(updated 11-29-2017) Cotter Trout Dock
(870-435-6525) said that while many are turning
their thoughts and energy toward Christmas (and
rightly so) and hunkering down for the colder
months, the folks there are still finding plenty of
rainbows and browns willing to leave the comfort of
their favorite hidey-holes to meet you where you're
at – but you have to be somewhere on the river. The
water level below Bull Shoals Dam down past Cotter
and beyond is very low, at minimum flow or below, so
find some attractive bait to lure the trout out.
Flashy gold Cleos should work well in this water, as
well as the silver-blue hammered spoons. Fish for a
sculpin to put on your hook for brown trout bait,
although keep in mind it's spawning season and many
browns will be ignoring your bait unless it's
especially pesky. Kids will be looking for Christmas
vacation adventures. PowerBait and shrimp are
reliable baits to help them catch a few rainbows.
The weatherman promises very mild daytime
temperatures for the next week, so pick up your rod
and reel, get outside, and come join us on the
river.
(updated 11-29-2017) Sportsman’s White River Resort
(870-453-2424) said not a lot of people of fish.
Minimum flow all the way. Clarity was fair, not as
clear as it normally is. Several fly-fishermen were
wading and did pretty well. Most of the fish were
caught in midges or Woolly Buggers. Biggest fish
caught was a 15-inch brown. The drift fishing for
rainbow, several were caught but they were small
(9-10 inches, stockers probably). Browns will be
headed for their spawn and once that’s done, things
will pick up nicely.
(updated 11-29-2017) John Berry of Berry Brothers
Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said that
during the past week, they’ve had no rain, cool
temperatures and heavy winds (to include lake wind
advisories). The lake level at Bull Shoals rose 0.7
feet to rest at 5.6 feet below seasonal power pool
of 659 feet msl. This is 41.6 feet below the top of
flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock dropped 1.1 feet to
rest at 2.3 feet below seasonal power pool and 16.3
feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake
dropped 0.4 feet to rest at 2.1 feet below seasonal
power pool and 11.7 feet below the top of flood
pool. On the White, we had significant wadable water
with light generation. 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 (John’s current favorite is a size 10
Y2K with a size 14 ruby midge suspended below it).
Use lead to get your flies down.
John says, “Last weekend my wife, Lori, had a
two-day guide trip on Dry Run Creek. On the second
day, I was between clients and had the day off. I
decided to clean up my garage/man cave. On the way
to Dry Run Creek, Lori noticed a low tire warning on
her dashboard. She called me and apprised me of the
situation. I told her that I would come over to Dry
Run Creek and check out her tire and then follow her
home to ensure that she made it in all right. I
arrived and checked her tires. They appeared to be
OK. I decided to walk the creek and see how she was
doing.
“I found her and her clients upstream at one of our
favorite spots. Her young client was catching trout
after trout and Dad was having a great time watching
all of the action. I joined them and sat there
talking to Dad and enjoying watching Lori work.
After a while, I went back to my car to get my cup
of coffee. When I got to the parking lot, I ran into
a lady and her grandson, both clad in waders. She
asked if I was a guide. I said, “Yes, mam.” Then she
asked if I was working. I replied “No, mam.” Then
she asked if I wanted to guide her grandson. I
explained that I was there watching my wife guide
and that she was doing a half-day and would be
finished in an hour and a half. I went on to explain
that I needed to follow her home because of her
possible leaking tire. She agreed to have me guide
her grandson for an hour and a half. I walked over
to my Suburban and pulled out my waders (I always
carry all of my gear in the back of my car). I
quickly donned my waders and rigged his fly rod. We
were on the creek in five minutes.
“It was his first time fishing but he warmed up to
it quickly. We started off by teaching him to cast.
Then we concentrated on setting the hook. Once we
hooked a fish it was all about how to fight and land
the trout. He landed a couple of nice trout before
it was time to go. Grandmother was pleased because
she had learned how to rig the rod and where to
fish. Her grandson had landed two trout (one was a
20-inch rainbow) and she was able to take some great
photos. I had an unexpected infusion of cash while
waiting on Lori.
“Lori and I finished about the same time. We had
both done well. We decided to go to Whispering Woods
and finished the day with a great lunch while
looking out on a spectacular view of the lake. Life
is good!”
