White River
(updated 3-10-2022) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said, “Spring break on the White River near Cotter
means lots of young anglers coming to the area, and
there's nothing better than seeing a family enjoying
the great outdoors – fishing for, catching, and
releasing boatloads of trout in the beauty of The
Natural State. There will be more traffic on the river
than we've gotten used to over the slower winter
months. “Mid-March kicks off the fishing season here
in the Ozarks and adds a lot of energy and excitement
to the air.
“The lake has been falling slowly to 658.93 feet msl
as we continue to see high water levels in the
tailwater of the White River watershed, often between
three to six units (9,000-18,000 cfs). Releases of
that level require anglers to get creative, to try
some things they might not have tried before. Learn to
dangle a jig; the white Marabou has worked great this
past week. Add weight to your line, add a
bright-colored orange bead several inches above the
hook, or try a new, extra-flashy lure (silver and blue
work well right now). Bait fishermen have relied on
sculpin minnows for most of the brown catches. Some of
the guides prefer palm-sized (think big) sculpins;
most are just as successful drifting the more
available smaller bait at mid-depth or deeper in the
holes. “The changing water and weather offer fun
challenges – you won't get bored fishing the Cotter
waters of the White. Be prepared for low to very low
temperatures in the morning and, more often than not,
sun-warmed afternoons. Mostly, be prepared for
creating great memories and enjoying Southern
hospitality at its best.”
(updated 3-3-2022) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said the rain and
winter weather last week, combined with both Bull
Shoals and Norfork dams generating water, kept the
river levels high this last week. Drift-fishing with
Power Eggs and shrimp have worked the best during the
high water. Anglers are reporting minimal success with
jigs, spoons or other artificial bait. Fishing should
improve as the river conditions stabilize.
(updated 3-10-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service said that during the past week they had about
three quarters of an inch of rain in Cotter, frigid
temperatures and heavy winds. The lake level at Bull
Shoals rose 0.3 foot to the power pool of 659 feet
msl. This is 36 feet below the top of flood pool.
Upstream, Table Rock Lake 0.4 foot to rest at 0.5 foot
above power pool and 15.5 feet below the top of flood
pool. Beaver Lake fell 0.1 foot to reach power pool or
9.6 feet below the top of flood pool. The White has
had no wadable water. Norfork Lake fell 0.1 foot to
rest at 0.4 foot above power pool of 553.75 feet msl
and 25.8 feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork
tailwater has had no wadable water.
There has been a shad kill on the White River at Bull
Shoals Dam and on the Norfork Tailwater at Norfork
Dam. This is a natural phenomenon that occurs
occasionally during cold weather and high generation.
Use white flies like Marabou Jigs or mop flies.
Streamer season fishing is upon us. Now that the brown
trout spawn is over, they are moving back to their
regular locations. It is a good time to target them.
Fishing is best with heavy generation. Bang the bank
with big streamers on sink tip lines. White is John’s
current favorite color.
The hot spot on the White has been the
catch-and-release section below Bull Shoals Dam. After
opening day, there have been some big browns caught.
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 an orange egg with a size 18
purple zebra midge.
John also said, “The most unique aspect of fly-fishing
is the casting. If done properly it is a beautiful
thing. It is different from any other form of casting
in that you are casting the fly line and the fly goes
along for the ride. In spin casting or bait casting
you are casting the lure not the line. It is a bit
more challenging to cast a fly rod and some of us are
better than others. You can learn enough to catch fish
in a few minutes but it can take years to master the
cast.
“To that end, my old fishing buddy Ron McQuay has put
together a fly-casting contest, The Cotter Casting
Challenge. It is to be held on Saturday April 9, in
Cotter’s Big Spring Park Baseball field at 1 p.m.
There is a $5 fee (proceeds will be donated to an
access/river project in Cotter) and the competition is
open to the public. There are three categories:
beginner, intermediate and advanced. Register on the
Trout Unlimited website, whiterivertu.com, by March
30. The event is put together by volunteers from White
River Trout Unlimited, The North Arkansas Fly Fishers
and the city of Cotter.
