The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will host a second public workshop at the Mammoth Spring School Complex from 10 a.m. until noon March 21 to talk about a new trout management plan specific to the Spring River. The Complex is at 410 Goldsmith Ave. in Mammoth Spring.
The first workshop on the management plan was held in January and offered the public a chance to give input on the front-end of the plan about the Spring River fishery. Joe Kaiser, Trout Management Biologist at the AGFC’s Mountain Home Office, says this workshop will be another opportunity for people to speak about the fishery and learn more about possible management actions that can be taken.
“In January, many of our stakeholders came and were able to help us with input,” Kaiser said. “That feedback, combined with creel surveys in 2018 and 2019 and a mail survey completed in 2019, has been incorporated into our management options for the river. We’re now ready to share with the public some of the different options possible to meet some of the desires of our anglers.”
The workshop will begin with some background on the river and current trout population, so participants can be more informed about elements of the plan.
After that presentation, biologists will share details of the plan they are considering.
“The plan is much more than setting regulations or stocking more fish,” Kaiser said. “We’re incorporating details about access for angling and other factors to make the fishery better for anglers as well as the fish.”
Unlike most of Arkansas’s other trout fisheries, which were created by cold-water discharges from large manmade reservoirs, the Spring River’s trout water along the Missouri/Arkansas state line is created naturally from Mammoth Spring.
The spring releases roughly 9 million gallons of water per hour, all of which is between 58 and 62 degrees. The output forms a 10-acre lake, then feeds the river and supports a trout fishery for roughly 12 miles downstream.
The river receives monthly stockings of rainbow trout as well as an annual stocking of brown trout for anglers to pursue.
Progress of the management plan will be posted on www.agfc.com throughout the process. For more information, contact Kaiser or Trout Management Supervisor Christy Graham at 877-425-7577.
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