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports
the lake’s elevation at 653.72 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 659.00 feet msl).
(updated 11-22-2017) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said last Saturday that the lake level was
at 652 feet msl and the surface water temperature
was 62 degrees, give or take, depending on where you
were fishing. The fish are moving around. Some of
the creeks have tons of shad in them. If it’s warm
in the back, then fish the flats. The water
temperature is right and there’s a little bit of
water coming in and there’s a ton of shad in the
back. Those fish are relating to shad, isolated
cover, brush piles – so, once you go back there, if
the water’s dirty you can go spinnerbait, gold
blades, War Eagle spinner. You’ll do fine in the
brush piles back there. You want to be 2-10 feet or
right off the shoreline or right by the bush, and
the last bit of deep water will hold some fish. You
can catch them on a jig. Del has been using
half-ounce or 5/16-ounce jigs trailing with either a
Rage Tail or straight Beaver. When Dell is flipping
into cover, he said, you catch some of the fish in
the middle of the brush piles. Any kind of wood is
going to be holding a couple of fish right now. If
it gets cold overnight, those fish will move back
out early and then they’ll go back in throughout the
day. The fish using the channels as they’re moving
in and out of the creek are following the old
channels and the channel swings. They’re sitting on
the transitions of those channel swings, be it bluff
rock or big rock, and any of those channel swings
seem to be holding a couple of fish. Del is using
Rock Crawler or Wiggle Warts in those areas. As for
colors, the Rock Crawler red crawl is working, and
the green crawl is working as well. With a Wiggle
Wart, you want to be parallel the bank, look for the
wind and keep the boat relative to the wind in
shallow water (10-15 feet). If it’s windy and cloudy
you can be right up by the shoreline, he said. Those
fish are keyed in on the bigger-size chunk rock of
the shore. But don’t be afraid to go into a
windblown pocket either. Just keep an eye on the
shad, the birds and the wind. Del and other anglers
have reported seen a lot of loons and seagulls
moving in, so if you’re going into the creeks, he
says, keep eye out for those birds as they are going
to be keyed in the shad. Your points in the back of
the creeks are holding more of the drop-shot fish
right now. Del is using either Dream Shot or shaky
head; just use 5/16-ounce head with a green pumpkin
and a Zoom worm, watermelon red, green pumpkin red.
The shad-shape worms are working. Those drop-shot
fish seem to be anywhere from 26-32 feet to as deep
as 40 feet. That bite is not quite hot yet, but as
the temperature drops, those fish will start
congregating more and more.
K Dock Marina has closed for the season. It will
reopen in March.
Norfork Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports
the lake’s elevation at 551.67 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: September-April 552.00 feet msl;
April-September, 554.00 feet msl).
(updated 11-29-2017) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird
Hideaway Resort said Norfork Lake had a great spawn
this year. There are many white bass, largemouth,
spotted and smallmouth bass in this lake. When you
are fishing you will catch many smaller fish, but
you will catch your fair share of the larger
hybrids, stripers, crappie, white bass and large and
smallmouth bass as well. Lou says he had many of his
family members there over the holiday and they got
to fish most days. They caught many fish, not a lot
of the big stripers and hybrids, but they did manage
to land a few. “As you would guess, as soon as all
had to leave I started to find hybrids early in the
morning in the same areas where we were fishing,” he
said.
Lou says he’s still fishing the flats and has found
that at daybreak there are big fish feeding in
shallower water. He landed big 10-pound hybrids the
last two days sitting in 17 feet of water and
casting out a Kastmaster. When he retrieves his bait
he lets it sink about 6 to 8 seconds, then he reels
a little, then jerk and let it sink a little, then
start it all over again until it gets to the boat.
The fish have typically hit the bait while it is
falling. Lou guesses he is 8-15 feet deep with his
bait. After this early morning bite he has been
vertical-jigging with a spoon. He looks for the bait
and typically will find the fish feeding. He drops a
spoon to the fish and start jigging. Most of his
fish are off the bottom, but he is seeing many
suspended fish which appear to be the bigger ones.
