Cotter Trout Dock Weekly Fishing Report

  May 15, 2024

More reports and other videos are on the Cotter Trout Dock Youtube Channel Page.
Below is the Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing Report May 15, 2024.

White River

(updated 5-16-2024) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said water releases from Bull Shoals Dam into the tailwater have been moderate/high over the past week. Bull Shoals Lake is continuing to rise, currently sitting at 665.65 feet msl. Water releases average three to five units (9,000 to 15,000 cfs). The Army Corps of Engineers is working to lower the lake level in the coming weeks, so stay informed about water

releases from Bull Shoals Dam if you plan to be on the White.
“We’ve had a lot of success with various spoons this past week, especially the bronze Colorado quarter-ounce spoon. Rapala Countdowns are making a real splash both from the shore and casting from a drifting john boat. White-bellied baits are working best (rainbow or brown trout CD5, or the gold/black No. 5 or No. 7).

“The browns are consistent: still demanding sculpins and maybe some shad for dessert; still remaining near the bottom and center of the stream during high, high water days. When the water level is high, drop a line close to the water’s edge near grassy banks — the bite should be excellent since the trout are hanging out near fresh food sources.

“The weathermen promise warmer temperatures beginning Saturday. Remember to keep your baits and line clean of sunscreen; trout don’t like it. Sunscreen is a blessing when used on anglers but can sabotage your fishing day if mixed up with your tackle. We want you to be successful, safe and enjoy your time in The Natural State of Arkansas.”

(updated 5-16-2024) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said this has been another great week of fishing. “We have seen depths as high as 8.5 feet and as low as 5 feet. The water clarity has remained good with some occasional dinginess, but mainly clear. The favored bait this week remains Uncommon Baits UV eggs with corn or shrimp. The higher water depths have made using artificial lures minimally effective, with some success with deeper-diving lures such as Rapala Shad Raps in shad colors. Larger jigs have been effective due to their size and ability to get to the bottom. Dark colors (black, brown or olive) with a dash of bright red or yellow has resulted in some nice rainbows and browns. 

“We are expecting another round of rain Thursday night and through Friday morning with possibly an inch or more of rain. Keep an eye on the Buffalo River; if it starts rising very much, we have the possibility of very dingy to muddy water later on Friday and into Saturday.
“This week we received one stocking of rainbow trout at the Calico Rock boat ramp.” 

 

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 5-16-2024) Fishing guide Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake (815-592-4302) said the lake level is 665 feet (6 feet above normal pool) “and rising! Table Rock opened the floodgates. Temps are around 70 degrees, give or take, with warmer water in the dirty areas. Bass are for the most part post-spawn. There are definitely enough bushes in the water now. Fishing has been good, but it will definitely slow down after a storm front. Be sure to fish the conditions.”
And here’s how to tackle those conditions, according to Del: If it’s cloudy, rainy and windy you can powerfish shad-style baits, square bills, spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits in the dirty runoff. Cover water on windblown transition banks, swings and in and around the old creek channel. If it’s flat and sunny, hit swings and secondary points out from spawning pockets. Try green pumpkin or puke Ned rigs or tubes, Carolina-rig or a shaky head, or hit the shoreline floating a worm or a Senko on fry-guarders, or flip the bushes with a Beaver-style bait, or a Jewel Flippin’ Jig. 

The rise in water level is going to make that bite tough. Green pumpkin orange/red variants are the best colors. On tough days or with clear water you’re going to want to keep the boat out deep, 25 feet, and slow down. If your fishing dirty, you can get real skinny. The shad balls are definitely broken up with the generation, so if you’re fishing open water you’re going to have to pay attention — a lot of fish are still in pockets if shad are present. There’s been a shad spawn here and there. Try a 2.8 swimbait, spoon, fluke, and topwaters are starting. Also wake baits and the Lucky Craft Gunfish are starting to produce; all of these should be in white or natural shad to work best.

