(updated 8-23-2017) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
says the tailwaters of Bull Shoals Dam remain high,
but the lake is now just 16 feet above power pool
and dropping. Just speculating here, but maybe we'll
see a decrease in generation by early to
mid-September; one morning soon we'll come down to
the river and it will be almost wadeable. If you can
bounce a jig with the right wrist action, you'll
catch a bunch of browns--1/8 ounce white or white
and gray jigs are still the ticket, with either a
chrome or a white head. Browns continue to bite on
sculpins and craw fish, especially if you can dangle
your line and bait deep over a favorite hole. When
the rainbows were ignoring everything else, they
occasionally responded to the scent of shrimp so
keep some handy. We hope you were able to experience
the solar eclipse this week; here in Cotter I didn't
see any unusual trout activity except that maybe the
bite was slower for a day or two. Eclipse related or
normal fish behavior? Tales for another day. The
coffee's on, stop by.
(updated 8-23-2017) Sportsman’s White River Resort
(870-453-2424) said the water is clear and the river
is running high, with five to 10 generators going.
The trout bite is excellent. For anglers who want to
fish in boats, you’ll find good success on rainbows
or browns, they say.
(updated 8-23-2017) John Berry of Berry Brothers
Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said last
week that during the previous week, they had several
rain events (combined for about an inch in Cotter),
cooler temperatures and moderate winds. The lake
level at Bull Shoals dropped 2.5 feet to rest at 18
feet above seasonal power pool of 661 feet msl. This
is 16 feet below the top of flood pool. Upstream,
Table Rock rose 0.1 feet to rest at 0.1 feet below
seasonal power pool and 14 feet below the top of
flood pool. Beaver Lake rose 0.5 feet to rest at 5.6
feet above seasonal power pool and 3 feet below the
top of flood pool. On the White, they had no wadable
water with heavy generation. Seasonal power pool has
been reset for the lakes in the White River system.
All of the lakes in the White River System are now
below the top of flood pool. We should expect a lot
of generation, with limited wadable water in the
near future. Hopper season is here. Many guides are
banging the bank with grasshopper patterns. Add a
nymph dropper (ruby midge) to increase takes. If the
grasshopper is hit or sinks, set the hook. John’s
favorite grasshopper pattern is a Western Pink Lady.
On the White, the hot spot has been Rim Shoals. The
hot flies were olive Woolly Buggers (sizes 8, 10),
Y2Ks (sizes 14, 12), prince nymphs (size 14), zebra
midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or
red with silver wire and silver bead sizes 16, 18),
pheasant tails (size 14), ruby midges (size 18),
root beer midges (size 18), pink and cerise San Juan
worms (size 10), and sowbugs (size 16). Double-fly
nymph rigs have been very effective (my current
favorite is a bead head pheasant tail nymph (size
14) with a ruby midge suspended below it). Use lots
of lead and long leaders to get your flies down.
Remember that the White and Norfork rivers and Dry
Run Creek are infected with didymo, an invasive
alga. Be sure and thoroughly clean and dry your
waders (especially the felt soles on wading boots)
before using them in any other water. Many
manufacturers are now making rubber soled wading
boots that are easier to clean and are not as likely
to harbor didymo.
John also says, “One of the things that I hear every
day is where can I fish, on this high water? The
best advice that I can give is, to fish from a boat.
They are safer, more comfortable and a more
effective fishing platform than wading. However
there are many anglers that do not have access to a
boat or they just don’t like, to fish from one. Some
fly fishers just prefer to wade fish. I am one of
them. When I wade, I feel that I am one, with the
river. I am one, of a few local guides, that will
book wade trips. Sometimes I feel like I am the only
fly fishing guide, in Baxter County, that owns a
pair, of waders.
“What do you do when they are running a lot, of
water, and you don’t own a boat? I say think outside
the boat. We are lucky here in that we have a lot of
alternatives to wade, when they are running big
water here, in the Twin Lakes Area.
“The first stream that I think of is the Norfork
tailwater, the stream below Norfork Dam. Unlike Bull
Shoals Dam there is no series of dams above Norfork
Dam and as a result the Norfork draws down more
quickly and is wadable more often and more
consistently than the White. The trick here is that
you need to carefully monitor, the SWPA
(Southwestern Power Administration) website, to see,
when the prediction indicates a period, of wadable
water. I do this every day. I caught a nice
opportunity yesterday. The Norfork was scheduled to
be off until 10:00 AM. I got there at 6:00 AM and
got in four hours of fishing before the water came
up.
