Has anyone ever fished the Arkansas river in the little rock area? I have a tournament there in September and I am starting my research now. I am trying to get a lay of land, wanting to figure out the different pools, water fluctuation, etc. Any tips and information that yall are willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

That time of year you should shoot for 16 lbs to win a single day and 13 to 15 lbs per day to win a two+ day event. If the river is flowing, it'll be on the higher end of the scale, lower end if it's not flowing.

The down-river ends of each pool typically have more backwaters and water willows lining the artificial rock banks. The up-river ends of each pool are more riverine where jetties and large wooden poles make up the majority of the habitat.

The pool north of Little Rock, usually called the Maumelle pool, has a couple of small river tributaries with LOTS of cypress swamp/lily pad habitat. The trick is it takes an extremely long time to lock through and then idle your way into those areas because those rivers are full of stumps. There are some fish in there but you'll have to commit a full day or more to just scout the area.

The Little Rock pool itself actually has a great deal of typical river habitat, jetties, rock walls and points, backwaters with big wood, and vegetation-lined backwaters on the south end. The trick with the Little Rock pool is that it gets slammed with weekly tournaments all summer long and the fish there are highly pressured. You can still catch them, but you have to be diligent and patient.

The pool south of Little Rock, usually called the Redfield pool, seems to have the least habitat out of the three but is still always a player in big tournaments. The trick with Redfield is most of the good stuff (especially when the river is not flowing) is all the way on the south end and you'll have to commit a good bit of time to running.

If you're permitted to lock more than once, the Pine Bluff pool (next pool south of Redfield) has the largest fish but you'll only get about 2 to 3 hours to catch them then cross your fingers you don't get locked out on the run back. Those fish are also very highly pressured and it's difficult to limit in that short time window.

Tournaments are won out of all four of those pools. If all you get are a couple days to practice, I'd advise you to pick a pool that looks best to you and commit to learning that one.

If you want to lock there are some things to know. The lockmasters are usually fairly accommodating to tournament boats as long as you follow their rules. However, their priority is always commercial traffic; if they have to pick between a tournament boat and a barge, they're going to take the barge every time. You need to have a rope to tie up to either one of the lock buoys or to another boat that is tied to a lock buoy. The lockmaster won't start the pumps until every boat is secured; the water can churn pretty hard especially when they're locking up and unsecured boats would be hard to wrangle back in. Also, keep a knife handy in the extremely unlikely event that one of the lock buoys gets jammed; you want to be able to cut that line quick if they stop sliding with the water level. I strongly suggest you get a set of fender buoys to hang off the side of your boat while locking to keep the wall from chewing up your rub rail. Once the gates are shut, it usually only takes about 10-15 minutes before the gates on the other end open up and you can leave. The hangup is always waiting on other boats to file in and get tied up. I'd figure in 45 minutes per lock to be safe. Communication is a big deal to keep you from getting locked out. Most AR-River experienced directors will call the lockmasters each morning to check on barge traffic and relay the information to the anglers before take-off; the lockmasters usually have a ballpark idea of when the nearest barges are going to be locking through. Barges take 1 to 2 hours to get through if everything goes right. Once you get in the lock, chat with the other guys locking through with you to settle on a time for everyone to meet back at the lock to go back through. Sometimes, if the event is big enough, the lockmasters will even tentatively schedule a time for you all to come back through and they usually keep their word. Still, stuff happens sometimes, barges get stuck, unexpected traffic comes through, you lock at your own risk every time.

Hope this helps.

I haven�t locked through in quite few years. I use to lock through in the Russellville/Dardanelle area. Locking through use to be no big deal. Commercial traffic will always get priority, just allow enough time for delays. The only issue will be an unforeseen incident such as a tow busting up and they are chasing barges. I used to work on the boats on the Mississippi River and we busted up a tow after locking through the Kentucky lake lock and spent the better part of a night putting a 12 barge tow back together. This does not happen very often but it does happen.

I've had some experience fishing the Ark river and the above advice and info by outdoors dude is a very good and knowledgeable explanation of what you are facing.....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWMWMX9SrlN-Jfw6o-hGTuw
this guys home lake is maumelle, might be able to get some info off of his page
He actually posts some good info and isn't all hype train and stupid challenges.

Thanks guys for all the information and thank you outdoordude for taking the time to type all of that out. I really appreciate it! Pine Bluff is where Denny won back in '11 right? I want to check out Maumelle it sounds like a fun/cool place to fish but the whole locking situation still kinda scares me with the limited time for fishing and the risk of not being able to weigh in fish due to barges or getting locked out. Do you have to lock to get to Maumelle?

Pine Bluff is where Denny won back in '11 right?
Correct, up in the Pine Bluff harbor (aka Lake Langhofer)

I want to check out Maumelle it sounds like a fun/cool place to fish but the whole locking situation still kinda scares me with the limited time for fishing and the risk of not being able to weigh in fish due to barges or getting locked out.
It's intimidating the first couple times, but you won't be alone on tournament day; there are always several that lock up and down. I forgot to share this short fact sheet on locking on the Arkansas River: https://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Portals/50/docs/navigation/Lock%20Through%202011.pdf

Just follow the instructions and it's a surprisingly pleasant process. I usually have my breakfast/lunch and get my gear tidied back up while waiting. Folks that get locked out are usually the ones that wait until 2:00 pm to try to get back through to make a 3:00 pm weigh-in. Most times it's ok, but sometimes they get burned. I generally plan on trying to lock back between 1:00-1:30 pm to be safe. Communicate with the other boats locking through with you in the morning and try to settle on a time to come back in-bulk.

Do you have to lock to get to Maumelle?
Yes, Maumelle is one lock north of Little Rock.