(updated 1-20-2022) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said the lakes in the White River watershed are all at
desired power pool levels – Bull Shoals, Norfork,
Table Rock and Beaver Lakes. The Army Corps of
Engineers is monitoring increases due to runoff and is
continuing sporadic releases through the dams. Those
releases usually require some quick changes in angling
techniques and baits. The mornings often start out
with 2,500 cfs and gradually increase to 8,500 cfs or
more for an hour or two by late afternoon, then
dwindle back to nearly wade-able levels by late
evening.
During the winter spawn of the browns, orange egg
patterns work well, with our without the shrimp
nugget. “We're still having success with the black and
gold spinners (one-sixteenth-ounce to quarter-ounce
depending on water levels). For a couple of days this
week, we were treated with a full moon in a clear sky
which made the brown trout catch somewhat slow –
browns are night feeders and use the extra night light
for hunting, causing daytime anglers have to try
harder.
“Those bright yellow golden rainbow trout are still
being evasive, but once in a while we're treated to a
good bite. If you spot one, be ready to change your
bait numerous times during the "hunt." We see them
following (but not biting) all sorts of baits for long
periods of time. Then, finally, you might feel the tug
with PowerBait/shrimp or a red wiggler worm or even a
purple Trout Magnet grub at the end of your line. Work
them slowly and you may be rewarded with an
opportunity for a photo shoot.”
Expect the daytime temperatures to be as fickle as the
water level, with expected highs from 30 to 50
degrees, but the nights will be very cold. Traffic on
the river is slower in January than any other time of
the year, so you should brave the weather and have the
river to yourself for a few hours. “Come on in, warm
up, and share your fishing stories with us; we look
forward to seeing you.”
(updated 1-20-2022) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, says there haven’t
been many people fishing the river this last week. The
crazy temperatures with the snow last weekend, the
mild day on Tuesday and back to freezing on Thursday
have made fishing on the river interesting. Layer your
clothes so you can add or remove layers as needed.
Power Eggs with shrimp, worms or corn continues to
work well. Rooster Tails and Rapala Countdowns have
seen some success. The changing river levels can make
fishing challenging at times but hang in there the
conditions will change again. If you are bank or wade
fishing pay attention to the water levels.
(updated 1-20-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service said that during the past week they had snow
(3 inches in Cotter), frigid temperatures and heavy
winds. The lake level at Bull Shoals fell 0.2 foot to
rest at 0.5 foot below power pool of 659 feet msl.
This is 36.5 feet below the top of flood pool.
Upstream, Table Rock Lake fell 0.1 foot to rest at 0.3
foot below power pool and 16.3 feet below the top of
flood pool. Beaver Lake fell 0.2 foot to rest at 0.2
foot below power pool or 9.8 feet below the top of
flood pool. The White had no wadable water. Norfork
Lake fell 0.3 foot to rest at power pool of 553.75
feet msl and 26.2 feet below the top of flood pool.
The Norfork tailwater had a bit more wadable water.
The water level for the top of power pool has been
reset higher for all of the lakes in the White River
system. Most of the lakes in the White River system
are at or slightly above power pool. With the current
lake levels, expect more generation.
The catch-and-release section below Bull Shoals Dam is
closed until Jan. 31 to accommodate the brown trout
spawn. The State Park will be seasonal Catch and
Release for the same period. All brown trout must be
immediately released. In addition, night fishing is
prohibited in this area during this period. On
February 1, 2022 this section will open to fishing.
On the White, the hot spot has been Wildcat Shoals.
The hot flies were Y2Ks, prince nymphs, zebra midges
(black with silver wire and silver bead or red with
silver wire and silver bead), pheasant tails, copper
Johns, pink and cerise San Juan worms, gold ribbed
hare’s ears and sowbugs. 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).
(updated 1-6-2022) Fish ’N Stuff (501-834-5733) in
Sherwood water is clear. Trout are good when the Corps
is running water; use a jerkbait and a No. 7 Rapala
Countdown. When water is lower, use Trout Magnets in
pink, white or mealworm gold colors on top and below
shoals. Trout are also good on quarter-ounce and
eighth-ounce spoons in trout or silver colors.
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported
the lake’s elevation at 658.48 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 658.41 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 695.0 feet msl). The reported lake
elevation at Table Rock Lake was 914.65 feet msl
(normal conservation pool: 915.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 931.0 feet msl).
(updated 1-20-2022) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said bass fishing has been fair. No need to
get out early, especially if it’s cold. There’s been a
good afternoon bite one-half to three-quarters of the
way back, 70-85 feet into the guts of creeks. Graph to
look for shad and look for loons. Active diving loons
will trigger feeding activity. Offshore shade
structure seems to be the predominant bite. The shad
have moved even deeper as of late. Some of the fish
have left the shad, so power fisherman can grind it
out. Key in on wind ledges, transitions, channel swing
banks with chunk rock. Jerkbait has started catching a
few under a little sun and wind, and use the Rock
Crawler or Wiggle Wart on windy days and cover water.
You can always catch them on a jig. Fish the
conditions. Clarity is good, the surface water
temperature is 49 degrees. Water level is low.
See Del’s YouTube site (Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock)
for more information and tips on fishing Bull Shoals
Lake.
