Sports
Is it too hot to fish? Try somewhere cool
By Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
Jun 27, 2025
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Hardy, Arkansas -- Even with the high water that has plagued the Spring River area in north/northeast Arkansas for many weeks, Steve Michelson caught this nice rainbow there recently while fishing with guide Mark Crawford. The Spring River's waters, as is true for Arkansas's other trout-supporting steams and rivers, runs cool.

In other cases except for the Spring (it's served by a cold spring), trout frolic in tailwater below a major Corps of Engineers dam, where the water released in those tailwaters is almost always around 58 degrees or less. The result is a feeling of natural air conditioning, a great cooling effect coming from off the water while you're in a boat drifting on the water. That will offset those summer temps for a while.

So, want to escape these triple-digit heat indices or fish longer than briefly after dawn or when the sun goes down? Head to a trout stream.

 The trout, brown and rainbows, are biting.