(updated 3-16-2023) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said the next few weeks will bring lots of young
anglers to the river – spring break and time to get
outside! Nothing better than to see families enjoying
the great outdoors in the beauty of The Natural State,
fishing for, catching and often releasing a whole mess
of trout. Mid-March kicks off the fishing season here
in the Ozarks and adds a lot of energy and excitement
to the air.
There will be more traffic on the river than during
the colder winter months, but don't expect real warm
weather yet. This is the time for layering; the
mornings start out very chilly, but the sun heats up
by mid-afternoon and allows for fewer layers.
Bull Shoals Lake is at elevation of 666.63 feet msl –
up about 5 feet in the last two weeks – but the
increase has slowed. Generation over the past week has
been heavy, averaging 14,000 cfs, about five units,
making the rainbows a little skittish.
When water releases settle to a steady amount, the
bite picks up. Keep your egg patterns handy, along
with wriggling redworms. Drifting a bubblegum pink or
white worm while letting the current move you
downstream should stir some excitement. We're seeing
more action with sculpins for a healthy brown bite,
but don't leave the minnows at home yet. Lots of
topwater action on the sunny days, with a tiny white
and
pink jig-like streamer.
“Arkansas hospitality never fails to please so come on
over and experience the Arkansas Ozarks. We'd love for
you to include some trout fishing in your vacation
plans, and Cotter is the Trout Capital of the U.S. of
A. The fishing forecast: good to spectacular.”
(updated 3-16-2023) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said that they are
seeing river levels at Calico Rock at 11 feet, well
above what is normal for this time of year. The recent
rains have caused both Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork
Lake to rise above their respective conservation pool
level. Since the lakes’ levels are higher, both dams
have been generating a lot of water to include Norfork
Lake opening 10 spillway gates. Until the lakes get
closer to their conservation pool levels, I expect the
river will remain high.
The high river level has made fishing difficult this
week. Silver inline spinners with yellow Power Eggs
with shrimp have been the most effective this week. We
are also having success drift-fishing using shad.
Because of the lakes dumping so much water, we are
seeing a lot of shad around Calico Rock, which is
unusual for us. The trout are gorging themselves on
the shad.
With the deeper water we add an additional or larger
sinker to the line to get the bait to the bottom. The
deep water has made fishing the river with lures
almost completely ineffective. Some people are
reporting some success by moving into the creeks and
fishing there. An added bonus of fishing in the creeks
is the chance to catch a nice smallmouth bass. There
was one trout stocking this week at the Calico Rock
boat ramp.
(updated 3-16-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service at Cotter said that during the past week they
had a bit over a quarter of an inch or rainfall,
colder temperatures and heavy winds. The lake level at
Bull Shoals rose 2.1 feet to rest at 7.6 feet above
power pool of 659 feet msl. This is 28.4 feet below
the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock Lake fell
2 feet to rest at 1.3 feet below power pool and 14.7
feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake rose 2.1
feet to rest at 5.4 feet above power pool or 4.2 feet
below the top of flood pool. The White has had no
wadable water and heavy flows. Norfork Lake rose 0.3
foot to rest at 5 feet above power pool of 553.75 feet
msl and 21.2 feet below the top of flood pool. The
Norfork tailwater also has had no wadable water. All
of the lakes in the White River system are now above
power pool. We can expect higher flows and no wadable
water.
Streamer season is still upon us. The brown trout that
were spawning from November to February are now
working their way back downstream. Anglers are now
targeting them by banging the bank with big streamers
on sink tip lines.
John added, “On the White, the hot spot has been White
Hole. We have had higher flows that have fished well
one day and poorly the next. 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 cerise San Juan worm with an
orange egg dropper.”
John also offers details of his upcoming semi-annual
fishing class: “Ten years ago my wife, Lori, and I
held our first fly-fishing class at Arkansas State
University-Mountain Home. During that time we have
taught hundreds of students how to fly-fish. We have
taught it twice a year, spring and fall, since 2013.
We did take a couple of years off due to COVID-19. We
taught both classes last year without a single problem
after two years off due to the pandemic. We are
gearing up for our spring class and we are excited
about it. We both love to teach. That is our thing!
“This spring’s class will be held on the ASU-Mountain
Home campus on Thursday, April 6, 13, 20 and 27 from
6-8 p.m. The classes are held in room 106 in Dryer
Hall. All necessary equipment is furnished, although
you are welcome to bring your own fly rod. There is a
modest fee. Since half of the classes are set up to be
fly-casting instruction, this part of the class is
outside behind Dryer Hall. Our first class begins
there, as do all of the other classes. However, in the
case of inclement weather we will be inside.
“Lori is the best local casting instructor and always
does the casting classes at the Sowbug Roundup. She is
the lead instructor for our fly-fishing class. I
assist her. Our goal is to teach every student the
basic fly-fishing cast as well as the roll cast. At
the end of the class, you will be able to cast well
enough to fly-fish on your own. Special attention is
given to students who have medical problems that make
casting difficult.
“After the casting session, we move inside to do the
classroom portion of the class. I draw on my 30-plus
years of guiding fly-fishers to teach this. My
emphasis is on keeping everything as simple as I
possibly can while still teaching enough so that my
students can easily fish on their own. Lori assists me
in this process.
