I don’t know if you have been down and looked at the White and Norfork Rivers lately. To say that they are high is an understatement. We had an unusually large rain over the Christmas Holidays that sent the lake levels soaring. Beaver and Table Rock Lakes climbed over the top of flood pool and the Corps of Engineers had to open the flood gates on those lakes. Of course, the water ended up in Bull Shoals Lake, which was still climbing, as late as Saturday.
In an effort to draw down Bull Shoals Lake, before the spring rains arrive, The Corps of Engineers opened the flood gates at Bull Shoals Dam and the lake level began to slowly drop. Standard procedure for the Corps is to draw down Table Rock first, then Bull Shoals and finally Beaver. Table Rock has been dropping about four and a half feet a week and it should be in power pool by next week. Bull Shoals Lake is about twenty six feet above flood pool and that will take two or three months to draw down before they can evacuate the water in Beaver. I do not expect wadable water until the end of March.
Norfork is about sixteen feet above power pool but it is currently dropping about a foot and a half a week and when they open the flood gates it should drop even faster. Therefore I expect wadable water on the Norfork much sooner. Hopefully we will see much lower water on the Norfork River by mid or late February.
This scenario leaves us with some high water conditions. Not only are they running the generators on both dams at near full capacity but they have several flood gates open at both dams. This makes the water higher than what would be normal full capacity. As a result, some of the Arkansas Game and Fish Ramps are marginally usable at best.
I have been tied up here at Blue Ribbon Fly Shop and could not get out checking them personally. Therefore I sent out Dennis Schule, our most seasoned guide, to see how they looked. He said about half of them were marginally usable and half were not. If you decide to go out, you should exercise extreme caution. The current is very heavy and it is not recommended that inexperienced boaters venture out. Personally I will wait for safer conditions.
This is what is supposed to be the ramp at Wildcat Shoals:
In conditions like this, the fish will have been pushed to the bank and you should concentrate your efforts there. If you are nymphing, long leaders and heavy weight are a must, in order to get down to the trout. With this much water, I like a double fly rig like a pink San Juan worm with a weighted egg pattern (spaghetti and meatballs).
Another effective method is to bang the bank with big articulated streamers. This is one of the most effective methods to catch big fish and this heavy is perfect for it. You will need a heavy sink tip (a twenty four to thirty feet sinking tip weighing 300 grains or heavier). You will need a stiff eight or nine weight nine foot rod to handle the heavy line and huge flies needed. This is heavy work and you should be ready for an exhausting day. The rewards can be great.
These are tough conditions and are coupled with some cold and windy weather. If you must go out, be careful!
John Berry is a fly fishing guide for Blue Ribbon Guides in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.
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