Cotter Trout Dock Weekly Fishing Report

February 28, 2024

More reports and other videos are on the Cotter Trout Dock Youtube Channel Page.
Below is the Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing Report February 28, 2024.

White River

(updated 2-29-2024) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said there’s nothing average or typical about the weather this February, and there are no average days on the White River: all are memorable! Counting rainbows, watching for colorful cutthroats or taking time to hook into a sensational — no ordinary days here. Water levels have been a little erratic, starting out low, rising in late morning, then dropping a couple of hours later. Releases from minimum flow (700 cfs) to over five units (15,000 cfs) were pretty regular over the last week. The lake has risen over the last few weeks but is still 2 feet below its normal power pool of 659 feet msl, currently sitting at 657.61 feet msl.
Expect cold early mornings and a welcome rise in the temperature, sometimes already into the 70s. But March is coming and we can expect changes.

The brown bite has alternated between sculpins and minnows with minnows closing in as a close second for the best bait this week. That trusty sculpin has beat out any secret baits you might have tried. Nightcrawlers proved their worth for bank fishermen, and dragging a scented pink or pink and white worm worked well angling from the john boats in medium or higher water levels. We’ve met our limit with spinners as well as the always successful shrimp/egg pattern bait. We especially liked the Blue Fox: the 3/16-ounce spinner with a rainbow blade and pink bell, played about a foot or 2 below the surface produced more than a few smiles.

Remember to keep an eye on the possibility of rising water levels on the Bull Shoals tailwater. It can change quickly; don’t be caught careless. Regardless of water level, remember: Big fish like big bait. 

March will be blowing in before we know it, so don’t be surprised by some gusty days, just carry more weight on your line and keep on anglin’.

(updated 2-29-2024) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said that over the last week we have seen river conditions as high as 8 feet or more last Thursday to a low under 3 feet this Wednesday. In addition, from Monday to Wednesday the wind caused the river to be choppy. During the higher water when the water had some dinginess, drift-fishing with Uncommon Baits Ultraviolet Eggs tipped with shrimp with an in-line spinner has been effective for catching a limit of rainbow trout. With the lower water, using lures such as quarter-ounce Colorado spoons in nickel/gold or CD 7 Rapala Countdowns in rainbow or silver color worked best. During the windy conditions, drift-fishing was difficult but 1/16-ounce jigs in dark colors worked well for both rainbow trout and brown trout. 

(updated 2-1-2024) John Berry, veteran angler and retired guide/owner in Cotter, said the White has had a lot of wadable water. The catch-and-release section below Bull Shoals Dam has reopened after being closed for three months for the brown trout spawn. Night fishing in the area is allowed now, too. On the White, the hot spot has been The Narrows. They 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 San Juan Worm with an egg dropper with plenty of lead.

John also said, “Recently, I wrote a column about a fishing buddy that had a bad day, which included him falling and breaking his rod. I had breakfast with him today and explained that I was not trying to demean him in any way, but to show other anglers that this happens to all of us. In fact, during breakfast I began going through the list of my broken rods. It was longer than I imagined. It should be noted that better fly rods and reels come with significant warranties and ask few questions about what happened. There is a handling fee.
“The first rod I broke was my first fly rod, a Fenwick fiberglass rod. I was parked in the pasture at McClellan’s trout dock and I accidently closed the hatch of my Bronco on it, turning a two-piece fly rod into a three piece. By this time, I was beginning to fish only graphite fly rods and I did not bother to have it repaired.
“The next rod I broke was a Sage graphite rod with an Orvis CFO reel. I was fishing the upper Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. At the end of the day I put my rod and reel on top of the Rent A Wreck we were using. I stowed the rest of my gear in the car and we drove off. The rod and reel were still on the roof of the car. I heard a clunk and turned to watch in horror as a pickup ran over my rod and reel. It was a mess. I sent the rod to Sage and it cost $25 and took three months to fix my rod and $10 and a couple of weeks to replace my reel.
“Next I put a Sage rod into a ceiling fan in a motel room in Mammoth Spring before a night-fishing trip to the Spring River. It cost $30 this time to get it repaired.
“Unfortunately my next victim was my wife’s Orvis. It is Lori’s first rod and she loves it. I closed the hatch of my Volvo station wagon on it. That one cost me $35 and took two months.
“I broke a Temple Fork Outfitter rod on a kayak float trip down the Norfork Tailwater. I had attached the rod to the boat to prevent its loss. We sought shelter in a covered dock to escape a heavy pop-up thunderstorm where I accidently banged against the dock, which snapped the tip off. It took $25 and a week to get the rod repaired.
“My clients accounted for four TFOs that I use for my client rods. They were broken on fish, on the deck of the boat, wading the White and just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The cost to repair them rose from $25 to $48 over time but they still take a week to repair.
“Finally, there is a Winston rod. For the life of me, I cannot remember the incident. I only remember that it took a long time to get it back.
“In fly fishing, your rods take a hit. They are fragile, but most rods can be repaired at little cost and a bit of time.”

