Arkansas Fishing Reports 07/03/08

Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout water conditions are normal with two generators running around the clock. Trout fishing is good on spinners with a glow worm and Power Egg, countdowns and Shad Raps.

We have had yet another significant rain event and overall the reservoir levels on the White River have risen a bit. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose five tenths of a foot to rest at thirty seven and nine tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is three and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose one and four tenths of a foot to rest at twelve and five tenths of a foot above power pool or three and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two tenths of a foot to settle at eight feet above power pool or one and six tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White has been to run all eight generators around the clock with high flows both day and night. While these flows made for excellent boating, there have been few safe wading opportunities on the White. Norfork Lake has fallen four tenths of a foot to rest at twenty three and two tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or four and eight tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. The pattern has been to run one or two generators with substantial periods of no generation at night and occasionally during the morning. This made for some limited wading conditions. On the higher water, boating conditions have been excellent. It should be noted that three and a half months after the beginning of our spring floods, little progress has been made in reducing the lake levels.

Overall, the fishing has been excellent on the White River, particularly at the Catch and Release section at Bull Shoals Dam and the adjacent state park. The hot flies have been San Juan worms (in tan, orange and red), and brightly colored marabou jigs. Jigs have the added advantage of riding hook point up which makes them virtually weed less. Other hot flies have been midge larva patterns (like black zebra midges) in larger sizes such as fourteens. The better fishing has definitely been in the morning. The bite seems to slow midday and picks up again in late afternoon.

Another hot spot was Rim Shoals. Here again the most action was encountered using brightly colored San Juan worms and eggs. There have been some promising reports of anglers having success wading at the second island below the walk-in access. The have been utilizing Gary Filipino's water taxi. For a nominal fee Gary will ferry you down there in a river boat and pick you up when you are ready to go. For details you should check at Rim Shoals Trout Dock.

The Norfork has been fishing well in the morning on low water. Anglers reported great success with black zebra nymphs, olive scuds, and black Norfork bead heads all in size eighteen. Other good flies were olive woolly buggers, partridge and orange soft hackles, and Dan’s turkey tail emerger. The top producer was the green butt soft hackle. There have been some sparse sulphur and midge hatches in mid morning and this was the key to success. In the afternoon, on higher water, fishing slows quite a bit. Use conventional high water techniques and if you are not fishing in the Catch and Release area consider using a dropper tied to the lead fly. Black zebra midges and copper johns are great flies for this purpose. They should be fairly large (size fourteen).

Dry Run Creek has fished well. I have been pleasantly surprised by quality of fishing of late. I had expected it to be much more crowded during the summer. The top producer is still the sowbugs followed closely by the San Juan worm. My favorite San Juan worm is a small one in worm brown. Do not be afraid to try some thing completely different. The other day my client took two nice rainbows on a size eight Chernobyl ant. I was also pleased to see a wildlife enforcement officer. When I talked to him, he said that he tried to tour the creek daily.

Crooked Creek has cleared up and is fishing well. The best way to fish it is by canoe so that you can access spots a bit further from the access that do not receive as much fishing pressure. My favorite section is the float from Kelly Slab to the park in Yellville. There are a lot of nice deep pools and some very interesting structure to work. I find a nine foot six weight with a sink tip line to be the best way to fish it. The top flies have been brown woolly buggers, crawfish, and Clouser minnows.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over twenty five years.

Since I write a weekly fishing report, I am genuinely interested in what flies are producing trout. I gather my information from a variety of sources. First, there is personal observation. This is my favorite and definitely the most reliable. What worked the last time I was on the river? I also look at the postings on the fly fishing forums. There is a lot of information that can be gleaned from this source. Finally, I talk to every guide or angler that I run into. Whether I see them at the access, on the river or at the fly shop, my first question, after how are you doing, is what is working for you? The one consistent answer from all my sources for what is working on our high water is spaghetti and meatballs. This is the local term for San Juan worms and egg patterns.

Of the two, by far the most productive is the San Juan worm. This is one of my favorite flies and no matter where or when I am fishing; I will try them, at least for a while, every time that I am on the water.

San Juan worms are the easiest fly there is to tie. They are essentially a strip of ultra chenille lashed to a hook. I tie two versions, a low water and a high water. I tie the low water version on the Mustad 37160 hook (English bait hook). This is a heavy wire, wide gapped hook that has an incredible amount of holding power. The hook is so heavy that it sinks like a rock particularly in the larger sizes. I tie them in size eight and sixteen. My favorite colors are worm brown and red, although I tie a few in hot fluorescent pink and cerise. I tie them with ultra chenille. I singe the tips with a cigarette lighter to give them a bit of a taper and to make them more realistic. My friend, Mike Marshall, ties them with thin strips of chamois and has had substantial success with them on the Norfork.

