Family Outdoors

Jump to the Ozarks Streams Hatch Chart Section

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Trout fishing is generally associated with the Rocky Mountain West or with the streams of the Eastern United States. There are however, outstanding trout fishing opportunities across the middle part of the country, and some of the best of those trout fishing opportunities are found in the Ozark Mountain region, primarily of Missouri and Arkansas.

 

These trout fishing areas can be generally divided into four categories. First, for Missouri Trout Fishing, the state Department of Conservation has established an outstanding array of Missouri Trout Fishing Parks. These trout parks are all in, or at least on the border of the Ozarks Region. Here you will find healthy (if not ridiculous) numbers of mostly stocked rainbow trout. There are also a few brown trout. These Missouri trout fishing parks are heavily fished during the catch-and-keep seasons. If you would like to have a bit more room to yourself, visit these parks in the catch-and-release season. The streams are less heavily stocked but there are also more big fish. If a trout park is not your style, the next category of waters are the tailwaters.

 

There are several Tailwater Trout Fishing areas throughout the Ozarks. Perhaps the most famous of them are portions of the White River, especially the section below Bull Shoals Dam in Northern Arkansas. Rainbow trout and brown trout are numerous and large. Fishing opportunities are available via wade fishing or floating and plenty of guides offer their services - perhaps a good investment your first time out.

 

There are a number of Freestone Trout Fishing rivers for Missouri trout fishing as well. Two of these are the Current River and the Eleven Point River. There are areas on these rivers where you can have plenty of solitude or in the case of the Current River in the Summer months, a party atmosphere. Brown trout and rainbow trout are both found on these rivers. One river that receives perhaps less attention from Missouri and Arkansas trout fishermen, and that has outstanding opportunities, is the North Fork of the White River.

 

Finally, throughout the Ozarks region there are found many smaller trout fishing gems. These Smaller Trout Fishing Streams are perhaps the truest examples of wild trout fishing available in the region. There are stocked as well as wild parts of these streams, but when you catch one of the wild rainbows out of one of these creeks, its coloration will astound. The beauty of the surroundings as well as the fish are something to behold. So take a bit and look through the pages we have put together on some of these places and plan a trip. You will not be disappointed!