On Tuesday, May 19^th, Kenny Klimes and the Professor (Terry Seaton) left West County for a 2-day fishing trip on the White River, near Cotter, AR. Although we planned to fish somewhere along the way, heavy recent rains created swollen rivers that weren’t too friendly for fishing. We arrived in Cotter and stopped by the local fly shop, Dally’s Ozark Fly Fisher, to pick up a few things and get a local report. After a quick dinner of international award-winning pizza/calzone at Nima’s Pizza in Gassville (they also have great subs and desserts), we decided to attempt to wade-fish at the Wildcat access. Unfortunately, high/fast flows and mossy water (clearing our line almost every cast) prevented us from catching any fish. After Kenny had a big boy break him off and steal his streamer, and the Professor went swimming, we headed back to our abode for the night. Little did we know what we would be in store for the next couple of days.

The next morning, we met our gillie (guide Brock Dixon, Terry’s wife’s 2^nd cousin, from North Arkansas Troutfitters) back at the Wildcat access put-in on a cool and calm overcast morning. We got rigged up and headed out in the jet boat. Within 60 seconds after the first cast, Kenny hooked up and within a few more seconds we had our first of literally countless “doubles” on the trip. We fooled one rainbow after another and netted around 40 fish within the first 2 hours! River flows were low and ideal for catching until late in the afternoon. We fished only caddisfly larvae and midges the whole trip – because that’s what they were eating! We drifted several runs between Wildcat and the state park and grabbed a box lunch from Gaston’s White River Resort. Kenny even snuck in a nap because catching all those rainbows tuckered him out. The browns were not biting as much as the rainbows and the ones caught were on the small side. By day’s end, we netted 80-100 fish between the two of us! After fishing, we grabbed a delicious dinner at KT’s Smokehouse BBQ in Gassville. We swung over to Judicious Spirits, a Mountain Home liquor store with a great selection, and talked bourbon with some locals. Oh, and Kenny got his DQ Blizzard… Needless to say, we were full and sleepy after Day One!

Day 2 was nearly a repeat of Day One! Fished the same areas, had the same great weather and river flows, and caught the same number of fish. I think it was record numbers for both of us! We each got a few more browns on the last day. And the Professor ended up netting 3 of the 4 trout species (rainbow, brown, and cutthroat) on the day. The cuttys are a fine-spotted Snake River species – really beautiful fish. All in all, the trip was like a crazy dream! Dinner the last night was at Letty’s Mexican Restaurant in Gassville. Another great meal!

Although we had wanted to fish on the way home (we planned to meet some other FATC fishermen at Tan Vat), the heavens opened up and dropped a lot of rain again so we just drove home after a delicious breakfast at the White Sands Café in Cotter. If you ever want to plan a trip to fish the White River, we highly recommend Brock as your guide. You can check out his website and book a trip at https://www.northarkansastroutfitters.com and he’ll do his best to get you on fish! He fills up fast so book a trip well in advance! You can also check water flows at the Army Corps of Engineer’s site at https://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/bulsdam.htm