John Berry Fishing Report 1/17/2008

[John Berry]

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 1/17/2008

There was minor rain event and the lake levels on the White River system have continued to rise. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose six tenths of a foot to rest at two and seven tenths of a foot below power pool at 654.00 feet. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose seven tenths of a foot to settle at two and four tenths of a foot below power pool. Beaver Lake rose two tenths of a foot to settle at six and eight tenths of a foot below pool. There generation pattern on the White has been a mixed bag during the last week. We had several days with no generation, a few days with a spike of heavy generation for a short period, and a day with a spike of heavy generation followed by a period of low generation. This has created some good wading opportunities and some excellent boating opportunities. We had several very windy days which included lake wind advisories and some very cool temperatures. Norfork Lake has dropped two tenths of a foot to rest four and six tenths feet below power pool of 552.00 feet. The pattern on the Norfolk has also been a mixed bag. We had a few days with no generation and some days with a brief period of heavy generation. This has created excellent wading conditions every day. The forecast is for cooler weather with some precipitation. With the existing conditions, we should have some wadable water on both rivers.

Many anglers are eagerly anticipating the opening of the Catch and Release area below Bull Shoals Dam on February, 1. This section has been closed for the past few months while the brown trout have been spawning and no one has been allowed to fish here during this period. The browns do not feed when they are spawning so they will be hungry. This will be an opportune time to land a good one.

The fishing on the White has been good. There have not been many anglers out but those that have fished have done well. The upper river, from Bull Shoals State Park to White Hole, has fished well. On low water, the hot flies have been black and silver and brown and copper zebra midges. On high water brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns have been quite productive.

The front side of Roundhouse Shoals has fished particularly well. It seems that the best fishing is either at the top of the shoals or at the bottom. The hot flies in this section have been bead head pheasant tail nymphs, olive scuds size eighteen, brown and copper and black and silver zebra midges, partridge and orange soft hackles and green butts.

Rim Shoals was fishing quite well. Anglers that motored up to Jenkin’s Creek area by boat did particularly well. On low water, the hot flies in this section were Y2Ks, crapadans, olive scuds size eighteen, and Dan’s turkey tail emerger. On high water the hot fly has been the San Juan worm in cerise. On the warmer days, there have been some really nice caddis hatches and some anglers were reporting nice fish on elk hair caddis size eighteen.

Another hot spot has been just down stream from the confluence of the White and Norfork rivers. This area fishes best when there is a bit of generation on the Norfork. Hot flies here have been zebra midges in black with silver wire and silver bead and in brown with copper wire and copper bead. Soft hackles like the partridge and orange and the green butt have also been effective.

The Norfork has fished a bit better this week. There have been some reliable midge hatches in the afternoon. I have done the best with Norfork bead heads in olive size eighteen. When the fish keying are in on the midge emergers in the film, Dan’s turkey tail emergers in size twenty two have been killer. Other productive flies have been Y2Ks, San Juan worms, and olive scuds.

Dry Run Creek, as always, has been the place to take the kids fishing. It is located in a deep, tight valley and is seldom affected by the strong winds we have had lately. There have been precious few kids fishing there lately and now is a great time to avoid the crowds. The hot fly is a size fourteen sowbug. Also try olive woolly buggers and San Juan worms. Be sure and use at least 4X tippet and pinch down those barbs. Always take a huge net and a camera.

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

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