White River
(updated 7-6-2023) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525)
said fishing on the cold, clear White River is the
antidote to the heat surges in the concrete canyons.
Early mornings are perfect with temperatures in the
low 70s and, although they are seeing some warm
afternoons, you need only dip your cap in the river or
wrap a river-dampened hand towel around your shoulders
to cool off, then return to hooking into a great catch
of trout.
Bull Shoals Lake elevation measured 659.64 feet msl
Wednesday with morning releases continuing at minimum
flow (700 cfs) before rising to 12,000 cfs (four
generators) in late afternoon.
Browns have been hiding in the deep holes and biting
on sculpin and crawdad tails. The rainbows are hitting
gold spinners and pink PowerBait worms topped with
white (mouse-tails), and the ever-popular red/gold
hammered Thomas Buoyant Spoon is adding to the count.
There's been a late afternoon surge in the brown bite
during this past week, which is a little uncommon but
might be attributed to the changing pressure systems
and the occasional pop-up showers. A cup of
nightcrawlers or red wigglers is a must while fishing
the rising water late in the day; play them close to
the banks just a foot or so below the surface.
“Grasshopper season is approaching quickly; when I see
them on my porch I know the trout are looking for
them. Get ready.
“Time on the river offers refreshment and renewal as
only being in the outdoors can. Come to The Natural
State for a chance to spend some quiet time with an
old friend, restore family ties, or just get to know
yourself again.”
(updated 7-6-2023) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins
Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said they continue to
see water depths under 3 feet in the morning and
rising to around 6 feet (plus or minus a small amount)
by late morning. The last couple of days the water has
had some dinginess in the morning and clearing later
in the day as the water levels drop. It’s common for
boats to leave Calico Rock and run upriver a few miles
to Red’s Landing to find cleaner water and fish back
to and through Calico Rock following the dropping
water. In the mornings drift-fishing with a silver
inline spinner with Uncommon Bait Bright Orange UV
glow eggs and shrimp has worked well. Additionally,
deeper diving Shad Rap size 5 lures in Purpledescent
or orange crawdad colors worked. As the water drops in
the afternoon using quarter-ounce Colorado Spoons with
nickel/gold or copper/gold or Buoyant rainbow trout or
brown trout-colored spoons work well while fishing the
gravel bars. Additionally, Rapala CD7 Countdowns in
either silver or rainbow trout color have resulted in
some nice trout.
The heat has been brutal the last week and the little
cooler weather over the next week will be nice.
(updated 7-6-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service at Cotter said that during the past week, they
had three minor rain events (combining for less than a
half-inch in Cotter), hot temperatures (to include
heat advisories) and moderate winds. The lake level at
Bull Shoals fell 0.5 foot to rest at 1.7 feet below
power pool of 661.3 feet msl. This is 35.4 feet below
the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock Lake fell
0.6 foot to rest at 1.3 feet below power pool and 15.3
feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell 0.6
foot to rest at 1.1 feet below power pool and 9.7 feet
below the top of flood pool. The White had wadable
water every day with moderate flows in the afternoon
during peak power demand. Norfork Lake fell 0.1 foot
to rest at 0.3 foot over power pool of 556 feet msl
and 23.7 feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork
Tailwater has had wadable water. All of the lakes are
below or near power pool. We can expect lower flows in
the coming days. On the Norfork, all turbines are
inoperable for the foreseeable future. Minimum release
is being made through the siphon at continuous flows
of 185 cfs and additional flows are made through the
flood gates.
On the White, the hot spot has been Wildcat 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 Ear and Sowbugs. Double-fly Nymph rigs have
been very effective. My favorite has been a Copper
John (size 14) with a ruby Midge Dropper (size 18).”
John also said, “Last week I wrote about handling the
shuttle for my wife, Lori, her sister, Terri, and her
niece, Brooke. They had a great time floating the
Buffalo but did not catch many fish. Terri’s husband,
Larry, wanted their daughter, Brooke, to have a good
day of fishing, so I agreed to take them out in the
boat.