For high water, I tie my San Juan worms on 1/32 ounce jig heads. The heavy weight drives them to the bottom. Since they ride hook point up, they are virtually weed free. This is a major advantage when fishing weed beds and heavy cover. I definitely go to bright colors for high water (red, hot fluorescent pink, cerise, fire orange and chartreuse). Here again, I favor the ultra chenille and I always singe the tips. I have found that the hooks on the jig heads that I use are a bit softer metal and they tend to straighten out when they are caught in snags. I just bend them back into shape with my forceps and continue fishing with them. I do check them from time to time when fishing to ensure that they are proper aligned.

The weak link on San Juan worms is the tying thread. Since the body is lashed to the hook, it is easily snagged and can quickly unravel. You can overcome this to a limited extent by tying a whip finish at both ends of the body. I have also begun tying my San Juan worms with Kevlar thread. This is the material that they make bullet proof vests out of and it is incredibly durable. One way to prolong the life of your worms is to not remove them from the trout with your forceps. I just use my fingers and since I always pinch down the barbs they come out easily.

The other hot fly on high water is the egg pattern. Eggs not only are effective on high water but are particularly effective when fishing during or after periods of spawning. Here again I tie two basic types.

The standard is egg yarn lashed to a hook. The trick is in the way you trim them. I tie them in a couple of sizes. The big ones or Kahuna eggs are the size of marbles while my standard eggs are the size of peas. I make them in tan, pink, peach, and orange. I always add a small red dot with a Sharpie. My favorite color is peach. I often use them as a dropper suspended from a twenty four inch piece of tippet tied to the bend of the hook on a San Juan worm.

My favorite egg pattern is the Y2K. This is an egg tied with a bead head. The bead helps them sink. The fly is trimmed into a conical shape. I generally tie them in a combination of yellow and orange. Over the years this has been one of my most productive flies.

If you want to crack the code on fishing high water try spaghetti and meatballs, brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over twenty five years.

WHITE RIVER: We thought the pictures above would whet your appetite. The fish have settled into high water feeding routines and are eating pretty well, the fish are pretty fat and pull hard in the current. Mornings have generally been the most productive period, late afternoon slowing down. But Marc Poulos reported a good afternoon below Bull on Saturday.

The worm bite continues, but its definitely worth keeping some big size 14 midges in your box. Marc Poulos and his clients did well with midges over the weekend. We have several larger varieties, Davy’s Super Midges in 14s, Clint’s Tungsten Midge, Cadion Midges and regular Black and Silver Zebras.

There have been plenty of caddis and some mayfly activity up and down the river. Bumped into Gary Flippin from Rim Shoals resort on Saturday on the river and he passed on some of his wading customers, had been picking off caddis feeders on dries along the edges even on 6 units of water. Keep some dries handy for the bank side sippers, even if you are fishing from a boat, it’s a lot of fun

Tight lines from all at the Mountain River Fly Shop Gary, Cindy, Jim, Kevin, Marc, Faye, Mike and Steve

The lake is on a steady fall and the level is at 472.72 at present

The hybrid and white bass fishing continues to be good and it looks like an eerily fall is on the way , which with the low air temps should keep water temp low and the fish biting all the way into September and with the great shad spawn we had should make for an un-forgetful fall to say the least, right now bait is the key again , find the bait and the fish will be close at some point in the day or even night, try top water baits jigging spoons , in-line spinners whipper snappers or the sort and even hair jigs.

The bream fishing is pretty fair on crawlers and crickets around docks brush piles and underwater shore brush.

Catfishing is great from 1 foot of water out to 25 feet using an assortment of baits and catching them on limb lines , rod and reels and also on jugs and trotlines

Walleye are their one day and gone the next if you can stay with them they can be caught with crawlers and line weights on crankbaits on the edges of rocks on drops in about 13-23 feet of water right now

Bass fishing is hit or miss , with the cooler nights and days they do not know weather to stay shallow or go deep or stay in-between , you will just have to peck around until you find the way you like to catch them and their will be some areas that hold them the way you like to catch them, just keep your bait wet is the key, try buzz baits, right bite frogs , or right bite cinko’s c-rigged or Texas rigged worms , or you can flip and pitch baits to the brush.

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Hello everybody. Lake level continues to drop very slowly. It has only dropped a foot from last week. We have been getting a lot of rain in the water shed area, not necessarily here but between here and Joplin Missouri. So the corps projections have changed. Looks like it will be the end of September before the water is back to normal provided there is average rainfall. The lake is down to the 691 level. It is projected to drop an inch or two a day. Projected drop level are posted above in the link. The water temperature continues to rise and is up in the middle 70's on the surface. There is a thermo cline forming around the 20 to 25 foot level. It is a 10- 15 degree difference and becoming very prominent. You can see it on my water temp page. see Water temp/ oxygen level link. Visibility continues to be poor from the surface to 25 feet due to all the brush in the water, then it clears up to the average visibility at 15 to 20 feet depending on where you are in the lake. The bluffs should be the best. Have some new fish pictures. SEE fish picture page.

Spear fishing season opened up this last week and there are some BIG catfish being speared. I have created a picture page just for spear fishing. Not many walleye being speared as you would normally see. I think there is way too much brush for the walleye to hide in for the divers to see. This may change as the lake goes down.

