How I do fishing reports.   Got a question, just call me, 870 499-3056.  Chris

For Fly Fishers ~ The White River and the North Fork River are tailwaters and have a limited number of food sources, so its not like we are in the middle of a different hatch every week.  The food sources are abundant, but not varied.  The number #1 and #2  food sources are Sowbugs, also called Cressbugs, and Scuds, which is a fresh water shrimp. After that Midges, Crayfish, baitfish, Caddis, BWOlives, White Sulphurs, worms and terrestrials like ants, grasshoppers and beetles round out the menu.  You will find a complete listing of the flies needed on the Fly Fishing page . Below you will find a listing of areas of the rivers that seem to be fishing better, and a list of flies that are taking fish right now.  When anything changes, I’ll post an update.

For Spin Fishers ~  There is a complete listing of the most productive lures at http://www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/spin-fishing-on-the-white-river-in-arkansas . While what works among that list changes from day to day, those lures can be depended on to consistently take fish.  Like all fishing, presentation is usually more important than lure selection. During periods that  insect hatches become an important part of the fishes diet or when a lot of fishing pressure occurs, our trout are caught on flies a little easier than spinning gear. I catch as many or more fish using lures and flies than guides using bait.  I do not use bait except for those who have difficulty casting lures or when fishing with small children.  Our goal is to always to keep you safe and 90% of the time we are going to catch many more fish than your limit, so we are going to release a lot of fish.  Because fish swallow bait so deeply it greatly increases the chance of released fish dying, and that is a waste.

We respond to 90% of emails within one hour, send us any questions right now!

All Brown trout, Smallmouth Bass any Rainbows 16″ or larger are returned to the river, even if they meet size limitations.  Take pictures and have a replica mount made.

Are you a fly fisher, or interested in the sport?   Attend the best and largest fly fishing show in Arkansas.   Plan a fishing trip to our area, and while your here  attend the FFF Southern Council Conclave in Mountain Home, AR this coming Oct. 4th -6th, 2012.  The show will have over 50 programs to choose from.  Casting classes from beginner to advanced, over 50 Fly Tyers that you can sit down with and learn from, programs on fishing destinations, tackle and techniques.   You will be able to find more info at www.southerncouncilfff.org .

The Fishing Report covering the White River, North Fork of the White,

Crooked Creek and the

extreme lower Buffalo River.

Fishing Report Update 4/12/12: I apologise to all about the lack of updated information here.  Things slowed as we eased into the winter of ’11 and I was involved in a major construction project of raising 2 of our cabins 4 1/2 feet to get 3 feet above the ’08 flood level. I still lack a lot of the little things, but they look nice and  I’ll just finish up as I have time.

March brought the usual hardcore fishermen and I stayed busy guiding.  The fishing was good, even great when compared to other trout fisheries, but it wasn’t as good as the spring of 2011.  I was a little disappointed, but maybe I used up my luck in ’11 ’cause that fishing was unbelievable and I was hoping it would just get better.  Toward the end of March we had some major rains that pushed the lakes into their flood pools and the Corp has been flushing it through as fast as their protocols allow them.  Since April 1st we’ve been seeing flows around 30,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) .  That’s a lot of water.

In the big water you know where the fish are, they’re right on the banks, behind anything offering a break from the current.  Even though you know their location, presentations are more difficult and have to be very accurate, again & again for the angler to be successful.  It is a great time to catch a big brown, but don’t expect to unless you can land your lure or fly within a foot of a target.

Today the Corp has Bull Shoals Lake within 9″ of being out of it’s flood pool and we are already seeing a decrease in flows.  They are now running between 7000 cfs and 15,000 cfs.  These are great boat fishing levels.  Lake Norfork will be out of the flood pool with another week and we’ll see decreased flows there at that time.  Of course that is if we do not receive a big rain, of which we have none forecast. Yeah!

THE FISHING INFO:  The CADDIS hatch is on big time!  Right now the fish are hard to catch on spinning gear and lures, but switch over to the fly rod with a #14 Elk Hair Caddis on top and a # 16 Hair’s Ear Wet below and the action increases about 10 fold.  The fish that have come on spinning gear have been rainbows on in-line spinners like a Blue Fox in silver, copper, or brass. We’ve also caught some nice browns on Rapala Countdowns and Husky Jerks.  Do you like to Smallmouth Bass fish?  Now is the time! The  smallies are on the bite about 45 days ahead of schedule, I guess due to the extra-mild winter.  The best producing bait is once again a 2 1/2″ curl tail grub in pumpkinseed fished on a 1/16 oz to 3/8t oz jig head , depending on current strenght and depth. On a guide trip the other day, I fished 8 different baits, just to see if something else would be more effective…..nope, my 2 fishermen just continued to crank them in on curl tails while I caught one little smallie.  Call me and let’s go ASAP.

Fishing Report Update 11/13/11: After an extremely busy Oct. things are slowing down some.  The fishing has been great.  The Browns have begun spawning in earnest.  Try not to fish over spawning fish, I mean would you want someone pulling you out of bed with your spouse with a hook while you were in the middle of your own “spawning act?”

Fly fishers:  If you are wading please don’t step on the clean looking circles of gravel, these are redds, were the eggs lie just under the gravel.  Both the White and North Fork have had plenty of wadeable water pretty much on a daily basis since mid-Oct. .  The grasshopper bite seems to be over, however bright colored hoppers will still catch a few rainbows and I’ve been using them as a strike indicator to drop scuds, San Juan worms and egg patterns off of.  Streamers have been responsible for catching more fish recently.  With the lower flows the a lot of the fish have moved off the banks and are sitting in the deepest parts of the river in the swiftest flows.  Using sink tip lines on 4wt – 6wt rods and working weighted sculpins patterns right on the bottom we’ve got some nice fish, no pigs, but good solid fish.   Staging browns can still be found below the protected waters, please just take a photo and release the fish.