“You can fish the North Fork of the White. This is
the same stream but is the river above Norfork Dam.
This is a great trout stream with some really nice
wild rainbows. There is no dam on this section. It
is a free flow stream, until it gets, to Norfork
Dam. My wife Lori and I fish it from time to time
and always enjoy it. My favorite fly here is a big
stone fly nymph.
“If you feel like driving a bit further, try the
Spring River. This is a very special stream to me.
It is a spring fed river stocked, with trout. This
is where I learned, to fly fish, and where I met
Lori. The only problem, with this river, is that it
is very popular, with canoeists and kayakers. During
warm weather it can get quite crowded with boaters
that have little concern about disturbing your
fishing. I generally reserve the Spring River, for
colder weather, when there are fewer boats. My
favorite fly here is an olive woolly bugger.
“If you want something a bit closer try Crooked
Creek. It is a free flow smallmouth bass stream. It
is Lori’s favorite. The most convenient place for me
to fish is at the Fred Berry Conservation Center.
There is a Catch and Release Section there that
fishes well. Make sure that your vehicle is outside
the Fred Berry Conservation fence before 4:30 PM
because they lock the gate then. My favorite fly for
this section is the Clouser Minnow.
“Finally another spot that probably has some of the
most spectacular scenery around is the Buffalo
River. This is a National River and is basically a
National Park surrounding the Buffalo River. There
are loads of accesses and 135 miles of river to take
in. I prefer to fish the lower forty or so miles. In
warm weather, there can be canoes and kayaks on the
water but not as many as the Spring River. There is
even a herd of Elk. My favorite fly here is the
Clouser Minnow.
“As you can see, there are plenty, of alternatives,
to wade, when they are running water. I fish all, of
them, from time to time, when I want some wadable
water. Go out there and give them a try.”
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports
the lake’s elevation at 676.73 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 659.00 feet msl).
(updated 8-23-2017) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said they’ve still got 23 extra feet of
water in the lake. The Army Corps of Engineers is
bringing it down. The fishing is starting to pick up
pretty good this week. Del said they had some
weather move in and the cold nights have got the
fish moving around quite a bit. They’re schooling
really hard. “I’m going to let the cat out of the
back,” Dell said, saying that he’s starting to catch
them really shallow. The baitfish is starting to
move in to the backs of some of the creeks that have
runoff coming into them. If you can find a
temperature change of a degree or two, those areas
will be better than the ones that are more pockets.
There are threadfins back there, there are gizzards
back there. Del says that’s the hot bite he likes,
catching them back there. He’s used a squarebill,
just burning it through 0-4 feet of water; he says
it “seems like you have to bump that thing into
something to get bit.”There are a lot of what they
call bushes that are out on the flats now, and he’s
starting to pick up a few fish on a frog. The
topwater bite seems like it’s been hit or miss, so
you want to have one ready to go. Del says he did
pick up a few on the Whopper Plopper. He says he’s
not doing so hot on the walk-the-dog style baits;
he’s tried Spook or a Sammy and will I’ll pick up a
few, but the bigger bite seems to be on the Whopper
Plopper. Also, as the fish start to migrate into
these creeks, they’re going to use these channels,
so wherever that old channel comes up along the
bank, you can do right with a jig there. If it’s
super windy, throw a War Eagle Spinnerbait, either
Blue Shad or Sexy Shad or Mouse, depending on the
color of the water – it varies throughout the lake,
they’ve had quite a bit of water traffic lately. The
clay banks with the boat traffic, those are really
dirty, he said. If you get some wind in there, those
fish will be in there and you can pull a few out
with a spinnerbait. The ledges, 25 feet is about as
deep as Del has been having to fish and most of the
fish he’s been catching 10-15 feet of water – a lot
of times less – he’s throwing a half-ounce Right
Bite Jig in green pumpkin orange or green pumpkin
blue, whatever the angler prefers. The NetBait
Paca-Craw Senior in either green pumpkin or summer
craw, that seems to be getting quite a few fish, he
said. When going in the back water areas, because
they have a lot of structure in the high water, if
you can find the pole timber of the trees, Del will
throw a Strike King Rage Tail Structure Bug in
there. That will help you pick up a few more fish.
