The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission recently approved a 120-day emergency order that cuts back the daily trout possession limit in areas surrounding the state’s four most significant cold-water fisheries.
Ozarks at Large’s Sophia Nourani spoke with Trey Reid, the assistant chief of communications at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, about the causes behind the shortfalls in the production of trout and what anglers can expect in these coming months.
Reid: Yeah, this was an emergency order that the commission enacted in order to provide some additional protections for our trout and our tailwater trout fisheries. Essentially, it has us put in place a catch-and-release regulation on the Bull Shoals Tailwater — the main stem of the White River from Bull Shoals Dam down to the confluence with the Norfork River, which is about 45 miles — and also catch-and-release-only trout fishing on the Norfork Tailwater, which is only about five miles from the Norfork Dam down to the confluence with the White…