Greers Ferry, Arkansas -- Greers Ferry Lake has been high for much of the last few weeks, and on Wednesday it rose again another 4 feet to stand Thursday morning more than 9 feet above normal pool. To get that water off of Greers Ferry, the Southwestern Power Administration runs water through the Army Corps of Engineers dam and the generators into the Little Red River.
The good news for the past few weeks, though, is that even with that high water on the lake, the movement of water into the Little Red has been fairly consistent with half the day where there is no generation and about half where there is steady generation, so there are good periods of time available for trout fishing.
Such was the case when Chris Marino of Memphis got a response on his first cast of the day while fishing the Little Red River with guide Mike Winkler recently, and it was this nice brown trout (above) on the other end of his line. Marino was on a half-day guide trip launching with Winkler from the Lobo Landing Access. Winkler said the water on the Little Red had been off-color last week but was fishable. Marino was using a Guide's Choice Hare's Ear underneath an indicator set at about 4 feet depth.
Winkler, in this week's report, says the water release these days at Greers Ferry Dam is 12 hours on, 12 hours off. There are some periods where the water is generated more during the week, leaving less water to move on weekends.
Meanwhile, though, all this rain Arkansas has been receiving has been putting a crimp on the reservoir fishing, such as at Beaver Lake (and the tailwater below, according to tailwater guide Austin Kennedy), where guide Jon Conklin says the water has crested at the top of the flood pool.
Bull Shoals Lake is still up high and debris-filled in spots (cautious boating is urged). Lake Ouachita had a rise this week, and Millwood Lake in the southwest corner was up 17 inches on Thursday, which is a big rise there, with large releases ongoing from the Millwood Dam into Little River below the lake.
Also, the Little Rock Pool of the Arkansas River was racing downstream at more than 200,000 cfs Thursday afternoon. Crazy. May in 2025 has lived up to being on average the wettest month of the year by far. We're due for a dry spell, but it seems we'll be well into June and nearer to meteorological summer before that happens.
Maybe the tradeoff to all the rain and clouds was the unusually cooler temperatures we felt earlier this week.
Anyway, if you find a break in the raindrops, or don't mind wearing a rainsuit, there are some places to check out for some fish, or you can definitely find some nice trout on the Little Red or on the White River below Bull Shoals. Be careful boating.