Spin fishers:  If you are looking for numbers, bunches & bunches of fish, Rainbows can be taken on in line spinners such as Panther Martins & Blue Foxes, color hasn’t been to important, but brass or gold seem to do a little better along with a medium speed retreive that allows the lure to run deeper.  Blue Fox makes a great medium depth spinner that easily covers 6 – 8 ft depths.  Buyoant spoons have been super hot on taking Rainbows, again gold seems to produce a little better.  As usual the Browns seem to prefer crankbaits like Rapala Countdowns but with the lower water some of the shallower running baits have been easier to present correctly.  Husky suspension baits in the 3″ – 4″ lenghts in dark green or green/brown color combinations have performed the best.

Fishing Report Update 10/23/11:  On 9/26 Bull Shoals Lake and Lake Norfork finally got out of their flood pools and water generation slowed way down.  We now have wadeable water on a daily basis somewhere within the river system, which is good news to the fly fishing crowd.  Generation on the White varies from 2000 cfs to 10,000 cfs daily, so boating can be accomplished without tearing up your prop……as long as your careful.

The Browns are on the move toward their spawning grounds, and while I have yet to see any on redds, they are staging.  I’m really not going to get very specific about how to or where to go about catching these fish when they prepare to spawn because they do become easier to target during this time and they don’t need every boat in the river on top of them. If you spin fish you want some big water generation so you can go after them with big crankbaits. (Remember to smash those barbs down, and if the bait has 3 trebles on it, remove a set. We’re trying to catch these fish and return them to the water healthy, not mangled.)  If you fly fish, your looking for low water to sight fish tiny nymphs to these monsters.  Both methods work, but fly fishers have the edge because they can work highwater and low water.  Fooling these wary fish in low water with lures and spinning gear can be very difficult.

Please remember that even though the law allows one brown trout in excess of 24″ to be taken per day, these fish represent less than 1% of the fish in the entire river system.  They have made it to trophy size. Respect them enough to snap a few quick pictures, release them, and have a replica mount made.  This past week I watched a 10 lb. female get held out of the water and handled for photos by an angler who had every intention of releasing the fish, but by the time the pictures were over, so was the fish.  Fish breathe in the air as well as you breathe underwater.  Keep them under and take the photos quick!  OK, sermon over.

Fishing Report Update 8/22/11: The rivers continue to have lots of water in them, due to the Corp of engineers evacuating lake water from our heavy spring rains.  This has made finding wadeable water next to impossible, so float fishing has been the rule.  The lake level forecast shows that the flood pools will be empty on Oct.14th, this of course depends on not recieving any significant rainfall….which hasn’t been a problem as we are in a drought, but at least the extreme heat has gone away.

The smallmouth have been really tough to catch.  They are not hard to find, but getting bit is not easy, so we’ve been throwing everything.  2″ curl tail grubs in clear flourescent green, pumpkin seed and motor oil colors on a 1/8 jig have worked.  A 2″ shad on an 1/8″ jig also got a few fish.  Crankbaits have not yielded a single fish. Flys that have produced have been crayfish patterns in #12 – #10′s in gray (molting shell) and dark orange, fish them under and indicator through the deep holes.  Small, weighted rabbit strip streamers in white, brown or black fished with a long leader on sink tip lines have also caught some fish.  I’m finding the fish deep, once the sun hits the water. If you get out really early or stay really late you’ll find them in the fast runs and riffles.

The high water has allowed us to catch some brown trout recently, nothing real big, around 20″ or so.  The technique is to throw a large weighted streamer or crankbait next to softer seams, eddies, and structure along the banks.  A lot of guides seem to make a big deal over what lure/fly is presented, but I’m really not seeing that to be the case, as long as the lure is big, like 3″ to 6″ .  The key is the presentation.  It has to be close and in precisely the right spot so the fish can ambush it easily.  We’ve caught these fish with plastics, crankbaits, and large streamers.  I do see the streamers catching a few more fish and I believe it is because a fly is quieter when it hits the water, therefore can be cast closer to the target without spooking the fish. This is not blind casting while you slip down the bank, you have to choose your spots to be successful.

Fishing Report Update 8/5/11: This is the warmest summer we’ve had since I moved up here 8 years ago.  It hit 110 last week and 108 two days ago!  I’ll bet I haven’t seen 100 degrees 3 times in the last 8 years.  We still have seen no rain and the Smallmouth fishing is tough, especially for the better fish.  Fly fishers need to downsize to small crawfish patterns or sparsely dressed Clouser’s in size 10 – 8′s, with tippet size in the 4x – 5x range.  Spin fishers need to use 4lb test with 2″ curl tail grubs, clear flourescent green has been working well.  Trout fishing in the White and North Fork Rivers continue to be about the same.  Catch rates are 10 – 20 per angler per day.  85% of the fishing is done while drifting. Brown trout are tough to come by, especially the larger fish.   Clear, cloudless days and lots of vacationing fisherpeople have made them nocturnal. The Cicadias I mentioned last month haven’t really produced but a few fish for me, although a hugh 30″ Brown was caught on one by another guide.  They are becoming much less prevalent now, as I’m only seeing the occasional bug.  Hoppers, beetles and ants are taking a lot more fish.

