White River
(updated 5-18-2023) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said White River water levels below Bull Shoals Dam
have been up and down over the past couple of weeks,
ranging from around one unit (3,000 cfs) to four or
more generators (12,000-16,000 cfs). It seems there is
no "normal" release schedule any more, no typical late
afternoon influx, and we can't rely on low water in
the morning. Keeps us on our toes and always alert to
the next best catch.
Bull Shoals Lake level is currently 665.40 feet msl,
about 3 feet above power pool. Since Beaver and Table
Rock lakes are still above desired power pool and will
continue to discharge into Bull Shoals, we'll
eventually see the increase in the tailwater here in
Cotter. The trout are biting and the take has been
very good.
Stick baits work well in 5,000-plus cfs levels with
the brook trout Rapala No. 7 Countdown as the winner
this week. Another favorite has been the glass blue
minnow Husky Jerk, size 8 and size 10. Otherwise, you
can trust the Bubblegum Pink Worm for some action on
the water.
The brown trout catch continues to delight anglers
around Cotter, mostly with live bait taken from the
river (minnows, crawdads, sculpins). Lake shad are
still a huge draw, which is surprising this late in
the spring, but we'll continue to tie it on until the
browns turn away.
“Be the early worm and get to the river while it's
still cool and the mist hangs low over the water. We
welcome you to White River and hope you continue to
enjoy our Natural State.”
(updated 5-18-2023) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said the rain late
last week caused the Buffalo River to rise, which
caused us to have muddy water starting Friday
afternoon through Saturday. Saturday morning the best
fishing option for trout was to move up into the
mouths of the creeks where the fish are looking for
cleaner water, tie up or anchor, and fish using corn.
This proved to be successful, resulting in some nice
limits of trout plus a few other species of fish
caught. By Sunday through Tuesday the river cleared
considerably with some remaining dinginess to the
water. Fishing was excellent using inline spinners
with yellow power eggs and shrimp. With the water
color and increased depths, spoons and Rapala
Countdowns were minimally effective. Fishing improved
Tuesday as the water dropped to below 6 feet. By
Wednesday morning the river was back up and dingy with
Norfork Dam opening three spill gates.
“I didn’t see a trout stocking this week but there is
a good chance there was one and I missed it. Weather
is going to be a little cooler this weekend and it
would be a great time to get out and enjoy the White
River and catch some trout.”
(updated 5-18-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service at Cotter said that during the past week they
had several rain events that combined for 2 inches,
warmer temperatures and heavy winds. The lake level at
Bull Shoals rose 2 feet to rest at 3.2 feet above
power pool of 662 feet. This is 29.8 feet below the
top of flood pool. The White has had marginal wadable
water and lower flows. Norfork Lake rose 1.8 feet to
rest at power pool of 556.75 feet msl and 23.2 feet
below the top of flood pool. The Norfork has had
wadable water.
“The Caddis hatch is ongoing. This is our best hatch
of the year. We have seen some small hatches in late
afternoon. Before the hatch, fish a Caddis Pupa like
the Sunday Special in size 16. When you see takes on
the top but see no insects, switch to a caddis emerger
like my Green Butt in size 15. When you observe trout
taking insects from the top of the water, switch to
elk hair caddis size 16. It will be difficult to fish
this hatch with the high water levels we now have.”
The hot spot on the White has been Rim Shoals. We have
had lower flows that have fished 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. John says his favorite has been a Sunday
Special with a ruby midge dropper.
John also said, “Last week I had a two-day guided
fishing trip on Tuesday and Thursday. I had two
clients, Nick and John, retired guys that are about my
age. We fished the first day at Rim Shoals. In the
morning, we had low flows around 6,000 cfs, or the
rough equivalent of two full generators. I already had
a couple of rods rigged with cerise San Juan Worms and
orange eggs. We had the place to ourselves and did
well, around 20 trout. The water came up at 1 p.m. and
the fishing slowed. We caught a few more trout, but
not that many. We did manage to catch an 18-inch
rainbow, our biggest trout.
