(updated 11-3-2022) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said, “What a great week in the Arkansas Ozarks! The
fall colors are not brilliant this autumn – you'll see
a pop of bright reds or orange once in a while – but
come on over anyway, the fishing has been outstanding.
Be prepared for cool mornings because we're getting
some fall temperatures (at last and then often only in
the morning hours) but we still have some nice warm
afternoons to enjoy. Releases from Bull Shoals Dam
have been variable with minimum flows during the late
evening and early morning, followed by a quick rise to
almost three units (9,000 cfs) later in the morning.
The lake at this writing is sitting at 654.74 feet msl
and still dropping. This is over 5 feet below power
pool for
this time of year.
The rainbows are loving the shrimp/orange PowerBait
mashups. You might draw the attention of some browns
(we have seen a fair number this week) with a sculpin,
but never underestimate a frustrated brown if you
tease him enough with a gold Cleo, an orange or mossy
green jig or a peach/orange/yellow egg pattern fly.
They are moving into their annual spawning grounds,
too, so keep watch as they travel toward Rim Shoals
and/or the dam. It will take a lot of time and varying
baits to catch their attention at this time so remain
patient, stay on the river and keep it fun. The
holiday season is coming up and weekend getaways are
being scheduled. Keep angling and we'll see you on the
river.
(updated 11-3-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service said that during the past week, they had about
an inch of rain in Cotter, cool temperatures and heavy
winds (to include wind advisories). The lake level at
Bull Shoals fell 0.5 foot to rest at 4.3 feet below
power pool of 659 feet msl. This is 43 feet below the
top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock Lake fell 0.9
foot to rest at 8.4 feet below power pool and 22.4
feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell 0.3
foot to rest at 4.3 feet below power pool or 13.9 feet
below the top of flood pool. The White has had wadable
water. “On the White, the hot spot has been Buffalo
Shoals. We have had lower flows in the morning that
have been fished very well. 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. My
favorite has been a pheasant tail nymph with a ruby
midge dropper.”
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.
John also said, “There is always something new in fly
fishing. That is what makes it so interesting. I
remember 40 years ago when my brother, Dan, gave me my
first Woolly Bugger. I asked, ‘How you fished it.’ He
said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ My life changed. Then 25
years ago on a trip to Montana I fished a two-fly rig.
It rocked my world. Now I am looking at a new fly
fishing technique: Euro nymphing.
“This has been coming on for the past few years. I
have seen videos and read books on it, but never tried
it. Then last week I was a participant in a Reel
Recovery Retreat (which promotes the healing of cancer
patients using fly-fishing). I was already a
fly-fisher but am always eager to learn something new.
“One of the river buddies was Steve, a guide friend of
mine, who happens to be the local expert in Euro
nymphing. I asked him to work with me and introduce me
to the technique. We used his gear and flies that were
all first-class. He had an 11-foot rod with a special
Euro fly line and a 25-foot leader. We kept things
pretty simple and fished two flies. The flies were an
egg and a mop fly, both tied on jig hooks. We also
fished a normal nymph tied on a jig hook later. There
was no additional weight and no strike indicator.
There was a brightly colored section of the leader
called a sighter. We fished one day on the North Fork
River and one day on the White River.
“Steve had me flip the flies upstream. We fished the
leader and not the fly line. The rod was pointed up to
keep the flies on the bottom. We spent most of our
time teaching me where to cast and how to get a good
drift. I had plenty of bad habits from fly-fishing to
overcome. I had trouble with the casting and sorely
missed the strike indicator. I never sensed the take
by watching the sighter. It was interesting to fish a
tight line, and I eventually got to the point where I
could feel the take. I learned a lot and was able to
hook several and actually landed three.
“When I got home, I went out and bought a new 10-foot
3-weight fly rod, a 13-foot leader, a spool of sighter
material, a Euro nymphing fly line and tippet rings
(used to rig Euro nymph leaders). I already had a
suitable reel, and Steve gave me a box of Euro flies
all tied on jig hooks. I think I have everything I
require.
“All I need now is a bit of time on a stream to put
what I have learned to work. I look forward to it.”
(updated 10-27-2022) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said Wednesday recent
days have started with cool mornings and then warmed
up to comfortable days. “We have seen varied
generations from both Bull Shoals Dam and Norfork Dam.
Late last week we saw the river levels up, but into
the weekend the water got as low 2 feet. Starting
Monday we saw higher water levels.
“Spoons continue to be the go-to lure in the low
water. Additionally, black jigs, Rooster Tails, lures
with a spinner and Rapala Countdowns have worked very
well. Power Eggs with shrimp, corn or worms continue
to work well when the water rises above 3 feet.”
Since the last report there have been two trout
stockings with a total of about 1,500 trout stocked at
the Calico Rock boat ramp and another 1,500 at the
Chessmond Ferry boat ramp.
