Cotter Trout Dock Weekly Fishing Report

  September 24, 2025

More reports and other videos are on the Cotter Trout Dock Youtube Channel Page.
Below is the Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing Report September 24, 2025.

White River

Cotter Area
(updated 9-25-2025) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said, “Trout fishing the White River in the Arkansas Ozarks near Cotter is the best way to remember and experience a mellow September. Between the rush of school starting and before holiday busyness, carve out some time to come float the river; shake off the world for a day or two. Catch rainbows (trout and otherwise) and see if you can’t hook into a lunker brown or two.”
Releases from Bull Shoals Dam are at one unit or less (3,000 cfs) with a burst in the late evening bringing the river level to 16,000 cfs (five units) for an hour or two. The lake is slowly dropping and currently is at 660.52 feet msl.

Wade anglers will find many accessible locations. Be alert and always have an exit plan if you see a change in water level. John boaters will find it slow and go, a must-stay in the main channel of the river. There’s lots of fishing waters here (and lots of trout); share the space and extend a hand to fellow anglers.

Any pink, scented egg bait (Berkley PowerBait or XFactor) and shrimp are reliable baits to provide a lot of action for rainbows. Peach and brown flashy baits (⅛-ounce marabou or D2 jigs, 1/8-ounce), gold Cleos or bronze Colorado Spoons were a sure bet this past week. Catch a sculpin and bait your hook for browns. Crawdads are still causing a stir and should be great bait for at least another month before it gets too cold.

“Good luck, enjoy the catch, and we’ll see you on the river!”

 

Calico Rock Area
(updated 9-25-2025) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said, “We have seen varied river levels last Thursday through Saturday. We saw levels as high as 6.5 feet and lows around 4.5 feet. On Sunday and Monday, we saw anywhere from 4 to 5 feet. Tuesday and Wednesday, we returned to levels as high as 6.5 feet. With the lower water levels, we saw a lot of success with quarter-ounce Thompson Colorado Spoons in nickel/gold with some guide trips catching close to 100 rainbows in a day. Other artificial lures that worked well were Rapala Countdown CD7 rainbow trout colors or brown trout colors, or any lure that provided a flash in the water. 

“We needed the rains we got Tuesday and Wednesday. As of Wednesday evening, the rains have had minimal effect on the river in Calico Rock. The Buffalo River was rising Wednesday night, and we expect the river to be muddy Thursday and potentially Friday.”

 

Allison/Mountain View Area
(updated 6-19-2025) Jack’s White River Fishing Resort reports that the White River guides — Bart, Braiden, Caleb, Chris and Irvin all consistently limited out on rainbow trout throughout the week with excellent success across the board. Among the highlights: 17-inch rainbows were landed on multiple outings — a great size and exciting for anglers; the guides round excellent results using End of the Line TR Orange and Royal Blue Power Eggs and Jack’s handmade hammered silver spinners — this winning combo brought solid bites in varied conditions.

The river has been fluctuating with periods of high, muddy water due to heavy rainfall and dam generation cycles. At times, conditions cleaned up between flow events, giving guides confidence to run drift rigs and spinners.

 

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 9-25-2025) Fishing guide Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake said Wednesday night that lake level is 659 feet msl and the bushes are about right. Water temperature is 79 degrees, give or take. “Bass fishing has been up and down just like the weather. I’m guessing we are going to be getting a rise with the recent rain. Fall bass fishing patterns are starting. The shad are starting the fall migration into the creeks. Best to get up early to look for surface activity. There are shad balls high toward the surface, down to 45 feet now. 

“Topwater has been hit or miss. Try a small popper or Spook in natural colors. For power fishermen, get up for lowlight and cover water. Try a Whopper Plopper or buzzbait on the bank, as well as a toad-style bait if it’s sunny — fish the conditions, follow the wind. Largemouth bass are really grouped up. If you’re lucky, you might get more than one up there.
“With the rain, look for some inflow or color in the water. Throw a spinnerbait, square bill or Chatterbait. The shad are heading that way. It’s good when we get some clouds and rain coming in. If the sun comes out, try a shaky head in trees and brushpiles. There are always fish to be caught on a jig like a Jewel half-ounce Peewee; try green pumpkin variants. On the bluffs, ends of bluffs, swings, long runout points along the channel, try pulling off ledges. A lot of the suspended fish are schooled up chasing shad. The shad are spread out from the backs of the creeks to the main lake. Look for larger groups of shad close to structure. Feeding windows seem to be short-lived. Try a drop-shot for bluebird post-frontal suspended fish. A smaller 2.8 swimbait or shake a minnow if they are up active, and a regular Tater Shad on suspended fish. A half-ounce Skinny Minner Spoon will come in handy. 

“Fall junk fishing has started. Make the best of it and ‘Fish the conditions.’”

(updated 9-25-2025) Southernwalleye Guide Service said the walleye fishing methods on the lower end of the lake have not changed much again this past week. The larger schools of fish seem to be scattering out and are in and around the thermocline on gravel main lake points and secondary points with deeper water close by. Lots of smaller walleye and limits of nice legal-size walleye are being caught. If the sun is high and wind is light, fish just a little deeper and away from the boat. Fish in 28-38 feet of water with spinnerbaits and crawler rigs with small Colorado or a Mack’s Smile butterfly blade, or work a jig and crawler or drop-shot a live crawler. A half-ounce to 1-ounce white or chrome jigging spoon, or No. 5 Rapala Jigging Rap in the blue chrome color, at those depths, has been working as well.

When trolling, try a size 5 or 7 Flicker Shad or size 9 Flicker Minnow, and also a half-ounce Hot n Tot, in 28-38 feet of water. Trolling at 1.7 to 2.0 mph seems to be a good speed at this time to get a reaction bite.

(updated 9-25-2025) Crappie 101 Guide Service says crappie are setting up nicely in the brushpiles in the creeks. Look for brush 20-30 feet. Fish may be above the pile or buried in it, depending on the day. We’re seeing the bite be a little finicky at times as we’re also seeing tons of bait around the brush as well. A 1/16-ounce jig with small fry bait such as Taterbaits Big Ego color has been working, 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 9-11-2025) Tom Reynolds said recently that the lake was scheduled to reach its normal pool level on Sept. 15. With the very hot weather and warm water, along with low oxygen conditions on Norfork, Tom was not planning to provide updated reports until conditions improved.
In his most recent report in August, Tom had said the stripers appeared stressed due to low oxygen and hot water. At that time, the lake water was in the high 80s, almost 90 degrees, late in the afternoon throughout most of August. The oxygen level has been very low for this time of year, and the oxygen will only get worse as the lake is lower and with little rain. Based on history, the stripers will shut down, and the bite will continue to decline unless the oxygen bubble bursts.
The stripers were beginning to shut down earlier in August; they kept moving to deeper water, but the oxygen was very low for this time of year.

“The best opportunity for stripers will be the upper section of Norfork, where the river ends and the lake begins. Cool water continues to flow south, but heavy rains would cause the stripers to migrate as the water cools. Right now, you can entice them using very active live bait. They do not seem to be interested in spoons or swimbaits right now.”