JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/17/2015

During the past week, we have had several rain events, (an inch and a quarter here in Cotter), warm temperatures and moderate winds. The lake level at Bull Shoals rose three tenths of a foot to rest at eight and three tenths feet above seasonal power pool of 659 feet. This is twenty seven and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock fell eight tenths of a foot to rest seasonal power pool and sixteen tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell one tenth of a foot to rest at four tenths of a foot above seasonal power pool or nine and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we had heavy generation with no wadable water. Norfork Lake fell one and one tenth feet to rest at four and one tenth feet above seasonal power pool of 553.7 feet and twenty two and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we had heavy generation with no wadable water.

The water level for the top of power pool has been reset for the lakes in the White River system. Due to recent rains, all of the lakes on this system are well above seasonal power pool and the Corps of Engineers is aggressively releasing water to draw the lake levels down to power pool. I do not foresee wadable water in the near future.

On the Norfork, one of the generators is down for routine maintenance. In an effort to draw the lake down the Corps of Engineers is releasing additional water through the flood gates. The total release is approximately 6,000 cubic feet per second which is near maximum release through the generators.

On heavy generation, the best way to catch fish is to switch to longer leaders and heavier weight. On the White, the hot spot was the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam. The hot flies were olive woolly buggers (#8, #10), Y2Ks (#14, #12), prince nymphs (#14), zebra midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or red with silver wire and silver bead #16, #18), pheasant tails (#14), ruby midges (#18), root beer midges (#18), pink and cerise San Juan worms (#10), and sowbugs (#16). Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective (try a prince nymph with a ruby midge or root beer midge suspended below it).

Conventional wisdom states that hopper fishing begins in late summer. I reject this idea and fish them all year. I favor shorter leaders (seven and a half foot 3X) and a stiff six weight rod to proper deliver these weighty flies. My favorite flies are Dave’s hoppers (#10) and the western pink lady (#8). To increase hook ups I always use a dropper. I am currently using a ruby or root beer midge in size eighteen on a three foot or longer tippet (depending on the depth of the water I am fishing).

There have been several reliable sightings of caddis hatching. This is our major hatch of the year. They are size fourteen and easy to see. Before the hatch, you should concentrate on fishing prince nymphs. When the trout key on the top but no insects are present, switch over to my green butt. When you observe trout taking adult insects from the top of the water column, you should switch over to elk hair caddis dry flies.

The Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are stained and high. With the weather warming, the smallmouths should be active soon. 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. 

The Norfork River has fished poorly recently. The most productive flies have been small midge patterns (#18, #20, #22)  like ruby midges, root beer midges, zebra midges (black or red with silver wire and silver bead) and soft hackles (#14, #16) like the green butt. Egg patterns have also been productive. Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective. Try a small bead headed nymph (zebra midge, copper John or pheasant tail) suspended eighteen inches below a brightly colored San Juan worm (hot fluorescent pink or cerise #10). There have been reliable hatches of small midges (try a size 24 Adams parachute) and caddis (try a size 18 elk hair caddis).The fishing is better in the morning and late afternoon and tapers off midday.

There was more fishing pressure on Dry Run Creek due to spring break. It has been a great time to fish there. The hot flies have been sowbugs (#14), Y2Ks (#12) and various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise #10).  

The water on the Spring River is stained and high. This is a great place to wade fish, when they are running water on the White and Norfork Rivers. Canoe season is over and there are fewer boats on the river to interfere with your fishing. Be sure to wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash (#10), cerise and hot pink San Juan worms (#10) and Y2Ks (#10).

Remember that the White and Norfork Rivers and Dry Run Creek are infected with didymo, an invasive alga. Be sure and thoroughly clean and dry your waders (especially the felt soles on wading boots) before using them in any other water. Many manufacturers are now making rubber soled wading boots that are easier to clean and are not as likely to harbor didymo.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.

GUIDE DENNIS TYING THE 'GOOBER MIDGE'

https://youtu.be/4qsKI3I8gmY

HIGH WATER RETURNS BY JOHN BERRY

If you have looked out the window very much in the last few weeks, you will have noticed that we have received quite a bit of rain. All of this rain has caused a significant rise in the water levels at Bull Shoals and Norfork Lakes. In fact, all of the lakes in the White River System are now over power pool and are currently in flood pool. As a result, the United States Army Corps of Engineers is running significant amounts of water through the dams, in order to bring the lake levels down to power pool. This is done to prevent flooding.

