John Berry Fishing Report 11/29/2007

[John Berry]

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 11/29/2007

Overall, the lake levels on the White River system have continued to drop. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam dropped one tenth of a foot to rest at five and seven tenths of a foot below power pool at 654.00 feet. Up stream, Table Rock Lake has risen two tenths of a foot to settle at four feet below power pool. Beaver Lake has fallen eight tenths of a foot to rest at six and nine tenths of a foot below pool. The pattern on the White River has been for very little generation with long periods of no generation. This has created some difficult water to boat on. On the other hand 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 short 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 a lot of low water on both rivers.

On the Norfork, the dissolved oxygen levels have improved a bit. The dissolved oxygen level was around three tenths parts per million. The state standard is six parts per million. On the White River, the dissolved oxygen has declined. It has averaged six tenths part per million and dropped below four tenths parts per million on occasion. 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.

The low water on the White River has made for some excellent fishing. With no generation there have been some opportunities to fish excellent water down stream that has not been available for wading for some time. Places like Buffalo Shoals are fishing very well. The best way to get there is to launch a boat at Buffalo City access and motor up to the shoals. Some anglers walk the railroad tracks from Buffalo City upstream to the shoals. This necessitates a tough scramble down a steep bank and then back up when the day is over. There are loads of fish in the shoals. I like to fish scuds, San Juan worms and prince nymphs in this section.

The popular spots have also been fishing well. There are many more places to fish now and the anglers are much more spread out. Wildcat Shoals has been fishing very well. There has been excellent wading here even during the low levels of generation we have been getting on some days. The better fishing has been on the lower section with soft hackles and woolly buggers. The best soft hackles have been partridge and orange and green butts. The woolly bugger of choice has been olive bead heads with a bit of flash. In the upper shoals, nymphs like the zebra midge and olive scud have been the ticket.

Rim Shoals has been another hot spot. The low water has made for easy wading. The crowds from earlier in the fall have certainly thinned and the trout have been cooperative. The Jenkins Creek area has fished very well as well as the White Shoals area. Hot flies have been zebra midges (particularly black with silver wire and silver bead), Y2Ks, sowbugs, scuds and San Juan worms. The Anna K soft hackle in green has also been producing.

Upstream at Round House Shoals, there have been some pretty reliable blue wing olive hatches in the afternoon. These are pretty small flies and they will be difficult to see in the waning light. The best flies for this situation are blue wing olive quick sight parachutes. The best sizes are eighteen and twenty. A reasonable substitute is a parachute Adams in the proper size. With flies this small you will need to work a fairly short line. Before the hatch try pheasant tail nymphs in size eighteen and twenty.

The lower water on the White River has greatly benefited the Norfork. With more wadable water available, there is much less crowding on the Norfork. Norfork bead heads, small scuds and large San Juan worms have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has been very productive. This place is stacked with huge fish. The browns have come upstream to spawn and other fish have gone upstream to find oxygenated water. The best fly is a size fourteen gray sowbug. Other productive flies are olive bead head woolly buggers, San Juan worms and egg patterns. Carry the biggest net you can lay your hands on and a camera. There will be photo opportunities.

Practice water safety and always check water 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.