Spring on the Spring

Few things are more fun on a spring day than floating and wading a river and casting small baits for a mix of game fish. On Arkansas' Spring River, any given cast is apt to produce one of half a dozen species. Smallmouths and rock bass abound throughout the river, which flows from a giant spring near the Missouri/Arkansas border, and both rainbow and brown trout are stocked at several sights along the river's course. Walleyes and largemouths add variety to the Spring River's offerings, and both species grow to big sizes.

Two recent days of floating the Spring produced a great mixed catch. Nathaniel landed the biggest smallmouth, which hit a YUM Big Show Paddle Worm fished on a Roadrunner head. Lawrence Taylor, PR Manager for YUM Bait Company used a Rebel Tracdown Minnow to catch the biggest fish overall - a largemouth that probably weighed a little more than 4 pounds.

The Paddle Worm and Tracdown Minnow were among the best producing lures on the trip. Others were YUM Wooly Beavertails and Wooly Bugs and XCalibur Twitch Baits.