Lower White - Batesville Area

[ollie]

My buddies sister in law owns some kind of B&B down around Bateville and my buddy wants to plan a trip down there at the end of April. I have some questions however that if someone can help that would be great. First off, what kind of water are we talking about? CFS flow and how wide is it around there? I know the water is still cold, but what can we expect to fish for? Trout, Walleye, bass? All the above? Will we pretty much need a boat? All we have are kayaks and I get the feeling that water is too big to cover for all the prime water we need to be on. I personally have never been down that far on the White so I really don't know what to expect. Thanks

[Bird Watcher]

Hey Ollie,

I grew up in Batesville, graduated High School there. It starts to slow down some around Batesville and get warmer. There are some trout to be caught in town, but not many. Below lock #1, which is in town, there are basically none but there are good numbers of warm water species to be found. Between Lock#1 and Lock#2 which can either be accessed on the West Side near Locust Grove or on the East Side near Bethesda there are good numbers of trout. We used to go to Lock#2 after school and trout fish a lot. It's kind of a weird experience fishing off of the lock since you are about 40' above the water. We used a fish basket and a length of rope to lower down and land fish instead of trying to haul them up in the air on 6# line. above Lock#2 and Below Lock#3 is also a good stretch for trout. I would recommend a boat unless you plan to fish on one of the lock and dams. most all of the land is private along the river and the river is very big and unwadable for most of it's path through that country. If you were going to fish out of Kayaks, I think you could still have success, but you would want to work out a small float with a shuttle.

Out of curiosity, who owns the B&B and what is the name of it?

[ollie]

The people that own it are the Andersons and I think he said Este's?

[cmcclu]

Ollie,

The White River in this section is between 3 lock and dams numbered 1,2, and 3. I believe where you will be is between 2 and 3. Basically the dams create slow moving lake type water, however below each dam is typical river habitat for a bit downstream untill it slows down again from from the downstream dam. The flow is dictaed by releases at Bull Shoals and Norfork along with the many tribuatry streams and feeder creeks which can create very muddy conditions after a heavy rain fall. You will likely need a boat even in the event of very low water conditions and even then little or no wadable water. There is very good habitat directly below the dams that could be targeted if the water level is very low but is very hazardous and not fishable with very much flow at all. The lock and damms now have hydroelectric generators that produce power (but do not change water levels)that can be fished around. This section is below the end of the trout water but does have quite a few trout at certain times along with a few big ones along with walleye. Bass fishing is popular, crappie,sauger,and catfish are all caught at times, so you never really know what you might catch. Good luck!

[KCRIVERRAT]

Ollie, I haven't fished down there. My wife has some family in Batesville. Visited a couple of times. Can't give you a better report than the guys who have already, but I'll guarentee you it ain't wadeable. It's wide down there.

[taxidermist]

I lived in Batesville for several years.

Below lock 1. you will find largemouth, and kentucky bass, crappie, even some large very large stripers lots of catfish.

Between 1 and 2, there is an island that has produced some huge walleye one was 19lbs 1 ounce for a preacher in Searcy.

Lots of nice bluegill too.

Above 2 and 3 you will find smallmouths.

Trout are iffy but maybe be ok that early in the year, but if you want trout go up to Mt View and up river.

But crappie are often over looked in the river.

Depths run about 15 feet to a depth of 30-35 near the dams, we did some rescue/recovery dive training some years back.

[Ham]

Fun that this came up. I’m planning a trip down there 

[gotmuddy]

14 hours ago, Ham said:

Fun that this came up. I’m planning a trip down there 

Below batesville or above?

[snagged in outlet 3]

14 hours ago, Ham said:

Fun that this came up. I’m planning a trip down there 

10 years later....

[Ham]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

10 years later....

It popped up on a side bar as a suggested topic which is what I found interesting. I’m not searching out 10 year old threads to jump start.