White River

Sportsman’s White River Resort (870-453-2424) said the water level is a little higher than normal. The brown trout are being caught on white jigs. Rainbow trout are biting well on nightcrawlers and Power Bait, but frozen shrimp really seems to be the best bait lately.
Berry Brothers Guide Service (870-453-2424) said there has been significant wadable water over the weekend. The hot spot during the low water over the weekend was the catch-and-release section below Bull Shoals Dam. For the rest of the week the hot spot was the section from White Hole down to Cotter. The hot flies were olive woolly buggers, Y2Ks, prince nymphs, zebra midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or red with silver wire and silver bead), pheasant tails, ruby midges, pink and cerise San Juan worms, and sowbugs. Double-fly nymph rigs have been very effective (try a cerise or pink San Juan worm with a midge pattern suspended below it). The Corps of Engineers have been running a bit less water than they have in previous weeks, but that has not deterred streamer fishermen. To do this you need at least an 8-weight fly rod, a heavy sink-tip fly line and large articulated streamers. The idea is to bang the bank and strip the fly back to the boat. This is heavy work and requires advanced casting skills. Some effective patterns are sex dungeons and circus peanuts. There have been reports of a minor shad kill below Bull Shoals Dam and conditions have been conducive on both rivers. This is a natural phenomenon where threadfin shad in the lake die and are drawn through the generators at the dam. These bits of shad produce a feeding frenzy. This usually occurs during extremely cold weather and high levels of generation. Watch for gulls hitting the shad as they come through the generators. The best flies are white shad patterns.

Buffalo River

Berry Brothers Guide Service said the Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are low and clear. With the cool temperatures, smallmouth are inactive. Carefully check the water level before entering Crooked Creek or the Buffalo River. There are no dams on these streams. They both have large drainages and are prone to flooding during and following any rain event. The water can rise very quickly.

Crooked Creek

Berry Brothers Guide Service said the Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are low and clear. With the cool temperatures, smallmouth are inactive. Carefully check the water level before entering Crooked Creek or the Buffalo River. There are no dams on these streams. They both have large drainages and are prone to flooding during and following any rain event. The water can rise very quickly.

Bull Shoals

As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 657.60 feet msl (normal conservation pool – 654 msl).