John Berry Fishing Report 4/17/2008

[John Berry]

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.