A massive rainbow-trout kill at the Norfork National Fish Hatchery—the nation’s largest federally owned hatchery—in recent weeks is one of the factors that has led the The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) to establish new, much stricter regulations on some of the states most famous big-trout waters:
[C]atch-and-release fishing of all trout in the 45 miles of White River tailwater flowing below Bull Shoals Dam to its confluence with the North Fork River–known to most fly anglers as the Norfork–along with catch-and-release trout fishing on the entire length of the Norfork.
Trout waters below the White River-North Fork River confluence, from the Norfork Access boat ramp to the Highway 58 bridge at Guion, will have a two-trout-only limit with normal length and daily limits (only one trout over 14 inches). All tackle restrictions previously in place still apply.…