New Personal Best!!! 22" Brown Trout

Carp take a back seat to trout, always have, always will.  I was near Little Rock this week for business, so I fished a new river, the Little Red River near Heber Springs, AR.  This is a classic tailwater, coming from Greer's Ferry Lake.  I got to Little Rock early on Monday, and had a few hours to kill, so I decided to fish...of course.  A few rises on the river, so I tried some dries, adams, RS2, caddis...no takers.  I found out later I should have tried a BWO.  There was a very nice, fast riffle just down stream, so I decided to swing a Green Flash a Bugger, #12.  It worked, and I started catching both browns and rainbows, ranging from 6" to 14", lots of fun.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a larger fish in the riffle, splashing as it swam around.  I tossed the bugger upstream, stripped it down, and after the fourth time, it stopped hard in the water during the retrieve...the hog had taken the fly, and the fight was on.  The brown dug in, and I worked him slowly.  I had on a 5X leader, and was a little nervous because of the strength of the fight. I knew early that it was a big fish.  I managed to get the brown to the net, which he overfilled, and onto shore for pictures before release.  22" of beautiful brown trout, my largest trout yet.  I love the Little Red...
...keep the rod bent....

I am the Carpmeister...

My new found passion is catching carp...don't get me wrong, trout are still top of the list.  However, carp are everywhere, and not all that easy to catch.  I guess that's why they're referred to as 'Kansas Redfish'... I'm tying some crawfish-colored backstabber flies, and they work great...just lob one in front of a cruising carp, twitch it, and the fight is on.  try it, you'll like it.
...keep the rod bent...