thinking about a fly fishing road trip this summer/fall. ive been to LMF several times and had a good time, but im looking for something more. maybe some native fish. looking at arkansas, possibly NM or Colorado. planning on camping mostly, i think. theres just so much area to research, obviously my search has lead me to the white river in northern ark. can anyone share some experiences with a trip like this? Thanks in advance

forget camping on the white unless you like 90 degree nights.
late summer i'd head to new mexico or colorado.
personally i'd go newmexico and fish the san juan a few days then go to bluewater lake and chase tiger muskie for a few days.

I fish white river the month of May through September it a great place to fish I have been all over the white is my favorite .PM me if you want.

I'm not much of a camper, but the White River in Arkansas is a great place to fly fish. If you're looking for native fish though, you might want to look elsewhere. Most of what you'll catch there are stocked rainbows, with the occasional brown trout thrown in. It is a great place to fish though. I've been a couple times now and we always seem to do pretty well. It's great place to catch a whole bunch of rainbows and you always have a chance at a trophy brown trout. The drawback to the white river is that the discharge schedule can fluctuate quite a bit and it becomes difficult to wade fish with any more than 1 unit running (they have up to 8). If you go, you might want to look into hiring a guide, or at least renting a boat.

There are some spots in that area that do have wild/native fish, if that's what you're after. You might want to check out the North Fork of the White River above Norfork Lake in Missouri. It doesn't get as much publicity as the tailwater below Norfork dam, but from what I understand it holds a pretty good population of wild rainbow trout. You might also check out the Eleven Point River in Missouri. Wild rainbow trout there as well.

I'm headed to Durango myself this summer. It's about an hour from the San Juan river below Navajo Dam, and there are several great rivers nearby (the Animas River flows right through town from what I'm told). If you want to camp, you can hike up into the San Juan mountains and explore. There are a ton of small steams/creeks that are full wild rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout.

Native fish - the Uintah Mountains in Utah have 3 species of cutthroat. 1.5 hours from Salt Lake City.

The westslope of the rockies in Colorado have a few natives as well.

Natives are getting hard to come by in the U.S. WILD fish are a different matter.

IN late summer, I like Colorado and Idaho.

Thanks for the tips friends, exactly what i was looking for

I suggest the Valle Vidal area on the Rio Costilla in northern New Mexico. You can stay in Red River and drive in or camp at one of the closer campgrounds(Cimarron Campground) to the Rio Costilla. They have wild rio grande cutthroat and stock a few rainbows as well. Very pretty area and open meadows make it easier to cast. Not the biggest fish in the world but a very fun trip. Just be ready, some of the fastest dry fly strikes I have experienced. Google the area for pictures.

So many options, so little time and money in my case.

Don't ya hate having so many options here in America?