When I checked this morning, they were running about 12,000 cubic feet per second (the rough equivalent of four full generators) at Bull Shoals, with a prediction of more to come. At Norfork, they were running 3,000 cubic feet per second from its one operating generator. To make up for the lost flow from its other generator, which is down for maintenance, they are running another 3,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) through the flood gates. The total is 6,000 cfs or the rough equivalent of two full generators, which is the maximum flow from Norfork.

Needless to say, all of this water will affect fishing. Wading is virtually out of the question. There may be a spot or two, where you can hug the bank and catch a fish or two, but the results will be marginal at best. To effectively fish under these conditions, you will need to be in a boat. I know that there are a lot of anglers out there that do not want to hear this, but this is reality. To make matters worse, I expect these conditions to continue in the near future.

Therefore we need to think about how to fish from a boat and what to use. When they are generating a lot of water the fish are generally pushed toward the bank. At low water we generally fish the main channel but in high water we generally fish the banks. 

The most productive method will be to fish nymphs under an indicator. With deeper water, you will need longer leaders and more lead. Make sure that you are ticking the bottom with your files. The traditional high water rig is spaghetti and meatballs, that is an egg pattern (peach or orange) suspended below a San Juan worm (I like hot fluorescent pink, cerise and red). Other nymphs like prince nymphs, ruby midges, root beer midges and caddis larva will also be effective. Cast out about twenty feet from the boat and have your indicator drift, with the current. Mend your line as necessary, to achieve a perfect drag free drift. Set the hook quickly, whenever you detect a take.

Another effective method is to bang the bank with a grass hopper. I like a shorter heavier leader, in order to turn over these larger flies. I add a small nymph dropper on an eighteen inch tippet in order to increase the hook ups with this rig. Cast as close to the bank as possible and retrieve with some erratic strips. You will get more hits on the dropper.

If you want to target bigger fish, then you will need to fish large streamers. This does not produce large numbers of fish but it does target larger trout. You rig large streamers on short heavy leaders on sink tip lines. Here again you bang the bank and strip the line in. Vary the strip until you figure out the retrieve they want. This is best done with heavier rods (eight weight or better) and is heavy work. It is not for the novice caster.

We are going to have some big water for a while. Don’t let it keep you away. Get out there and catch some trout. They are still there.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/10/2015

During the past week, we have had a several rain events, (a bit over an inch here in Cotter), warm temperatures and moderate winds. The lake level at Bull Shoals rose four and seven tenths feet to rest at eight feet above seasonal power pool of 659 feet. This is twenty eight feet below the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock rose seven tenths of a foot to rest at eight tenths of a foot above seasonal power pool and fifteen and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake rose one tenth of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above seasonal power pool or nine and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we had heavy generation with no wadable water. Norfork Lake rose one and one tenth feet to rest at five and two tenths feet above seasonal power pool of 553.7 feet and twenty one feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we had heavy generation with no wadable water

The water level for the top of power pool has been reset for the lakes in the White River system. Due to recent rains, all of the lakes on this system are well above seasonal power pool and the Corps of Engineers is aggressively releasing water to draw the lake levels down to power pool. I do not foresee wadable water in the near future.

On the Norfork, one of the generators is down for routine maintenance. In an effort to draw the lake down the Corps of Engineers is releasing additional water through the flood gates. The total release is approximately 6,000 cubic feet per second which is near maximum release through the generators.

On heavy generation, the best way to catch fish is to switch to longer leaders and heavier weight. On the White, the hot spot was the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam. The hot flies were olive woolly buggers (#8, #10), Y2Ks (#14, #12), prince nymphs (#14), zebra midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or red with silver wire and silver bead #16, #18), pheasant tails (#14), ruby midges (#18), root beer midges (#18), pink and cerise San Juan worms (#10), and sowbugs (#16). Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective (try a prince nymph with a ruby midge or root beer midge suspended below it).

Conventional wisdom states that hopper fishing begins in late summer. I reject this idea and fish them all year. I favor shorter leaders (seven and a half foot 3X) and a stiff six weight rod to proper deliver these weighty flies. My favorite flies are Dave’s hoppers (#10) and the western pink lady (#8). To increase hook ups I always use a dropper. I am currently using a ruby or root beer midge in size eighteen on a three foot or longer tippet (depending on the depth of the water I am fishing).

