1 week in Arkansas, what to do? --- We had a BLAST!

[shawncat]

That is a sweet deal.I've boated on the White many times with a chain no bouy but thats up to you.Yes it does make you float straighter and slower.No drag chains allowed on North Fork.Yea, if it gets caught when waters coming up you could get swamped.If gen stays about the same as it's been lately no worry.In Febuary they may be running 8 gen all day ,thats when it gets tricky.I tell my partners To keep the knife not in your tackle box,pocket,or in the truck keep it right next to you!It's not as bad as it sounds, you'll see but if we can save somebody's trip it's worth it.I know of no access fees on the two rivers but maybe someone else can answer that.The cable is the end point below the dam and the MAN watches it closely. :ph34r: Good luck

[John Berry]

No trip to this area would be complete without a stop at Rim Shoals. There are a lot of fish, some interesting water to wade and beautiful scenery. Please add it to your itinerary.

[snagged in outlet 3]

No fees. I agree with John, Rim Shoals has to be the most beautiful place to fish in Arkansas.

I was bringing in a small rainbow stocker that took a bugger and a 27" brown wacked it. Caught em both. The picture of the brown is just awesome. My brother and I chased him down river and I got him in a slow pocket near shore and landed him. Quick pic and he's in there today eating stockers.

It's not the same as years ago, black topped the road and the place is packed all the time now. 20 years ago we would start at the top and spend all day fishing down to the 2nd island and never see anybody. Oh the good ole days.

Snagged.

[Troutjig.com]

WELL, we are back and we had a BLAST. Thank you all for your suggestions. We stayed at Patrick’s on the White the whole time and he let us hook his boat up to our car and take it with us wherever we went, just in case they started running water. He gave us a heck of a price for the entire trip as well. Very good to do business with.

The first day we waded out in front of the cabin there and caught a bunch of trout using our green tinsel jigs. We were able to sight fish and the trout would just dive bomb the jig! After a couple hours, we drove up to the catch and release section just to look around. They were running water so we just walked the bank and Amy caught a pretty nice cutthroat. We pretty much spent the rest of the day driving around and checking different places out. We ate at Gaston’s. Pretty cool place, but way over-priced for the quality of the food. It looks like there is some major construction about to take place on the other hill side. Lots of trees pushed over, etc.

The next day we got up late and went up to the Bull Shoals State Park and waded out and caught lots of rainbows on a few different jigs. I was using a pink and white rubber-leg jig, while Amy used a gold tinsel jig. We messed around there until they started running water. By that time, it was almost 2. We drove around for awhile again, checking out the area. We were going to take the boat out, but we decided to head to Mountain Home and get something to eat and watch a movie. We watched You, Me, and Dupree…not as funny as I thought it would be, but not horrible.

The next day, we got another late start and they were already running water. We launched the boat and tried our luck from there. It was pretty disappointing. There was so much crap in the water that you couldn’t cast without getting something on your lure. We tried it for a couple hours and decided to take a boat ride instead and take pictures. We both enjoyed that a lot. They didn’t ever stop running water so we finally made it back to Patrick’s to clean up and head back to Mountain Home to eat and watch a better movie. Well, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was not as good as I expected either. Not sure if I’d rent that movie again when it comes out on DVD!

Again, we got a late start the next day and they were running water…but not much. We put the boat in at Bull Shoals Park where we had luck a few days prior. We hammered them again. We would drift down to the end of the big rock structures near the bank and then motor back to where they start and do it all over again. After awhile we headed downstream where Patrick’s is located and drifted for awhile. We didn’t do as good as the first day that we fished there so we headed on down river. We went really far down and started making our way back. I noticed we were getting pretty empty on gas. After going for a long time, we could see Gaston’s dock. Then of course…we ran out of gas. We were lucky enough to have a father and son come by with a Gaston’s rental boat and pull us up to the dock to get fuel. The younger guy working was really nice. I only had a 10$ bill, but he went ahead and filled up the tank. We made our way back to the cabin and went to bed early because we were going to go to Norfork the next day.

We didn’t make it to Norfork until 10am, so we went straight to McKellans (sp?). We paid our $5 per and head to the fishing hole. WOW…we caught so many fish. Small, but a LOT of them. For 90 minutes or so, we had a fish every 3 or 4 casts. The trout loved the gold tinsel jig there. They started running water after 2 hours or so. I could not believe how fast it came up. We saw the stick that we had been watching go under, so we headed for the bank. By the time we got up to the car, the island that we had just walked on was completely under. Pretty amazing. We headed down to where the Norfork dumps into the White and put the boat in there. We tried going up the Norfork, but the water was just too swift for my liking. We headed up the White instead and didn’t have much luck. We went down river for awhile as well, still no luck. So again, it was time for a relaxing boat ride.

The next day, we planned to go to Buffalo City and check things out down that way. They were calling for rain ALL over, so we didn’t want to make the trip and not be able to fish. So we launched the boat at Bull Shoals Park where we had done well the entire time. We were catching plenty of fish and then the water started going down. It still looked like it was going to rain at any moment, but we loaded the boat and put our waders on. We got in the water for about 15 minutes and the water started coming back up. Instead of launching the boat, we decided to head towards Buffalo City, stopping at Wildcat Shoals on the way. We got to the public access at Wildcat and headed down river. One of the locals said the water was up a couple inches. We went past a small bend in the river and Amy tossed out a gold tinsel jig. As soon as it hit the water, she had a fish on. There was a pretty good rapid section of water just a little further down river. She quickly got the fish off and threw out again. Once again, as soon as it hit the water, bammm. So after 3 fish like that, we were at the fast moving section of the water, so we motored back up. We drifted back down slowly and the fish were still just as aggressive. We motored back up and put the anchor down and had all kinds of fun. Amy caught one every cast for 18 casts!!! We didn’t get a chance to try the fly rods much, so I just put one of our jigs one each fly rod and we got a little practice. Time went by really fast there, so we hurried back up to the access so we could see Buffalo City before dark. The White Buffalo Resort has some really sweet looking cabins. It looks like they spent a LOT of money there! For fishing, we could only go a little up and down river before it got too shallow for the boat. We caught 1 trout each, but that was about it. So after taking some pictures, we headed to Rim Shoals. Very beautiful view there as well. We didn’t have a lot of time there before it got dark. We tried a few spots with no luck until we got to the point where a small island in the middle and the water went left and right of it. On the right side, we started catching them, but we had to load the boat shortly after because it was getting dark FAST.

It was raining pretty hard Friday morning when we woke up, so we packed up and headed to Stockton, MO to visit some friends before heading back to St. James that evening.

All in all, we had a great trip. I can’t wait to go back. I saw a LOT of people using really large rapalas. I am guessing that is what you have to use to catch the big ones. I’d probably rather catch a lot of smaller fish rather than catch 1 bigger fish per day, but it would be nice to figure out how to find the bigger fish next time. Maybe I’ll have to get a guide.

Good Day,

Don

[Danoinark]

Don

I just happened to have been on the phone with Patrick while you two were there. He said you guys were having a great time and a very nice couple. Congrats to the both of you.

Dano