White River

Sportsman’s White River Resort (870-453-2424) said the river clarity is good and no generators are running. Drift fishing with spoons for rainbows has worked well. Brown trout fishing has been excellent with numerous fish being caught on jigs and stick baits.

Berry Brothers Guide Service (870-453-2424) said lakes in the White River system are all over power pool and we are getting much more generation. I expect this trend to continue for the next few weeks. Our major mayfly hatch, the sulphurs, is beginning to come off. So far, this hatch has been very sparse. This is a size 14 yellow/orange aquatic insect. Before the hatch, concentrate on fishing mayfly nymphs. My favorite is the copper John. When you observe fish feeding near the surface but see no insects, the trout are keying in on the emergers. The best fly for this phase is a partridge and orange soft hackle. Then, when you observe insects on the surface of the water and trout keying in on them, you switch over to the adult insect fly. My hands down choice is the sulphur parachute (size 14).

Buffalo River

No report.

Crooked Creek

No report.

Bull Shoals Lake

As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 664.03 feet msl (normal conservation pool – 654 msl).

Mike Worley’s Guide Service said the surface water temperature is in the mid-70s. Water clarity is very clear to slightly stained in the creek arms. Bass fishing has been great this week with smallmouth bass biting in 5 to 20 feet of water on soft plastics like swim baits, crankbaits, lizards and tubes. Largemouth bass are also biting these baits as well as top-water baits like Zara Spooks and Flukes. Walleye fishing has really picked up with good catches in 5 to 30 feet of water on crawler rigs fished on bottom bouncers, split-shot and trolled Carolina rigs. Jigs and jigging spoons fished vertically on brush piles in 20 to 30 feet of water are also working. White bass are still being caught in the backs of the creeks and large coves. With the main channel water being gin clear, look for the better bite to be in the back half of the creeks where the water is slightly stained and use as light of line as you can.