“On Thursday, we considered wading the Norfork on low
water or boating below Bull Shoals Dam on high water.
We decided that an eight-hour day of wading might be a
little too challenging, so we opted to fish the
catch-and-release section below Bull Shoals Dam with
the goal of landing a trophy trout. I always catch
fewer but larger fish there.
“We noted that the water was much higher than it had
been Tuesday. They were running over 18,000 cfs, or
the rough equivalent of five and a half full
generators. We fished the same rigs but with much
longer leaders in order to reach the bottom in the
higher water. We noted a lot more river traffic than
at Rim Shoals.
“When you are targeting bigger fish, you will have
fewer opportunities. There are just not as many big
fish. Mid-morning, Nick hooked a good trout. He
quickly put it on the reel and took his time bringing
it to the net. It was a stout 22-inch rainbow with
huge girth. It was a great catch and we took photos
and quickly released the fish.
“We went fishless for several hours. Then
mid-afternoon, John hooked a good fish. I got a good
look at it and it was bigger than Nick’s. I noticed
that John had a lot of excess line on the deck of the
boat and was stripping the trout in.
“This is my pet peeve. The most effective way to land
trout on a fly rod is to fight them with the reel.
Stripping in a fish by pulling in the line and
securing it under a finger is an inexact procedure
that is subject to error. Your fingers do not have the
reliable constant pressure that the disc drag on my
reel has. I have had 12-year-old boys land 16-pound
trout on that reel on Dry Run Creek.
“As I feared, the big trout took a run and John
increased the pressure on the line to keep the trout
from getting away. It snapped and the biggest fish of
the day broke off. I pulled in the line to check the
rigging. The break was clean, which told me that it
was due to the pressure on the line from stripping it
in. The tippet was 4X fluorocarbon, which is 5.5-pound
test. It was plenty strong to land the fish. By not
using the reel, he had missed an opportunity to land a
trophy trout.
“The reel is there for a reason. Use it!”
(updated 5-11-2023) AGFC staff fished the White River
in the Sylamore Creek-White River junction area last
weekend. On Saturday, there was a little smallmouth
bite in the current of the big river just in front of
the creek, biting white maribou Trout Magnets.
Rainbows like the Trout Magnet some but early, as well
as an inline spinner, at midday started really
favoring the orange PowerBait, while some liked the
No. 7 rainbow trout-colored Rapala Countdown. On
Sunday, fishing out of Jack’s Resort (870-585-2211)
after the river had risen 1 foot overnight, we
drift-fished the White River below the confluence,
catching what would have been boatload of rainbows
(all were returned to the river), including a
16-incher, using inline spinners and hooks baited with
X Factor eggs and pieces of shrimp.
Bull Shoals Lake
See the Corps of Engineers real-time information for
Bull Shoals Lake by clicking this link for the latest
level and flow.
(updated 5-18-2023) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock said Wednesday that Bull Shoals level was
back up to 6 feet over normal pool at 665 feet msl.
Water temperature jumped to 74 degrees “give or take.”
He says, “Algae blooms can be a hassle. Another wave
of bass have moved up. Looks like we’re going to have
some fry. There is still a Senko flipping bite Don’t
expect that to last much longer. A lot of fish are now
moving deeper and suspending. I’m spending lots of
time graphing, checking pockets with wind and shad.
Most fish still seem to be looking up. Most of the
dirty water is in the bigger creeks, while there is
high visibility around the dam area.
Fish Bull Shoals like two separate lakes. With dirty
creeks, cloudy and warm, windy and rain, we’re
powerfishing a square bill, Chatterbait, spinnerbait
or Rat-L-Trap-style bait.
Try on the last couple of swing banks or in or around
the spawning pockets and bushes. Cover water. Fish
runoff if available.