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 5-16-2024) Southernwalleye Guide Service (501-365-1606) reports that with the rising water, walleye fishing seems to have slowed a bit. Fishing methods have not changed much. If contour trolling, try shad-style baits or small Banada-style baits in 8-14 feet water. Slide out to deeper water, 20-25 feet, after daylight. If open water trolling for suspended fish, it’s the same as last week: Find shad and try trolling with snap weights from 35-50 feet deep over 80 feet or more of water while using Berkley No. 9 Flicker Minnows, No. 7 Flicker Shads. Rapala Deep Husky Jerks and Reef Runner 800, or Bandit deep-divers series, trolled over the old river channel at 1.2 to 1.8 mph should put some fish in the boat.

Have had reports that jigging spoon fishing has also been another tactic that’s working. Casting a half-ounce spoon into 15 feet and hopping it off the bottom and back into about 30 feet might also get you a few fish.

(updated 5-16-2024) Crappie 101 Guide Service (870-577-2045) reports that crappie have backed out on brush and are starting to really disperse with the water level coming up. “We’ve found them on shallower as well as deep brush, a lot of smaller fish, as big ones are harder to come by. Still catching them on sixteenth-ounce or eighth-ounce jigs with Tater Baits small fry-style bait as well as minnows.

 

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

(updated 5-2-2024) Lou Gabric at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort (870-492-5113)

said Wednesday, “It was a pretty good early morning of fishing for me and others. I have been fishing the night shift as I have needed to be back at the resort no later than 7:30 a.m. So, I have been starting to fish at 3 a.m. Sleep is overrated. 

“You have heard it before, if you find the bait you will find the fish, especially if the bait is spawning. That was the case today. I found large schools of bait that attached their eggs to my boat and trolling motor. Little bumps all over it. The bait was 20 feet thick from the surface to 20 feet down. The stripers were 10-25 feet down. I dropped a key lime Tater Baits Tater Shad,through the baitfish very slowly and the fish picked it up on the fall. What a blast! I also was casting out my 3.5-inch swimbait through the baitfish and got to land this nice 17-pound striped bass. It was a heavy, hard fighting fish. I landed four other stripers with many white bass and a nice 20-inch walleye. John, an angler guest of the resort, was fishing another part of the lake and had great success. He was casting out a Tater Shad, letting it sink, then giving it a twitch and the fish would hammer it. Other Hummingbird Hideaway Resort guests had guided trips Wednesday with Norfork Bayou Fishing and Rising Water Guide Service. Both had success on the topwater bite in different parts of the lake and had a lot of fun.”

The surface water temperature was a little over 67 degrees in the main lake. The lake level is on a slow rise due to all the rain that our watershed received from up in Missouri. The lake level currently sits at 555.84 feet msl.

“We have cabins available throughout the spring and summer. Give us a call to make your fishing and/or family vacation plans. Happy fishing and enjoy Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks!”

Lou posts fishing reports almost every day to his blog on the Hummingbird Hideaway Resort webpage.

(updated 5-2-2024) Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at Blackburn’s Resort and Boat Rental said the lake level was 555.92 feet msl and has risen 1.75 inches in the last 24 hours with the one operating generator running for about 8 hours and spillway gates open to an equivalent of another one-third of a generator when he came in at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The rise is from the heavy rain from the Norfork River Basin in the Ava, Missouri, area. It is up 2.3 feet since last week but has not hurt anything as far as fishing is concerned. There is some small debris floating out from the shore in the creeks but the main lake is still very clear. Almost too clear. The surface water temperature is 67 degrees in the main lake and 70 in the creeks. The topwater bite has started and will really get better when the threadfin shad spawn starts and it will be soon. They like 70-degree-plus water. Next week will be a good time to catch fish. Fish shadowy banks part way back in the creeks on creature baits for bass. Many crappie, bluegill, bass and catfish just moved in under Blackburn’s dock Wednesday. Things are changing quickly. This is the time. 

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