The competition is divided into two categories:
accuracy and distance. For the accuracy casts there
will be five stations, and for the distance casting
there will be two stations. You can use your own rod
for the accuracy casts. A rod or rods will be
furnished for the distance casts.
“The first accuracy station is for a basic overhead
cast of 20-50 feet. The target will be a ring. You
must start with the fly in your hand and line on reel.
You cannot let the fly touch the ground, unless it is
at a target. You get unlimited false casts and go
through the targets twice. The second station is
basically the same but done with a roll cast.
The next station is the Over/Under/Through, which is a
ring target 24-36 inches from the ground to the bottom
of the ring. This is at a distance of 30 feet. You
have to cast over, then through and finally under the
ring and hit a target. You will get two tries for each
cast.
“The next station is for a curve cast at a target at a
distance of 40 feet. The target will be behind a tree.
You will get two tries from each side. The final
accuracy station is a back cast at 30 feet to a
target. You can use the back cast only and you get two
tries.
The distance casting is a bit simpler. There are no
targets. The first station is a single rod everyone
uses. You get a maximum warm up of five casts. You get
three casts to achieve your best distance.
“The final station is the Distance Cast Combo. There
is no warm up with the rods and you get the best
distance from three casts per rod. The first rod is a
bamboo with standard matching line. The second rod is
a fiberglass rod with a 2-weight over-lined fly line.
The last rod is a carbon rod with a 2-weight
underlined fly line.
“If this sounds like something you would be interested
in, please sign up.”
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported
the lake’s elevation at 658.90 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 659.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 695.00 feet msl). Total outflow from the
dam is 15,964 cfs. The reported lake elevation at
Table Rock Lake was 915.34 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 915.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 931.0 feet msl).
(updated 3-10-2022) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said he did not have anything new to add to
his report this week. The lake level is still about
659 feet msl and the temperature is 48 and rising.
Bass fishing has been fair. Generation has been moving
the shad around. The deep bite continues to dissipate.
If you are going to look for the deep ones, graph to
look for shad and look for loons. Active diving loons
will trigger feeding. Damiki on a Moon Eye and Rapala
jigging Rap. As more fish move up and leave the shad,
crawfish are on the menu. Try dragging a jig, shaky
head or Ned rig in 10-20 feet around secondary points.
Over the next couple of weeks, key in on areas outside
of regular spawning areas. Jerkbait has started
catching a few on points and bluff ends in shallower
water around brushpiles, and a little wind helps. As
the temps rise, fish are seeing red. Rock Crawlers,
Wiggle Warts on steeper ledge transitions, and cover
water.
Visit 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 554.00 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: Sept.-April, 553.75 feet msl;
April-Sept. 555.75 feet msl; top flood elevation 580.0
feet msl). Total outflow from Norfork Dam is 6,220
cfs.
(updated 3-10-2022) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort said the bite continues to be good for most
species in the lake, especially striped bass,
largemouth bass and crappie. “It really surprised me
that after the lake temperature dropped about 3
degrees it didn’t affect the feeding habits of the
fish. What the drop in water temperature did was to
make the bait move to other areas of the lake, but not
necessarily far away from where they were. The fish
will follow the bait.
“Striped bass fishing continues to be strong. Yes, you
will need to do some searching, but if you find some
bait, I just about guarantee you will find striped
bass nearby. The best areas to find these fish have
been back in major creeks, deep flats and (Wednesday)
I found them in the old river channel in the main lake
area. In the creeks, they have been on or very close
to the banks first thing in the morning. After the sun
gets over the tree line, they seem to concentrate more
in the creek channel. Their depth will depend on the
depth of the bait. The deeper flats have started to
hold more bait in the 40- to 50-foot range. The fish
again relate to the depth of the bait. I have found
that the stripers seem to be on the flats late
morning. The bait that I found today was in the old
river channel, which in this area was roughly 70 feet
deep. The bait was 20-40 deep and varied. The fish
were at the same depths. The striped bass that I found
today were in large schools that appeared to be
feeding. My bait of choice for the shallower fish, say
from the shoreline out to 30 feet down, has been
casting a Kastmaster blade-style bait. I do replace
the hook with a feathered treble hook. I think that
gives it a closer resemblance to an injured live shad,
especially if you work it in a twitching motion. I
reel back to the boat very slowly, letting it sink
more as it is being retrieved. For deeper fish, I have
been vertical-jigging with a spoon or a small 3-inch
plastic jig with a three-eighth-ounce jighead.”