“We cover fly-fishing equipment. We let you know what
you need and what you don’t need. We spend plenty of
time on water safety and explain how, where and when
to safely wade. We teach you how to tie the necessary
fishing knots and to properly rig your fly rods. We
then show four basic techniques to fish. We go on to
fly selection and reading water.
“I am currently updating all of our handouts so that
you won’t have to take a lot of notes and all the
information will be easily available to you. If this
sounds like something you would enjoy, go the
ASU-Mountain Home’s website
https://asumh.coursestorm.com/category/outdoors and
register. We hope to see you there.”
Bull Shoals Lake
As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported
the lake’s elevation at 666.45 feet msl (normal
conservation pool: 659.00 feet msl; top flood
elevation is 695.00 feet msl). By midday Thursday the
flow was 14,351 cfs and has ranged from that level to
16,642 cfs past two days; tailwater elevation was
457.24 feet. The reported lake elevation at Table Rock
Lake was 916.12 feet msl (normal conservation pool:
915.00 feet msl; top flood elevation is 931.0 feet
msl).
(updated 3-16-2023) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said Bull Shoals Lake level is 666 feet msl,
or 7 feet above normal pool level. Water temperature
is 50 degrees give or take. They have had dirty water
and consistent temps in the upper 50s. Temperature and
conditions over the next month will dictate your game
plan and success.
White bass and walleye are prespawn spawn. If you’re
bass fishing, fish the conditions. The shad are on the
move again everywhere from the main lake to backs of
the creeks. Look for bigger spreads shallower than 40
feet; gulls and loons can help. If they are over deep
water, expect drum and walleyes. The ole McMinnow 2.8
Swimbait has been the deal for me. While some warmer
creeks have a wave of fish up, they are mostly bucks,
with an occasional big. With windy, dirty, cloudy,
warm rainwater use a crank, Chatterbait, square bill,
Rock Crawler, Wiggle Wart. Target the swing banks and
cover water. When it’s sunny and flat water I’m slowly
dragging Jewel half-ounce Special Ops football jig in
green pumpkin or a green pumpkin shaky head or Ned hed
slow banging on the rocks ledges in 5-15 feet early,
then focusing in 15-20 feet by midday.
We’re fishing outside spawning areas. The fish are in
transition The shad bite video gaming isn’t over but
you can beat the bank and run into a few; target the
staging, early prespawn areas in the creeks. Swings
and points. The crankbait bite is hit or miss, we seem
to need wind, wind, wind and clouds. Parallel steeper
ledges, 45-degree banks and transition banks and cover
water. The Spro Rock Crawler has been better lately;
try the reds on the steeper, clearer water. Go with a
Wiggle Wart on mid, and use a Chick Magnet on the flat
side in the stain. A jerkbait on breezy day bluff ends
over steeper swings and points with shad nearby will
fool a few. I’m not a rig guy but they are set up for
that.
The smallmouth bass are definitely grouping up; if you
can find them they are in packs! It’s about to get
easy if we can get some warmer weather Each day is
different, so fish the 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 midday Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers
reported the lake’s elevation at 558.18 feet msl
(normal conservation pool: Sept.-April, 553.75 feet
msl; April-Sept. 556.25 feet msl; top flood elevation
580.0 feet msl). Flow below the dam Thursday midday
was 8,823 cfs, with constant generation in that range
for several days.
(updated 3-16-2023) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort said Wednesday the lake level was
558.58 feet msl and had dropped 5 inches in the last
24 hours, with one generator and spillway gates open
to an equivalent of 3½ generators total when Steve
came in at 5:30 p.m. The surface water temperature was
just over 53 degrees and the lake was clearing a bit
even with the heavy release. The brown stuff is
dropping out as it heads downstream and there is no
muddy water or debris. The White River at Newport is
24.6 feet and has been kept at that level for several
days. They are letting out as much water as they can
and not flood anything out downstream.
The dropping water, heavy generation and cold fronts
have not been helping fishing any. The best bite has
been open water fishing for smaller stripers, 5-pound
hybrids and spawned out white bass trolling live bait
and umbrellas through shad in front of spawning banks
down 10-25 feet. Spawned out walleye and white bass
are biting under lights off docks after dark. Some
crappie are on main lake shallow brush and partway in
the backs of creeks on any wood. The best bite for
them is near sunset until dark.
Overall, fishing is just fair at best but some nice
fish are being caught every day. Go to
blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's Blog
for a daily report.
(updated 3-16-2023) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort had no new reports. However, Lou posts almost
daily on his Facebook page with photos and where the
fish are biting and what’s biting. Check it out.
Norfork Tailwater
(updated 3-16-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
rose 0.3 foot to rest at 5 feet above power pool of
553.75 feet msl and 21.2 feet below the top of flood
pool. The Norfork tailwater also has had no wadable
water. All of the lakes in the White River system are
now above power pool. We can expect higher flows and
no wadable water.
There has been no wadable water, on the Norfork. The
most productive flies have been small midge patterns
like zebra midges (black or red with silver wire and
silver bead). Double-fly nymph rigs have been very
effective. Try a small bead-head nymph (zebra midge,
copper John or pheasant tail) suspended 18 inches
below a brightly colored San Juan worm (hot
fluorescent pink or cerise). John’s 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 a bit better. Weekends can
get a quite crowded, and spring break may make the
weekdays busy this month. 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 3-16-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Crooked Creek
and the Buffalo River are fishing poorly. With cooler
temperatures, the smallmouths have not been 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.
