I, Al Harper, report here on a fishing and floating trip to Arkansas the third week of April 2024. Bull Shoals White River State Park was home base during the first part of a six-day effort down there.
Nice spring weather meant lots of anglers on the river, some under the care of fishing guides. But because I was using a Flycraft, a couple of privately owned inflatable drift boats caught my interest. Both were piloted by husband and wife fishing teams. The wife in a well equipped Stealthcraft from TN showed me a photo of a 20” tiger trout she caught on a fly rod the previous day. Her husband was only a little less proud of his 19” bow whose image he captured on his camera/phone.
Another couple from FL I met on the river and later spoke with in the campground, had an oversized inflatable driftboat that featured a huge Yeti cooler as a rowing seat and a nimble dog that bounded all over the craft while they drifted and fished. They shared great stories about excursions on rivers out west. Both husband and wife oared the boat, but said they’d endured a couple of perilous incidents in difficult technical water that made them thankful they could bump right off boulders they were unable to dodge.
As is usually the case on the White, water release from Bull Shoals Lake through the massive dam dictated fishing strategies. The release was minimal each day. Perhaps because mild springtime temps hadn’t yet necessitated the increased power generation that will be needed later this summer when air conditioners start kicking on in nearby Mountain Home and the surrounding vicinity.
With the low water, I saw guides chumming to interest fish downstream in whatever bait they had clients using with their spinning rods.
Meanwhile flyfishers were varying their approach by trying to determine if streamers or nymphs would be the answer. The Caddis hatch was said to be happening (or about to happen any day), but I was unable to match either the correct size or color of that bug and therefore resorted to emergers, also called soft hackles or wet flys.
I had enjoyed success with them in past visits and was rewarded this time as well. However, this trip the trout (ever contrary) wanted the fly presented much deeper. So making a delicate emerger flutter at the end of a full sinking line was the recipe for success. After finally gauging the correct depth and swing for the current, I managed to get 18 in the net and unfortunately hooked about another dozen that got off. The pattern of light taps followed by abrupt head shakes and then the prolonged strong pulls was very satisfying. Their silver sides were visible as bows streaked left and right downstream fighting hard all the way to the net.
Catching up that evening with the FL couple mentioned above, I learned they had driven a few miles east and floated the Norfork. This is very feasible as that river, a tailwater of nearby Norfork Lake, flows back into a lower section of the White after only a five-mile float. Finding that river on a map is made easier by searching for Salesville, or Norfork, AR. They reported they caught fish steadily enough that the short drive over to the Norfolk was worthwhile.
Both the White and Norfork contain very large trout. Anglers aren’t always lucky enough to land the big ones but often at least get a glimpse of one and sometimes come away with a good story about “the one I almost got”. Fortunately many really nice ones are released to fight again another day after their images are captured.
On another float back on the White, I started almost in the shadow of Bull Shoals dam one pristine morning. There was still minimal flow but not long after launching my driftboat, the foghorn sounded to warn that water was to be released. It wasn’t a rush of water that ensued. It was more a graduated but pronounced rise that over a matter of minutes made islands and high spots of land in the riverbed disappear. Of course the effects of more significant water releases are more pronounced and wade fisherman have to be cognizant of them.
On my second float, I went back to fishing a wet fly. Right away I was fortunate enough to allow a healthy brown trout, which measured 18”, to take the fly, turn his head downriver and hook himself. During this float, I alternated between casting streamers and emergers and didn’t always make the mental transition between the strong hook sets required for the streamer and letting trout hook themselves on the emergers. That cost me several fish that quickly released my emerger if they sensed even the slightest pressure on the line.
After seeing surface strikes in shallow water further downstream, I experimented with casting a crackle back that I swung just under the surface (getting it “in the film”) and picked up a couple of healthy bows.
My wife Linda and I got a campspot on the river just down from the dam. It was such a beautiful day she decided to drift with me on the second leg of that day’s float. So I picked her up and after a picnic, we headed on down toward a takeout at the famous resort Gaston’s. It was to be just a pleasure float that afternoon, but I couldn’t resist casting an emerger to more trout striking on the surface just down from the park. The result was she got into the act by netting a couple of more bows I managed to catch. I ended up with 11 that day.
On our way home, we stopped at a campground in the colorful town of Hardy, AR not far south of the site of several FATC fishing trips on the Spring River.
I wade fished one morning at Riverside Resort south of the river’s origin in Mammoth Spring. I had learned from local guide Mark Crawford on previous floats that trout on the Spring like to stack up just above rock shelves or ledges, some of which stretch almost all across the river. There are a couple of those formations at Riverside that one can wade to within casting range. The wet flys worked well here. The rock ledges were shallow and because trout still wanted the emerger a few inches below the surface, line management became important. Too much slack and the sinking line dragged the fly to a mossy bottom. Too light of a drift and they dismissed the fly as a surface bug unlike what they were after. Line tension was critical since the fish had to hook themselves. After finally finding the sweet spot and getting the feel for just where to drift and swing the emerger and how to limit its depth, I was rewarded with 14 bows in the net. These were healthy fish a little larger than we sometimes get on this river.
I had more than that number that I had partially hooked or actually fought for a few seconds before they got off. Still, it was fun and very engrossing fishing.
I finally switched over to light colored woolly buggers and picked up another 10 on the rock ledge and further downstream.
I spoke with a couple of other fly fishermen who had driven over from Memphis. One had hired a guide the day before and nymphed mostly.
All in all it was an enjoyable multiple-day outing. And while the weather can be fickle in April, it rained only one evening during our trip. Good fishin’ to ya.