Fishing Report Update 7/1/11: We haven’t had a drop of rain since June.  Floods all spring , now nothing!  The Buffalo River and Crooked Creek are super low and super clear.  That makes for very spooky Smallies.  I’m still pulling a few from the lower portions of the Buffalo, but if you go to Crooked Creek you have to understand that after you catch a fish in a pool, it pretty much spooks all the others and you have to go on to the next pool.  The White River has defintely gone into it’s summertime routine.  Water levels vascilate greatly.   You need to know where on the river to go if you want to find clear water, to avoid the ‘bottom trash’ of floating moss pieces that occur when the Corp ramps up the generators to supply electricity.  Clear water is especially important for fly fishers because a fly doesn’t give of much in the way of vibrations via water displacement.  The standard fair continues to produce fish.  We had a hugh Cicadia hatch this year.  Cicadias are terrible at flying and many of them end up in the water.  I tied up a few and spent a few hours on the water to see if they produced.  All I got was small fish grabbing at the legs, but I know that if you floated one over a big fish he’d take it.  I’m finding floating Cicadias in the eddies, so they’re probably on a trout’s menu right now.   Just check out the ‘Fishing Pages” for the full list.  Never hesitate to call or email if you think I might be able to help.

Fishing Report Update 6/15/11: The extreme high water is subsiding  and I’ve been out on 2 trips in the last week.  Fish can be found and caught in creek mouths and eddy locations.  We have also fished for Smallmouth Bass in both the Buffalo River and Crooked Creek with a lot of sucess.  Heavily weighted Clouser Minnows in chartruse/white fished on long leaders with 2x tippet have worked for fly fishermen and spinner baits and suspending rouges and 3″ curl tail grubs work for the spin casters.

Fishing Report Update 5/27/11: The White is unfishable and really, if you have any sense, you shouldn’t be on it.  I’m amazed that some resorts continue to haul people out on “fishing trips” when flows are 50,000 cubic feet per second, about double 100% generation flows.  I did however catch a couple of trout in the campground area and the Red’s Landing boat ramp, which is about 10 feet underwater!  If it stops raining the Corp should have things back to manageable by mid June.

Fishing Report Update 5/24/11 : I’m cancelling more trips than I’m taking!  My policy is if I think that river conditions will cause poor fishing then I call my client and tell them that the trip looks bad and they have every right to back out at no charge. These days, that seems to be the norm.  The White and Norfork are running at record high flows becuase of record rains and it is very difficult to have a sucessful day fishing.

Fishing Report Update 5/7/11 : Well, it’s official, we gone from a winter drought situation where the Corp thought the lakes would basically run out of water to all the lakes above us being in close to 100% plus of their capacity.  Now extreme high water reigns!  No wading, it’s all boat fishing.  Big Streamers thrown of sinktips, or spinning gear with CD 7 and CD 9.  Remeber to crush those barbs and remove a set of hooks from the Rapalas.  We want to catch these big fish and let them go, not hurt them.

Fishing Report Update (sounds like something Captain Kirk would say, huh? You have to be a Star Trek watcher to understand, you have to be old too! ) 5/9/11: Heavy rains are regularly muddying up the river, so spending most of the time fishing the upper portions of the White and the North Fork.  Standard stuff is working.  The Corp continues to hold water back in the lakes and we re enjoying low water and lots of wading oppourtunities but the river clears slower after the rains.  Fishing the creek mouths with large dark colored streamers has paid off with some nice Browns.  This is a good technique during heavy rains that have solored water flowing from the creeks into the White River.  The Browns hang just downstream of the creek mouth and are looking for a big meal getting flushed down the creek.

Fishing Report Update 4/9/11: The warm weather has arrived!   We hit 89 degrees yesterday…it was close to a record high.  We had a big rain and the river went into spate for a few days.  “Spate” …I’ve been waiting to use that word.  It seems like its in all the Fly Fishing Mags these days.  Like using a 15th century English word for ‘suddenly muddy water’ makes it cool somehow!!  It’s muddy and the fish don’t bite and changing the word doesn’t change that.   Anyway the river cleared in a couple of days and the fishing was once again great.  The caddis are still coming off and the rainbows are super-keyed on them.  My spinfishing clients have been a bit stymied because the fish aren’t hitting lures….they are just waiting for the caddis to come off.  It has made for some converts to the fly fishing realm. I know these fishing reports look a bit like a broken record that say the fishing great each time, but I did have a really off day after the storm when a high pressure moved in.  The water was really low and the wind was blowing 20mph plus and my 2 guys only caught 15 small  rainbows in 5 hours.  It seems like our fish are more affected by barometric pressure on low water flows.  So, fishing is fishing, and even when you come at the peak times, it doesn’t guarantee sucess.

The Smallmouth fishing is red hot right now.  I’ve had a trip into the lower Buffalo River and Crooked Creek and we caught lots of fish.  Nothing big, but it was a lot of fun.  Come soon!

When you’re on the water, take a moment to look around to appreciate the wonderful world God has given us to enjoy.

Fishing Report Update 3/26/11: The great fishing has continued without hardly a hiccup.  While there have been some slow periods during the day we’re still catching some nice browns.  Yesterday we landed an 18″ and 21″ and lost 2 browns close to the boat  that were a little larger. We are not catching as many rainbows probably for 2 reasons. The techniques we are using are for targeting larger browns, and the rainbows are keying pretty heavily on the current  hatches.  Yesterday we watched as the caddis hatched and had problems getting airborne because in the damp weather their wings were slow to dry.  This resulted in seeing the rainbows and a few smaller browns push their noses through the surface and begin slurping down as many as they could.  There were simultaneous rises in every 20 square feet of river surface for 200 yards in every direction!  For the fly fishers, this was a little different bug than had been observed in previous hatches.  It was cream winged with a cream body and was a size 14.  In addition to the caddis hatch which lasted for about an hour, there was a slow, all day hatch of #20 Blue Winged Olives that were getting the attention of smaller rainbows.   I love this stuff!

