Catfish, trout, hybrid stripers and walleyes — if these fish are among those you love to catch, listen up. Before you kick the bucket and go to that great fishing hole in the sky, you’ll want to plan a trip to these extraordinary Arkansas hot spots where you can get a real taste of heaven on Earth. On these world-renowned fishing waters, the catching should be as good as the fishing whenever you choose to visit.
Huck’s river
If the fish of your dreams sports long whiskers and baby-smooth skin, then the Mighty Mississippi, which produced a 200-pound catfish for Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, surely must be on your bucket list. No body of water in North America has this river’s potential for producing supersize catfish, and Twain’s books aren’t the only source of evidence. For example, a 103-pound blue cat weighed in on Day 1 of a Memphis, Tenn., tournament was not heavy enough to take big-fish honors. A 108-pounder caught during Day 2 claimed that title. And even these giants don’t truly exemplify all the possibilities here. Last year, television personality Bill Dance caught and released a 110-pounder in the river north of Memphis.
The fact is, more than a dozen blues over the century mark have been hoisted from the Father of Waters’ muddy depths during the past decade, including an all-tackle world record caught at West Memphis that weighed 116.75 pounds. Huge flatheads and channel cats swim here, too, and there are tons of them. Catching 150 to 300 pounds of catfish daily (or nightly) isn’t unusual.
There’s plenty of great fishing water on this 2,300-mile-long river, but the best of the best for trophy whiskerfish runs along the border between Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, with the Memphis area topping the list of hawg producers. For info, contact the Mississippi River Guide Service at (901) 383-8674 or www.bigcatfish.com, or the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce at (901) 543-3500 or www.memphischamber.com. Please continue reading this great article by our friend Keith Sutton on Arkansas Online…..