John Berry Fishing Report 10/18/2007

[John Berry]

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 10/18/2007

There has been a little rain in the twin lakes area and overall the lake levels continue to fall. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam has fallen seven tenths of a foot to rest at four and one tenth of a foot below power pool at 654.00 feet. Up stream, Table Rock Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to three and one tenth of a foot below power pool. Beaver Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to rest at five and three tenths of a foot below pool. The pattern on the White River has been for low levels of generation around the clock early in the week. Then mid week we got some low water making for excellent wading. Norfork Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to rest at five and four tenths feet below power pool of 552.00 feet. The pattern has been for a couple of brief periods of low generation in the evening and early morning and a period of substantial generation in the afternoon. This has created some excellent wading conditions. The forecast is for cooler weather and sunny skies. With the existing conditions, we should have low water on both rivers.

On the Norfork, the dissolved oxygen levels have remained low. The dissolved oxygen level was around six tenths parts per million. There was one instance where it dropped below four tenths of a part per million. On the White River the dissolved oxygen has declined slightly. It has averaged two and six tenths parts per million most of the time but did drop to two and three tenths parts per million on one occasion. The oxygen level is at the critical stage on the Norfork. Great care should be taken to prevent stressing the trout particularly near the dam where the dissolved oxygen will be the lowest. Fish should be quickly landed and carefully revived before release.

The fishing on the White has been a bit slow during the last week particularly on the upper river. The section from the Catch and Release area at the base of Bull Shoals Dam to White Hole has yielded a few good fish. The trout have been finicky and it is has been necessary to change flies often. Be sure and try San Juan worms, zebra midges in brown with copper wire and copper bead, and black with silver wire and silver bead. On the top try big foam hoppers, Chernobyl ants, and small midge emergers in black or peacock. Further down stream Wildcat Shoals has been fishing poorly. This section has received a lot of pressure during the last few weeks and a lot of trout have been harvested.

The section from Cotter to Rim has fished a bit better. This section has also seen a lot of pressure and significant harvest. The trout here have also been finicky. Productive flies have included the brown and the black zebra midges, sow bugs, partridge and orange soft hackles, olive woolly buggers and the Y2K. The river below Buffalo Shoals has fished better. There has been significantly less pressure here.

The Norfork has fished a bit better but the pressure has been unrelenting. There have been an inordinate number of anglers on the river from Norfork Dam to the confluence with the White. With limited wading on the White River everyone has headed here. It has not been the quality fly fishing experience that it has been in the past.

Dry Run Creek has been the exception and has fished incredibly well during the past week. There are a large number of brown trout that have moved up into the creek to spawn and there have been a large number of large fish caught. The hot technique during the past week has been to fish an olive woolly bugger below a strike indicator. Be sure and use at least 4X tippet. With the heavy tippet and larger hook of the Woolly bugger it is easier to handle the larger fish here. By fishing the fly under an indicator you can work a very short line and stay out of the trees. Most big fish are lost at the net. Be sure and carry the biggest one that you can lay your hands on. Other good flies for Dry Run Creek are sow bugs (the dominant food source in the creek), egg patterns, and San Juan worms. Be sure and mash down your barbs and handle the fish very gently. Carefully revive the trout before releasing them.

Practice water safety and always check conditions before you leave home.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas. He has fished the local streams for over twenty five years.