When you’re on the water, take a moment to look around to appreciate the wonderful world God has given us to enjoy.

 

Fishing Report Update 3/21/11 : The fishing was nothing short of amazing this past week. Besides catching a lot of fish, on Friday and Saturday alone we boated 7 Browns over 18″ and 2 in the 23″ range and a 20″ Rainbow.  This is not just looking at the fish and calling out a number….this is measuring the fish!

The Corp of Engineers have been following the same pattern of water release now for nearly 8 weeks.  On the White, we have  medium flows on Tuesday – Thursday , dropping water on Friday and then “dead low” water on Sat. – Monday.  The North Fork has been off nearly the whole 8 weeks.  The lakes have been raised with the recent 2″ plus of rainfall, but so far there hasn’t been a change in generation patterns.  Lots of wadeable water all over both rivers for the fly fishers and enough water to float boats down in the lower sections.

As always when we have low water flows catch rates are much better on cloudy days, but the fish haven’t been pressured for months now and the smaller ones certainly haven’t been difficult to catch.  The low water conditions do make it more difficult to fool the larger fish.  In our section of the river we have enough deep holes and structure for the big browns to stay hidden.  When low water conditions prevail these fish tend to be nocturnal.

Fly Fishermen, the caddis hatch has started!!  On the days that have reached into the 60′s with sunshine the bugs have come off in droves!!  There a 2bugs, one is a #12 with light tan/grey wings and a medium grey body and the other is a #16 with grey wings and grey body.  Elk hair caddis patterns work great.  Fish an emerger below your dry to catch more fish because the haven’t started going crazy on the surface yet…but they probably will in the next 7 days.  Come up soon!!

Planning a trip to the White River?  You can find a lot of useful info on our website.

Fly Fishers go to:www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/fly-fishing-the-white-river

Spin Fishers go to www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/spin-fishing-on-the-white-river-in-arkansas .

Fishing Report Update 3/10/11

The fish are everywhere.  For about 6 weeks now the water releases by the Corp of Engineers have been following a pretty tight pattern.  We have low to medium flows on Tuesday – Thursday , dropping water on Friday and then “dead low” water on Sat. – Monday.

The catch rates are much better on cloudy days because of the low clear water, but the fish haven’t been pressured for months now and the smaller ones certainly haven’t been difficult to catch.  The low water conditions do make it more difficult to fool the larger fish.  In our section of the river we have enough deep holes and structure for the big browns to stay hidden.  When low water conditions prevail these fish tend to be nocturnal.

The low water days have allowed for a lot of wading while fly fishing.  On these days I have fished right out in front of the property and sight fished too small to medium sized Rainbows.  You’ll disturb the fish a little when you first wade out, but just stand quietly for a few minutes and you will see them move back in.  I’ve been catching them within 25 – 30 feet on #16 Scuds, #12 Egg patterns #10 Crayfish & #10 Wooley Buggers.  Bouyant spoons in 1/6 oz. , Countdown Rapalas in size CD2 or CD3  small inline spinners like VibraMax , and small jigs in black have been producing for the spin fishermen.  On the sunny days it seems to help to downsize the lure and use muted colors.

The weather has been very mild for the last 2 weeks with only a couple of light frosts and highs reaching into the 60′s regularly.  Soon it will be Smallmouth Bass time….I can’t wait!

When you’re on the water, take a moment to look around to appreciate the wonderful world God has given us to enjoy.

Fish Humor ~  “I got a new fly rod and reel for my wife…..best trade I ever made.”  Quote from a man who mysteriously passed away shortly after making the above remark.

Planning a trip to the White River?  You can find a lot of useful info on our website.

Fly Fishers go to:www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/fly-fishing-the-white-river

Spin Fishers go to www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/spin-fishing-on-the-white-river-in-arkansas .

Fishing Report Update 2/19/11

It’s been a winter of extremes!  We are either really cold or it so mild I’m wearing short sleeves.  The White is fishing good from Bull Shoals all  the way down to Calico Rock right now.  On the cold days you’ll see a lot of midge action in the slow flat sections below riffles, the go-to fly is a zebra midge in dark grey or black in sizes #18 – #22.  I usually use a tungsten beadhead #18 grey zebra midge and drop a #20 black/white zebra midge off of that.  If I see the fish eating just below the surface I’ll use a yarn indicator and keep the flys in the first 12″ of the water column.  If you go to the North Fork River just below the Dam you can even use an  ”in the film” emerger or a dry midge with success.  On the warmer days the midges slow down and I use streamers, simply because I love to feel the strike!   I’ve been experimenting with modifying my favorite sculpin pattern with a new product called “Frantic Tails”.  I was disappointed in my first results, the tails are anything but frantic!  On the other hand I tyed up some new shad patterns using them and they work great for a dead drift shad pattern….because dead fish don’t have frantic tails…I’m not at all sure why they named them frantic tails!  I guess if I develop a dead drift sculpin pattern they would be good for that.

