Totally trout

LITTLE ROCK — Despite cold, wind and rain, about 1,000 people attended the Totally Trout Seminar held Feb. 28 at the C.A. Vines 4-H Center in Ferndale.

Sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Chesapeake Energy, the seminar was designed to promote interest in trout fishing as well as trout management and conservation.

Steve "Wildman" Wilson, an AGFC public relations specialist, said that based on attendance, the event exceeded the agency's wildest expectations.

"It worked exactly like it was supposed to," Wilson said. "We had experts demonstrating all the howtos of catching trout, from usingfly fishing gear to spinning gear to spincasting gear. We had experts teaching people how to tie their own fishing flies. We had our trout biologists teaching about trout, trout habits, trout habitats and where to go to catch them."

Clifton Jackson, the AGFC's urban and community fisheries biologist, said he cooked about 1,300 hotdogs for the event. To battle the cold weather, participants also consumed mass quantities of hot cocoa, hot coffee and soda.

Inside the lecture hall, speakers talked about the four species of trout that inhabit Arkansas waters. They are the rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook trout. The AGFC stocks them in certain rivers, most notably the White, Little Red, Little Missouri, Norfork and the Spring, to replacethe fishing opportunities that were lost when the Corps of Engineers dammed those rivers and made the dam tailraces inhospitable for native sportfish, like smallmouth bass.

In the hallway outside the lecture hall, Jed Hollan of the Little Red Fly Shop demonstrated the art of fly tying. Other exhibitors in the dining hall explained how to fish for trout with spinning rigs and spincasting gear. Outside, a small army of people bundled in parkas waited in line to learn how to cast a fly rod.

With what appears to be an early spring, Arkansas' best trout fishing is just beginning. With just a little gear, a fishing license and trout stamp, you can enjoy some of the best trout fishing in America right here in the Natural State.