Crappie fishing has also continued to be very good. Of
course, crappie is like most species that go through a
feeding cycle. If you find them and they are not
feeding, you will need to wait them out until they get
energetic again or move to the next brushpile. Small
spoons or small crappie jigs and, of course, live
minnows are all working very well. The best brush has
been in 20-25 feet of water and the fish will be on
the tops to buried within the brush. You will just
need to keep working different depths until you find
that magic area.
“I have not done a lot of bass fishing lately, but
they do appear to be going shallow. Crankbait, Wiggle
Warts, soft plastics and Alabama rigs have all
produced some nice fish. As the water temperature
continues to rise back in the creeks the fish head
back to the warmer water. (Wednesday) I fished a
brushpile to see if crappie were there. No crappie,
but the brushpile was inhabited by some nice-sized
largemouth bass. They loved my Tater Baits Electric
Monkey crappie jig. The bass were buried inside of the
brush towards the bottom. I can’t believe I could pull
these beasts out of the brush with 4-pound test.”
Norfork Lake surface water temperature is rising very
slowly after the 3-degree drop from last weekend’s
storms. The lake temperature was 48-52 degrees
Wednesday morning. The lake level has been stable with
a slight drop with intermittent power generation and
currently sits at 554.05 feet msl. The lake is clear
to stained, depending on where you are at in the lake.
“If our current forecast holds true, we have another
deep freeze arriving Friday afternoon. I guess I will
be out seeing where the bait moved to next Sunday.
“I post almost daily on Facebook. If you want more
frequent information please visit and like Hummingbird
Hideaway Resort’s Facebook page. Happy Fishing and
enjoy Norfork Lake.”
(updated 3-10-2022) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort says the lake level is 554.12 feet
msl and has dropped 1.2 inches in the last 24 hours
with generation about three-quarters of the time. The
White River at Newport is at 21.74 feet, indicating
they are trying hard to drop the area lakes and all of
them are at or near their power pools. The surface
water temperature was between 49-50 degrees Tuesday,
depending on where you were, and had dropped 2 degrees
from the day before. The water clarity also changed,
as the main lake channel was much more stained but the
shore was still clear. Both the creeks and main lake
had the same temperature, as the creeks have dropped
faster with the colder weather. “Our ambient highs
have only been in the 30s and low 40s recently. It is
sunny and nice (Wednesday) but a very cold front is
moving in on Friday with warmer weather on Sunday.
“The storm on Sunday night brought a lot of lightning
and over an inch of rain in this area but no damage.
Damage was reported in Sharp County. Fishing slowed
after the cold front but was better (Tuesday). I
caught one small striper accidently in about 10 feet
of water fishing for bass, four crappie, two bass, two
big bluegill and a couple of warmouth in about 2 hours
of fishing. When the warmouth go to the bank it is
usually a sign that spring is almost here.
“Crappie, bass and small stripers are the best bite
now and the night bite for stripers should start next
week. The cold fronts just keep coming through,
messing up fishing but not stopping it.”
For a daily fishing report and lake condition go to
www.blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's
Blog.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 3-10-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
fell 0.1 foot to rest at 0.4 foot above power pool of
553.75 feet msl and 25.8 feet below the top of flood
pool. There has been no wadable water on the Norfork
tailwater 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 18 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 at midday.
Dry Run Creek has fished particularly 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. 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 3-10-2022) 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.
