John Berry Fishing Report 11/15/2007

[John Berry]

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 11/15/2007

Overall the lake levels continue to fall. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam has fallen six tenths of a foot to rest at five and six tenths of a foot below power pool at 654.00 feet. Up stream, Table Rock Lake has remained steady at four and two tenths of a foot below power pool. Beaver Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to rest at five and nine tenths of a foot below pool. The pattern on the White River has been for low levels of generation around the clock or no generation. There have been several very windy days that included lake wind advisories which resulted in some difficult drift fishing. There have been some excellent wading opportunities on the White River. Norfork Lake has remained steady at five and four tenths feet below power pool of 552.00 feet. The pattern on the Norfolk has been for several pulses of low level generation daily. 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 dropped lower. The dissolved oxygen level was around two tenths parts per million and dropped below this zero on two occasions. The state standard is six parts per million. On the White River, the dissolved oxygen has also declined. It has averaged one and two tenths parts per million and dropped below eight tenths parts per million. The oxygen level is at the critical stage on the Norfork. Once the water has traveled a bit down stream and runs over rocks and riffles, it picks up oxygen. 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.

With the Catch and Release section at Bull Shoals Dam closed for the brown trout spawn, the action has moved down stream. There are fewer campers at Bull Shoals State Park and that has reduced the crowding in that area. The section from the State Park to White Hole access has fished very well. This section has fished particularly well on no generation. The most productive flies have been black zebra midges with silver wire and silver beads and brown with copper wire and copper beads. Soft hackles like the partridge and orange and the green butt have also produced fish. Olive woolly buggers were also accounting for good fish in deeper water.

Further down stream, the Wildcat Shoals section fished well. In addition to the zebra midges, Y2Ks and egg patterns have been effective as well as size twenty olive scuds. Soft hackles and olive woolly buggers have also done well particularly well in the lower end of the shoals. At higher flows, the best flies have been zebra midges in size fourteen and San Juan worms in hot fluorescent pink.

The section from Cotter to Buffalo Shoals has been a mixed bag. Some days have been good and some slow. The fishing has been a bit better at no generation. The most productive flies have been zebra midges, Y2Ks, San Juan worms, and olive scuds. There have been fairly reliable blue wing olive hatches in the late afternoon and size eighteen pheasant tail nymphs have been productive before the hatch and size twenty parachute Adams have worked during the hatch, if you can see them. Since this hatch has occurred late during low light they have been hard to fish.

The Norfork has been fishing poorly. The crowds of early fall have thinned down a lot, particularly during the week, but the heavy pressure from earlier has put the fish down. The river is still grudgingly yielding a few fish. The best flies have been zebra midges, Norfork bead heads, pheasant tail nymphs and Y2Ks. There have been good hatches of blue wing olives and crane flies. The best fly for the crane fly hatch has been the size fourteen sulphur parachute.

Dry Run Creek has been red hot. The highly oxygenated water has provided a perfect environment for the large trout that reside there. There are a lot of big browns that have moved up there to spawn. The most productive flies have been size fourteen sow bugs, Y2Ks, olive woolly buggers, and San Juan worms. Be sure and use heavy tippets (4X) and check your knots carefully to give the kids a good chance to land a big one. Most fish are lost at the net. A big net is a definite asset. Try to land the fish quickly and lovingly release them. Be very gentle when handling the fish and always wet your hands before doing so.

Practice water safety and always check conditions before leaving home.

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