Minimum Flows

[nymphermaniac]

I would greatly appreciate any feedback in how wading has been during minimum flows. Thanks in advance.

[Ham]

Wading should be very doable in most of the previous areas with minimum flow. I can wade at Rim witht he 900 ish CFS and I can wade in the 1500 CFS range in the Shipps Ferry area, but it all depends on you abilities and paying attention to the water depth and flow rate where you are attempting to wade. Some areas that are wadable at low water before are not going to be wadable at minimum flow, but a lot of minimal water will now hold fish. I expect it to be a non issue other than the trout will be more fat and happy than before.

I plan on using my yak as a water taxi at minimum flow and wading where I can as I go downstream.

[Col Ron]

Up in the catch and release area by B.S. dam, the MF has mixed reviews. On the real MF mornings, the latest being 690cf, the wading is no problem, the catching is a new learning experience. A group of us meets normally in the golf course parking lot or the gravel lot up close to the dam. Must be honest, most of us are definitely learning to adjusting to the change of the flow. It is totally different, the dead slow water previously, now has a good drift, the "kiddy pool" on the Lakeview side is now basically gone, where we weren't catching fish before, we are now. There is the feeling you no longer need 6X on minimum flow, don't buy it, stick with the 6X, it really helps the bite, unless you are in fast water.

It is good for the fish, with the colder water. Going into August, hopefully the fish will not be as stressed after catching.

[Ham]

No doubt the Col is right. The fish will adjust to this flow and areas will fish differently. Great spots of the past might be crap now, but it has to be better for the fish. The only unintended negative for the fish is that there will be some level of extra fishing pressure that they didn't have before. I think it will still be a positive in the long run.

[Nighthawk]

Can't specifically say it was because of minimum flow, but fishing yesterday really sucked. The river seemed dead, no breeze, bright sunshine, no herons working, no gulls. My favorite spots seemed too deep and fast to get good drifts. They wouldn't even hit an olive wooly bugger! We tried the state park, Wildcat, and Cotter. Only 2 fish brought to hand. Looks like I'm going to have to learn this river all over again.

[John Berry]

WADE FISHING MINIMUM FLOW

BY JOHN BERRY

After many years of waiting, minimum flow on the White River is finally here. The general idea is to make the lowest flows coming through our dams a bit higher. This will provide a larger wetted area that will provide more habitat for trout and other aquatic plant and insect life forms. It will also aid navigation. Before minimum flow the amount of water leaking through the generators was around 50 CFS (cubic feet per second). The new target flows are around 600 CFS. This is twelve times the volume of water of the previous low flow. The water will only be a few inches higher but the flow will be significantly increased.

When I called the dam this morning to check the level of generation, the recording said that they had one generator on. When I went to the Corps of Engineer’s website and checked current flows, it indicated that the flows were 674 CFS, which is approximately 20 % or one fifth of a full generator. It is important that you realize that one generator can be a full generator (3300 CFS) or something much less. For that reason, I consider the Corps of Engineers website, which has current flows listed by CFS, to be a more useful indicator of safe wading conditions.

Under minimum flow, wading will be more difficult but not impossible. There will be a learning curve to adjust to the higher flows. Sections that were marginally wadable under the lower flows will be treacherous. You will have to be more careful when selecting your route. I would recommend that you wear studded wading boots for more traction particularly on bedrock and always carry a wading staff for more stability. Monitor the water level more closely. Any increase in the height of the water will be more critical and must be acted on immediately. As soon as you detect rising water, you should leave.

My wife, Lori, and I have safely waded flows in Cotter up to 1500 CFS. It should be noted that we are experienced waders with good gear. I wear waist high waders in the summer, because they are cooler. I found myself with only about a half inch of free board on one occasion and had to change my route, to prevent the water from entering my waders. Chest high waders may be a more practical alternative for heavier flows.

The fishing will not be adversely affected, in fact, it should be better. It has been for Lori and me. It is important to remember that the trout are still there. They may or may not be in the same place but they are still there.

On our first trip under the increased flow regimen, we chose a spot that did not fish as well on very low flows. It was a spot that held plenty of fish but generally fished better before all of the flow dropped out. On absolute low flows, it was difficult to fish as there was little current and the water was generally too shallow to nymph or fish streamers effectively. Under those conditions we fished soft hackles or dry flies.

We found that the deeper spots that we favored on previous trips were still quite productive. I found that we needed to use a bit more lead on the leader and set the strike indicator a little deeper in order to get the nymphs down in the increased flows. Lori found that fishing small streamers (size ten woolly buggers) was very effective although she found that she had to place a bit more lead on the leader to get the fly down to the bottom of the water column. The soft hackles and midge emergers that we usually use still produced fish.

After fishing my usual spots and doing well, I decided to go exploring and see if I could find new holding water. With the increased flows I found several and did not have to look that hard to find them. Spots that were previously too shallow and did not have constant flows through them were now great feeding lanes that offered the trout concentrated food and protection. I fished them and did well.

Don’t be intimidated by the higher flows associated with minimum flows. Be cautious when wading and alter your rigging to accommodate the higher flows. Seek out and fish new trout holding water. I think you will like it!

[Ham]

Only two fish? WTH? I'm sure they weren't biting great, but I can't imagine it being that tough.

[CFowler]

Well guys, it would be nice if it were only a few inches. Try at least 12 inches and that would be about 13-14 times the amount of water on previous dead low. Think about that, seems like an aweful lot of water. Do they raelly need that much? Although weve seen more flows over 700 due to the higher lake levels, which is more like 16 inches (the higher waterncreates more pressurempushing water through the pipe). I can get a boat where ever I want now on dead low. The closer you are to the dam, the more it is noticeable. Below the Buff it would be the least noticeable deepening on what Crooked and the Buff are doing. Im sure Buff shoals fishes well on this water. Sure you can catch plenty of fish anywhere but you certainly can't access the river like you could.

The biggest beneficiaries will be the boat renters and guides that want to stay in their boats. And of course the folks down stream in the marginal water like Calico will now have better water and trout survival. Someone down that way must have some sway, it was based on temp readings down that way to back into the flow needed. It has to be true that this will help the fish but certainly not the wade fisherman. It will pretty much restrict them to 5 to 10 percent what they used to fish well. I guess they should have organized or spent more money or something, clearly no one cares about them. I hope it returns us to the glory days but they didn't have min flow then and those were the glory days.

I feel bad for the average low budget guy. I have a drift boat and a Jon boat, I will be using them more but that guy isn't going to like it. They had to take it all too, both the Norfork and the White. Couldn't leave the Norfork for the waders, it's only 4 miles long, temp is not the issue there. Nope, they took it all from them. They told people inches to get their support and it turns out to be feet. I have friends that are shop owners and guides and there are a lot of shocked people with the way it actually is compared to the sales story they were given. From what I hear its not easy to get a really small level of water through the dam due to the turbine limitations so it's not likely to decrease and that could be why there has been more than the planned 590, just speculating. They had no idea how to do it when they were putting the plan together.

Lets not overlook the safety issue either, at that level when it starts coming up by the time you notice you're in trouble. It's gets to an unsafe level very quickly, that's the most concerning factor so far. You know, I'm thinking about a place on Taney at this point. When it's all said and done, you guys up in MO might have the only wadeable water left. Enjoy it. As it stands I'm planning a trip over to the Norfork this weekend to fish some of the last wadeable water we'll see in AR.

[Ham]

THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!

[Justin Spencer]

To heck with the tailwaters, fish the real trout rivers! I'm excited about how the fish should get bigger faster down there with this minimum flow. I may have to make a trip or two this year.