Norfork Lake
As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported
the lake’s elevation at 553.75 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: Sept.-April, 553.75 feet msl;
April-Sept. 555.75 feet msl; top flood elevation 580.0
feet msl).
(updated 1-20-2022) Lou Gabric, at Hummingbird
Hideaway Resort said, “Winter arrived in our area this
week with a little of that white stuff and cooler
weather, which has dropped the lake surface
temperature a few degrees. The bait is starting to
move out to deeper water due to the cooler water and
has suspended 40-60 feet down in 70-100-plus feet of
water. When the bait moves, so do the predator fish.
The striped and hybrid bass are following suit. I have
been finding quite a few striped bass in pairs, up to
large schools. It appears the fish that have moved
under the bait are not feeding, but the fish on top of
the bait have been feeding aggressively. The areas to
start finding them is anywhere from the mid-lake
creeks around the Robinson area to the bridges, then
farther north toward the 101 Boat Dock area and
anywhere in between. Concentrate your search to areas
close to the deep river channel, especially on channel
swings. Live bait is working well set at about 38
feet. Artificial baits are working as well.
Vertical-jigging a spoon, larger ice jigs and plastic
jigs have been the best. Find the depth the stripers
are feeding at and drop your bait to that level.
“Largemouth and spotted bass fishing has been really
good for me. My best areas have been bluff line points
in 33-38 feet of water. The fish are hugging the
bottom. I have been dropping a 1-ounce spoon to the
bottom and slowly jigging it up and down just a
little. When the jig is falling is the time when the
bass have been sucking it in. Once you start to lift
the bait off of the bottom, you feel the fish and the
fight is on. With the cooler water temperature, the
bass will also move into shallow water early and late
in the day to feed. Use crankbaits for these shallow
fish or jigs worked slowly along the bottom.”
Crappie fishing has stayed about the same. The best
areas have been on brushpiles in 20-25 feet of water.
The fish will typically be toward the tops of the
brush. They may move inside the brush to shallower
water early and late in the day. Jigging a spoon on
top of the brush is working, or dropping a small soft
plastic with a one-sixteenth or one-eighth-ounce
jighead. You can also cast out the plastic jig to the
shoreline and let it sink to your desired depth and
reel it back to the boat, making sure the jig crosses
over the top of the brushpile. Live bait is typically
always a great way to catch crappie.
Norfork Lake level currently sits at 553.82 feet msl.
The lake has risen roughly a half-foot since last
week. The surface water temperature is around 48
degrees. The lake is slightly stained. “Happy Fishing
and enjoy Norfork Lake.”
(updated 1-13-2022) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort reported Wednesday that the lake
level was 553.30 feet msl and had dropped a half-inch
in the last 24-hours with just a few hours of
generation. The White River at Newport was at 19 feet,
which limits the discharge. “I just got back in from
fishing and the conditions have changed with the warm
weather. The surface water temperature has risen a
little in the last couple of days and is now about
51.5 (degrees) and the lake is clearing and it needed
to. It is now stained green and you can see your lure
down 3-4 feet, and the brown water is gone but it is
now a good color for fishing.
“Blackburn’s has several fishermen in now and they are
doing well and it is improving. Today the striper
fishermen caught some nice ones trolling, the bass
fishermen caught some near the bank this evening and
the crappie fishermen did the best using Bobby Garland
Blue Ice Baby Shad on main lake brush at 25 feet. It
was busy here this evening and everybody caught fish.
It was a great day and a beautiful sunset. It makes
life almost worth living. A great January day on
Norfork. Thanks Arkansas Game and Fish for managing
the lake so well.”
For a daily fishing report and lake condition go to
www.blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's
Blog.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 1-20-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
fell 0.3 foot to rest at power pool of 553.75 feet msl
and 26.2 feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork
tailwater had a bit more wadable water. The water
level for the top of power pool has been reset higher
for all of the lakes in the White River system. Most
of the lakes in the White River system are at or
slightly above power pool. With the current lake
levels, expect more generation.
There has been some wadable water on the Norfork and
it fished well some days and poorly on others. The
most productive flies have been small midge patterns
like zebra midges (black or red with silver wire and
silver bead). Grasshoppers have produced fish,
particularly when used in conjunction with a small
nymph dropper (try a size 20 black zebra midge).
Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective. Try a
small bead headed nymph (zebra midge, copper John or
pheasant tail) suspended eighteen inches below a
brightly colored San Juan worm (hot fluorescent pink
or cerise). The fishing is much better in the morning
and late afternoon and tapers off midday.
Dry Run Creek has fished well. School is back in
session and now is a great time to fish it,
particularly during the week. Weekends can get a bit
crowded. The hot flies have been sowbugs and various
colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot
fluorescent pink and cerise). Small orange or peach
eggs have been very effective. Be sure and carry a
large net, as most fish are lost at the net.
Remember that the White and North Fork rivers and Dry
Run Creek are infected with didymo, an invasive alga.
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.
Buffalo National River/Crooked Creek
(updated 1-20-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Crooked Creek
and the Buffalo River are still navigable. With colder
temperatures, the smallmouths are not active. The most
effective fly has been a tan and brown 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.
