White River Walleye

[Bill Babler]

The White is a major tributary of the Missippi and the Missouri is also a tributary of the Missippi.

Both the Missouri and the Missippi, not to mention the Grand have had walleye since recorded fishing records, They would have had to have been native of the White, like Fox said you just wonder how plentiful.

Early catches by Tight's dad, plus the 29 catch and the gigging activity, most certainly prove, the old River Jacks were there before the dam, and up on our end of the White River System.

Without a doubt, the dam concentrated these fish and made them more accessable to anglers in that time.

With the stocking and the management practices we currently have underway we are very blessed to have this fantastic fishery.

Tight, your dad for sure was a Jack Salmon Master. Not to give away any scerets, but how did he like to fish for them? What was his best time of year?

Are you still using the same techniques you learned as a boy, or have you changed your approach to catching em?

I know you have a ton of stories we would all love to read. Could you give us one of your favorite fishing stories?

This is great stuff, thanks to all the contributors.

[Crippled Caddis]

Hmmmm----so was Jacks Fork so named for someone named Jack or for the Jack Salmon that inhabited it?

[Tightline]

Bill ,don't know if my dad could be considered a Walleye master but he was surely a (Fisher of men).He was hard to beat and always had people wanting him to take them fishing and some would offer money.His deal was I'll take you fishing if you come to church Sunday! Some did some didn't.

He made reference to going to Beaver and trapping chubs alot but he never wrote down what he caught his Jacks on.So I would say he bait fished some for them back in the early days.Now after I started fishing with him I know he always had a white 1/8 ounce Jig( he called em Doll Flys) on one rod and a 3 hook black and gold Rapala with a split shot on the line on another.He loved those heavey jigs and made them with lots of maribou and they had to have red or pink thread wrap,he made yellow ones to.Alot of the Walleyes we caught were in the edge of dead or slack water,eddies.But he had a nack for bouncing those jigs just off the bottom while we were drifting and catching them and the wheeler hole was our favorite place to do this.

The only time I was able to out fish him when I was young,we pulled up to huge blowed down sycamore just above the River Run park.It was causing a huge eddie.Well he didn't want me losing any more jigs so he gave me a chartreuse Road Runner and said to keep it moving real slow.Two or three times I would get hung and then it would just come loose. The third time he watched and said you're not getting hung thats jacks doing that, jerk next time.I caught a 9 lb walleye next cast,my uncle was with us,him and my dad tore the boat up looking for a chart Road Runner,to bad no more Road Runners.They sat and watched me a 10 yr. old reel in another 7lb and 5 lb Walleyes plus 4 big White Bass before something big broke it off.My uncle offered me a dollar after the second Wally.I don't think anyone could've bought that lure that day.

To this day I haven't matched that total weight for Walleyes.

Guys take them kids fishing, they won't ever forget.

TL

[Bill Babler]

Priceless, to say the least. That's the kind of stuff that make this one of the best fishing forums in the country.

[Crippled Caddis]

Fox wrote:

<I caught a walleye out of the South Fork of the Spring River about 34 years ago where I live now. I live one mile downstream from Salem, Arkansas, this is approximately 70 river mile from the confluence with the Spring River at Hardy.>

Bill Russell (used to be the barber in Hardy--may still be) told me @ 15 years ago that he had caught Walleye in the river at the foot of the old bluff I live on at Saddle---said he'd caught them all the way to Salem.

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Bill Babler wrote:

<Do you think there were just so few and scattered out, is the reason that no one caught them on a pole and line, and only when they would concentrate and run up the creeks were the only time people could find them?>

That would make sense to me, especially in light of their spawning regimen which prevents a hogh percentage of hatching success. Reminding me once more of the rumination concerning the origin of the name of the Jacks Fork I posted above.

Bill---please see the question I asked in post #6 on your original White River Walleye thread. I'd really like to hear your answer to it very much.

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Tightline wrote:

A LOT of good stuff! Thanks Tightline. I would have really enjoyed knowing your Dad. Reminds me of the old 'country preachers' that fished a lot with my own Dad. They literally 'don'y make 'em like that any more'. Please keep the stories coming as you recall them!