You want to reel up to the suspended fish and jig at
their level. He has been fishing several flats, Big
Sandy a little east of the Highway 101 boat dock,
the flat in front of Fout ramp and campground, the
flat before you get to 6B, which is called “the cow
pasture.” Going west of the Gabric’s resort,
Hummingbird Hideaway Resort, Lou has fished the big
flat in front of Mallard Point, Cranfield Island
flat and heading up river to Seward Point flat.
There are whites on all these flats and you will run
into schooling hybrids and stripers at any time. Lou
says he has had a friend fishing Big Creek with live
shiners and doing very well back by 1C and Reynolds
Island for striped and hybrid bass.
Crappie are biting fairly well. They are on brush in
20-35 feet of water and can be at any level
depending on the time of day you are fishing. The
crappie are mostly on the brush, but have been
moving off the brush in towards the shoreline later
in the day. Live bait is working the best, but
spoons and small jigs are still picking up some nice
sized fish. Bass fishing has not really changed from
the last report. Lou is still finding them on the
flats in 30 feet of water feeding on shad. Typically
when Lou finds them they are on the outside edge of
the flat which is coming close to a deep channel or
an old creek channel. Jigging with a spoon works
best to catch these fish, but casting out a heavy
jig will also pick up these fish. You could also try
a finesse Ned Rig once you locate the fish.
Crankbaits are also picking up a lot of fish, most
on the small side, but with several keepers. Look at
casting on the windblown points along the bluff
lines. Jigging around brush piles is also a very
good area to pick up some nice fish. Bait is
typically inside of the brush, so the bass will be
hanging around the outside of the brush wait to
ambush that stray shad.
Lou says he has had guests walleye fishing and doing
well right before and just after dark, casting
suspending jerkbaits up to the shore on the shallow
banks. The moon is starting to get big, so the
walleye bite will even get better after dark.
Norfork Lake level is falling very slowly, and
currently sat at 551.73 feet msl as of Tuesday. The
lake surface water temperature is 58-60 degrees and
falling very slowly. The water is still stained both
on the main lake as well as in the creeks and coves.
The water clarity will get clearer the closer you
get to the dam.
(updated 11-22-2017) Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters
says stripers on Norfork Lake continue to feed
during the day on flats in the 30-foot range. There
are large schools of shad roaming the flats and the
stripers are cruising within the shad. Tom said he
pre-fished Friday on the flat pass Fout Boat Dock
and found large schools of stripers and hybrids.
What Tom found was large bait balls from 20 feet to
the bottom in water depths of 30 feet. You may not
see many fish while you are watching your depth
finder. This is due to the fish staying inside the
bait balls and then coming up in big bunches to
feed. Tom had seven live bait rods out with lines
set at 15 feet and 20 feet. Tom also had two free
lines out with a small split-shot in the back of
both about 50 feet. Tom said he was using small shad
but large shiners will also work now and thorough to
spring. The stripers will continue to feed for
winter until the water gets cold enough to drive the
shad to deeper water. Tom says he would concentrate
on the flats in the mid-lake area. As it gets colder
the shad and stripers will just move to their winter
feeding grounds around Blue Lady, Float, Bidwell
Point and between the bridges. The best places right
now are the flat above Blue Lady, Fouts Flat and
Bennetts Bayou although Tom says he has received
reports of stripers and crappie being caught near
the 1C area to the east of Hand Cove Resort and
Jordan Marina. Modern gun deer and duck season are
now open. So November is the best month for the
Arkansas sports person. If you do not have a place
to deer or duck hunt give STR Outfitters a call;
they offer guided deer, duck and pheasant hunting
trips.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 11-29-2017) John Berry of Berry Brothers
Guide Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork
Lake fell 0.3 feet last week to rest at 1.8 feet
below seasonal power pool of 553.75 feet msl and 28
feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork had
light generation and significant wadable wate, the
water is stained and the lake is turning over
resulting in low dissolved oxygen. It has fished
poorly. Navigate this stream with caution as things
have changed a bit from 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. John’s
favorite rig has been a cerise San Juan worm with a
pheasant tail dropper (size 10).
Dry Run Creek is stained but still fishing well. The
brown trout have moved in for the spawn. The hot
flies have been size 14 sowbugs, size 12 Y2Ks 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 11-29-2017) 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 cooler weather the smallmouths are
less 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.
