Cotter Trout Dock Weekly Fishing Report
April 17, 2024
More reports and other videos are on the Cotter Trout Dock Youtube Channel Page.
Below is the Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing Report April 17, 2024.
White River
(updated 4-18-2024) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said when the early morning mist is on the river, it’s a perfect time to lay a line on the water and wait for that first tug. The river level has returned to a fairly consistent flow of less than one generator (2,000 cfs). Bull Shoals Lake is currently 2 feet below power pool at 657.73 msl.
Try any rainbow bait, especially the Mepps spinner or the silver Blue Fox both with the rainbow blade — they’re attracting a lot of attention since the recent rain. Turn to the old faithful baits: the red-gold Thomas Buoyant Spoon caused a splash this past week, and the ever-successful shrimp/PowerBait brought in rainbows left and right. Keep your bait near the bottom and expect the bite nearer the bank.
If you’re not having any luck, try something different right away; change up the color you’re using or even just reverse the order. The catch has been especially good this past week for browns. Although most were not officially ‘trophies’, there were many that fell just an inch or two short of the 24-inch requirement to earn a catch-and-release pin. The bait of choice was, again, sculpins, but crawdads are crawling out of the mud and adding to the mix.
Low-water times have been great for fly-fishers with many wading opportunities opening up. Can’t miss with a silver/red midge. You’ll see hatches most every day with these sunny afternoons. Don’t forget: the river level can change fast, so keep an eye on the water level if wade fishing.
(updated 4-18-2024) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said they’’ve seen clear water with depths as high as 7 feet on Saturday and Monday and depths as low as 4 feet Tuesday and Wednesday morning. A lot of moss, sticks and limbs were in the water when it came up. This week the go-to bait has been Uncommon Baits UV eggs in neo pink or bright orange with shrimp and silver in-line spinners. During lower water, anglers saw a lot of success with ¼-ounce gold spoons or CD5 Rapala Countdowns in rainbow trout color. Fishing with dark-colored jigs (black, olive or brown with a splash of additional color) resulted in some nice rainbows and brown trout, including a beautiful 28.25-inch brown. The brown trout bite continues to be going strong. This week trout biologist Kent Coffey used the AGFC stocking raft to stock 4800 rainbow trout between the Calico Rock boat ramp and the Round Bottom boat ramp. The stocking included many average 11-inch trout as well as some larger fish than normal.
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 4-18-2024) Fishing guide Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake said reports the lake level is 657 msl. Surface water temps are around 61 degrees, depending on where you are at. Bass are in pre-spawn, spawn and a few are in post-spawn already. On cloudy days, focus on crankbaits, chatterbaits and other power-fishing techniques. Cover a lot of water and be sure to hit windblown transition banks near creek channel swings. If it’s calm and sunny, slow down and fish swings, points and secondary points with Jewel peewee jigs, green pumpkin tubes, Carolina rigs, shakey heads and Ned rigs. In clear water keep the boat out deep (25-30 feet) and slow down. In dirty water you can get real shallow if it’s warm. The shad balls are definitely broken up, so open water anglers should pay attention and cast 2.8 swimbaits and flukes in white or natural shad colors.
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 4-18-2024) Southernwalleye Guide Service reports that walleyes are getting more active during daylight hours. Night fishing also is good, especially the smaller male walleye on main lake points and secondary points on 5-inch 110 style jerkbaits. Stickbaits or shad-style cranks trolled just before dark and just after daybreak in 8 to 14 feet of water are working as well. Slide out to deeper water (20-40 feet) after daylight. If open-water trolling for suspended fish, find shad and try trolling from 25-40 feet deep over 80 feet of water with Berkley no. 9 flicker minnows or no. 7 flicker Shads. Troll over the old river channel at 1.2 to 1.8 mph, and that should put some fish in the boat.
(updated 4-18-2024) Crappie 101 Guide Service reports crappie are mostly staged on shallow brush now and the males are blackening up nicely. Swimming a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce jig with a small fry bait or the Tater Baits Thump Minnow right over top of the brush has been working as well as minnows and bobbers.
Norfork Lake
For the Army Corps of Engineers’ real-time outflow report from Norfork Dam, visit the Corps’ Little Rock office website.(updated 4-18-2024) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at Blackburn’s Resort and Boat Rental said the lake level is 553.67. They have been running the one operable generator for about 8-hours in a 24-hour period and have been very reluctant to drop the level below the top of the power pool of 553.75. The White River at Newport is 6.89 feet and very low indicating not much water is being released into the White River anywhere. There is pollen all over the lake and it looks stained, but just a couple of feet below the surface it is very clear. The surface water temperature was 66 on the main lake and 68 in the back of Blackburns Creek. There are a lot of crappie under the shallower docks back in the creeks. There have been reports of a shad spawn but I have not seen any of it quite yet. It usually happens in 70-degree water. Bass are coming up in the mornings making some people think the shad spawn is on. Norfork Lake overall is in excellent condition and at a good level and fishing is getting better every day. Black Bass. Walleye and Crappie are the best right now. White Bass are picking up nicely. Top-water stripers will be good very soon. It is an exciting time.
(updated 4-4-2024) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort said that Tuesday was a fun morning of fishing on Norfork Lake. “I waited until the radar was clear of thunderstorms and made it out on the lake at around 4 a.m. The light rain was not over, but there was no thunder or lightning in the area anymore. Warm weather and virtually no wind — just how I like it when I am fishing in the dark. I started on a main lake point on the shallow side of the lake. I had caught several short walleyes in this area yesterday morning. This morning nothing was happening so I moved across the lake close to where the channel was swinging into a small cut in the rocks. I was sitting in more than 60 feet of water. I was casting in toward the shoreline using a 3.5-inch Paddle Tail Swimbait in a Sexy Shad color pattern on a three-eighth-ounce chartreuse jighead. I started counting down 3-4 seconds and it did not take long to land three nice walleyes. I could see fish down at about 30-40 feet on my LiveScope. I tried jigging for them with a Tater Shad but they would look and then swim away. I switched to casting my swimbait and counting down 7-8 seconds. The white bass hit this bait with each cast. It was starting to get light out and I had not found any striped bass yet. I headed back into a creek where I was fishing last week. I was near a deepwater channel swing next to a point. There were striped bass and white bass in the area 30-60 feet down. I managed to land one striped bass and more white bass. The stripers were being finicky and swam up to my Tater Shad quickly, then stopped and swam away.
“LiveScope is amazing! You can actually see these fish and what they are doing. It can get a little frustrating to see the fish looking at my bait and not taking it (lol).
“I had to be back at the resort by 8:30 so I headed home at about 8 a.m. I was fishing the mid-lake area for my third spot. The main lake surface water temp was 58-60 degrees and the creek was slightly above 60 degrees. The lake continues its slow, steady fall and sits at 554.23 feet msl. The lake is clearing up nicely.
“I ended up cleaning the walleye, striper and half of the white bass that I caught (Tuesday). One of my workers was doing some painting and wanted some fish. I gave him a couple of gallon-sized zip-seal bags stuffed full of fillets.”
Lou says they have cabins available throughout the spring and summer. “Give us a call to make your fishing and/or family vacation plans, 870-492-5113. Happy fishing and enjoy Norfork Lake.”Lou posts fishing reports almost every day to his blog on the Hummingbird Hideaway Resort webpage.