I took one of my favorite customers and his wife fishing on Wed. and the wind howled.  It was only the second time she had fly fished but she did great, even in the wind!  We fished the Buffalo Shoals area and did a little wading and picked up some fish on olive beadhead Wooley Buggers and then drift fished with egg patterns in pink or blaze orange.  I think the blaze orange was just a little more productive.

The lakes are about 30% into their conservation pools (meaning they are down about 7 -10 feet from normal levels)and the Corp is generating moderately and wade fishing can be found if you know how to chase the flows up and down the river.  On Thursday of this week the Corp shutdown Bull Shoals and it is still off as of this posting and I’ll bet it doesn’t come back on until Monday morning.  This makes for very, very low water for the entire river.

You can find a lot of White River specific fishing info within our fishing pages on the website.  For Fly fishing info go to  www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/fly-fishing-the-white-river and for Spin Fishing info go to www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/spin-fishing-on-the-white-river-in-arkansas .  We are supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and be real cold until Friday, then a pretty weekend.  Don’t ever hesitate to call, I love to talk about fishing and will help you in anyway I can. 870 499-3056

You can keep up with what the releases will be via the projected generation schedule though (at the moment, they seem to be following it fairly close) and you can check that at http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx.  Current generation can be verified at http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Bulsdam.htm and http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Norfork.htm.  You can also call 870 431-5311.

Remember,  The information is only as good as the person updating it.  The Corp has turned on generators and released water without even updating the phone recording.  The “projected scheduled releases” may not be followed.  Be aware of your surroundings (water levels) at all times.

Fishing Report Update 2/8/11

I tried to go over and fish the Catch & Release Area below Bull Shoals Dam just after it reopened after being closed for the brown trout spawning season.  While I usually stay away from this event (crowds), the weather was horrible and supposed to get worse, so I figured that would keep the crowds away.  Well, the weather didn’t disappoint!  I left my house in Norfork about 7am and it was 35 degrees, by the time I reached the top of Bull Shoals Dam it was 27 degrees and freezing rain was a 1/4″ thick on the trees and grass and the roads were beginning to ice up.  I decided that there would be a good possibility that if I went DOWN the steep hill to the river, I might not make it back UP the steep hill to go home.  So, I punted….no fishing.  I’m sure there were several monster trout down there just ready to be stupid after not being fished over for 3 months!  Since then I’ve been too busy with Resort maintenance and junk that I haven’t made it back over there.  I did fish right behind the house here for a couple of hours this last Sunday afternoon.  The water was very low and the fish were very uneducated…stockers.  They hadn’t even learned that sowbugs and scuds were what they should be eating!  But if you stripped a Wooley Bugger through them , they’d fight over it.  These fish will learn to identify their most common food sources within a couple of  weeks of being released and become a little more selective.  However, their constant presence in our rivers does allow everyone to have the enjoyment of catching fish.  Which makes for happy outings for folks who aren’t fishing fanatics, and for that reason,  I like stockers.

You can find a lot of White River specific fishing info within our fishing pages on the website.  For Fly fishing info go to  www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/fly-fishing-the-white-river and for Spin Fishing info go to www.whiteriverresort.com/fishing-the-white-river-arkansas/spin-fishing-on-the-white-river-in-arkansas .  We are supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and be real cold until Friday, then a pretty weekend.  Don’t ever hesitate to call, I love to talk about fishing and will help you in anyway I can. 870 499-3056

Fishing Report Update 2/1/11

I had a trip with a couple of guys from North Little Rock, AR on Sunday.  Saturday had been one of those ‘false spring days’ in the middle of winter.  It reached 68 degrees under sunny skies and it seemed like eveyone was on the river….I counted 19 trailers at Red’s Landing Access!   Sunday was a little different, a front had blown in overnight and the high was expected to be 40 degrees.  We started out at 7:00 am in 36 degrees and guess what?  We didn’t have another boat on the river all day on the 5 miles we fished.  My guys were new to trout fishing and had decided to make it a spincasting trip, but I bought along a couple of fly rods just in case. The fishing was very good and steady nearly all day.  They landed about 60 fish and probalby had another 30 or so on for a short time.  We didn’t catch anything big, the best were a couple of 18″ Browns.  Just before the trip ended one of the guys hooked a nice rainbow of about 4 lbs.  The fish struck very close to the boat and was on for only 3 or 4 seconds but we all got a good look at it.  We caught the fish on Rapala Countdowns CD3 , 5′s and 7′s in deep water and used smaller Husky Jerk suspension baits in shallow water.  The river was as low as I’ve ever seen it, I even had to push the boat up through one of the riffles to head on upstream, very unusual.  Fishing Report Update 1/20/11

I fished the North Fork River today.  For about the last 3 weeks the Corp has released water between 6 am – 9am then turned everything off until the next morning, which makes for a lot of available wade water.  It was a great day to be on the river.  It was snowing, pretty heavy too, we received about 4″ in 5 hours.  It wasn’t to0 cold and the wind didn’t blow much….sounds more like a weather report than a fishing report doesn’t it? Thats what my fishing reports sound like when the fish don’t cooperate!  Well, I can tell you what the fish weren’t being caught on because I bet I changed flies 12 times in 3 1/2 hours.  I picked up 2 small rainbows on scuds of different colors.  The midges were not coming off at all….I saw one on the water all day.  It was just one of those days when the fish were in a funk and weren’t eating, at least while I was there.  There were even 3 guys fishing the little hole just below the River Ridge handicapped deck and they only had 6 six between them in 6 hours of fishing and they were using PowerBait.  That little hole is usually full of cooperative stockers.  Well, that why its called ‘fishing’ and not ‘catching’ .   Show me a guy who tells you he catches lots of fish everytime he goes on the water, and I’ll show you a guy who needs ‘honesty management’ counseling!

