Over the past week, we have had no discernable rain, some very heavy winds and some generally warm temperatures. All of the lakes in the White River system have dropped significantly but remain in flood pool. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell two and four tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell five tenths of a foot to rest at four tenths of a foot above power pool or fifteen and six tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell one and one tenth of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above power pool or nine and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White was for heavy generation around the clock. Norfork Lake has fallen two feet to rest at seven tenths of a foot above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty seven and three tenths feet below the top of flood pool. There has been heavy generation on the Norfork. There were a couple of very brief windows of no generation on the Norfork that created some good wading. With the current lake levels and mild weather, I would predict wadable water in the near future on both rivers.
Remember that there is a new slot limit on Brown trout. All browns less than twenty four inches must be released immediately no matter where they are caught on the White and Norfork Rivers. Only one brown trout may be kept in the daily limit of five trout.
This past week the conditions created a perfect storm and the shad kill kicked into high gear. This has been the best one that has occurred in several years with the trout absolutely keying in on the shad. There were numerous instances where the feeding was so heavy that many trout were feeding on floating shad and anglers were taking good fish on shad surface patterns.
The shad kill occurs when there are low temperatures are coupled with high levels of generation. Watch for gulls feeding in the dam discharge to signal that the shad are coming through. The most effective flies have been white marabou jigs and white bead head woolly buggers. For fishing this area during high levels of generation, I generally use long 4X tippets (a twelve foot leader tippet combination). Use plenty of lead to get the fly down and a big strike indicator to float it all. When fishing floating shad patterns use stout tippet (4X) to cast these heavy flies.
When you are fishing in this area, please be careful and do not drag chains through the redds. Disturbing them could destroy the wild brown trout eggs recently deposited there. We do not want to eliminate the next generation of wild brown trout. In addition, dragging chains in high water is dangerous. If the chain grabs the bottom, it could easily swamp the boat.
The shad kill has been so heavy that at times the trout were gorged on shad and quit feeding. When you find yourself in this situation, drift down stream until you encounter feeding fish. There have been reliable reports of excellent fishing from Bull Shoals down to Rim Shoals.
The Catch and Release section at Rim Shoals is the area that has wadable water available as long as they are generating below seventeen thousand cubic feet per second. To access these spots contact Gary Flipin at Rim Shoals Trout Dock to ferry you to wadable water with his water taxi. The cost is nominal.
If you are fishing below Rim Shoals, you need to concentrate on conventional high water tactics. Brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns dead drifted along banks and over weed beds with a lot of extra lead and big strike indicators. The hot technique for the big browns is to bang the bank with sculpin patterns on sink tip and full sinking lines. Kiwi muddlers, zoo cougars and Mengles Ozark sculpins would be good fly choices.
Crooked Creek has slowed considerably. The water temperature has dipped below fifty five degrees and the Smallmouth have pretty much shut down.
The Norfork has fished a bit better of late. Though I have not heard any reports of a shad kill here, anglers have reported success with white jigs and white woolly buggers. There have been some big browns caught on large streamers cast at the bank. You do not catch a lot of fish this way but you can hook up with some really big trout. This is the best way to catch large browns.
Dry Run Creek has been a busy place recently. There are plenty of big fish and eager young anglers. If your favorite spot is taken, move around. There are big fish every where. The hot flies are sowbugs, San Juan worms and woolly buggers. Do not forget to take the biggest net you can lay your hands on. Most fish are lost at the net. Use heavy tippet, at least 4X. Carry a camera to record the fish of a lifetime.
Practice water safety and always check conditions before you leave home.
John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over twenty five years.
