Darrell W. Bowman

Beginning in September 1998, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) conducted a three-year creel survey on the trout fishery below Beaver Dam, Arkansas, to collect current information on angler effort, catch, and harvest. Angler catch rates for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) remained high (>1.0 fish/h) throughout the study. However, a reduction in angling effort coupled with a high rate of voluntary release resulted in low exploitation of the put-and-take rainbow trout fishery. The annual catch of brown trout (Salmo trutta) exceeded the number stocked in all three years...

A roving creel survey was conducted on the Greers Ferry tailwater, Arkansas, from 1988 through 1992. Estimated angler use was high, averaging 295,319 angler hours and 1,006.5 angler hours per hectare annually. Estimated harvest of rainbow trout was high and consisted of mostly catchable size, stocked fish. Only 25% of rainbow trout caught were released. Catch of trophy size brown trout declined after the implementation of a 406-mm (16-inch) minimum length 2 fish per day creel limit in January 1990.