“The next day we began the best way we could, by
having breakfast at the White Sands Cafe, located four
blocks from my home in Cotter. I left while they were
still savoring another cup of coffee to hook up my
boat and head to Rim Shoals to get everything ready
for a day’s fishing.
“I launched my boat and rigged up a couple of fly rods
with size 14 Copper John Nymphs and ruby Midge
Droppers. The water was gin clear, with a moderate
flow of about 3,000 cfs, or the rough equivalent of
one generator. It was a bright, sunny day with
temperatures in the mid-80s. There were moderate winds
and we had the place to ourselves. I would consider it
near-perfect conditions.
“Larry, Terri and Brooke arrived just as I finished
rigging the last rod. Lori stayed at home to care for
our Labrador retrievers. When I have three anglers in
the boat, I only allow two to fish at the same time,
with the other angler responsible for netting trout. I
concentrated on handling the boat and dealt with
problems. Larry was more interested in Brooke catching
trout, so he decided not to fish and to concentrate on
netting trout.
“Terri was into a nice trout almost immediately. She
maintained her hot hand for the entire trip. Brooke
hooked up but lost the fish. This happened several
times. She had not fished for a while and she was not
aggressive enough when setting the hook. Larry and I
coached her and she hooked a fat 19-inch rainbow. Once
she broke the ice, she got the feel of it and began
catching trout after trout. She did well but never
caught up with Terri. What Brooke lacked in numbers,
she made up for in size. She caught the three largest
trout. We fished a few hours and managed to bring over
20 nice trout to the net.
“I put the boat back on the trailer, stowed my gear
and headed home. I sat down in my leather chair and
relaxed for a minute. Lori came in and said that
Terri, Larry and Brooke wanted us to join them at
Whispering Woods for lunch. This is my favorite spot
for lunch. I had a bowl of onion soup, a Caesar salad
and a slice of carrot cake. It doesn’t get better than
that.
“We sat on the patio and drank coffee while we looked
at the lake. It was a perfect end to a great day.”
Bull Shoals Lake
For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time outflow
report from Bull Shoals Dam, visit the Corps’ Little
Rock office website.
(updated 7-6-2023) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake Boat
Dock said Wednesday that the lake level is steady at
normal pool of 659 feet msl. Water temperature is
around 85 degrees. “It’s getting hot! Bass activity
seems to be in the 10-25 feet range. I’m spending lots
of time graphing offshore checking summer spots,
swings points, bluffs, and also brush piles, drops and
ledges. Shad are spread out everywhere and there’s a
June bug hatch. Look in large creeks early in cloudy,
warm, windy rainwater. Power fish a Chatterbait,
Flopper early or fish a big worm or Beaver in any of
the laydowns. There’s a big Texas-rigged redworm bite.
If it gets slow, move out, and as you move out try
points by cracking a tube or stroking a Jewel
half-ounce Special Ops football jig in green pumpkin
orange. Also try perch colors in the 20- to 30-foot
range. It’s main lake or close to it time. In sunny,
clear water use natural colors in small profile baits
and look at ledges; keep the boat off the fish. Start
early with a topwater and as it slows, a small 2.8
McMinnow is still working. Once the sun gets up
drop-shot a Robo Worm on piles off ledges or
suspenders; a Tater Shad will also work on the
suspenders.
Early morning topwater has slowed up a bit; try bomb
casts and look around for activity. They are schooled
up. Try a Lucky Craft Gunfish, a white Pop-R, or Zara
Spook Jr. topwater, as well as a Flutter Spoon or
Jewel Scope Spin on schoolers. Do this early morning,
or all day if it’s cloudy. If it get too hot jump in
the water – it’s fine!
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
For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time outflow
report from Norfork Dam, visit the Corps’ Little Rock
office website.
