Cotter Trout Dock Weekly Fishing Report

  April 29, 2026

More reports and other videos are on the Cotter Trout Dock Youtube Channel Page.
Below is the Arkansas Game and Fish Fishing Report April 29, 2026.

White River

Cotter Area
(updated 4-30-2026) Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said trout fishing has been spectacular this week with perfect spring weather to match — morning temps in the low 60s, some overcast but mostly clear skies, afternoons a little warmer, sometimes a brief shower. Bull Shoals Dam has been running minimum flow most of each day, then higher flows late afternoon and early evening. Steady daytime flows cause less stress to the trout than frequent changes to the generation amounts.

The Cotter catch has been high quality this week: 16- to 20-inch rainbows are not uncommon, and the keepers (under 14 inches) are healthy and fat. Trout fishing is best with smaller hooks (size 8 or 6) — use bronze hooks, not gold, and flatten the barbs for easy, painless releases. Seems you couldn’t go wrong with a Vibrax Blue Fox. Try the silver 3/16-ounce spinner with a rainbow blade. In addition, the word on the river is “Rooster Tails are catching!” Gold blades, black bodies.

Crawdad season is here; fresh crawdads are nice but sometimes hard to find, so pick up a Rebel Teeny Craw or two as a great way to outwit the trout. The browns have been biting shad and sculpins, especially when they have some color to them.
“Come enjoy an Ozark spring day and you’ll be hooked. See you on the river!”

 

Calico Rock Area
(updated 4-30-2026) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said, “Late last week we saw some amazing fishing with low and clear water. Quarter-ounce Thomas Colorado Nickel/Gold Spoons were very effective as well as Other lures such as the Rapala Countdown CD5 in rainbow or brown trout colors, Dynamic J-Spec in glimmer trout or brown trout, or Dynamic HD in ghost brown. Over the weekend we saw higher and dingier water. In the morning we fished downriver to stay ahead of the rising water and then in the afternoon we fished upriver to catch the cleaner water as the river dropped. During the higher water times, we saw success with drift-fishing with inline spinners, eggs (try different colors until you find what the trout prefer that day) and shrimp, worms or corn. 

“It was nice to get the rain over the last week. It has brought some cooler mornings and some comfortable afternoon temperatures.” 

 

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 4-30-2026) Fishing guide Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake said Wednesday that the lake level remains at 655 feet msl and water temperature is 66 degrees, give or take. “The lake is still low. April has been good catching for everyone. Moss is starting to break up. Not all, but a lot of the fish are post-spawn. We will probably get the shad spawn going again, hopefully.”

Powerfishermen are still catching on the right day: wind/clouds/rain/stain with spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits. Look for runoff. The shad are moving so you have to keep an eye out. Topwater has started; try smaller Zara Spook-style baits or poppers. A small Tater Swimbait or Mayor is working in natural colors. “I’ve been using the Jewel Shad Spoon or traditional fluke if they are busting, or try your favorite minnow to shake around the shad.
“If the conditions are flat water and post-front flat bluebird and sunny, it will get tough, especially after all the stormfronts. I will slow down, downsize and get off the bank and bomb cast with lighter fluorocarbon line. Try a finesse Jewel Pee-Wee Jig in green pumpkin orange. Also, a Bass Whacker is working, as well as a green pumpkin shaky head and a Ned rig. Time to start checking points and pockets in 5-25 feet. 

“The tube guys’ wobble headers, hula grubbers, Senkos and Carolina riggers are slowing down. The post-spawn fish are moving back out and wolf-packing or grouping up. Remember: ‘Fish the conditions!’” 

(updated 4-30-2026) Southernwalleye Guide Service said the fishing this past week has been fair in the morning and a little better in the evening when the dam is moving water. Post-spawn fishing patterns seem to be taking place as water surface temperature has come up. Fish are moving with the shad and seem only to be holding on points close to them.

Look for walleye on long points close to the channel swings. Main lake and secondary points have been producing a few fish during the day.

Fish shallow in the early mornings and on cloudy days in 15-20 feet of water and deeper in 25-35 feet water if there is little or no cloud cover. 

Casting jigging spoons (⅜- to ¾-ounce), or using jigs and plastic ringworms or Ned rigs work well after the sun comes up.

If trolling, try shad-style and small banana-style baits like No. 7 Flicker Shads or No. 9 Flicker Minnow in natural colors. Trolling in 25-35 feet of water at speeds of 1.5 to 1.7 mph seems to work best.

The open-water trolling bite has been getting better. Deep-diving crankbaits like Bandits, Rapala Tail Dancers size 11 and Reef Runners trolled over the flooded forest along the old river channel will get some nice fish. 

(updated 4-30-2026) Crappie 101 Guide Service says crappie seem to be back on brush, still mixed up with a lot of short fish mixed in. Look for brush in 15-20 feet and throw a 1/16-ounce jig and a Small Fry Bait or minnows. 

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

(updated 4-23-2026) Tom Reynolds offered this pointers for spring fishing on Norfork:

“Starting in late February we typically will see the winds switch to the south and a gradual warm up of air and water temperatures. The stripers will begin to move from the deep water following the shad. There will be multiple opportunities to catch stripers at that time. Both live bait and artificial baits will be very effective. The night bite will begin once the winds blow from the south. You will want to fish the northern and northeastern banks of the bays and main lake and main arm points. Some excellent spots are the points near Norfork Dam, Koso Bay and Point, the Hudson area, Frog Pond, Diamond Bay, Cranfield Island and the points north of the Cranfield area heading toward Red Bank Access.  
“The best time to night fish is a half-hour before dark until about 10 p.m. The best bait historically is a 5-inch or 6-inch Rogues. The color of the Rogue varies, with black/gold, clown and blue/black combinations seeming to work the best, but experiment with the colors until you find the one that works best that night. Bone color has been hot the last few years. Make long casts parallel to the bank and reel very, very slowly. A lot of the bites will be right next to the boat, so always have a big net ready. Stripers, hybrids and walleye are all active during this time. Watch the water temperature. As it moves up toward 60 degrees, the bite will get stronger. 
“During this time of year, live bait, shad and shiners are also very effective. The stripers will be roaming the shoreline looking for food. I use shad, but everything I do can be done using shiners. Most days I will run a large spread of lines. I begin with two inside planer boards, one near the shore and other out 20 to 30 yards. These board lines will have large gizzard shad in the 4- to 8-inch range. Out of the back of the boat I will have two lines with floats, shad on the hooks, with no weight at various depths from 10 to 30 feet from the floats. These lines will be set back from the boat between 30 to 60 yards. I then set out two free lines with a split shot weight on one line and nothing on the other. Both will have large shad on them and will be set 40-60 feet from the back of the boat. The last outside line will have one planer board with a large shad out 40 yards from the back of the boat. I will put out a wake bait: It is a large shad about 1 foot under the water right behind the engine. The wake bait is very effective for stripers roaming shallow water.
“As the water warms, the stripers will continue to move into the larger creeks to spawn. The magic water temperature number is 60 degrees. Your tactic to catch stripers should be to keep moving with the fish and continue to experiment with your techniques.”