John Berry

Sage advice Don. I was guiding at Rim today but Lori went over to the Norfork and slammed them on Wooly buggers. It sounds like you had a great day also.

I fished the Norfork today. I checked the dam number and noted it was off. I had a couple of clients from Oklahoma and I hoped to catch a couple of hours of low water before they turned it on. We hiked up to Charlie's and we were able to fish there untill two o'clock. It was awesome. We caught over thirty fish before lunch including a grand slam. After the water came up we fished the high water and caught more but not as many as on low water. We hooked and lost a huge brown. While I was at Charlie's, I began to notice that the bank was littered with lures. I collected thirteen with two treble hooks each. I cannot fathom how much poaching has been occurring there. The hole in front of Charlie's is totally graveled in. The run on the other side of the island is scoured out and fishing well. The hot flies were worm brown San Juan worms, olive scuds and zebra midges.

I have a pair of Keens boat sandals and I love them. I wear them in the boat in the summer. When wet wading I prefer to wear wading boots and a pair of neoprene booties. I also prefer to wear light weight, quick drying, long pants. My favorite brand is Ex Officio amphi pants.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 5/08/2008 Though we have had yet another rain event, the reservoirs on the White River continue to fall, albeit slowly. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell four tenths of a foot to rest at thirty nine and six tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is one and four tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to rest at fourteen and three tenths feet above power pool or one and seven tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two tenths of a foot to settle at eight and three tenths feet above power pool or one and three tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White has been to run around the clock with higher flows during the day and lower flows at night. All flood gates have now been shut down. Norfork Lake has fallen seven tenths of a foot to rest at twenty six and three tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or one and seven 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 at night. There have been a few brief periods of wading opportunities on the Norfork River at night but none on the White. On the higher water, boating conditions have been excellent. The Buffalo River and Crooked Creek are still a bit high and off colored. The fishing on the White has been greatly improved during the past week. With fluctuating levels, the key to success has been to fish rising water. This requires that you carefully study the variances in flow and position your self to be on the water when the water rises on a particular stretch of water and fish the rise. The upper river from the Catch and Release section at the base of Bull Shoals dam to Cane Island Shoals has been fishing well. Since the lower flows have been at night and this section is located just below the dam, virtually all the fishing here is at higher flows. The hot flies here have been brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns. Be sure and weight the leader heavily and use a large indicator to float all of this. Another section that has been very productive has been the section from Rim Shoals to Buffalo Shoals. The lower flows and rising water hit here during the day and that has been the best time to fish here. On the lower water, midge nymphs in a bit larger size than you would use for wade fishing (size 14 and 16) have been the ticket. Caddis pupa and copper johns have also been quite productive. Be sure and fish the power lines and the rough hole carefully because they have been producing extremely well. Caution should be used when using the ramp at Ranchette. It has silted in quite a bit and it is not recommended that you try and use it at this time unless you have four wheel drive. With the Lower water conditions and greatly improved fishing on the White, the crowding has eased quite a bit on the Norfork. The heavy pressure from previous weeks has put the fish down and anglers are not catching as many. The best time to fish has been early morning to catch the rise. On lower water, nymphs like olive scuds, zebra midges and copper johns have been the hot flies. Once the rise is over, the ticket has been to fish brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns. Dry Run Creek as usual is fishing very well. This is a great time of year to fish here, between spring break and summer vacation, because there is not much fishing pressure and the best spots are available. The best flies this past week have been sowbugs, olive woolly buggers and San Juan worms. While a lot of the creek can be fished from the bank, it is best to have waders so that you can reach some of the seldom fished spots that hold the larger fish. 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.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 5/01/2008 Though the reservoirs on the White River system have fallen a bit, they remain precariously close to the top of flood pool. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose fell two tenths of a foot to rest at forty feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is one foot below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell five tenths of a foot to rest at fifteen feet above power pool or one foot below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to settle at eight and five tenths feet above power pool or one and one tenth of a foot below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White has been to run all eight generators around the clock. In addition they opened the flood gates and ran 13, 000 additional cubic feet per second (the equivalent of four additional generators). The also ran the flood gates on Beaver and Table Rock. All have now been shut down. Norfork Lake has fallen two tenths feet to rest at twenty seven feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or one 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 Norfork River at night but none on the White. On the higher water, boating conditions have been excellent. The Buffalo River and Crooked Creek are high and off colored. Most boat ramps on the White River are now usable. When they had the flood gates open during the past week they were all flooded. 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 White has been tough. The water has been so high most anglers have avoided it all together. A few brave souls have fished the upper White with some success, particularly the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals dam. At least one enterprising angler was able to harvest several stripers on the White River. They had come through the flood gates and were stunned by their ordeal. The angler scooped them up with his boat net for a fish fry. With the flood gates turned off, conditions on the White should improve substantially. With the water on the White extremely high, the action was centered on the Norfork River. The traffic was incredibly heavy. With the ramp at Quarry Park destroyed by recent flooding and the ramp at the confluence flooded by the additional water coming through the flood gates at Bull Shoals dam, the only place to launch boats on the Norfork was off the side of the road leading to the confluence ramp. This is a tricky place to launch and at times the spot got quite congested. Patience prevailed and I heard on no mishaps. Despite the extremely crowded conditions, the fishing, while not hot, was steady. 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. One tactic that helped produce fish was the use of a dropper in the sections of the Norfork that were not designated Catch and Release. A small nymph can be attached to the bend of the hook of the San Juan worm by a twenty four inch tippet with a couple of simple improved clinch knots. A good nymph to use for this technique would be the copper john. Our most reliable mayfly hatch of the year is the sulphur. They regularly hatch in May and June and the nymphs should be coming more active in the coming weeks. Use the copper wire variety in size fourteen. It is a dead on imitation of the sulphur nymphs. Other good nymphs to try would be olive scuds or black zebra nymphs in size fourteen. Dry Run Creek as usual is fishing very well. The hot fly has been the worm brown San Juan worm in smaller sizes. Other productive patterns have been sowbugs, olive woolly buggers, egg patterns and Y2Ks. While you are there take a tour of the National Fish Hatchery. It is fascinating and educational. Be sure and remove your waders before entering the hatchery to prevent the spread of aquatic diseases. 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.

