White River, Arkansas

[big musk411]

I went down to the Ozarks for Thanksgiving and did some trout fishing. I was fishing with my father near Moutain Home Arkansas on the White River.

The White River is one of the premere Trout destinations in the US. This strech river is the tailwater of Bull Shoals lake. The tailwater is consistantly cold and full of food, resulting in an excellent trout fishery. Monster Browns[to 40lbs], Rainbows, Cutthroat and Brook trout inhabit this beatuiful river.

We were fortunate enough to fish an area with limited access that my Dads buddie lives on. Also the river level fluctuates about six feet depending on how much generation they are running. They did not run any generation the entire time I was there, making it ideal for wade fishing. While I did not get into any big Browns, I did catch quite a few rainbows. The fish were averaging about 12-15" and I lost some bigger ones. They were biting on Y2Ks, which are basically a multicolored yarn fly with a bead head. Here is an average fish.

Here is what the river looks like in low water. When it's high they drive boats through this spot. This is at the State Park right below Bull Shoals Dam

At the state Park there is a spring that comes right out of the ground.

There are some BIG trout in this shoute. Last year I pulled a 24" brown from this spot. This year they looked but woudn't take.

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. Nice to see the Family, good Food and Great fishing!

[so haaad]

Sounds like a great way to spend Thanksgiving.

[WxGuy]

Yep. Very nice!

[Jerry]

I was there in May-June of last year fishing out of my grandpa's house on the river, also in the Mountain Home area. It really is great for constant rainbow action. Sounds like I had about the same experience as you, rainbows in the 12" range. Was hoping for one of those huge browns, but no luck. I was spin fishing, though. Hope to make it back there one of these days, hopefully in the fall or winter when the fishing is supposed to be best.

[rascalP]

Big muskie,

Me and a buddy have talked about going there for a few years. What really got my interest was watching an In-Fishermen show where they were fishing bass-style with husky jerks and rogues. Ive looked at Gastons and some others for lodging, and kinda got an overview of the river of the net. Got any lodging tips or picks on certain stretches. Looks like water is up in the lake and they're generating fairly often. If we go, it'll be this month or next or wait till same time next year. Are there many boat acesses and is it easy to run with a small boat and motor? Do they announce gates opening on any kind of radio?(nice to know if high water is coming) Gastons has $45/day docking fee. Is this common?

Any info and tips you can give me on the area and the river is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

rascal ---(muskie man myself, as well)

[big musk411]

Rascal, I am no expert, but I'll tell you what I know.

When I was down there they were not running generation off the dam. To the best of my knowlege no generation is ideal. You do not need a boat if its low. Most of the locals have very narrow 20ft john boats, but I thing just about any 12-14 ft boat would be fine. We fished mostly riffles and rapids[they call them Shoals down there], but there is deeper water between that people use boats in during low water. There is a # you can call to get and up to date automated message on the power generation[i'll see if I can find it for you]

Not sure if you plan on flyfishing, but this HSOforum has alot of info. My Dad is there webmaster

http://www.northarkansasflyfisher.org/

I have caught fish on both fly and spining gear. Probably more #s on the fly, but I did get some Big fish casting Xraps the time before last.

$45 docking fee is kinda high at Gastons, I would think that other places are chieper. Things arn't too expensive down there. It's alot like rural Wiscansin without the Bars. Bull Shoals State park has a nice campground on the river with soem decent fishing. We ate dinner at Gastons overlooking the river and I did se some very large trout there.

Hope this helps.

Matt T

[youngie22]

Sweet pictures up top.. The White river is AWESOME...Will go every chance i get. The numbers if fish in that river are just awseome. If your looking at going for a trip, look into camping right at the state campground, it has a great boat dock the guides use. You can get all the gear you need. License, stamp(forget if needed), tackle, bait, snickers, sunscreen, and a beverage. Never have a caught more trout in one day any where, also found a hande full 4 to 5 lbs, what an adventure.

[rascalP]

Thanks for the info,

The idea is to fish rogues and husky jerks and from what I've read and seen, you need high water(tubines going). Obviously that won't always be the case, so we would have to adapt to the low water. My buddies fly-fish and I can slap the water a bit. Are the trout forgiving of a poor presentation? I can always get by using jigs and spoons I suppose.

The campground at the State Park looks nice. Where exactly does the closed fishing section start.

rascal

[big musk411]

Rascal, The closed fishing starts right at the end of the state park. It is clearly marked. I have only fished the low water and have been told that it is best as far as the flyfishing is concerned. A Trout is a Trout, thier forgivness will vary day to day. I would think that they would be more forgiving on raps as opposed to a fly. Check out the local fly shops or the HSOforum I posted to see what they are hitting on. There are enough trout in there that it shouldn't be to hard to get the fly-fishing thing down in a day or two. A guy down ther told me that they get some big walleyes off the rip rap in the park during high water on raps. I think the fishing should be good, low or high water. If you do stay at the park, check out the spring[i have a pic of it in the 1st post] there are monsters in there. Also I think the real big browns bite at night.

