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Additional White River Area Information
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Davy Wotton's
White River & North Fork River Fly Fishing Report
Updated about once per month, or as conditions change.
Current Report: February, 2006
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Hello Fly Fishers!
February already and the season moves on.
There have been two changes since my last report. The dam zone at Bull shoals is now open,
and we are now seeing some higher generations on the White river, all be it sporadic .
For those of you who chose to fish amongst the crowds at Bull shoals dam, then you may
well have found fishing not so good, which is not surprising, way to many humans harassing
the fish, and in some cases the worst in acceptable behavior in so far as anglers just
walking directly in front, casting in the general area that another had chosen and in all
putting fish down. I personally cannot understand why there are some who think that fish
will just sit there and ignore that kind of goings on. And more to the point there is the
aspect of what is called etiquette. If another is there before you, then stay well away
and let him have his water to fish. in many cases neither will catch fish.
In fact one of my close friends who fishes at the dam often, told me that he had never
seen such a carry on before. My advice to you is stay away till the crowds diminish which
they will as they become disillusioned with the results that they are getting there, and
the bad manners of others. Ok enough of that.
Overall you may find the fishing to be very much up and down as the movement of water
levels goes up and down. As l have said before it does take fish a while to adjust to this
continual change. As a general rule, but not always, trout will start to feed well on a
water rise, but then there will be a cut of when they cease to do so, for one reason or
the other, if the water rise is a high one, and that it also starts to push trash and
discolor. I know that trout dislike suspended sediments in a water column, as that becomes
a irritant as gills open and close. that will also put them off from feeding. What l would
call clean color in water may differ. Browns, by the way are more tolerant of this than
Rainbows. That is something you have to live with so far as tailwater systems are
concerned.
Given now that water levels on the White are some what higher then you will have to take
note of rise and falls along the river length as that will determine best options for both
wade and boat fishing. Same also for Norfork, most days some generations, couple that with
White river and you may find fishing below the confluence not very good, when this takes
place.
This past Monday we fished a zone that l know would have a rise of around 2 ft of water,
fishing sink tip and streamers worked real well for some good browns, this is always a
good bet at this time, particularly on the White river.
I did have a question asked of me, which was this. How do l know what type of sink tip to
use? You have to look at it like this. There are many options for sink tip lines which
are, line weight, the length of the sinking tip and how fast does it sink.
If you are going to go with one line l will tell you to get a line with a 10ft sink tip
that had a IPS of around 4 to 6 ins. 6 or 7 wt. If you are going to do more wade fishing
in shallow water zones then there may be a case for a shorter sink tip section of around 4
to 6ft. with a slower IPS. It amounts to this, if the tip sinks to fast then you may have
to strip the fly fast to avoid hang ups, and that may not be the most productive way to
get hits.
Also consider the fly you are using, does it carry a beadhead, regular or tungsten, etc.
It all makes difference in how you can fish that fly the most productive way, as one of
those will be so.
If you are going to use very large flies as l do at times, with long shank hooks in the 2
to 4 size, and 4 to 6 ins in length, with coneheads, then you may well need to go with a
7wt or more line to be able to fish and cast with such flies. You can get stuck in a hurry
if your gear is not set up the right way.
Overall look at fishing this month as this. Hatches will generally comprise of midges,
possible some BWO, and just maybe some early caddis, in fact l saw a number this part
week, but as yet little interest from the fish. Best options are to fish with generic
patterns, scuds, sowbugs, PT, hares ear, midge pupa, midge larva, eggs, san Juan worms,
and flies of that nature. You may find also drift fishing that small jigs will do the
trick.
At this time of the year also we have variables in climatic conditions, from real warm
days to cold and wind chill days, fish will react in different ways to these changes as
well as water flow rates combined.
If you see any surface activity, then small soft hackles fished dead drift or at least
very slow should work well and midge emergers. If you are in a zone when you have a water
rise, then as the water does start to discolor give streamers and wooly buggers a swim,
you may well nail a good brown at this time. But work the water and do not stay in the
same zone for too long, as you will wise them up.
No real evidence as yet of a good shad kill, but it is always worth fishing a shad
imitation if you are in the dam zones when water is released. That could change if we get
a real cold snap for a good while.
OK, that's about it for now, any major changes and l will let you guys know
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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