 

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 2-29-2024) Fishing guide Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake said Wednesday’s lake level was 657 feet msl. The Army Corps of Engineers has been running some water in the mornings. The water temp is ranging 51-56 degrees. “Bass fishing has been up and down with the weather and I expect the water temp to drop a little with the cold front.”
Del recommends a powerfishing approach if it’s cloudy, rainy and windy covering water with a Rock Crawler, Wiggle Wart or square bill in red/orange variations. Look for windblown, shady, ledgy or chunk rock banks and steeper swings. Fish are biting in 5-15 feet. “I’m going halfway into the creeks. Covering water. You can always catch them on a jig in green pumpkin variations and peanut butter and jelly, or a little red flapping hog. Try piles, ledges and wood areas close to shad balls or even close to spawning areas in south-facing pockets protected from the cold north winds. The jig bite can vary 5-25 feet day to day. A shaky head will get you bit on tough days.
“I feel a lot the fish are still looking up, so I’m still scoping and the shad seem to have spread out again, moving back into in the bigger creeks, arms and mouths of pockets holding down in the 60-70 feet range, and then they are spread out up high everywhere. Graph, graph and graph. Drop a small shad Damiki, Tater Shad or Thump Shad and change head size according to depth. A swimbait will fool some. Also a fluke on high shad balls or a jerkbait in white or shad colors is working for me. Loons and gulls are in the area; you better pay attention. Every day is different. White bass and walleye are close to moving up to spawn.
Del regularly posts new YouTube videos. Visit his YouTube site (Bull Shoals Lake Fishing Report) for more  information and tips on fishing Bull Shoals Lake.

(updated 2-29-2024) Southern Walleye Guide Service reports that walleyes for the most part are still deep under or around shad 50-60 feet deep on the lower lake section and larger creeks. Starting to see fish around known spawning areas, but they have been slow to take baits. Some fish seem to be making their way up to spawning areas up in the bigger tributaries (Theodosia and Power Site areas) to the warmer flowing waters.
Rapala Ice Jigs and spoons are still the ticket. Jerkbaits and small shad style crankbaits fished like a jerkbait should be producing in the near future if weather stays warm. If trolling, try stick baits slow and shallow during low light periods in 8-14 ft water. Trolling at .85 to 1.2 mph should produce a few fish. 

Most crappie are in the creeks now. We’ve caught them feeding and sitting on brush mainly and anywhere from 10-30 feet deep. Jig bite is still doing well throwing a 1/16- to ⅛-ounce jig with Tater Shad Jr. in the Purple Monkey or Bayou Magic colors, and minnows are doing well, also.

 

Norfork Lake
For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time outflow report from Norfork Dam, visit the Corps’ Little Rock office website. 

(updated 2-29-2024) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at Blackburn’s Resort and Boat Rental said the lake level was 553.65 feet msl and had dropped three-quarters of an inch in the last 24 hours with the one operating generator running from about 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Wednesday. The White River at Newport is 6.80 feet and dropping and is very low. Not much water is being released into the White River anywhere. The wind has been incessant for three days and finally laid down last evening about 4 p.m. The surface water temperature is 50 degrees on the main lake and in the low 50s in the creeks. The water is stained green in the creeks and fairly clear on the main lake, and “Scuba Steve” said he could see his lure down about 7 feet. It is very clear near the shore.
The trollers have switched from fishing for white bass and small stripers to dragging umbrellas, live bait and crankbaits along the shoreline outside of brush piles for anything that will bite. The walleye are starting to move back downstream from the spawn and the white bass are heading up the river. Some black bass and crappie have moved back into the creeks, but not a lot. “I am still catching them on main lake brush in 23 feet of water on a jig. The lake overall is in excellent condition and at a good level, but fishing is just fair with the cold fronts continuously coming through.” 

Visit blackburnsresort.com and click on Scuba Steve’s blog for daily updates. 

(updated 2-29-2024) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort said Wednesday was a nonfishing day for him. He posts fishing reports almost every day on Hummingbird Hideaway Resort’s Facebook page but on Wednesday the wind was howling and the temperature had dropped into the low 30s.
“Tomorrow is still to be cold, but then spring reappears,” he said. “Our guests were out fishing (Tuesday). All had a lot of fun and caught fish. Three different groups fished the area where I had been fishing and caught striped bass by casting out Kastmasters. All had a few lost fish during the battles. You have to remember to always keep pressure on the fish while fighting them. It is hard to get a good hookset sometimes and any slack in the line will let the lure fall out of the fish’s mouth. I am sure you have heard this before: Pull the rod up gently then reel down quickly. If the fish starts to run, hold on, then start the pull-up-reel process again once the run stops.
“Another couple of our guests fished with Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters and landed some nice fish on live bait. I went out yesterday and checked out several new areas, but really never found any signs of striped bass. I did see some schools of what I was thinking were crappie. It is close to the time that trolling Berkley Flicker Minnows works. So, I gave it a shot. I didn’t get many crappie, but did hook into one fat 14-inch crappie. I landed quite a few small spotted bass and 2 very nice largemouth bass. The bass hit the No. 7 Flicker Minnow and the crappie hit the No. 9 size bait. I was trolling back in creeks and coves and checked out both the channel side of the creek as well as the shallower side. The bass were coming off of the deeper side of the coves near rocky points. I went over many brush piles but didn’t see much on them. The schools I was marking were a good 100 feet away from the brush.
“As the water temp rises, more and more fish and bait will move out of the main lake into the creeks and coves. Mid-morning I headed to a main lake area that had been holding white bass and hybrid/stripers. I landed one hybrid and a boatload of big white bass. I ended up cleaning three of the whites and the crappie for dinner Wednesday.”
The water temp yesterday morning was 50-51 degrees. The lake depth has been fairly stable and sits at the current normal seasonal pool of 553.75 feet msl. “If you are needing a place to stay, give us a call at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort, 870-492-5113, for reservations. March, April and May are great months to fish Norfork Lake and the weather is typically a little more predictable. Happy fishing and enjoy Norfork Lake.”

Lou posts fishing reports almost every day on Hummingbird Hideaway Resort’s Facebook page.