(updated 7-6-2023) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at
Blackburn’s Resort said the lake level was 556.31 feet
msl and not changed in the last 24 hours, with sluice
gates open equivalent to two-thirds of a generator
since 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. Everything had been
shut off for a couple of days. The surface water
temperature was 88 degrees and the water was clearing
after the boat churning for the holiday. It is
actually clearing rapidly. The thermocline is at 21
feet with clear water down to 19 feet. Several fish
are at this level but mostly small ones. The best bite
is after dark for bass with a black light and salt
craw, and Stripers deep with a jigging spoon. Big
bluegill are still under docks on crickets. Crappie
are slow and spooky. It is a typical summer pattern
and it is not the best, but some nice fish are being
caught every day. All fish being caught deep will die.
Visit blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve's
blog for a daily report.
(updated 6-22-2023) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway
Resort reports from Wednesday, “Happy first day of
summer! Give us a call at 870-492-5113, if you are
needing a place to stay on Norfork Lake. Hummingbird
Hideaway Resort still has a few cabins available
throughout the summer.
“Today (Wednesday) was the first day since last Friday
that I have been able to get out on the lake. I had a
pretty awesome morning of fishing. I started fishing
around 4 a.m. and landed a nice striped bass at the
second spot that I checked out. The stripers were
suspended 30-50 feet down in 100-plus-feet of water.
This fish was released and swam away very quickly. I
moved to a large flat and found a lot of fish in 25-30
feet of water at all depths.
“On my first drop of a white trash Tater Shad, a big
fish hammered the bait on the fall, but it broke off
immediately. Must have hooked on the gill plate and
cut the line. After that, I started to land one after
another big white bass. When it became light enough to
see, the fish seemed to vanish. I moved back into a
creek and found a lot of bait up high in the water
column. I checked a lot of areas in the creek and
nearby coves, but never could find anything exciting.
“I started to head toward the resort at around 8 a.m.
and decided to check out a deep bluff line with some
rocky points. Over the next hour, schools of stripers
came under the boat and I got to land five more
striped bass. All swam away very willingly. My best
bait in this area was the Binks three-quarter-ounce
spoon with a green back and white belly. The stripers
wanted to chase the bait. I dropped the bait down to
50 feet and when the fish swam though at 30-40 feet, I
would reel up as fast as I could. I would see three to
five fish turn out of the school to chase the bait.
Before the bait reached the surface one of the
followers would hammer the bait. Each of these fish
had lots of energy and would peel out close to 100
feet of line. I could see the fish surface in the
distance.
“What great battles these fish gave today. I was
sitting in 70-110-plus-feet of water.
“There was also quite a bit of surface activity. I
landed and released several nice largemouths. Each
time I saw bass feeding on the surface there seemed to
be stripers under them. This isn't the first time I
have noticed these two species feeding together. I
don't know if the stripers are pushing the bait up or
if they are just waiting for some leftovers from the
feeding bass.
“The Skole group also had a successful morning
fishing, landing several striped bass and largemouth
bass. They caught their fish jigging a Tater Shad and
also jigging a Ned rig. The surface water temp was
about 82 degrees. The lake level is slowly falling and
sits at 556.7 feet msl. The lake appears to be fairly
clear.
“Have a great time on Norfork Lake doing whatever
water activity that you love doing. Give us a call at
870-492-5113, if you are needing a place to stay.”
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 7-6-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Norfork Lake
fell 0.1 foot to rest at 0.3 foot over power pool of
556 feet msl and 23.7 feet below the top of flood
pool. All of the lakes are below or near power pool.
We can expect lower flows in the coming days. On the
Norfork, all turbines are inoperable for the
foreseeable future. Minimum release is being made
through the siphon at continuous flows of 185 cfs and
additional flows are made through the flood gates.
There has been much less 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). “My favorite rig has been
a cerise San Juan Worm and a ruby Midge. The fishing
is better in the morning and late afternoon and tapers
off midday.”
Dry Run Creek has fished a bit better. School is out
and can get a quite crowded, particularly on weekends.
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 7-6-2023) John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide
Service in Cotter (870-435-2169) said Crooked Creek
and the Buffalo River are fishing well. 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.
