# April Akansas trip



## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

We spent the month of April at our house in Cherokee Village. We fished 5 days on the Norfork, 20 days on the Spring and a 1 day trip to the Eleven Point in southern Missouri. Also tried the South Fork of the Spring river, which is walking distance from our house, a couple of days.

Norfork report....
We did much better down river then around the dam. Caught some nice cutthroats and rainbows and 2 nice browns. My wife caught her personal best brown just up from Ackerman access. It was only 21" but fat as a football. I had some great pictures of it, but left the camera in my vest when we left and forgot to upload to the computer. We saw some caddis activity and had decent action swinging a green butt soft hackle, but the most consistent action was on smaller egg patterns.

Spring River report...
As always the Spring river was better for numbers and the quality was pretty good this trip. They are stocking some really nice trout in the 14" range and if you venture downstream from the hatchery there are some nice sized "wild rainbows" that have survived the bait chunckers. Also caught a couple of the Bonneville cutthroats they stocked last year. These fish are in the 18" range now. There were some big caddis hatches coming off late mornings and another fisherman said the caddis were coming off big time starting around 7pm till dark..

Eleven Point river report ....
Made a day trip the Eleven Point and had a decent day. The recent floods definitely made some changes to the river but it seems to be bouncing back We fished the Blue Ribbon area at Greer and caught 14 rainbows between the two of us and they were all pretty colored wild rainbows.

South Fork of the Spring river...
Made 2 float trips down the river and caught lots of smallmouths, some rock bass and many sunfish. Best luck on ultralight spinning outfit with Roostertails.

A few pics..

Norfork Cutthroat (Snake River variety)









Spring river Cutthroat (Bonneville variety)









Eleven Point rainbow (caught early April before the trees greened up)









South Fork smallmouth caught the day before we left (notice how the trees have changed)


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Great pictures and report. Those smallies are great fun on the fly. 

I fished the Lil Mo about the same time and caught numerous stocker rainbows and a few smallmouth on days I wasn't fishing Ouachita for striped bass. 

Ya gotta love fishing Arkansas.


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

Yeah, those smallies can really pull (and jump).


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## flyfishingmike (Nov 26, 2010)

nice report and photos

Glad you were able to spend so much time fishing that beautiful water


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

flyfishingmike said:


> nice report and photos
> 
> Glad you were able to spend so much time fishing that beautiful water


Yep, some beautiful water up there for sure. 
Next trip I want to try the fly rod for smallmouths.

Mike and Meadowlark...
What flies do you guys recommend for the smallmouths?


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## Unbound (Jul 12, 2004)

Those are some really beautiful trout. I also love smallies. They are my all time favorite fish and a blast on the fly rod.

I've had good success up on Green Bay with the Holschlag Hackle. I'm sure it would work anywhere there are crayfish.










http://www.smallmouthflyangler.com/products/flies_subsurface-smallmouth-bass-fly-fishing.php

Here's a 17 incher I got on one last summer.


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

Thanks Unbound..
I'll try to copy that pattern and try it out in June.
There are lots crawfish in the local rivers up there.


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## gotmuddy (Dec 19, 2013)

netboy, is your house in cherokee village?? South Fork is my stomping grounds, I fish the upper end.


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

gotmuddy said:


> netboy, is your house in cherokee village?? South Fork is my stomping grounds, I fish the upper end.


Yes, we are right across from the entrance to the north golf course, about a 1/4 mile from the South Fork bridge. We usually float from there to the take out at Flat Head road. 
We want to try the upper end from Saddle down to the golf course.


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