Winter fishing is here

The December bite is on in North Arkansas

By Randy Zellers

AGFC Communications

AGFC Fisheries biologists found a nice surprise recently while sampling Gillham Lake in southwest Arkansas. A few smallmouth bass were part of the fall sampling. They were all found along the rocky area of the dam. These fish were all 6-7 inches and their presence, AGFC biologists say, of good things to come at Gillham Lake. The AGFC’s Hope regional office asks anglers to let them know if they happen to hook into a bigger smallmouth this winter; it may just be one of these young fishes’ parents. Gillham Lake is a small reservoir situated along the Cossatot River, mostly in Howard County but also extending westward into Polk County. It’s 6 miles from the town of Gillham.

N orth Arkansas Fishing Reports

• White River — Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said that while many people are turning their thoughts and energies toward Christmas (and rightly so) and hunkering down for the colder months, anglers are still finding plenty of rainbows and browns willing to leave the comfort of their favorite hidey-holes. The water level below Bull Shoals Dam has been at minimum flow or below most of the week, “but now we’re seeing some water in pulses as the lake shows a little rise after a dry fall. Watch for the river rise later in the morning and stay ahead of it for the best fishing. Flashy silver Cleos should work well in this water, as well as the silverblue hammered spoons. Orange PowerBait has been the popular bait for the rainbows to mimic the eggs from spawning activity. During the sunny parts of the late morning, dry flies have been doing well with many hatches occurring as the weather warms slightly; orange and yellow egg patterns have been successful when the clouds return.

“Catch a sculpin or two to put on your hook for brown trout bait; keep in mind it’s spawning season and many browns will be ignoring your bait unless it’s especially pesky.

“Kids will be looking for Christmas vacation adventures and the river answers that call. PowerBait and shrimp are reliable baits to help them catch a rainbow or five. The long range weather forecast is looking like mild temperatures during the day.”

John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service said that during the past week, they had just a trace of rain in Cotter, warmer temperatures and moderate winds. The lake level at Bull Shoals rose 0.6 foot to rest at 4.9 feet below power pool of 659 feet msl. This is 40.9 feet below the top of flood pool.

Upstream, Table Rock Lake fell 0.9 foot to rest at 0.9 foot below power pool and 16.9 feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake remained steady at 2 feet below power

See FISH, page A8

Submitted photos

Justin Taylor (left) was fishing with Jon Conklin and FishOn Guides out of Goshen when he caught these two nice Beaver Lake slaps recently. Conklin says the crappie were caught on jigs very shallow, and crappie are “real good right now on Beaver.” Meanwhile, Mike Eakle (right) caught a couple of whopper walleye while fishing Norfork Lake with “Scuba Steve” Street out of Blackburns Resort on a jigging spoon.

From page A7

pool or 11.5 feet below the top of flood pool. The White had significant wadable water. Norfork Lake fell 0.4 foot to rest at 0.8 foot below power pool of 553.75 feet msl and 27 feet below the top of flood pool. The Norfork tailwater had less wadable water.

All of the lakes in the White River system are below power pool. The tailwaters have wadable water on a daily basis.

• Bull Shoals Lake — Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock said Wednesday that patterns are steady, while the temperature drops a little on the lake. Bass fishing is still fair one-half to threequarters of the way back into the creeks, Look for wind and shad-surfacing action. Birds and loons have arrived around the shad. The deep bite is hot, and bass are keying in on the shad in 40-70 feet. That seems to be the predominant bite.

In stormy, windy conditions, power fishermen can key in on ledges and channel swing banks with chunk rock. On windy days, