(updated 10-9-2019) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
says, “The White River/Bull Shoals tailwater that bends
around Cotter and turns our piece of Arkansas into a
peninsula is still running fairly fast with a steady
four generators issued from the dam (approximately a
constant 14,000 cfs). Although we experienced a pretty
decent rain this past weekend, the lake level continues
to descend to the desired power pool level, which is now
set at an elevation of 659 feet msl. Cooler weather is
finally here, but the fishing is still hot.
“The brown trout spawn has begun, so the bite may be
slower and require more patience than earlier in the
year but when you hook one, it'll give you a good fight.
Sculpins and slicker minnows continue to be a favorite
bait for the browns as they look to put on some extra
winter weight. The rainbow catch has been great, with
many excellent-size rainbows being pulled in and the
occasional cutthroat being spotted. The elusive cut-bow
has been seen, and photographed, by several anglers this
past week, biting on the same baits as the rainbows:
Pick out lures with silver or copper flash like the
3/16-ounce Blue Fox, and the favorite egg-pattern color
has graduated from yellow to orange as we move further
into the spawn. The X-factor baits are making a hit with
the guides, especially the steelhead orange middle-sized
eggs and brown trout egg clusters.
“Dress in layers and enjoy the misty, cold mornings on
the river reeling in great trout. Drop in to the office
if you're in need of a hot cup of coffee.”
(updated 10-9-2019) Sportsman’s White River Resort
(870-453-2424) says the Army Corps of Engineers is
running a lot of water from the Bull Shoals dam. The
river level has mostly been high the past few days.
Trout fishing remains good, however. Anglers are
catching a lot of rainbow trout, they report. PowerBait,
pink worms and shrimp are working best.
(updated 10-9-2019) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-4352169) said that during the
past week, they had about 3 inches of rain in Cotter,
cooler temperatures and moderate winds. The lake level
at Bull Shoals fell 3.6 feet to rest at 3.3 feet above
seasonal power pool of 659 feet msl. This is 32.7 feet
below the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock rose
0.1 foot to rest at 1.5 feet below seasonal power pool
and 15.5 feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake
rose 0.3 foot to rest at 2 feet above seasonal power
pool and 7.6 feet below the top of flood pool. On the
White, we had heavy generation with no wadable water.
Norfork Lake fell 1.3 feet to rest at 4 feet above
seasonal power pool of 553.75 feet msl and 22.3 feet
below the top of flood pool. The Norfork had moderate
generation with one 10-hour period of wadable water.
Seasonal power pool has been reset for the lakes in the
White River system. Most of the lakes in the White River
System are at or near the top of power pool. Expect
heavy generation for the next week.
Hopper season is on the wane. Use a short (7½ foot)
leader to turn over the big fly. Cast near the bank and
hang on. The takes can be vicious. John says he prefers
large western foam hoppers so that he does not need to
dress them. Add a dropper nymph to increase your catch.
The White has fished very well. The hot spot has been
the catch-and-release section below 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 combination is a
cerise San Juan worm with an egg pattern suspended below
it). Use long leaders and plenty of lead to get your
flies down.
John also said, “I was pleased when I got the email from
Bob that said that he and his friend Jim wanted to fish
with me again. I have fished with Bob on several
occasions and with Jim a few times. They are both
experienced anglers that have fished all over the United
States and at key spots throughout the world. They are
both a lot of fun to be with and do not require much
attention. They are very easy to be with and guide. When
communicating with Bob I explained that we had high
water and there would be no chance for wading. That
didn’t bother him at all.
“It was raining when I hooked up my boat for the trip to
the river. I wore my rain suit and prepared myself for a
few hours in the rain. By the time we arrived at the
ramp it had stopped raining. Jim did not have a pair of
rain pants, so I leant him my spare pair. I told him
that if we all had rain gear it would not rain all day.
I was right. It quit raining and did not rain for the
rest of the day.
“They were running about 16,500 cfs, or a bit over five
full generators. There had not been much rain and the
river was pretty clear. The rain had really cooled
things down and we all wore our rain gear in the boat.
There was a light fog with a light wind it was a very
comfortable start.
“I rigged them a bit differently. Both had an egg fly
with another fly beneath it. Bob had a white mop fly on
the bottom because there had been some shad coming
through Bull Shoals dam the week before. Jim’s lower fly
was cerise worm because it had rained (I always try
worms after a rain because they get washed into the
river).
“Bob landed the first trout on the mop. It was a nice
fat rainbow. Jim proceeded to take the next four on the
cerise worn and Bob went fishless for a few minutes. It
seemed that the mop fly was a one-hit wonder. We changed
Bob over to the cerise worm and he began catching trout.
I always begin my clients with different rigs and switch
them over to the same rig as the best fly becomes
apparent. We only caught one trout on the worm. It had
been my top produces on the previous week.
“At lunch we had 17 fish, which is pretty good on high
water. We had a nice lunch at the access. The sun came
out and it was beginning to warm up. We took off our
rain suits and I donned my straw cowboy hat. We fished
till around 3:30 p.m. as they had a long drive back to
Kansas City. We ended the day with about 35 trout.
“It had been a good day on high water and we all enjoyed
it.
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation at 661.63 feet msl (normal conservation
pool: 659.00 feet msl).
(updated 10-9-2019) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake Boat
Dock said the lake is still high by 3 feet but finally
going down. The clarity is clear as of midafternoon
Tuesday. Surface temperature was 80 degrees. Anglers on
the main lake are catching big bream, he said. Overall,
the bream bite is good throughout. Redworms or a
drop-shot are working. Crappie are good, but they are
deep (about 25 feet). Look for them around the
brushpiles and use minnows or jigs. Black bass are fair.
The shad is going into the creeks, so bass are
following. Topwater baits and plastic worms are working
best. Walleye are being caught by trolling off the
secondary points into the creeks. The bite is good. No
reports on catfish. Check out Del’s YouTube page (Bull
Shoals Lake Boat Dock) for his latest video reports and
tips on catching the fish.
Norfork Lake
As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the
lake’s elevation at 557.41 feet msl (normal conservation
pool: Sept.-April, 552.00 feet msl; April-Sept., 555.75
feet msl).
(updated 10-2-2019) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort said summer-like weather is hanging on longer
this year than normal. “I’m really getting anxious
waiting for the fall fishing season to begin. Even with
the warm water temperature, my fishing guests and I have
been doing pretty well fishing for a variety of species
in Norfork Lake. Crappie, largemouth, smallmouth,
bluegill, catfish and walleye are all being caught.
The crappie bite is still one of the better bites at
this time, with several of the big slabs starting to
show up. Crappie are being caught from 15 feet down to
35 feet, suspended and on the bottom in and around large
brush piles. The best areas have brush from 22 feet of
water out to 35 feet of water. You will be able to stay
in one area longer with the brush covering such a large
depth range. What I try to do is start in the shallow
part of the brush and fish close to the bottom. As the
sun gets to the treetops, I move a little deeper and
will start to find fish suspended toward the top of the
brush. But once the sun gets high in the sky the fish
seem to move inside of the brush. If you are not getting
bites you need to move to another brush pile. The bite
may stop after you catch several fish and if it does,
make the move then come back to this brush after you
give it some time to rest. I have been using a
quarter-ounce white with chartreuse back spoon, as well
as ones with a pink and green back. These colors seem to
be my go-to colors, but if the bite seems to be slow, I
do switch out to other colors until I find one that the
fish are wanting. I currently have several guests
fishing for pan fish with live minnows and crickets.
They are doing quite well catching big blue gills, along
with some nice crappie and bass. The best depth so far
for my guests have been 25-30 feet towards the bottom
close to or inside of brush piles.
“I currently have another fishing guest that is strictly
fishing for bass. The bite has been good for him, but he
does have to work for them. He has been fishing a
dark-colored 10-inch worm and working it in shallow
water. His best areas have buckbrush that is still under
water or large underwater rocks close to the shore.