Best of luck to you, let us know how it turns out,

Matt T

[youngie22]

If you bring a spinning rod w/ for those raps, we had the most action and the biggest on a small hook behing a bell sinker, if you can picturea 3 foot snell to the hookand about 6" of line to the bell sinker from a type of 3way knot. W/ little red angle worms from the dock. we floated them down stream in the jon boat... for the big ones I think presentation was key. live bait isn't legal right near the dam though

[rascalP]

Thanks youngie,

It looks like it is going to be the last week in Jan. or 1st week in Feb. Talked to Wildcat Shoals Resort -- we can get a little cabin w/20ft jon boat fully equpped(no motor) for $70/night. Not bad, and we don't have to trailer a much smaller boat down there. Figure camping would run $15-20/night, and the cabin would give us more time to fish(no camp chores) so I think we'll pay a little extra for the roof, not to mention other little resort niceties.

Do you know anything about that stretch? It's about 11 miles down from the dam, across from wildcat shoals access.

Did you use a drag chain and drift when fishing from the jon? What kinda appeals to me is opportunity to both wade and fish from a boat. Should be interesting.

Any other tips? -- I'll take all you got!

Thanks again, rascal

[youngie22]

I wish i was planning a trip down there, but I would recomend making your way up to the dam. Yes we did drag a chain. its amazing how well that works keeping you with the current and going straight. It was a fun few days down there. can't wait to get back.

[sowbug1171]

i guess i could give my advice on this one i moved up here from AR. about a year ago, fished the trout streams/rivers for about 20 yrs, and guided a little on the side. for local fly shops there are really two blue ribbon fly in mt. home it is run by a man named Dale Fulton problably the best fly shop in the state. he also has a lodge on the white river between gastons and the town of cotter. not sure on any rates. the other shop is at the town of North Fork about 13 miles south of Mt. Home on hwy 5 just past the bridge over the north fork river. which u mite want to give it a try it once held the world record brown it is a short river #mile and then dumps into the white. it does have a nice c&r section. if you are wanting to fish with hardware then you want the gererators running and the warer rising, ussually about this time of year the shad in the lakes above the dams start to die or get sucked through the dames and the trout line up and wait for a easy meal. fish with anything white about 3inches long. cast toward the banks if you are in a boat. wadind is very hard /dangerous when the are generating annd they don't have a sch of when they will run there is a # for the bull shoals powerhouse 807-431-5311 they have a recording of when,if how long and how many turbines they had running ussually 1 turbine is still wadable on the white also just bacause they say one turbine is runnig it could be full or just 10%. hope this helps. if there are any other ? u can email me at [email protected]. i should be able to hook you up with the answer or a name in Ar. to help.

[big musk411]

Rascal, how was your trip?

[rascalP]

Hi all,

Got back Thur. night. We fished all day Mon., Tues., and Wed. Great weather. Tues. we hit 64 degrees. Fishing was great for rainbows - caught quite a few - up to 19-20" if you include the one that came unbuttoned. We also lost about as many as came in the boat, lots of action, but no browns. So that was somewhat disappointing. The first day we did alot of experimenting with various stickbaits, spinners and even plastics, then narrowed it down to suspending sticks, ie. husky jerks and rogues, though my buddy did pretty well with a tiny twister tail under a bobber(no bait). Guys at the same resort were getting some browns on what i think was rogues(I hate to pry for exact specifics). So I don't know if we had the wrong colors or what. I was starting to wonder about my choice of line - 20lb power pro with a flouro leader maybe not letting my lure get down far enough. Thinking back, I had a spare spool of 6lb magnathin that I shoulda tried. Oh well, thats part of the game.

We stayed at Wildcat Shoals Resort and I could reccomend them. Nice place, laid back and seemed to be a good spot on the river 11 miles down from the dam. Phyllis took real good care of us. We got up as far as the shoals above White Hole and down a little below Wildcat Shoals, so we covered a fair amount of water. Generation was constant at 6, down to 5 at night so there was no wading. I would like to see the river in its lower stages, and we never did make it up to see the dam, so theres a few things to go back for.

All in all, a good trip. Now I'm looking forward to my home waters of S.E. MN and a few trips up to N. WS.

One last note -- If you don't like shopping at Wal-Mart(we DON'T!)-- get everything you need before, cause there are no options in Flippin

Again, Thanks to all who posted here for all the tips and info

rascal

[big musk411]

Sounds like you had a good trip, too bad you didn't get the big Browns.