Conditions are everything, he says. If you’ve got
wind, if you have a quality day, you can power fish
with a spinnerbait or topwater. And watch for
baitfish. If you get into some fish, you can get
right back in there; a lot of times you’ll catch 2-3
fish in the same little area. They’re schooled up
pretty hard. Del says he caught two on a squarebill
the other day on the same cast. He also likes to
cover some water. It seems to be more productive –
points, channel swings, not very deep. Smallmouth
are out a little deeper. The drop-shot bite has been
so intermittewnt, and the weather is changing, so he
says he’s going to stick to the shallow fish. The
fishing is going to get even better – these rains
come, it cools down, the shorter days, it’s a great
time to be on the lake. Water temps are about 84-85
degrees so it’s starting to come down.
(updated 8-23-2017) K Dock Marina said the lake is
continuing to drop about 4-5 inches per day. This
has had a big impact on the number of fish being
caught. Fish do not react well to extreme changes in
water level. Water color and temp are great, just a
slow bite for all species. Live bait working the
best right now. Hope to get a better report from
some of our anglers after this weekend. Water level
is 20 feet above normal as of last weekend. Water
temperature ranging 80-82 degrees. Water is clear to
stained.
Norfork Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports
the lake’s elevation at 565.25 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: September-April 552.00 feet msl;
April-September, 554.00 feet msl).
(updated 8-23-2017) Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters
says striper fishing has slowed for some because
they have not kept up with the ever-changing Norfork
Lake conditions. When there is high water, the
stripers go into survival mode in late August and
September. They will feed but not as often and for
shorter periods of time. You need to find that sweet
depth for the fish. As the days go by, the depth
where the stripers will stay will keep going deeper.
Right now the best depth is 80 feet. Tom has caught
stripers on the bottom at 80 feet, and in water 200
feet deep I have caught them at 80 feet. The best
time to catch a striper is when the dam has started
to generate like trout that gets the stripers in a
feeding mood. The basic fishing rig has not changed
much. Now, Tom says, he only uses 4-ounce weights
with a short leader. Put the bait on the bottom, and
then bringing it up about a foot and keep it there –
as anglers move around, that produces fish. One
trick to fool the stripers is when you see some fish
near the bottom and you know your baits are in front
of them, make a hard turn and kick your trolling
motor up full speed, then stop it and let your baits
fall back down. That will trigger a strike. The
stripers are now concentrated around the dam area.
The best places are Dam Cove, the channel leading to
the dam and around Quarry Marina. Tom’s son fished
Thursday through Sunday last week and limited out
each day except Thursday, when it was rainy and
overcast. Tom and his son were fishing their usual
spots, but most of those fished had moved. They did
manage to land three stripers per boat. Friday they
moved to the dam area and both limited out. Sean was
done a lot faster than Tom, but Tom says he finally
figured it out. Saturday and Sunday the bite
increase due to the generation of water. By Sunday
it took only an hour and 20 minutes to catch 15
stripers between the two boats.
(updated 8-16-2017) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird
Hideaway Resort said Norfork Lake fishing is in its
summer pattern and fishing methods should be very
similar for the next month. The lake level is
falling slowly and currently sits about 11 feet
above normal pool. The surface water temperature is
ranging 82-85 degrees depending the time of day. The
main lake looks fairly clear with the creeks and
coves stained. The striped bass bite continues to be
good for most out on the lake. The easiest and most
productive method of catching stripers at this time
is with live bait. Live threadfin shad, shiners and
small bluegills are all working well, with shad
being the best type of live bait. Lou says he’s
currently finding large schools of stripers lying on
the bottom in 70 feet of water. The best areas to
find the stripers at this time are on points and
large deep flats in the dam area and at the start of
the Big Creek area (Long Point, Koso, Thumb, Point
1, Hudson) and also on the flats out in front of
Sand Island in the Jordan area. Artificial baits are
also producing striped bass. Try vertical jigging
with a spoon or a 3-inch (or so) grub with a ¼- or
3/8-ounce jighead. If you're jigging, keep the
action of your bait moving slow, use small twitches
of the bait and work them slowly on the bottom. It
is hard to feel the bite, so be ready to set the
hook with the slightest heaviness of your line while
moving the bait. Trolling swimbaits and 4- or 5-inch
crankbaits are also producing some fish.