Fishing Report update 1/10/11

The midge fishing is still hot, especially on the areas of the river that have slower currents, or when the damss are not generating much water.  The White River releases right now seem to follow this routine.  Light flows through the night, with increasing generation between 8am – 11am, then shutting down until late afternoon.  the North Fork River has been off most of the time , with generation between 8am – 11am , then off again.  So a lot of wading water is out there to enjoy!  The fish away from the dams are feeding much heavier on emerging midges, while the fish just below the North Fork River dam are taking dries fairly readily. In areas that are not “flat water” scuds and sowbugs have been more productive than any midge pattern.

The other day I enjoyed standing in ankle deep water of  the White River just behind my house, sight fishing to and catching 10″ – 14″ Rainbows with #24 midge emergers in 6″ – 12″ of water, using a little 3 wt..  No they weren’t monster browns, but it isn’t always about catching big fish.  The turkeys were flying up to roost in the trees on the bluff across the river, it was cold, a soft rain was falling….and it was really, really quiet…man I love what God has provided us to enjoy!

Fishing Report Update 12/29/10

It is Midge time.  I’ve come across quite a few pods of fish in the last week that were actually poking their noses out while sucking midges off the surface.  The bugs were silver, with a black stripe down their sides….maybe a little different version of a zebra midge. They would not take until I got down to a size 24 and they seemed to prefer it smaller, but I didn’t have any, but I’m tying some up tonight.  I used a #24 with a black thread body and CDC wings and greased the tippet down to within 6″.  The smaller fish were actually chasing the midges across the surface and could be enticed into striking by letting the fly drag and skitter on the surface.  The better fish were smarter than that and would be posted up in a feeding lane.  The really good fish though could be seen sliding back and forth about 2 feet down as they ate the midges.  Another good fly was a #20 -#24 Griffiths Gnat that imitates midge clusters.

If you missed the FFF Southern Council Fly Fishing Festival and Conclave in 2010 come this year!

The Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) , Southern Council (a region of complete or portions of 9 States) will have their annual Fly Fishing Festival and Conclave (fly fishing show) in Mountain Home Sept. 30th – Oct. 2nd, 2010. Many experts in their field will conduct classes on fly fishing methods, fishing destinations, entomology, & fly tying.  Over 50 fly tyers will display a myriad of tying methods. If you haven’t ever attended this fly fishing show, come this year, Oct. 6, 7 & 8, 2011. There is something for everyone, expert or beginner. Check out their web site at www.southerncouncilfff.org.

Fishing Report Update 9/5/10

Business always slows down during the last 2 weeks of August so the family and I have been visiting friends and family in New York and Pennsylvania, Carol’s from that area.  I did get a little bit of smallmouth fishing in, but not enough.

My neighbor, who was a local fly guide for 25 years has been fishing the North Fork during the last 2 weeks.  The Browns are already staging for the spawn in this river.  They are very spooky but he had caught several really nice fish.  Like so many times on the North Fork it helps to have a little wind chop on the surface of the water.  It allows you to place that fly in the water and adds just the right action to a fly under an indicator.  He caught his fish on the standard stuff we use up here,  black zebra midges, sowbugs & scuds.  The Corp has been leaving the water low in the mornings and raising it around noon each day.

If you want to have a trophy mounted, please consider taking a picture of your fish, then releasing it, and having a “reproduction mount” done.  These type of mounts are superior in every way to the old “skin mounts” . You get to release a good fish back to the water and have a mount too!!

It’s only a few weeks until the largest Fly Fishing show in Arkansas, right here in Mountain Home.  You can find our all about it at www.southerncouncilfff.org/conclave/conclave.php .

Update 8/20/10

I’ll start off by apologizing for the length of time between reports.  This has been a very busy summer season for our little place.  We’ve been working 14 -16 hour days all summer.  I’m not complaining! It’s been great and I’d like to say “Thank You!” to all the great customers who made it that way.

The summer fishing was the best I’ve experienced on the White in the last 6 years.  The action was consistently good with 25 plus fish days per angler even through the heat and “blue bird sky” days.

The caddis hatch went strong through May and the White Sulphurs were good through June, with some still coming off in August.  Most recently the fish have been getting keyed on terrestrial patterns, grasshoppers with an ant dropper have worked well.  A tip that Dave Whitlock once shared with me was to to really let that grasshopper smack the surface of the water.  He said that a “grasshopper crash” was usually a loud thing and that the fish keyed on that sound.

Update 4/20/10

The big caddis hatch has started on our section of the White River.  They have a light tan wing with a green body in about a size #14.  The hatch is coming off really heavy starting about 2 hours before dark and lasting pass last light.  In the past this hatch has come off for about 3 – 4 weeks.  The fish have figured it out and are feeding heavily on it.  You don’t have to wait for wadeable water.  We caught them from boats drifting close to the bank for the last 2 days during high water flows.  Come enjoy the action .

Update 3/29/10

I just finished a stretch where I guided 11 out of 13 days.  It was a lot of fun, and a lot of effort.  I’ve guided 6 years now and I have never seen a March quite like this one.  8 of the 11 days my clients caught what is normal for March….lots of fish.  During that time I fished 25 anglers and all but 3 caught well in excess of 50 fish per day.  Of those 3 anglers who fished the slow days we struggled to catch 5 – 7 fish during the day.  Normally in March even the weather has a hard time slowing the bite down, but each of the poor days happened on a high pressure system following a low pressure system.  In addition heavy rains muddied the waters and forced us to fish close to the both the North Fork and extreme upper White to find clear water.  All the other anglers were doing the same thing and the fishing pressure was fairly heavy, but I’ve had successful days in those conditions before.  I guess it just comes down to the fact that some days, even in our best season, the fish aren’t going to cooperate.