If it’s sunny, flat, stain conditions, try points
slow-dragging a Jewel half-ounce Special Ops football
jig in green pumpkin. On sunny days with clear water,
look at ledges already, keep boat in 25-30 feet, and
try a green pumpkin 3/16-ounce shaky head or a Ned
fished slow, then go a little slower. Look at points
outside spawning areas.
The shad are broke up high. Check the backs of creeks
and mouths of creeks, and also way out on the points.
Bomb casts around the Ol’ McMinnow 2.8 Swimbait in
white or shad colors, and try topwater (get up early).
Wake Shad or Lucky Craft Gunfish, Spook. “This pattern
has been the deal for me. The bass are definitely
grouping up. 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
See the Corps of Engineers real-time information for
Norfork Lake by clicking this link for the latest
level and flow.
(updated 5-18-2023) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort said the lake level was 556.90 feet
msl and had risen 1.5 inches in the last 24 hours when
Scuba Steve came in at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. There has
been no generation for two days but they did open
spillway gates equal to third of a generator earlier
Wednesday. The lake has been on a steady increase and
is now past the new top of the power pool of 556.75
feet msl The White River at Newport is 11.38 feet and
dropping and the lake surface water temperature is 76
degrees. The water clarity has diminished just a bit
on both the main lake and the creeks.
The best bite continues to be the early morning
topwater, with both stripers and bass surfacing just
at sunrise, and they stay up longer on cloudy days.
Catfishing is getting better on live shiners and
bluegill on both throw lines and drop-shot jugs with
the slowly rising water and smaller moon. Bass can
come up anytime on cloudy days. Carp and bluegill are
spawning. More and more spawned-out crappie are moving
to brush piles down about 5-10 feet.
Overall fishing is good and the lake is in excellent
condition and at a good level for both fishing and
boating.
Visit blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's
blog for a daily report.
(updated 5-4-2023) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort says the bite for most species has slowed a
little over the last couple of days with the cool
front that rolled through the area. “Or at least it
has slowed for me!” he said. “A 3-degree drop in
surface lake temp has not helped. The heat wave is
arriving soon, so the lake temp will begin to climb
again and the bite will improve.
“This has not stopped anyone from fishing and catching
fish. The striped/hybrid bass have really scattered
out in the areas where I have been fishing. The very
early-morning bite is the best and I have been
catching a few each morning by casting a 3.5 swimbait
up close to shoreline points, both back in coves or on
the main lake. Crappie are both on brush and scattered
out in coves roaming between brush. Trolling Flicker
Minnows is working the best, but a slip float with
live minnows is also producing some fish. Bass are on
shoreline points in 3-10 feet of water. Casting
swimbaits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits are all
catching fish. I have found also some nice bass
feeding in the middle of a cove in 30 feet of water. I
was trolling for crappie with four rods out and all
four got hammered by bass at the same time. I have
also found bass in 25 feet deep brush piles. Jigging a
Tater Shad was driving them crazy, especially with a
fast reel up.
“Another angler landed some nice striped bass and
largemouth on topwater baits, as well as by trolling
Flicker Minnows. Meanwhile, Mike and Sam have been
crappie fishing, trolling Flicker Minnows and by using
live bait on a slip float. Wednesday, trolling worked
the best for them. They landed a huge 15.5-inch
crappie. All their fish were released to be caught
another day.”
The surface water temp has dropped to around 60
degrees Wednesday morning. The lake level is stable at
554.51 feet msl, which is slightly under the current
seasonal pool of 554.47 feet msl.
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 5-18-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
rose 1.8 feet to rest at power pool of 556.75 feet msl
and 23.2 feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork
has had wadable water. 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 says
his favorite rig has been a cerise San Juan Worm and
an orange egg. The fishing is 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. 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.
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 5-18-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Crooked Creek
and the Buffalo River are fishing better. With warmer
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.