Lou says a second area to catch hybrid bass and the
occasional striped bass is in 25 feet (plus or minus
5 feet) of water. The lake thermocline is roughly at
25 feet with good oxygenated water from the
shoreline out to 25 feet with about 80-84 degree
water temperature through out this water column.
Most of the bait fish he’s found are in this 0-25
feet range, so as you would guess it is holding lots
of fish. Lou has found some schooling hybrids in the
mid-lake area in the 25-feet range feeding on shad.
With this shallower water, all types of artificial
baits will work. Lou said a friend who was trolling
deep-diving crankbaits ran into schools of nice
striped bass on points in the mid-lake area,
The walleye bite is getting good. Most walleye are
being caught in 18-25 feet of water on the bottom.
Trolling a crawler harness with bottom bouncing
weights are catching some nice fish, as are
deep-diving crankbaits such as a Flicker Shad. If
you're using crankbaits, use about a 4-inch minnow
imitating crank. If you just have shallow-diving
cranks, you can always add some inline weight to get
your bait down to the 20-feet level. Lou says he’s
always had the best luck when the bill of the crank
digs into the bottom of the lake a little. Walleye
are showing up all over the main lake, including
points and large flats. He has used threadfin shad
set on the bottom and have picked up a few walleye.
He has also caught walleye while striper fishing in
70 feet of water. Yesterday he did not land any
walleye, but on four different occasions he set my
hook on a light bite to bring up only his weight and
leader with no hook. Lou says he would guess that he
was getting numerous walleye bites.
Panfish are also ranging 0-25 feet of water. If you
can find some brush pile in 20-25 of water, you will
find some crappie, but most are roaming the flooded
shoreline trees feeding on shad. Crickets are
working well for bluegills in the shallow water.
Catfish are showing up at all depths. Lou says he
has caught cats in 70 feet of water when striper
fishing, as well as in 20 feet of water while
walleye fishing. They are roaming all over the lake.
Lou adds, “A week ago I had a family that love to
bowfish. I sent them over to a point in the
Cranfield area and they had a blast. The best part
of this group is that they clean and eat what they
shoot. I have never eaten gar before, but they tell
me they are excellent eating as long as they are
cleaned properly. I took a cleaning lesson one
afternoon when they were cleaning their catch and
saw that you end up getting a nice white fillet with
no bones after you are done. I guess I will have to
try cleaning one next time I land a gar. I typically
cut the line and release them when I do catch one.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 8-23-2017) John Berry of Berry Brothers
Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork
Lake last week fell 0.8 feet to rest at 10.3 tenths
feet above seasonal power pool of 555.75 feet msl
and 13.9 feet below the top of flood pool. On the
Norfork, they had limited wadable water. On the
Norfork, the water is stained. It fishes well one
day and poorly the next. Navigate this stream with
caution as things have changed a bit during the
recent flooding. There has been major gravel
recruitment at the bottom of Mill Pond and the dock
hole. The most productive flies have been small
midge patterns (sizes 18, 20, 22) like ruby midges,
root beer midges, zebra midges (black or red with
silver wire and silver bead) and soft hackles (sizes
14, 16) like the Green Butt. Egg patterns have also
been productive. Double fly nymph rigs have been
very effective. Try a small bead-headed nymph (zebra
midge, copper John or pheasant tail) suspended 18
inches below a brightly colored San Juan worm (hot
fluorescent pink or cerise size 10). The fishing is
better in the morning. My favorite rig has been a
cerise San Juan worm with a ruby midge dropper.
Dry Run Creek is fishing well one day and poorly the
next. The hot flies have been sowbugs (size 14),
Y2Ks (size 12) and various colored San Juan worms
(worm brown, red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise
size 10). While you are at the creek you should
visit the Norfork National Fish Hatchery. It is
fascinating. Be sure and remove your waders before
entering to prevent the spread of aquatic diseases.
Buffalo National River/Crooked Creek
(updated 8-23-2017) John Berry of Berry Brothers
Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said the
Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are low and
clear. With the warmer weather the smallmouths are
more active. John’s favorite fly is a Clouser
minnow. Carefully check the water level before
entering Crooked Creek or the Buffalo River. There
are no dams on these streams. They both have large
drainages and are prone to flooding during and
following any rain event. The water can rise very
quickly.