The fish are in very good shape, nice and chunky.  During the days when a low pressure system was coming in on us and the clouds were heavy we caught a lot of Browns.  One day our catch was 25% Browns, that’s usual given the fact that they are only 10% of the fish population.

The flies that worked the best for the Browns were sculpin patterns on a sink tip line.  We caught them mostly over solid bedrock bottom in 6 to 10 feet of water. Rainbows responded well to nymphing with maroon San Juan Worms with a Soft Hackle dropper in a size #16, and a black Zebra Midge in size #18. While the Caddis hatch seems to be strong on  the White from Rim Shoals up it really hasn’t gotten going down on my section of the river.  I see a few come off on the warmest of days but only the small fish are feeding on them.  It has been my experience that the heavier hatch of Caddis occur in my section of the White in mid-April through the end of May.

I fished the trophy catch & release area below Bull Shoals Dam for a couple of days and

while we didn’t catch a lot of fish we did catch some very nice rainbows.

Update 3/2/10

The fishing has been good.  The “Shad Hatch” came off a few times up in the Catch & Release area below Bull Shoals Dam. For the benefit of those readers who haven’t fished the White River much, our “Shad Hatch” is when Threadfin Shad in Bull Shoals Lake die or become so weak from extreme cold snaps they are pulled through the Dams electric generators and into the river below.  It’s a fish feeding free for all.  If it lasts for several days a lot of really big fish migrate up river to the area just below the dam.  This year the shad came & went, off & on and I don’t think it was ever consistent enough to draw a really large number of fish. I fished it several times and we caught some fat rainbows to 20″and a 27″ brown but we never saw any really big fish.  Also the action was spotty.  Maybe the shad came through heavy at night and the fish were already full…hard to know.  Of course the boat traffic got fairly heavy at times.

Down on the lower portion of the White things have been very consistent for the last month.  We’ve been looking at 5 – 6 generators from Bull and 2 from Norfork.  The river has been running full big its very fishable.   The big water has concentrated the fish in areas the current is not as strong.  Another plus of the level of water is that the big browns are feeding during daylight hours.  We’ve caught quite a few browns in the 20″ plus range all through February and last week we caught and released a 27 1/2″ brown. Remember that our new size limit on German Browns is 24″, with a limit of one.  Please consider taking a photo and releasing the fish.  Replica mounts are superior in every way to skin mounts. To back that up, if you are lodging or fishing with me, I will pay you $50 toward your replica mount.  I do not keep trophy fish.  There are only so many of them, think about it.

This 27″ German Brown was caught by friend and customer, Edwin S. .   Edwin is pretty much a “Trophy Hunter” and he’s good at it.

Update 2/3/10

Both lakes are very close to returning to normal power pool levels after our recent rains,which were then followed by an eight inch snow!!  I was lucky enough to have a

chance to go fishing by myself just before the snow.  At this time of the year you can find

quite a few trout up in the tributaries of the White River system. Some won’t hold any fish, but some will hold a lot of fish.  I’ve fished different ones over a period of 30 years and I’ve learned which places will have fish given different river conditions within the White. Most of these streams are springs creeks and some are very small.  I always feel

like I’ve snuck out to the west when I’m on these little freestone streams, they remind me of Colorado or New Mexico.  A lot of the time you can enjoy sight fishing to these trout, but that day they were hiding in the fast water and the deep holes.  They were a little finicky, but you can expect that with water temperatures holding just above forty degrees.  After being refused on Wooly Buggers, a Hares Ear nymph, and a zebra midge, I began to score with a 1/2″ San Juan worm.  The banks of the stream are eroding badly still from the floods of ’08 and I’m sure with each rainfall these fish find earthworms that have washed into the creek…..hmmm….should have started with the San Juan. Honestly I really wasn’t even thinking.  I was by myself and just out to watch the water flow by and until I didn’t catch something for 20 minutes I wasn’t really considering why.  Its nice to fish like that sometimes.  When I’m guiding its all business.  2 days ago the North Fork River was at dead low levels and I went over to see the changes made by the constant release of generation water for the last 6 months. (We had one of the wettest summers on record.)  I went to scout more than fish but I took a rod, you know, so I could confirm a “fishy” spot. (All work, no pleasure.  Ha!) The gravel banks and bars had shifted and some fish holdings spots had been gained and some lost, but the river looked good!  I stopped several times to drift a black #20 zebra midge through different spots and was rewarded with a fish every time but one. The North Fork was off again today for the morning hours. I expect to see slots of time each day where the generators are shut down and wadeable water will be available on this river beginning now.  Come up and enjoy!

Update 1/3/10

We are running some great Winter Specials and some March & April packages with free boat rentals!

The Corp continued to release very heavy flows throughout December, until we had a 3″ – 5″ rainfall  on Dec. 26th, which was widespread across the state.  As river levels down in the flat delta areas rose to minor flood stages the Corp backed off the water releases on both the White and North Fork Rivers to allow the waters down in southern Arkansas to drop.   During a short period between the 27th and the 30th our section of the White River fished really, really well.  This is usually the case after heavy flows for a long period decrease dramatically.  The fish seemed to be everywhere and would take just about anything.  It was one of those times when they were very easy!  The lakes are getting close to reaching levels where the Corp will back off the really heavy flows.  By the end of January we will see good fishable water, and I’m looking forward to it.  While some large fish can be caught on higher flows, boat handling is constant and must be flawless or you can be swimming very quickly. Cold water & air temps can be a very dangerous combination. To look at what flies or lures to use in our waters checkout the “Fishing” pages in this site.