There have been several reliable sightings of caddis hatching. This is our major hatch of the year. They are size fourteen and easy to see. Before the hatch, you should concentrate on fishing prince nymphs. When the trout key on the top but no insects are present, switch over to my green butt. When you observe trout taking adult insects from the top of the water column, you should switch over to elk hair caddis dry flies.

The Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are stained and high. With the weather warming, the smallmouths should be active soon. 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.

The Norfork River has fished poorly recently. The most productive flies have been small midge patterns (#18, #20, #22)  like ruby midges, root beer midges, zebra midges (black or red with silver wire and silver bead) and soft hackles (#14, #16) like the green butt. Egg patterns have also been productive. Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective. Try a small bead headed nymph (zebra midge, copper John or pheasant tail) suspended eighteen inches below a brightly colored San Juan worm (hot fluorescent pink or cerise #10). There have been reliable hatches of small midges (try a size 24 Adams parachute) and caddis (try a size 18 elk hair caddis).The fishing is better in the morning and late afternoon and tapers off midday.

There was more fishing pressure on Dry Run Creek due to spring break. It has been a great time to fish there. The hot flies have been sowbugs (#14), Y2Ks (#12) and various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise #10).  

The water on the Spring River is stained and high. This is a great place to wade fish, when they are running water on the White and Norfork Rivers. Canoe season is over and there are fewer boats on the river to interfere with your fishing. Be sure to wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash (#10), cerise and hot pink San Juan worms (#10) and Y2Ks (#10).

Remember that the White and Norfork Rivers and Dry Run Creek are infected with didymo, an invasive alga. Be sure and thoroughly clean and dry your waders (especially the felt soles on wading boots) before using them in any other water. Many manufacturers are now making rubber soled wading boots that are easier to clean and are not as likely to harbor didymo.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.

IT'S THE ROOT BEER MIDGE -- THANKS DENNIS!

TECHNICAL FISHING DAY ON THE NORFORK BY JOHN BERRY

I just wrote my weekly fishing report. In it, I said that fishing had been tough on the Norfork Tailwater this past week. That is not totally true. I had a guide trip this past week where my client landed well over thirty trout. The difference was that he was an accomplished angler that was an exceptional dry fly fisher. The Norfork is popular locally and nationally for the quality of its top water action. There are several local fly fishers that fish nothing but dry flies on it.
 

The problem is that the majority of dry fly action is on midges. For those of you that are not familiar with this aquatic insect, they are incredibly small. The most popular patterns fished on the Norfork are midge patterns. The midge larva patterns start at eighteen and go down from there to size twenty four or smaller. The problem with these patterns is not seeing the take because you are invariably using a strike indicator. No, the problem with the larval patterns is getting the tippet through their incredibly small hook eyes. It should be noted that I carry a pair of reading glasses (cheaters) in a pocket of my fishing vest, to aid in my tying on these small flies.

With the dry flies, size does matter. Not only do you have the problem with getting the tippet through the eye of the hook but you have to see the fly on the water and you have to see the take of the fly by the trout. If you can’t see it, you can’t fish it! This means that with a smaller fly you need to fish closer. In addition, it is best to have the sun on your back to cut down on the glare of the sun on the water.

The essence of fishing dry flies is line control. The dry fly has to float freely on the surface of the water in a perfect drag free drift, in order to look natural. If it is moving too fast or too slow, the trout will refuse it. This means that you need to have slack in your line, to achieve the proper drift but have a tight enough line, to be able to set the hook, when you have a take.
 

On our trip on Monday, we began fishing around 9:00 AM, when they turned Norfork Dam off. We began fishing at Quarry Park just below the Dam. We caught four small brookies on a root beer midge. There was no top water action, while we were there. About an hour and a half later, we thought that the water downstream at the Ackerman Access had dropped out.
 

I drove to the access. We put our lunches and a few bottles of water into a back pack and headed upstream into the Catch and Release Section. When we arrived, the water was still dropping out but there were fish feeding on the top of the water column. They were keying in, on tiny midges. We began with size twenty Adams parachute dry flies and we took a couple of trout immediately. The fly quit producing and we switched to a similar sized parachute Cahill. After landing a nice rainbow, the second trout was an eighteen inch brown. Then the Cahill quit producing. I had hoped to run into a caddis hatch. We saw some nice size fourteen inch insects but they were not hatching. They were laying eggs and the trout never keyed in on them.
 

