Fishing the Arkansas River at the Big Dam Bridge, and where to eat after
Six miles from downtown, the Arkansas River comes through Murray Lock and Dam under the longest pedestrian bridge in the country, and the blue and channel catfish stack on the rocks on both banks. Free parks at each end, a $10.50 licence. A guest guide from Smells Like Fish, ending at the three North Little Rock tables on the road home.
Six miles from downtown, the Arkansas River comes through Murray Lock and Dam with the Big Dam Bridge on top of it, and the water below is where the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s weekly report keeps finding catfish: “near the Big Dam Bridge on the rocks as well as downstream at the Murray Park boat access,” on stink bait. Both ends of the bridge are a free city park, Murray Park on the Little Rock side and Cook’s Landing on the North Little Rock side, and the state licence is $10.50 for the year. This is the fishing half of a day that never leaves the metro. The eating half is at the end, in North Little Rock, on the road home.
I write the guides on Smells Like Fish, a bait and tackle site, and I am a guest here. Top of Little Rock asked for the water. They supplied the tables.
The day, in order
Leave downtown before light and take Rebsamen Park Road along the river to Murray Park. Be on the rocks below the dam at first light with stink bait or cut shad on the bottom, one rod, which is also the legal count near the Murray hydroelectric plant. Fish until the sun gets high, then cross the Big Dam Bridge on foot if you want the North Little Rock bank at Cook’s Landing, where the city allows bank angling with a licence. Lunch is in North Little Rock, ten minutes away. If you want an afternoon, MacArthur Park pond, two miles from downtown, is one of AGFC’s Family and Community Fishing ponds, stocked with channel catfish from April through October and rainbow trout from November through February, three catfish and five trout a day. Dinner is back in Argenta before the drive home.
What is in the water
Blue and channel catfish are the fish below the dam. AGFC’s report puts them on the rocks at the bridge and downstream at the Murray Park access, and the local bank consensus runs them from a couple of pounds to close to 18, with drum, white bass, and stripers showing up in the same water. The statewide limit is ten catfish a day, channel, blue, and flathead combined, and possession is triple that. Stripers and hybrids are six a day combined, white bass 25.
The lakes, for a longer day: Lake Maumelle, 16 miles west, is Central Arkansas Water’s drinking-water lake, bass and crappie water with a spring white bass run, free access at Sleepy Hollow with a 25-horsepower limit and no swimming or wading anywhere. Lake Hamilton and Lake Ouachita, an hour southwest around Hot Springs, have stripers and free ramps. Lake Conway is drained for a five-year AGFC renovation and closed.
The trout, 76 miles north: the Little Red River below Greers Ferry Dam is one of the country’s known brown trout rivers, home to a 40-pound line-class world record from 1992. This year it fishes under an emergency rule: since February 1, 2026, two trout a day, and any trout over 14 inches goes back, because the state’s hatcheries lost most of a year’s production. The trout permit, $10 for residents, is required.
Where to fish from shore
- Murray Park, 6 miles: the Little Rock side of the dam, city boat access, catfish on the rocks and downstream. Free.
- Cook’s Landing, North Little Rock, 13 miles by road: access to the lock and dam system from the north bank, bank angling with a licence. Free.
- MacArthur Park pond, 2 miles: stocked catfish in summer with bonus stockings, trout in winter, three catfish and five trout a day.
- Hindman Park pond, 9 miles: the same program on the southwest side of town.
- Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 16 miles: free, a launch ramp on the Maumelle rivers, a kayak kiosk, and a stocked pond, open 6:30 a.m. to an hour after sunset.
- Sleepy Hollow, Lake Maumelle: free AGFC access on the west end, 25 horsepower, bank fishing on the trails, no wading.
Licences, the trout permit, and the new lake permit
Anyone 16 or older needs an Arkansas licence, sold online through AGFC and at agents. A resident Fisheries Conservation License is $10.50 for the year, residents 65 and older buy a lifetime licence for $10.50, and nonresidents pay $15 for a day, $30 for three, or $60 for the year. The trout permit is separate, $10 resident and $20 nonresident, and AGFC says it is “required to retain trout or to fish in certain waters.” The new rule for 2026: since July 1, anyone 16 or older using an AGFC-owned lake or wildlife management area without a fishing licence needs the $10.50 WMA and Lake Conservation Permit; a licence covers it. Arkansas state parks charge no entrance fee.
The gear side
Which dip bait for the river, how heavy a sinker holds below the dam, which single-hook lures are legal on the Little Red, and what the Corps’ generation schedule means before you wade it: that is my beat, and it does not belong on a restaurant site. The full Little Rock fishing guide on Smells Like Fish has the map of all 11 spots with drive times from downtown, the live Little Red water temperature and Arkansas River stage, the pond list and limits, the licence and permit links, the ramp table, and the tackle list.
Where to eat after
Cook’s Landing is inside North Little Rock and Murray Park is one bridge away, so the road home runs through Argenta. These three are on the Top of Little Rock North Little Rock list. The scores are theirs, not mine.
Sources. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, fishing licence descriptions and fees, the WMA/Lake Conservation Permit, statewide daily limits, the Family and Community Fishing Program pond list, the Greers Ferry Tailwater page and the January 17, 2026 trout regulation release, and the Arkansas Wildlife Weekly Fishing Report; City of North Little Rock, Cook’s Landing; Central Arkansas Water, Lake Maumelle; Arkansas State Parks, Pinnacle Mountain. Drive distances computed on OpenStreetMap roads from downtown Little Rock.
Ray Dodson writes for Smells Like Fish. Ray is the pen name of that site's research desk: every recommendation is built from documented angler consensus, state fish and wildlife guidance, and published testing, with sources named in every article. This piece was written for Top of Little Rock.
