John Berry Fishing Report 12/13/2007

[John Berry]

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 12/13/2007

Though we have had several days of rain, some of the lake levels on the White River system have continued to drop. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam, however, rose one and two tenths of a foot to rest at four and two tenths of a foot below power pool at 654.00 feet. Up stream, Table Rock Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to settle at four and six tenths feet below power pool. Beaver Lake has fallen one tenth of a foot to rest at seven and five tenths of a foot below pool. The pattern on the White River has been for a short period of fairly heavy generation in the morning and again early evening. This has improved boat navigation. There have been some limited wading opportunities on the White River. We had a few windy days where there were lake wind advisories. Norfork Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to rest five and eight tenths feet below power pool of 552.00 feet. The pattern on the Norfolk has been for several short pulses of generation daily. The level of generation has been a bit higher than the previous week’s. This has created some limited but excellent wading conditions. The forecast is for cooler weather with the possibility of snow. With the existing conditions, we should have some wadable water on both rivers.

On the Norfork, the dissolved oxygen levels have improved significantly. The dissolved oxygen level was around two parts per million. The state standard is six parts per million. On the White River, the dissolved oxygen has declined. It has averaged three tenths part per million. 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.

There has been some good fishing on the White River with the limited wading. The colder weather and rain has limited the number of anglers willing to leave the comfort of their homes. Those that have braved the elements have been rewarded with some extensive solitude and some very nice trout.

Wildcat Shoals has fished very well. In the deeper water, zebra midges in black with silver wire and silver bead have accounted for a lot of trout. In the flat water below the shoals the hot flies have been partridge and orange soft hackles and olive woolly buggers. In the late afternoons we have had some decent blue wing olive hatches. The parachute Adams in size twenty has been the go to fly for this hatch.

Further down stream in Cotter, there has been some really great top water action with partridge and orange soft hackles at Roundhouse Shoals. The action has been best in the channel behind the island around mid morning. There has also been some really good nymphing with size twenty pheasant tail nymphs and size fourteen Y2Ks. Olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash have also been productive in this area.

The bad weather has also kept a lot of anglers from fishing on the Norfork. If you have wanted to fish there but want to avoid overcrowded conditions, now is the time to fish there. There have been some very good midge hatches in the afternoons. These are best fished with cream midge dry flies in size twenty four and twenty six. When fishing something this small you will have to work a short line and use small tippets (size 8X). Other effective flies have been bead head pheasant tail nymphs in size twenty, black zebra midges in size eighteen, and Y2Ks. Overall the fishing has been a bit slow here but there have been some nice fish caught. The best time to fish here has been late afternoon.

Dry run creek is fishing extremely well. There have been precious few kids to fish here lately. Here again, now is the time to avoid the crowds. The best way to catch fish is by high sticking sow bugs which is the major food source in the creek. I have found that the fish tend to congregate around the hatchery discharge pipes. The water coming from there has a constant temperature, higher oxygen content and creates some nice riffles. If you are going to take pictures be sure and make sure your camera has a flash as the deep valley the creek is located in is sometimes very shady. If you decide to visit the hatchery while you are there be sure and remove you waders to prevent the possible spread of whirling disease.

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 waters for over twenty five years.