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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.
Davy Wotton with a September catch.
There are plenty of trout like this fine 5lb brown in the White River.
Current Report: September 28, 2008
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Hello Fly Fishers!
Fall is well on the way, just about my favorite time of the year here in the Ozarks. Cold
temperatures early am rising to warm afternoons and then a temp drop down as evening into
dark takes over from the daylight hours.
At this time of the year also the Browns sense that the fall is also on the way and head
upstream to the shallows where they will spawn during the month of November and into early
December. The very nature of the species creates a aggressive nature as the fish are no
longer in the resident zones that they maintained territorial domain.
Not only that they also sense that food sources during the winter period are way less,
much of the food base we see here in the White river system such as crawdads, scuds and
sowbugs become largely dormant, and that again is a reason why Browns take in as much food
source as they can find during the day time periods, which for the fly fisherman provides
a way greater opportunity to hook a trophy fish.
Streamers and large dry flies such as hoppers and generic fly patterns such as stimulators
are a good bet at this time worked close to shorelines and over known shallow water zones,
particularly those found in and around gravel bars.
Female Brown trout that are now developing egg mass dislike to deal with heavy current,
the males are looking to find mates and will be found as a rule close to the resting
females, find the fish and you have a real good chance of catching them before they reach
the final destinations where they will dig redds and spawn, at which pint in time they
should be left alone to do so.
The high water levels that continue for the White river below Bull Shoals dam will very
likely remain for some time due to water levels both at Beaver and Tanycomo lakes that
have to be reduced through the tailwater system. We may see also further fall rain, not to
mention as a rule we also see high water levels through the winter period.
Simply the advantages of high water are the food base is high and the average growth rates
for the fish is likewise. The downside is wade fishing is limited and for the most part
you need to go float to fish the river system.
To say the least there are many Bows in the system at this time in the 15 to 22 ins class,
not to mention the overall average size of Browns that this year has also increased. I
have seen caught this year very high numbers of fish in the 18 to 25 ins range.
The Norfork river at this time sees periods of low water during the day that does provide
for good wade fishing opportunity, Norfork lake is not at the high levels we are seeing
for the White river talwater system.
Fishing the rivers during October.
Bull Shoals dam will close at the end of October. Currently there are very good numbers of
fish in the trophy zone, many of which are in the 18 to 22 ins class, both Bows and
Browns.
During generation water levels will often fluctuate with cfs rates and this may well up
and down the bite. Trout here typically feed at best when the water cfs flows are more
constant, be they at 9000 or 20,000.
Best overall patterns to use are Dynamite worms, regular San Juan worms in different
colors and sizes, along with sowbugs,scuds, dries such as ants, hoppers and at times
streamers. We may also see shad enter the river, not a shad kill as such as at this time
the lake temps are not low enough to cause a shad kill.
Trout at the dam are well tuned in to seeing shad in the system, so if fishing at the dam
keep a eye open for any evidence of shad in the water, if you see them change tactics,
white jigs and surface fished shad patterns will as a rule catch fish, and often as not
trophy size fish.
In fact l fished for a hour myself one evening this past week and nailed 9 Bows and a 20
ins Brown surface fishing shad flies.
Taking the rest of the White river system down to Sylamore. Continuous generation at a
more constant cfs maintains clean water through the system. Rain fall may well introduce
muddy water into the river from sources such as Crooked creek, Buffalo and the many other
creeks that flow into the river downstream of the former two, avoid downstream zones when
this is the case.
Norfork river after low water may well introduce trashy water into the White when
generation takes place, which is 40 miles below BSDam.
More or less l have fished this past month from BSDam to below Redds landing, overall
there are plenty of fish in the system. We have fished all methods, dry, streamer, dead
drift nymphs and done well with all.
We did see a short period of low water on the White river and at that time to say the
least the wade fishing was out standing.
Low water for both rivers will see surface feeding midge activity, along with both sow
bugs and scuds on the menu. Dead drift techniques for fishing these guys. Dry fly and soft
hackles will also be the order of the day at times.
This past week the Friends of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery hosted the first Open
House at the hatchery which was well attended. The Norfork hatchery is the very life blood
of our fishery system and during these times of Federal cut backs needs all the support we
can provide. If you would like to further support the hatchery check out the FNNFH web
site at www.norforkhatcheryfriends.org
The FFF host the annual Conclave at Mtn Home October 2nd, 3rd, 4th, see you there.
Please feel free to drop me a line for further information and updates to davyfly@ozarkmountains.com
Tight lines all
Davy
American International Schools of Fly FishingAbout 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
Davy Wotton's Web Site | White River Home Page | White River Lodging Directory
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