We have had two rain events. The reservoirs on the White River system have fallen a bit. They remain precariously close to the top of flood pool. At the time of this writing, we are receiving yet more rain. It has been very windy and there were lake wind advisories on several days. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose fell six tenths of a foot to rest at forty and two tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is eight tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. Up stream, TableRockLake remained steady at fifteen and five tenths of a foot above power pool or five tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. BeaverLake rose six tenths of a foot to settle at nine and two tenths feet above pool or four tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. The flood gates at Bull Shoals have been closed. The pattern on the White is to run all eight generators around the clock. NorforkLake has risen two tenths feet to rest at twenty seven and two tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or eight tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. The pattern has been to run two generators most of the time with brief periods of no generation mostly at night. There have been a few brief periods of wading opportunities on the NorforkRiver but none on the White. On the higher water, boating conditions have been excellent. The BuffaloRiver and Crooked Creek are high and off colored.
Most boat ramps on the White River are now usable. Great care should be taken when launching or loading your boat during heavy generation. The use of a personal flotation device is highly recommended when boating on heavy water.
The fishing on the upper White has been excellent, particularly the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals dam. The key to success has been to use conventional high water tactics. Large brightly colored San Juan worms (red, hot pink, cerise and fire orange have all been productive) and brightly colored egg patterns. They must be fished with a lot of lead and, of course, a really big strike indicator to float it all. This is not a delicate proposition and I would recommend larger tippet than normal, at least 4X to handle the larger flies and additional weight. Make sure that your indicator is set on the leader to enable the fly to tick the bottom of the water column. Remember it is quite a bit deeper than normal. With this much lead and with such heavy flies be very careful with your cast. If you hit a fellow angler with this rig, they are going down. It is imperative that you fish barbless and be sure and wear eye protection.
Other generally hot spots on the river have not fished as well as the upper river. Rim shoals and the Cotter area, in particular, have not been producing well.
On the NorforkRiver, there were a couple of brief periods of wadable water. The fishing during these was spectacular. There were literally millions of scuds in the water and the nymphing action was non stop. The ramp at QuarryPark, located at the base of Norfork Dam was destroyed during the flooding. If you want to boat on the Norfork, you must use the ramp at the confluence and motor up. There has been a lot of high water on the Norfork and the same high water tactics suggested for the White should also work here. During a recent fishing trip on the Norfork, I saw a three foot gar and a thirty pound striper. The tales of fish being washed into the river when the flood gates were open are true. It should make for some very interesting fishing this year.
Dry Run Creek is back in business and fishing very well. After the recent flooding, the hot fly has been the worm brown San Juan worm in smaller sizes. Other hot flies have been sowbugs, olive woolly buggers, egg patterns and Y2Ks. Make sure that you mash down all barbs. It is not just a fishing regulation for fishing there but a good idea whenever you are fishing with kids. Carry a big net and do not forget the camera. This is the best place on earth to introduce children to fishing.
Practice water safety and always check conditions before you leave home.
THE NORFORK HAS CHANGEDBY JOHN BERRYThe other day I was guiding on the Norfork. It was my first visit since the flood and I found that a lot of things had changed. For one, I drove up to QuarryPark to launch my boat and noted that it was closed. I drove down to the confluence and I could not use the ramp there because the road to the ramp was flooded. I launched off the road and headed up stream. The strategy was to motor up all the way to the dam and fish our way down.When we got to the dam, we saw why QuarryPark was closed. The Corps of Engineers had opened the flood gates to drop the water level on NorforkLake because it was well over the top of flood pool (the maximum capacity of the dam). When they opened the flood gates they had released 77,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) which is the rough equivalent of twenty eight generators. It should be noted that the Norfork has two generators that were running at the time. This means that the water flow (the equivalent of thirty generators) was fifteen times the level we had previously considered the maximum. That is a lot of water. The asphalt parking lot was disintegrated. The picnic table had been up rooted and twisted into a pretzel. The bench along the river has suffered a similar fate. Trees were knocked down and the river had been scoured.
We motored up to the base of the dam. The flood gates had been turned off and the river was running at the normal high water level. We began fishing and tagged several nice trout. They were very fat and fought well. About this time, I noticed that the water level was dropping. I didnt want to get stuck there so I began motoring down stream. I noticed a lot of work going on at Genes Trout Dock and at Rainbow Resort to repair damage from the flood. We fished through the long hole and picked up a few more nice fish. The water continued dropping so we headed down to McClellans.
We got out and fished through some good looking water. I realized that we were probably the first anglers through here on low water in months. I looked in the water and I saw literally millions of scuds. We removed the heavy tackle that we had been using on the heavy water and rigged size sixteen olive scuds on 6X tippet with a bit of lead and a strike indicator. We began moving down stream picking up nice fat fish along the way.
As I looked around, I noted many changes. The main channel around the lower island was previously on the right but is now on the left. One of my favorite spots, the tree hole (a third of the way down the lower island), is now filled in with gravel. The S shaped run below the waterfall is now straighter and deeper. It has been scoured out and now has a bed rock bottom. The good news is that it still holds fish. As I was walking through the Ace in the Hole water, I noticed a much bigger change, a three foot gar. This fish normally found in the lake had obviously been washed through the flood gates when they had been open previously that week. I must say that it was a bit unnerving to see something that looks like a barracuda swimming around in my favorite trout stream. Later in the day, I saw a dead thirty pound striper in a pile of brush on the bank.
We fished through all of the good looking water and decided to float on down to try our luck in front of Charlies. Here again we saw some significant change. The upper portion of the right channel that runs by the upper island has graveled in quite a bit. The bath tub hole was completely filled in with gravel. There is less current running through this channel now. The left channel has been scoured and is a bit deeper now. There is more current moving through it. This section fished well and we caught a lot of trout here. The lower portion of Charlies has silted in a bit because the Norfork is backed up all the way here because the White is running so high. As a result, a lot of the silt carried down stream has settled from here to the confluence.
It was finally time to head back, and as we motored back to the confluence, my clients tallied their day and realized they had caught over fifty trout. The biggest fish were an eighteen inch rainbow and a wild brown the same size. The river has changed but it is still a great place to fish.
John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished the local streams for over twenty five years.
