Return to Fishing Reports main

November 9, 2005

Fishing Tip: Launching a boat alone usually means getting wet. During the summer, most boaters don’t care if they get a little damp, but cold weather and soaking wet clothes can lead to hypothermia. Take a length of rope twice the length of your trailer and tie one end to the boat’s eye and one end to the front of the trailer hitch. When you unhook your boat, let it drift off the trailer and pull up on the ramp just enough to bring it back to the ramp. Tie the boat to a dock or nearby piece of shoreline cover and park the car and trailer.

White River: Gaston's White River Resort said the river clarity is perfect with extremely little generation right now. The fall colors are in full force, and the trout fishing is excellent. It’s time to head to the White for a weekend getaway. Fly-fishing is excellent on olive wooly buggers, tan scuds and sow bugs in the low water. Spin fishermen are doing the best on yellow Power Bait, wax worms, Little Cleos and Rooster Tails.

Wilderness Trail said Fishing for trout on the White River has been good on Berkley Power Eggs in yellow-and-white and Sunrise. With generation, Buoyant Spoons, Little Cleo’s and Rooster Tails are the baits of choice. Fly-fishermen did well on olive woolly buggers, olive scuds, zebra midges and serendipity flies. Brown trout are being caught on Flat Fish, nightcrawlers and Rogues.   

North Fork River: Norfork Trout Dock said the water is clear and low, with very little generation lately. Rainbow trout are biting well on corn and Power Eggs. Brown trout are beginning to spawn in the White River. Bass fishing is fair in the lower reaches of the tailwaters, with the best action in the low-water periods.

Bull Shoals Lake: As of Wednesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 646.29 feet MSL.

Wilderness Trail said lake temperature is now at 64 degrees and as far as the turnover is concerned it is still a work in progress. With the exceptionally warm weather this week, who knows what will happen. Water clarity is at 14 feet in the lower and mid-lake areas and 18 feet in the Lead Hill and upper lake areas. Crappie were spotty throughout the week with the best bite in the late afternoon hours around crappie cribs.  Live bait is working the best, fished on a red or chartreuse jighead. Largemouth, smallmouth and Kentucky bass are all scattered because of the weather and the lake turnover conditions. On windy days, work windblown points with Wiggle Wart crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Check pockets and cuts for shad that are pushed in and drop a spoon or a finesse worm on a jig head or a drop shot rig for Kentuckies. Dragging a football jig around secondary points is a good way to find a smallie or two, you might also fish a Carolina rig with a brush hog or lizard in green pumpkin or watermelon color.  As far as the largemouth are concerned, try buzzbaits in the mornings, spinnerbaits and crankbaits on windblown banks and jigs along secondary points or transition banks in 20 to 35 feet of water. Walleye are also spotty but a few were caught during the week in 34 to 46 feet of water on entrance banks in the creeks and main lake pockets. Leadcore line pulled at 2 mph with Hot’N Tots and Glass Shads worked the best.  A few walleye were also caught on spoons in 40 feet of water around points in the mid-lake area. Silver-and-white Bink’s spoons seemed to do the best.

Sugar Loaf Harbor said the lake is clear and the water level is low. The recent rain did help stabilize the water level a little. Bream fishing is good on red worms. Crappie are biting well around the shallow bluffs and brush piles. Kentucky bass are biting well on drop-shot rigs baited with finesse worms. Walleye are biting well, with some good size ‘eyes coming from 30 to 40 feet of water on nightcrawlers.

Return to Fishing Reports main