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Fishing Tip: In an effort to familiarize new anglers with the huge variety of lures available, we will be using the fishing tip section to describe a new lure every week.

Buzzbait - The buzzbait is one of the most exciting lures to fish in the box. It consists of a wire body, a rubber-legged skirt and a large propeller-like blade that churns the surface of the water. Getting started with a buzzbait is as easy as casting it out to shallow-water cover and reeling it back in, keeping it on the surface. The strike usually comes within the first 10 yards of the retrieve. Give the fish a second or two after the strike to set the hook.  Buzzbaits are best during low-light hours of the day any time the water temperature is higher than 70 degrees, but they can catch fish any time of day. Examples of buzzbaits include the Booyah Buzz, Strike King Pro Buzz, Lunker Lure Buzzbaits, and Scum Frog’s Thunder Toad.

White River: McLellan’s Fly Shop said some days last week saw a few hours of low water in the morning, with generators not coming online until 11 a.m. In the faster riffles and runs, drift a scud, sow bug, mayfly nymph or caddis pupa under a strike indicator. The catch-and-release area immediately below the dam has been fishing especially well lately. Caddis action is still hot on the White, so be sure to have plenty of caddis pupa, as well as dries, in your fly box. Wilderness Trail said fishing for trout on the White River has been good this past week. The Berkley Power Egg bite has been good in yellow and pink or orange and Belgian red worms. Buoyant Spoons and Little Cleos are the bait of choice during generation. The fly fishermen did well on olive and black Woolly Buggers, tungsten beadhead midges, soft hackles and scuds.  The brown trout are being caught on Suspending Rogues, Heddon Flatfish and nightcrawlers or red worms.   

North Fork River: McLellan’s Fly Shop said on most days, generation has been coming online around 2 p.m., providing plenty of wading opportunities. During low water, concentrate your nymph fishing on the faster runs and riffles. Many trout are being hooked on terrestrials. Best flies have been: McLellan’s Hunchback Scud Tan, Olive and Gray (14-16), Flashback Scud Tan, Olive and Gray (12-16), McLellan’s Woven Sow Bug (14-16), Graphic Caddis Tan and Olive (14-18), Skip Nymph (14-18), Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph (16-20), Beadhead Hare’s Ear Nymph (14-18), Mercury Brassie (18-20), Rojo Midge (22), Mercury Blood Midge (20-22), Red Jujubee Midge (20-22), Johnny Flash (20-24), Mercury Black Beauty (20-22), Gray Mercury Midge (20-22), Black Wooly Sculpin(4), Articulated Zoo Cougar (4), Swimming Jimmy (4).

Bull Shoals Lake: Wilderness Trail said the cold front last week dropped surface temperatures from 88 degrees down to 84.8 degrees, and the thermocline has moved from 35 feet to 30 feet. The lake level was pulled down this week and is at 650.38. Oxygen levels were checked on the lake this week by Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologists. The numbers were amazing, the highest level was at 30 feet and there are safe levels all the way down to 125 feet, so that means game fish can go anywhere they want.  Crappie picked up a little. They moved back toward the brush piles hanging around 28-feet. Crappie minnows are working the best along with crappie tubes and Bobby Garland’s Swimming Minnows. Largemouth bass continue to feed early in the morning and throughout the night. Buzzbaits, along and around secondary points, are working well. The bite is over when the sunlight hits the water. Carolina rigs and football jigs should come into play during the day in the next few weeks.  Smallmouth bass are still using rock banks and boulder banks, but they have slipped down into the thermocline and are positioning themselves under the ledges and boulders. The bite is slow. Best baits are tubes, Brush Hogs and Spider Jigs. There are some smallies up on the banks in the morning chasing bluegill and shad. Top-water stickbaits, poppers and buzzbaits will trigger a few strikes. Kentucky bass have not changed; they are still moving with the shad. Graph channel swing points and the middle of main lake cuts and pockets for schools of Kentuckies. Vertical fishing a drop shot or spoon is the best method for triggering some strikes. Walleye have been active throughout the week in 29 to 32 feet of water along pea rock points and banks and long transition banks.  Leeches and crawlers have been the best baits on harnesses with bottom bouncers. The bite has been on all day and some nice limits have been caught. The bite for the long liners has been so-so on Reef Runners and Glass Shad. The suspending walleye don’t seem to be as active as the walleye in shallower water.

Lake Norfork: Cranfield Junction Quik Stop said the lake is low and clear. Crappie fishing is good at night along the banks fishing jigs and minnows underneath lights. Bass are good early in the morning on spinnerbaits and top-water lures and are biting very well at night on dark-colored soft plastics. Catfish are excellent on trotlines baited with worms, blood bait, chicken livers and hot dogs. The morning walleye bite is fair, with most of the marble-eyes being taken on slab spoons. Trolling cranks in the evening is also bringing in a few fish. Stripers and hybrids are fair early in the morning on spoons and trolled umbrella rigs. Bream fishing is excellent along the banks on wax worms, red worms and crickets.

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