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Additional White River Area Information
Davy Wotton's Web Site | White River Home Page | White River Lodging Directory
Davy Wotton's
White River & North Fork River Fly Fishing Report
Updated about once per month, or as conditions change.
Current Report: December, 2005
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report click Refresh
Hello Fly Fishers!
Jack frost has moved in, earnest and for sure the days are now a great deal colder.
For those of you who do not mind to brave the elements, there is some great fishing to be
had on both the Norfork and White rivers at this time.
Generations for the White have started to be more consistent at this time with generations
for longer periods of the day. At this time flow rates are in the order of between 1 to
4ft at the dam, that will of course be a lower level of water height further down stream.
Norfork, has at this time been running water, but with plenty of opportunity to wade fish
between shut down.
There are some major pluses for those of you who do not mind to get out and fish at this
time. There are way far fewer persons around on the rivers, and often as not you may well
have a great deal of water all to yourself.
I can only tell you from the past 2 weeks out on the rivers there are large numbers of
fish to be found in certain zones. At this time of the year, fish are not harvested in the
numbers that are more typical when climatic conditions are warmer.
100 fish days are very possible.
In fact the winter period through to April can produce some of the best fishing here in
the state.
Arkansas Game and Fish have introduced as usual at this time large numbers of small
Cutthroat and Brown trout, trophies for the future if the survive, and very good numbers
of Bows in the 11 to 17 in range.More important that you consider always to use barbless
hooks, mandatory of course in the catch and release zones.
Most of the Browns are now post spawn and typically will look for shallow water to rest,
before they resume feeding in earnest.
I must confess that l myself do prefer to wade fish at this time of the year, water levels
permitting that. There is no fun to be had out in the boat with a cold hard wind knocking
the heck out of you. It is difficult to control the boat for good drifts, and if wind
directions are more up stream at times it is not possible to drift down stream, you will
be blown up stream.
Best bet at these times is to use the boat to access shorelines, get out and wade fish.
Worse is that if you are not a good caster you will become totally frustrated at not being
able to cast a decent line and then control it. High surface drift caused by wind is not
easy to deal with when boat fishing, it is far easier to do that if your feet are on the
ground, and you are more at a low level to the water surface.
As l mentioned in last months report, fish will typically have on and off feeding spells
at this time of the year.
So hang out there if you know you are in a zone that the fish are.
That has certainly been a pattern this past two weeks.
Early mornings, look for the warmer water, that will be the zones that the rising sun hits
first, as the day goes on and if the sun is still evident then the small increase of
temperature will normally promote the fish to feed well.
You may well have a hay day between 2 and 5 pm, or at least before the temps start to fall
again.
I guess you want to know what the best options are for catching fish at this time.
Typically fish do not tend to chase as much as they would during warmer climatic times.
Often as not the fly needs to be fished very close to the trout's location. That means
with sunk fly techniques in front of his nose, or with surface techniques, like wise.
You will find on the Norfork this time of the year good activity to midges (chironomids)
and some small mayfly such as BWO.
That has also been the case on the White. We fished some great hatches of BWO at Rim
shoals this past two weeks, fish rising all over the place.
If you are going to do the business with the fish that are seen surface feeding then you
have to go small and fine and allow for drag free drifts. By that l mean at least 5 if not
6 and sometimes 7 x tippets.
If you wish to fish your fly high surface, then do not use Fl-carbon leader, it will cause
your fly to sink, use FC material if you wish your fly to be subsurface.
Fishing small flies in the size 18 to 22 hook size at depth, requires some weight
addition, all be it the use of small bead heads or added lead shot in sizes 6 and 8, or
even smaller or both.
The trick is to use just enough to get the fly down to the productive depth, and the finer
the tippet you use the more effective that fly will be, for many reasons.
If you are going to use a indicator then make sure that it is as small as you can go. Many
of the takes you will get when fishing very small flies will not move that indicator more
than a fraction at times. You will not always get the signal as the indicator submerges,
It may be a slight hesitation, a shudder and that's it. You have to concentrate big time.
Best to use a double loop slip knot with yarn, and the absolute best yarn available is
called JT;S you can obtain that from the FLY SOUTH, fly shop in Nashville, TN
This material has a perfect inherent floatant factor, you can trim it down to virtually
zero, is ultra sensitive to the most delicate of takes if you tune it right, and is
available in more natural shades, as l prefer, such as white, gray, pale olive, brown,
etc. I personally do not choose to use hi- vis colors. The will often spook fish or at
least draw the fishes attention to the indicator and not your fly, particularly when
fishing shallow water zones.
One of the best advantages of yarn is that it sits above the surface and not flat to it,
that will allow you far better take detecting, than the other means.
Flies on the hot list as of now. Midge pupa patterns with and without bead heads, in
colors, black, olive, gray and red. Sizes 16 through 22. Midge emergers 18 to 22.
BWO nymph, emergers and duns. PT nymphs various and Hares ear various. Sowbugs and scuds,
in the usual colors of gray, gray/olive, olive and pink.
Soft hackles, in sizes 12 to 20, various. dunny shades for high surface fishing when midge
and BWO are evident, and fish are rising.
Higher water flows, then larger midge pupa, San Juan worms, hares ear beadheads etc.
If you are close to the dam zones then keep and eye out for any shad that may show up, it
can happen at any time, you never know.
All that remains for me to say at this time is on behalf of myself and the Ozark Mountains
Website that provide you with this monthly report. Have a great Happy Holiday, wish for
many new fly fishing products and enjoy fishing through the last days of 2005!
Davy WottonAbout
Davy Wotton
Davy has been making his living as a full time fly fisher in one capacity or another for
over 30 years. He has written many articles for all of the fly fishing magazines, created
several unique flies and fly tying materials which he developed into a full scale
manufacturing operation in his native country of Wales, and is a much-sought speaker
around America at fly fishing functions and shows. Over the years Davy has fished in over
40 countries around the world but his choice for base of operation is right here on the
White River. Davy operates his American International Schools of Fly Fishing in Flippin,
Arkansas.
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Additional
White River Area Information
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