Right now Bull Shoals lake is forty feet higher than last year. They currently have the flood gates on and the current river level is fifty percent higher than the normal maximum level. I do not forsee any wading in the month of May. People like me are fishing and catching fish. It is limited to boat fishing. To my knowledge Rainbow Drive Resort is up and running. Crooked Creek may be fishable at that time. Good luck!

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/24/2008 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, Table Rock Lake 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. Beaver Lake 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. Norfork Lake 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 Norfork River but none on the White. On the higher water, boating conditions have been excellent. The Buffalo River 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 Norfork River, 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 Quarry Park, 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. John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over twenty five years.

Let me try this. The changes that I saw were that the upper river had basically been scoured. I think that this has blown out a lot of the siltation caused by the Overlook Estates debacle. The Norfork is the oldest tailwater on the White River and it was starting to feel its age. I think the river was silting in and was not getting blown out occassionally. Just like opening the flood gates on the Colorado and blowing out the river in the Grand Canyon this higher water will help cleanse the river and make it healthier in the long run. It also gives us a new river to fish. I really enjoyed the mental chess game this past week of going into water that I hardly recognized and figuring out where the fish were. It will benefit us in the long run.

I would recommend filling the booties with water and hanging them up. Find out where they leak and mark it with a piece of chalk. Apply Loon UV wader repair. It looks like aquaseal but it cures in a couple of minutes in sunlight. I have used it on clients waders in the parking lot and fished immediately.

I took a client from Michigan to the Norfork. As they did yesterday, they turned the water off mid morning. We drifted down to McClellan's and fished there. It was greatly changed from the flood. The main channel has moved from the right side of the lower island to the left, the tree hole is graveled in and I saw a three foot gar in the Ace in the Hole Water. I must say that was a bit unnerving. The fishing was good. The hot fly was an olive scud.