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Danimal wrote:

<In spite of what's written in Fishes Of Arkansas, many old timers (including my late grandfather) claim to have caught walleye from the Ouachita River and several of its tributaries back before lakes Ouachita, Hamilton, and Catherine were impounded, which was long before any were stocked down there. I guess they could've been pullin' my leg, but I can't think of any reason why they would.>

I'm inclined to believe them. Walleye seem rather adventuresome and as Fox noted they are native to the Mississippi system. If they got as far as the mouth of the Ouachita, wherever it debouches, I think the waters would have proven attractive to them. In much of it's length it has the sort of waters they prefer and I feel certain that before man removed the forests from it's drainage (predominantly post WW2 with the advent of the chainsaw and bulldozer) it would have ran cold and clear. I will reserve a single caveat----IIRC the Pickeral too was once referred to as a Jack. Were Pickeral native there?

[Bill Babler]

Caddis,in reguards to your question on the Black, I would assume the river had a migratory and a resident population, as it is the basic same water shed as the Current River that is populated.

The confluence of the Black and White occurs at Jacksonport Ark. Any fish that would be associated with the Missippi dranage I would think whould have populated this river.

I have found 6 or 8 websites that may reveal this information, but they are all pay per view sites. Some of you may have encountered this. The largest percentage of my piece was just general information I could get from word of mouth or gleam free on the web, and from biologist, newspapers, and sporting magizines, and the best being word of mouth by guys that were fishing in the 1940's.

There has been some indepth research done on not just the walleye, but all indigenious fishes. This for the most part is pay information.

Biotanical Information on the four seperate eco-zones in Arkansas is available in several different formats, all pay per view, with probably the most comprehensive By Mathews and Robison, on the Distribution of Fishes in Arkansas. The Book is $50.00, but I bet it can be found in one of Arkansas public librarys. For that matter, I bet I can order it from our library.

I am for the most part very interested in old fishing stories like the ones that Tight, has presented. Our main focus has been the Powersite region, or the Missouri Population of the White ie Bull Shoals. My great interest is were they there and how did they catch-em.

As far as evidence of walleye in the tributaries of the White, I had a hard enough time really finding out if and how many were in the upper White from Mountain Home to Branson.

Have you found evidence of Walleye in the Black as far as people catching them in the early 1900? All this is very interesting, and I am not as I said before an expert.

I just found out what I could and hoped others would add information that I was not able to find. Which has been the case Good Luck on your quest.

[Crippled Caddis]

Bill,

We've suffered a communication breakdown. Altho I find it all interesting like yourself I wasn't the one who enquired concerning the Black. The post I was referring to I'll repost below this line.

<Question for Bill.

you wrote:

<the first walleye he can ever remember was well after the long boats were gone>

Can you tell me what you mean by 'long boats'? I've been researching a pic of a long, very narrow, pointed at each end boat taken on Jacks Fork @ the turn of the 19th/20th century that I have came to think of as an 'Ozark plank-built' version of a dugout canoe. Could they be one and the same?>

[Danimal]

I've caught pickerel from lake Ouachita, so they probably are native down there, though I've never caught them up in the river. But I'm pretty sure that's not the fish my grandad and his friends were talking about. Back in the late 80's I caught a 3 lb. walleye from the Ouachita R. several miles above the lake in late June, which is a good 3 to 4 months after the spawning run. I called my grandad because I knew he fished the area long before the lake was impounded and he assured me that there has always been a few resident "marble-eyes" as he called them scattered in the deeper pools of the river. I do feel certain that he knew the difference between the species because much like myself, he always had large stacks of fishing magazines lying around the house. Dan-o

[Bill Babler]

I believe the long boats he was referring to were the home made plank and wooden river john's made by Owen's and the early river float company's.

Gentlemen this has been a great experence and the contributions have been fantastic. I however have spent so much time at this computer, I have neglected some of the duties I have here at the lodge. It has been pointed out by the innkeeper, my wift. I also have guide trips and maby, just maby a little fishing to do.

I've got to take a bit of a leave, but will keep all of you in mind.

God bless each and everyone, I will still post on my guiding activities, but the boss has complete cut off any projects that take lots of computer time, and research. Sincerely Bill Hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did working on it.