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| Day Trips - Guided Fishing Trips
with Cotter Trout Dock |
Our "day" guided fishing trips range
in length from a 9 mile half day trip (4.5 hours), to a full day
(9 hour) trip covering about 14 miles per day. Some people fish
two or more days or maybe one day plus a half day; whatever you want to
do. We can start and
end anywhere and anytime on the rivers
that you choose. Our most requested guided fishing trip leaves
the dock at
7:00 a.m. and we pick you up at 4:00 p.m. Figure another half
hour to
get back to the dock. Guided fishing trips on the Buffalo River
are, of course,
different. All trips are fully outfitted
with all you need for a safe, comfortable excursion. Our boats are wide
Jon boats equipped with comfortable swivel seats and all safety
gear. If you have your own rods/reels bring them; otherwise
we have lots available at no charge.
A large cooler with ice is on each boat. Soft drinks of
your choice are provided, along with bottled water.
There are two choices for lunch: our box lunch or our shore
lunch.
Actually, there is another choice..tell us if you want something else
and we will do our best to provide it. Our normal rates for full
day include a box lunch of excellent sandwiches (2 per person),
chips, fruit and desert. We are famous for our excellent shore lunches
cooked by your guide on the riverbank over charcoal. With either
lunch, your guide can set up a "roll-up" table and
the swivel chairs from your boat; you do not sit on
the ground (unless you want to). Some people just eat a
sandwich in the boat and keep on fishin!
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Your
Cotter Dock guide is more than a fishing master. He also baits your
hook, manages your tackle, drives the boat, cooks and serves lunch and
otherwise ensures your comfort and success all day long.
Cotter
Trout Dock Guides
Guided
fishing
trips on the cold, clear waters of the Arkansas White River and North
Fork River is an experience unique to the Arkansas Ozarks. Our
professional guides are highly qualified with many years experience on
these rivers. They're courteous, pleasant outdoorsmen. They know where
to fish, how to fish, and what bait, lures or flies to use. They catch fish in either
high or low water conditions, all year long.
All of
our guides are experts with lures or bait. We also have a number
of great fly fishing guides Some are both. They don't expect you to be
an expert. For newcomers, these professionals will bait your hook, cast
and take the fish off while you just reel 'em in. Our guides conduct
trips for the novice and the experienced fisherman alike. We encourage
you to bring your children. The guides accommodate angling friends,
families, or business groups. |
Scenery is a big part of the float trip experience,
and the White River system has plenty of it.
Single Day
Guided Fishing Trip
Relax
in
a comfortable chair as an experienced guide pilots your "John " boat
leisurely down the river. Savor the solitude and spectacular rugged
mountain scenery that unfolds with each bend. You may find an arrowhead
on the gravel bars as quite a few of our guests have. Your guide will
tell you interesting historical facts and local folk lore - like the
stories of the lost mine and the rough-and-tumble days of the railroad.
While you're
enjoying the scenery, you'll also be catching lots of rainbow, brook,
brown, cutthroat trout, or smallmouth bass. Catching forty or fifty
rainbows in a day is not uncommon. Some folks chose to release all
their catch, but you are allowed to take out five per person per day
for a two day limit. Fish that you want to keep are cleaned by your
guide and packed with ice in styrofoam coolers at no charge (or in your
own cooler if you bring one) for your trip home.
Single
day
guided fishing trips cover 14 to 20 miles of river, are conducted by a
great guide and are outfitted with boat, motor, chairs, cushions, life
jackets, lunches, soft drinks, ice chest and bottled water. These trips
usually permit about 8 hours of fishing depending on your lunch choice
and transportation ( in our vans) at either the beginning or end of the
trip back to Cotter Trout Dock.
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You relax and fish. Your Cotter
Dock guide does the work. Quietly drift along catching trout, or you
can anchor over the big holes.
White River - Producer of Several Line Class Trout
World Records
The cold,
crystal clear White River flows from Bull Shoals Dam 17 miles above
Cotter, our starting base. For the next 60 miles its chilled waters are
perfect for rainbow, brown, and cutthroat trout, as well as providing
natural air conditioning that keeps you comfortable even during July
and August. The White River receives regular trout stocking, plus it
has good populations of native trout. The scenery is primarily Ozark
forests and bluffs with some open fields. There are homes along the
river banks in some areas, but for the most part the scenery is
primitive. You'll see several types of animals, birds, and wildflowers
along the way. We recommend the Arkansas White River for those who's
primary interest is catching lots of trout.
North Fork
River - River of World Trout Records
This 4.5
mile branch of the White River has produced two All-Tackle world record
browns, and limit catches of rainbow trout are commonplace. The North
Fork also produced the Arkansas State record brook trout. Cotter Trout
Dock often fishes the North Fork as part of an overnight float trip,
but single day float trips can also be arranged.
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Many
experienced anglers claim that, pound for pound, no freshwater fish
fights has hard as
a smallmouth bass.
Buffalo National River
Extraordinary Smallmouth Fishing & Grand Scenery
The
Buffalo National River was America's first National River. If you want
the quintessential Ozarks experience, we highly recommend an overnight
camping trip on the Buffalo, which is a warm water fishery. The
smallmouth bass fishing is excellent, the scenery indescribably
spectacular.
Cotter Trout Dock is one of only a handful of concessionaires
authorized to conduct guided fishing trips on the Buffalo by the
National Park Service. Only 100 to 115 boats operated by
concessionaires can be on the 100 mile float trip area. This regulation
preserves the pristine quality of the Buffalo River experience.
Rugged and remote, the Buffalo River is nearly
inaccessible terrain and therefore is best fished as an overnight
camping trip of 2 or more days. The best times to take a guided fishing
trip on the Buffalo River is from mid-March to the end of June
depending on water levels. Because the Buffalo is a free-flowing river,
water may be too low or too high for fishing. |
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