Update 12/4/09

Well the time has come for the Corp of Engineers to lower the lakes until they have reached the bottom of the flood pool.  Generation began on Dec. 1st with Bull running 7 units around the clock and Norfork running 2 gens around the clock.  If we do not receive any significant rainfall during December, the North Fork River will have great wading water by Jan. 1st.  The White River below Bull Shoals Lake will take longer, my estimate is between Feb 1st and the 10th.  Until then expect heavy flows and fishing from a boat.  This is the time of year and the right conditions to catch big fish.  You will not catch as many fish as when the water flows are lighter but the heavy flows limit where the  big fish can hold.  It takes patience and persistence but they are there.

I had the pleasure of running the bottom 20 miles of the Buffalo River recently with my 11 year daughter, Audrey.  We put in at Rush and floated down to Buffalo City.  The river was beautiful, running clear with the perfect amount of water. The smallmouth fishing was good.  While we didn’t get anything over 15″, we caught quite a few, enough to keep an 11 year old excited! Audrey was using light spinning gear with 3″ curl tail grubs in various colors and I used my TFO 7 wt with streamers in crayfish patterns.  The fish wanted the presentation to be really fast, which was a little unusual for the cool water temps we had.  We’d float down the river until we came to a good wading spot then we’d slow down and work the area thoroughly.  We camped on a gravel bar, had a campfire, watched the stars and had a great time.  The next day was overcast and the fishing was even better.  If you’d ever like to go on a smallmouth trip, give me a call!

A summary of the overall picture for the fall season so far. Updated 11/8/09

The White River has been at fairly consistent levels for the last 7 weeks. The White River Lake system is about  50% into its Flood Pool and the Corp of Engineers has been releasing water around the clock. The releases have been between 2200 cfs (cubic feet per second) and 5500 cfs, which on the Dam Generation recordings (870 431-5311) they will usually say 2 – 3 generators are operating. These light water flows are perfect for nymph & wet fly fishing of all types.  Wadeable water has to be searched out but can be found. You can nearly make a safe bet that as White River levels down in the flat delta lands decrease (several locations are in minor Flood Stages) releases from the lakes will become heavier as the Corp evacuates the water within the lakes Flood Pools.  My guess is that we will have heavy flows in Dec. and part of/all of January and things will be back to low level releases by Feb. 1st, 2010.

The Arkansas Fish & Game just released a report on 11/5 about the levels of dissolved oxygen in both the White River below Bull Shoals Dam and the North Fork River below Norfork Lake Dam. For those of you who have a history of fishing this area, you know that our rivers can sometimes have problems with low oxygenated waters as the lakes above the dams “turn over”.  So far this year this hasn’t been an issue.  The combination of heavy, consistent rainfall and cooler temperatures that have remained fairly constant are delaying the lakes “turn over” and may even make it happen so slowly that we have no problems this year at all.

We have had a very wet year, Arkansas’s 5th wettest ever. This has meant quite a few days of off colored water, but because of the constant generation the river has always cleared quickly. If you are on the river and rain runoff from the creeks begins, remember to always take a streamer and work the mud lines close to the confluences because many times good sized fish will move into those feeding spots to pick off hapless prey that has washed into the river or to eat smaller fish feeding on runoff morsels.

One of the constant comments I hear from visiting anglers is that there isn’t any water to wade when the Dams are generating. While I’ll definitely agree that there is less water to wade, there are still many spots accessible by boat that offering wading areas. These areas may only be large enough for one or two anglers and to keep everyone in the fish you might have to move fairly often, but for me, that scenario beats drinking coffee in the café and bitchin’ about the water. Our rivers fish well from boats and I’d venture to say that in the White River, many more large fish come to the net when anglers are fishing from boats as opposed to wading. I love to wade and do anytime the opportunity presents but I think you severely limit your fishing time if that is the only way you choose to fish.

The North Fork River has ben offering up wadeable water in the mornings for the last 2 weeks and is fishing well.  Tiny egg patterns in orange or peach, zebra midges in black or brown in #18 -24′s have been taking fish consistently.  You can keep up with what the releases will be via the projected generation schedule though (at the moment, they seem to be following it fairly close) and you can check that at http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx.  Current generation can be verified at http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Bulsdam.htm and http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Norfork.htm.  You can also call 870 431-5311.

Remember,  The information is only as good as the person updating it.  The Corp has turned on generators and relased water without even updating the phone recording.  The “projected Scheduled relases” may not be followed.  Be aware of your surroundings (water levels) at all times.

On Saturday, October 24th I was lucky enough to be able to assist with the 1st Reel Recovery retreat held in Arkansas. Participants are recovering cancer patients that want to learn something about fly fishing and enjoy a day on the water. Reel Recovery is a non-profit that uses a fly fishing outing as positive step toward cancer recovery for these folks. It’s a very worthy cause, you can find out more at www.reelrecovery.org .

If you ever have a question, don’t hesitate to email or call. I’ll do my best to get you the info. or direct you to someone who can. It doesn’t matter whether you plan on fishing with me or not, what matters is that you have a good trip when you visit our area!

Wade safely, catch fish, but more than anything else, look around and appreciate the great place God has given us to practice our sport.

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