Again- not much change from last week on the regular fishing. The water temp continues to rise and thermo cline is more prominent. Smallmouth bass continue to dominate the fish being caught, then walleye and catfish. I have been scuba diving a lot around the docks this last 10 days and I have been seeing a tremendous amount of baby fish spawned from this year. We are going to have one of the best "fish spawns" this lake has ever seen in 2008.

New pattern- The old jig-n-frog is picking up fish on the bluffs. This pattern is working due to no brush on the bluffs. This pattern is mostly early-late daylight, then at night.

1. Top water-- Flukes, spooks, and any other top water baits are working. This pattern is mostly in the early morning and late afternoon before the sun gets up and after it gets low in the sky. This patterns should start to slow down as the water temp warms up. However, with all the brush and trees in the lake, the fish have a place to hide from the sun and this pattern should continue.

3. Tube jigs or gitzits- this has been the most all day productive pattern this week. Standard colors with and 1/8 oz head worked at different levels of the lake. 1. fairly shallow under evergreen trees. These trees are holding fish due because they are blocking the sun and providing good cover for fish. 2. swimming it over the brush in 5 to 40 feet of water depending on the slope of the bank. 3. Carolina rigging it and fishing the old shore line in 35 to 55 feet of water. There are still some fish that haven't moved up yet.

4. night crawlers - Live minnows with a small split shot worked over the top the brush and around the standing trees. Also, dragging them with a heavier weight in the 35 to 55 foot range in the old shoreline.

6. 1/4 oz white road runners in 10 to 20 feet of water worked over the top of the brush.

7. Drop shot a small plastic worm or night crawler in 8-15 feet of water around the standing trees out from the bank. Use a weedless hook, leave a 12-14 inch tail of line after you tie the hook. Put a drop shot weight, swivel sinker or split shot on the end of the tail. Fish this straight down on the bottom, jigging it up and down off the bottom around the trees.

8. Bubble gum plastic worm with no weight in the brush. With the lake rising, a lot of the night crawlers had to go up the bank. The water forced them out and up. When this happened, the fish moved in to eat in the brush. This pattern is good for shallow water .

9. Flippin a jig around the brush. This is kind of like the pattern above but with a different bait.

NIGHT FISHING- Night fishing under lights has slowed down this week due to the full moon and the water temp warming up. This pattern should be done soon I would think. It was producing white bass and walleye mostly. The trick is to be willing to be awake all night because it can take awhile to get the shad coming to your lights.

White bass - Night fishing is producing some whites under the lights. Day fishing has changed to trolling shad raps or other types on minnow stick baits-hard baits. 18 to 26 feet seems to be the depth to keep your bait in.

Walleye - The walleye have moved down into the colder thermo cline water this week. They always go to this level when the surface temp warms up. They seem to be running in the 18 to 25 foot range. 1. split shoting a night crawler in 20 to 35 feet of water on the old shoreline and ends of the timber bluffs. 2. trolling shallow to medium running reef runners and walley divers along the shoreline above the brush in the 20 to 35 foot range.. 3. Bottom bouncers with night crawlers on the old shoreline in 30 to 40 feet of water. 4. lindy rigs with night crawlers in that 18 to 25 foot range. 5. Night fishing under the lights is producing some fish.

Crappie - Still haven't seen many crappie. One or two here or there. I would like with the lake level and all the brush in the lake that they would be hard to target. As the lake drops and there is less brush in the lake I would think we should start to catch some. The night fishing under lights has produced some fish.

Catfish- The catfish have moved up shallower. We have seen several BIG blue cats caught on limb lines this week. Trot lines and jug lines are producing some fish, it seems the limb line thing is working well. Just about any type of stink bait, liver, shrimp, blue gills, ect is working. I have been told anywhere from a 5 foot drop to a 35 foot drop.

White River:

The river fishing has been great!! Check out the picture page for photos of some big ones caught over the last couple of weeks. Nothing new on the patterns. --- Worms, night crawlers, power baits, salmon eggs, Count down Rapalas, spoons, rooster tails, jigs and just about any other type of trout bait or pattern you have heard of.

Come visit our expanded bait and Tackle department and good luck and good fishing to you all. For current fish pictures - see our picture page.

Good luck and good fishing, and please come and see us at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock for all your fishing needs…Thank you!

NORFORK: It was nice to hit a patch of low water finally on Saturday with Bob and Tandy as I mentioned above. My first time back onto the ‘Fork on low water since the spill gates opened and the runs have changed plenty. There was a crowd at the Handicap access and immediately upstream but as always the further you hike the better. The boys did well though with a touch of color in the water we were shuffling patterns for a while, settling on a black zebra or whitetail super midge.

But variously Bob’s soft hackles and his “Bob White” were the best, though we caught fish on Trout Crack, and pheasant tails, the latter not doing as well as hoped despite the abundance of sulphurs on the wing.

Tight lines from all at the Mountain River Fly Shop Gary, Cindy, Chad, Jim, Marc, Faye, Mike and Steve