It went that way for the rest of the day. We would catch a couple of trout and then try another fly. We got smaller. The last fly we used was a size twenty four midge dry. We had run into my fishing buddy and fellow guide, George Peters, a dry fly guru. He gave us this fly and even helped tie it on as the eye of the fly was incredibly small. We took a couple of trout on it. About that time, I noticed that the water was beginning to rise. It was time to go.
 

As we walked out, I realized that we had landed over thirty trout, while the anglers around us were struggling. The key was fishing small dry flies.
 

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local waters for over thirty years.

JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 4/03/2015

During the past week, we have had a significant rain event, (a bit over an inch and a half here in Cotter), warm temperatures and moderate winds. The lake level at Bull Shoals rose four and two tenths feet to rest at four and three tenths feet above seasonal power pool of 659 feet. This is thirty one and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Upstream, Table Rock rose nine tenths of a foot to rest at one tenth of a foot above seasonal power pool and fifteen feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake rose one and eight tenths feet to rest at four tenths of a foot above seasonal power pool or nine and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we had brief periods of heavy generation in the morning with several days of wadable water. Norfork Lake rose three and six tenths feet to rest at four and one tenth feet above seasonal power pool of 553.7 feet and twenty two and six tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we had wadable water most days with generation most mornings.

The siphon to accommodate minimum flow on the Norfork is down for repairs. They will be running the generators on a speed-no-load option to make up for the lost siphon flows.

The water level for the top of power pool has been reset for the lakes in the White River system. Due to recent rains, all of the lakes on this system are well above seasonal power pool.

The Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam was closed from November 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015 to accommodate the brown trout spawn. The State Park was seasonal Catch and Release for the same period. There are redds in the area. They will appear as shallow clean depressions in the gravel.  Please avoid them when wading or dragging chains to protect the eggs in them.

On the White, the hot spot was the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam. The hot flies were olive woolly buggers (#8, #10), Y2Ks (#14, #12), prince nymphs (#14), zebra midges (black with silver wire and silver bead or red with silver wire and silver bead #16, #18), pheasant tails (#14), ruby midges (#18), root beer midges (#18), pink and cerise San Juan worms (#10), and sowbugs (#16). Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective (try a prince nymph with a ruby midge or root beer midge suspended below it).

Conventional wisdom states that hopper fishing begins in late summer. I reject this idea and fish them all year. I favor shorter leaders (seven and a half foot 3X) and a stiff six weight rod to proper deliver these weighty flies. My favorite flies are Dave’s hoppers (#10) and the western pink lady (#8). To increase hook ups I always use a dropper. I am currently using a ruby or root beer midge in size eighteen on a three foot or longer tippet (depending on the depth of the water I am fishing).

There have been several reliable sightings of caddis hatching. This is our major hatch of the year. They are size fourteen and easy to see. Before the hatch, you should concentrate on fishing prince nymphs. When the trout key on the top but no insects are present, switch over to my green butt. When you observe trout taking adult insects from the top of the water column, you should switch over to elk hair caddis dry flies.

The Buffalo National River and Crooked Creek are stained and high. With the weather warming, the smallmouths should be active soon. 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.

The Norfork River has fished poorly recently. With the colder weather there was little fishing pressure on the Norfork.  The most productive flies have been small midge patterns (#18, #20, #22)  like ruby midges, root beer midges, zebra midges (black or red with silver wire and silver bead) and soft hackles (#14, #16) like the green butt. Egg patterns have also been productive. Double fly nymph rigs have been very effective. Try a small bead headed nymph (zebra midge, copper John or pheasant tail) suspended eighteen inches below a brightly colored San Juan worm (hot fluorescent pink or cerise #10). There have been reliable hatches of small midges (try a size 24 Adams parachute) and caddis (try a size 18 elk hair caddis).The fishing is better in the morning and late afternoon and tapers off midday.

There was more fishing pressure on Dry Run Creek due to spring break. It has been a great time to fish there. The hot flies have been sowbugs (#14), Y2Ks (#12) and various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise #10).  

The water on the Spring River is stained and high. This is a great place to wade fish, when they are running water on the White and Norfork Rivers. Canoe season is over and there are fewer boats on the river to interfere with your fishing. Be sure to wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash (#10), cerise and hot pink San Juan worms (#10) and Y2Ks (#10).

Remember that the White and Norfork Rivers and Dry Run Creek are infected with didymo, an invasive alga. Be sure and thoroughly clean and dry your waders (especially the felt soles on wading boots) before using them in any other water. Many manufacturers are now making rubber soled wading boots that are easier to clean and are not as likely to harbor didymo.

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.