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported
the lake’s elevation at 656.17 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 659.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 695.00 feet msl). Total outflow from the
dam at noon Thursday was 686 cfs. The reported lake
elevation at Table Rock Lake was 910.17 feet msl
(normal conservation pool: 917.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 931.0 feet msl), with outflow of 20 cfs.
(updated 11-3-2022) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said Thursday that the lake level is 654
feet, or about 4 feet below pool. Water temp is 64
degrees give or take.
Junk fishing with typical fall patterns. The cooler
nights have the shad starting to ball up and moving
out deeper 25-45 feet in the middle of hollows creeks.
The main lake is clear. There are always a few shallow
fish, try a Chatterbait square bill spinnerbait or
flipping brush in the skinny stained water early. Use
a buzzbait or Whopper Plopper covering water. There’s
a few fish there, but it is hit or miss. Try a Rock
Crawler on the windy channel swings points and ledges
covering water and fish the windy side if you have any
wind. Target bushes and rock transitions close to
deeper water.
The deep jig bite is starting to get better as the sun
gets up. Target steeper banks. For Del, he says, the
deep bite is still the best at 35-45 feet. Drop-shot
Damiki with a Tater Shad or Jewel Scope Shad and a
jigging Rap Spoon or a Roboworm has been reliable with
the low pressure post-front conditions.
Del regularly posts new YouTube videos. Visit his
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 553.22 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: Sept.-April, 553.75 feet msl;
April-Sept. 556.25 feet msl; top flood elevation 580.0
feet msl). Total outflow from Norfork Dam at noon
Thursday was 206 cfs. Wednesday saw 4+ hours of
generation (5-9 p.m.) averaging 2,480 cfs.
(updated 11-3-2022) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort said the lake level is 552.82 feet
msl as of Wednesday morning and has dropped
three-quarters of an inch in the last 24 hours with
about 8 hours of running three-quarters of a
generator. They seem to like three-quarters of a
generator and just vary the times they run it. There
is not much effort to drop the area lake levels. The
surface water temperature is around 66 degrees and has
held steady with the warm weather in the main lake and
warming quickly in the backs of the creeks. The runoff
from last week's rain has moved downriver and is now
in the Blackburn's Creek area, diminishing the water
clarity, “but has either dropped out or not gotten to
the area around Robinson Point where I have been
fishing which is much clearer.
“The fish that I caught Tuesday evening and Wednesday
morning were on brush, on and just to the inside of
main lake points about 20 feet down. Several
smallmouths are showing up on the inside of points
just partway back in the creeks and some are in the 3-
to 4-pound range. Walleye and crappie are together and
black bass are together in different places.
“It has been very foggy in the early mornings making
navigation difficult and dangerous, and does not burn
off until about 10 a.m. It is not worth going out to
get fish and endangering other people who also should
not be out there. You may be able to navigate with
GPS, but cannot see other boats that may be parked or
running too fast.
“It has been nice not having wind, but it should pick
back up with a low pressure moving in on Friday,
bringing a good chance of rain. When that happens,
fish windblown shoreline for bass until it rains you
out.
“There are schooled temperate bass chasing shad from
Mallard Point to Cranfield Island in the mornings in
about 30 feet of water, and trollers are catching some
white bass and 3- to 4-pound hybrids dragging
umbrellas and crankbaits with weights clipped on the
line in front of them to get them down and through
shad.”
Overall fishing is just fair but improving and the
lake is in excellent condition and at a good level.
For a daily fishing report and lake condition go to
www.blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's
Blog.
(updated 11-3-2022) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort had no new report. Lou posts nearly daily on
his Facebook page with photos and where the fish are
biting and what’s biting. Check it out.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 11-3-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
fell 0.1 foot to rest at a foot below power pool of
553.75 feet msl and 27.1 feet below the top of flood
pool. The Norfork tailwater has had more wadable
water. All of the lakes in the White River system are
now well below power pool. With the current lake
levels, expect lower flows and more wadable water.
There has been more wadable water on the Norfork in
the morning and it has fished better. 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). My
favorite rig has been a pheasant tail nymph size 14
and a ruby midge size 18. The fishing is much better
in the morning and late afternoon and tapers off
midday.
Dry Run Creek has fished poorly. School is back in
session and the creek is not as busy. Weekends can get
a quite crowded. The hot flies have been sowbugs,
various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot
fluorescent pink and cerise) and white mop flies.
Small orange or peach eggs have been very effective.
Carry a large net, as most fish are lost at the net.
Buffalo National River/Crooked Creek
(updated 11-3-2022) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Crooked Creek
and the Buffalo River are low but fishing well. With
cooler temperatures, the smallmouths are more 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.