I took a couple of clients to the Norfork yesterday. Quarry Park was closed off so I launched at the Confluence. Motored up to the dam. The ramp at the dam was heavily damaged. The fishing on high water was good. At 11:00 they turned off the water and we fished down to the Catch and Release section and fishing got even better. It was an easy fifty fish day. The big fish was an eighteen inch Rainbow and a brown of the same size. I saw an incredible number of scuds and a caddis hatch. The river was heavily scoured and looked very differant from the last time I saw it at low water. Some of my favorite holes are gone and some channels are greatly changed. I will have to re learn the whole river. I think a lot of the change is for the better.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/17/2008 The reservoirs on the White River system have finally crested and are starting to fall. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose six and one tenth feet to rest at forty and nine tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is one tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool and it is coming down. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose three and six tenths of a foot to rest at fifteen and five tenths of a foot above power pool or five tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to settle at eight and six tenths feet above pool or one foot below the top of flood pool. During the past week, the flood gates at Beaver, Table Rock and Bull Shoals have been open at one time or another. The flood gates at Bull Shoals are still open. Norfork Lake has fallen one and four tenths feet to rest at twenty seven feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or one foot below the top of flood pool. The Corps of Engineers has opened all flood gates at Norfork dam and ran as much as 77,000 cubic feet per second in order to lower the dam below flood pool. This caused flooding down stream and scoured the river. The weather has been dry. There have been no wading opportunities on the Norfork River or the White. Once the water cleared, boating conditions have improved. The Buffalo River and Crooked Creek are high and off colored. The White River below these streams is stained and not fishing well. When the Corps of Engineers first opened the flood gates at Bull Shoals dam there was a lot of trash flowing down stream that made navigation very dangerous. Now that the river has cleared and stabilized a bit boating on the river is a bit better. Several ramps are still flooded and 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) 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 a bit deeper than normal. This rig will be difficult to cast with the four weight rod than you fish on low water. I would recommend a stiff five weight or even better a six weight. If you are not fishing in Catch and Release waters, you should consider using a dropper (it is illegal to use more than one hook on your line in Catch and Release waters). The easiest way to do this is to tie a twenty four inch section of tippet to the bend of the lead hook with an improved clinch knot. Then tie on a small nymph or egg pattern to that piece of tippet. This tactic could double your chances of a hook up. On the Norfork River, they have been running two full generators around the clock. The same high water tactics suggested for the White should also work here. The extensive flooding of the Norfork has scoured the river and it has changed. This is the first time that this has happened since Norfork dam was constructed over sixty years ago. There has been much discussion that this flushing will be good for the river in the long run and may actually revitalize it. An interesting side note is that there have been numerous reports of Lake Species such as stripers, walleye and gar being caught on the Norfork tail waters. They were obviously washed through the flood gates during recent operations. Dry Run Creek was flooded also. The water almost got into the Hatchery. This was caused by water backing up from the Norfork and the Creek was not scoured as it was before. Dry Run has returned to normal and once again is fishing well. The hot flies have been sowbugs, San Juan worms (worm brown and red were the hot colors), olive woolly buggers, egg patterns and Y2Ks. Be sure and bring a camera for that photo of a life time and bring the biggest net you can lay your hands on. 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.

The Corps of Engineers has closed the flood gates at Norfork dam as of 3:00PM this afternoon. This will give us some fishable water.

They have cut the flood gates way back on the Norfork and I would think that Dry Run Creek would be fishable. I also think they will be shutting down the flood gates on Norfork soon and it will be fishable later this week.

Don, I am way up the hill and out of harms way. Lori and I drove down to the river. It looks like Cotter Trout Dock and Roundhouse Shoals Trout Dock will be flooded. They have moved out anything of value.

Phil, According to the message, they have about 5,760 CFS coming through flood gates plus 21.000 from generation. On the Norfork its about 11,600CFS from the gates and 5,600 from generation.

