

Conditions on the river are great for trout, water clarity is great and water temperature is VERY cold🥶. There are still trout to be found from the November 9th stocking but you have to get away from the access sites and roam the river, They were stocked on high water so they were scattered and the bait fishermen have mostly harvested the trout at the easy access sites. People everywhere this thanksgiving weekend but there is a lot of river so get out and enjoy.

Thanks for the update!

I had hoped the AGFC would hold to the stocking schedule of every 2 weeks for stocking on the Lil' Mo', but they didn't!!😤. Guess (or hope) they are waiting for thanksgiving week??  It would have been a perfect week to stock. Water is cold and very clear, even tho the river bed is covered in silt. It gets better (less silt) the further you go down river. Also they could have stocked on low water, giving the fish time to acclimate to the river. Last stocking was 7 November on high water, scattering the fish all over the river.

The lake is currently at 538.37 so unless we get a flooding rain I do not expect the Corp to start bungering anytime soon, UNLESS they decide to do a pull down for dam repairs. They stopped bungering on 14 November so the fish have had time to settle in to the "no flow river".

About the fishing, here's my opinion and synopsis 🤔:  the fish are really scattered. I have been unable to catch fish at the park or in the meat hole!!  Don't know what happened to them. Did they die, did they move down river??? I haven't seen any signs of dead fish and the ones I'm catching down river are strong and healthy. The Riverside park area is hardest hit by the silt, or whatever it is, coming from the bunger valves, the river bed is covered and the rocks are red. However, I'm able to catch fish at Sycamore run, only 3/4 mile down river from there. I caught 17 in that little hole one trip. I caught 36 one day in the couch hole at River Ridge, I caught 40 one day at Hinds Bluff, fishing the access hole and around the bend down river. I've caught fish at Old Factory site and at Low water bridge, you just have to find them, but when you do they are strong and health. A normal trips catch for me has been 15 to 20 fish, but remember , I only fish about 2 to 3 hours and only in the mornings.  In short, I've caught fish all over the river EXCEPT at Riverside park!!!  It is definitely fishing and not just "stand and catch", if I don't get a bite in a few minutes, I move!  I believe the first rule of trout fishing is be where the fish are!  A good low water stocking will fix that. I can't explain the Riverside park problem but I think a good low water stocking will solve it also, now that all the silt has settled out and the water itself is clear as glass.

To sum up, water cold and clear as a bell, river bed has a lot of red silt, fishing down river is fair but don't waste your time at the park until they stock again, hopefully before thanksgiving. Oh yes, and always remember, if you will all take out one more piece of trash than you bring in, we will never have a trashy river!! 

‼️ Dillon: water temperature at Riverside= 60 degrees, River Ridge= 56 degrees , Hinds Bluf and Old Factory=54 degrees. Water clarity is VERY clear and bottom silt gets progressively better as you move down river from the dam.

Just a quick alert: at 3:30 pm today, with the lake at 537.86, they closed the bunger valve. Don't know for how long, but it's closed as I post!! River bed is rusty red. It has run full for the past 9 days.

Quote from: HEN on Nov 09, 2024, 02:39 AMI'm not sure what it is this go around?  The last proposed draw down was to 538. I'm assuming (but nothing is certain!) that was to get the loading ramp built at the Sawaha swimming area for the barge to load the crane. That's been done. If this draw down is for the actual work on the dam, I have no clue, too many rumors floating around.

Mike herd a rumor yesterday they plan to go down to elv 534'.