The river where I learned to fly fish. Home of the former world record brown trout.
I grew up in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on the banks of the Little Red. About twenty-five years ago, my grandfather handed me my first fly rod, and I spent every spare hour fishing Winkley Shoals and the JFK access below Greers Ferry Dam — watching serious anglers and piecing the craft together one cast at a time.
This is where my love of fly fishing was born. Guiding the Little Red isn't a service I added to a menu — it's home water I know in my bones.
Brown trout were introduced in 1977 and now reproduce entirely on their own — 100% wild. These are not stocked fish. They are smart, strong, and earned.
Mid-October through November is the season here. As the browns move toward the spawn, the biggest fish of the year get aggressive. October is the best month to fish it.
Clear Ozark water and prolific hatches make the Little Red some of the best dry fly fishing in the South. When the bugs come off, it's as good as trout fishing gets.
In May 1992, Howard "Rip" Collins landed a brown trout weighing 40 pounds, 4 ounces from the Little Red — a world record that stood for years and put this river on the map for serious trout anglers everywhere.
You won't catch a fish like that every trip. But every time you wade in here, you're fishing the same cold, clear tailwater that grew the biggest brown trout the world had ever seen. That's worth the two-and-a-half-hour drive south.
Half days and full days on the Little Red, plus two-river trips that pair it with Taneycomo.