The flood gates are now on. Untill they turn them off, I would recommend being extremely cautious. The best bet would be to wait untill the flood gates are closed.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/10/2008 We have had two more major rain events and the reservoirs on the White River system continue to rise at an alarming rate. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose six and six tenths feet to rest at thirty four and eight tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is six and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool and it continues to rise. Up stream, Table Rock Lake dropped six tenths of a foot to rest at eleven and nine tenths of a foot above power pool or four and one tenth of a foot below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake rose one tenth of a foot to settle at nine and three tenths feet above pool or three tenths of a foot below the top of flood pool. At the time of this writing we are receiving heavy rain and the flood gates are open at Beaver. Beaver and Table Rock Lakes have been generating heavily. The water has been collecting in Bull Shoals Lake which is nearing capacity. Norfork Lake has risen three and five tenths feet to rest at twenty eight and four tenths of a foot above power pool of 552.00 feet or four tenths of a foot above the top of flood pool. Norfork Lake is over capacity and the Corps of Engineers have opened all flood gates at Norfork dam and are generating heavily. As flooding clears down stream, the Corps of Engineers will begin drawing down the Dams on the White River. The weather has been very wet. There have been a few days with lake wind advisories. There have been no wading opportunities on the Norfork River and precious few on the White. Boating conditions have been excellent. The Buffalo River and Crooked Creek are high and off colored. The White River below these streams is stained and not fishing well. The Upper White River is red hot. We have had low level generation (one to two generators). During this period, the Bull Shoals Dam Catch and Release has fished particularly well. The productive flies were black zebra midges, soft hackles and San Juan worms. The section from Wildcat Shoals to Cotter has also been hot. There has been a predictable rhyacophilia caddis hatch in the late afternoon. This is our premier hatch of the year. Prior to the hatch, caddis pupae patterns like the pulsating caddis have been effective. During the emergence, the green butt or partridge and green soft hackle have been the go to flies. When the trout start keying in on the adults, switch to green elk hair caddis size fourteen. Other productive flies in this section have been San Juan worms, sow bugs, zebra midges and partridge and orange soft hackles. Another hot spot is Rim Shoals, particularly the section from just below the first island to the power lines (the lower limit of the Catch and Release area). The water is still lightly stained from the recent rains but it has not adversely affected the fishing. The hot flies were San Juan worms in bright colors (hot pink, fire orange, cerise and red) egg patterns, midges and caddis pupa. The water along the first island and just below it fished well with Y2Ks. On the Norfork River, they have been running two full generators around the clock. It has also been fishing very well. High water tactics have been the key to success here. Be sure and use long leaders, plenty of lead and large strike indicators. Brightly colored San Juan worms along the weed beds or submerged structure have produced some nice fish. The hot colors have been red, hot pink, pale pink, and cerise. Other effective flies have been Y2Ks, black zebra midges, and egg patterns. Dry Run Creek, as always, has been fishing well. There were a few kids there on the wet cold days and some fine trophies were brought to net. The hot flies have been sowbugs, San Juan worms (worm brown and red were the hot colors), olive woolly buggers, egg patterns and Y2Ks. Remember that if you want to visit the adjacent trout hatchery, you must remove your waders. This is to prevent the transfer of aquatic diseases like whirling disease to the hatchery. Be sure and bring a camera for that photo of a life time. 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.

Norfork Lake is above flood pool and rising. The corps will have to turn on the flood gates and I think Norfork will flood again.

Give me a call I would enjoy fishing with you. The reason that I tell Don that he only knows how to tie one fly is that everytime I see him on the river I ask what fly he is using. I get the same answer every time! By the way he fishes every day and catches a lot of trout.

My wife, Lori, took several lessons from Al during Sowbug and really got a lot out of it. In fact it enthused her to work toward her CCI. She thought Al was a great instructor.

I live in Cotter, Arkansas ten miles from Mountain Home and I love it. Incredible fishing, low taxes, & good Hospital. Bring your own job if you want one.

Well I live in Cotter, Arkansas which is about ten miles from Mountain Home on the upper White river. I retired here for the fishing and I love the area and wouldn't want to live any where else. When people ask me about moving here, I always advise them to bring their own job. That is what I did and it has worked out. If you plan on making the big bucks being a fishing guide, I wish you luck.

I always access the area at the new AG&FC ramp that Don Allenbaugh wrote about. It is brand new has porta potties, picnic tables for shore lunches and plenty of great parking. If you forgot anything Gary Flipin has a fly shop adjacent to it. All that and good fishing.

I took two clients into Rim Shoals yesterday. It looked like about two full generators. The water was lightly stained but the trout did not mind. It was sunny with a bit of wind. We had a cool start but it warmed nicely by the end of the day. During the morning, the action was non stop with at least one bent rod in the boat at all times and numerous doubles. The afternoon was a bit slower but still great. The only reason we quit was that my clients were from Memphis and wanted to catch the Tigers play in the NCAA finals (so did I). The trout were fat and fought particularly well. I saw JW and DW fishing in the area also. My hot fly was the Y2K. We also fished San Juan worms and fluttering caddis.