Yesterday he did land a nice 5.5-pound largemouth bass,
but most fish he has caught are in the 2-3.5 pound
range. A few days ago, another guest was crappie fishing
and saw topwater action occurring along a deep bluff
line across the lake from him. He headed that way and
started to throw a Zara Spook and landed several nice
16- to 17-inch largemouth bass. These fish were out in
80 feet of water chasing shad at about 9 a.m. on a sunny
day.
“I have also been spending quite a bit of time looking
for striped bass and walleye. The striped bass have
totally eluded me at this time, but I am finding
walleye, but all have been short. My best areas for
walleye have been on points off the rock bluff walls in
20-30 feet of water. I have caught these fish vertical
jigging a ¾-ounce spoon off the bottom.
Norfork Lake continues to drop about 2 inches a day. The
lake is currently at 558.36 feet msl. The lake is
currently 4.6 feet above normal seasonal pool. The lake
surface water temperature Tuesday morning ranged from
79.6 degrees to 81.5 degrees. “The main lake in our area
is slightly stained to clear and most of the creeks and
coves are also slightly stained. Great fishing color.
From what I can see on my depth finder the thermocline
has dropped to somewhere between 35-40 feet. Over the
last several days I have found many fish on the bottom
at this depth. This is one of the main reasons I have
started checking out deeper brush and have actually
caught crappie 35-feet-plus deep on the bottom. The
better bite for crappie is still on 25-30 feet deep
brush. As the lake continues to cool, what we call a
lake turnover will happen and fish will then have the
freedom to move around at any depth. Basically, this
means the oxygen level will be high at all levels and
the water temperature will become more consistent from
top to bottom. Happy fish and see you on the lake.”
(updated 9-25-2019) Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters said
September is still hot with no rain and cold weather. We
have had some cooler days but the weather needs to turn
cold with rain which is only cure for the dam stripers.
Once we get some rain and cooler weather the stripers
will be able to move from the depths. We continue to
catch limits of stripers above the state line. The
stripers are in the water depths from 18 to 24' and the
water is cooler with plenty of oxygen. We are using 3 to
5” gizzard shad on downlines and long lines.
The bass are schooling early morning off the main lake
points feeding on small shad. Small topwater lures and
spoons will produce lots of action. The crappie are
schooling over deep brush piles in waters no shallower
then 30' and the crappie are suspended around 15'.
High water, no rain, high water temperature, little
current, small dam releases, and almost no oxygen has
resulted in a striper kill this year. Stripers need 5
ppm to be active and as the summer passes and the high
water the oxygen level has continuing to decrease. It's
now less than 2 percent and we are seeing some dead
stripers at the dam. Once we get some rain and cooler
weather the stripers will be able to move from the
depths and the kill will be over. We can only pray this
happens soon.
If you do not want to travel that far wait until its
start getting cooler at night and the water temperature
gets into the mid-70s then try the creeks and Robinson
Point. One trick is go up the creeks until you find a
drop in the water temperature, the stripers will be
close by.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 10-9-2019) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake fell
1.3 feet over the past week to rest at 4 feet above
seasonal power pool of 553.75 feet msl and 22.3 feet
below the top of flood pool. The Norfork had moderate
generation with one 10-hour period of wadable water.
Seasonal power pool has been reset for the lakes in the
White River system. Most of the lakes in the White River
System are at or near the top of power pool. Expect
heavy generation for the next week.
The Norfork has been fishing better on the moderate
flows but has been a bit crowded. The dissolved oxygen
level is slightly improved. Navigate this stream with
caution as there has been major gravel recruitment at
the bottom of Mill Pond and the dock hole for floods.
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 ruby
midge (size 18) suspended 18 inches below a red fox
squirrel and copper (size 14). The fishing is better in
the morning.
Dry Run Creek is fishing better. The browns have begun
making their annual migration up stream. With school
back in session it will be less crowded during the week
The hot flies have been sowbugs (size 14), Y2Ks (size
12), various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red,
hot fluorescent pink and cerise size 10) and mop flies.
Buffalo National River/Crooked Creek
(updated 10-9-2019) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said the Buffalo
National River and Crooked Creek are high and off-color.
The smallmouths are more active with the warm
conditions. 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.
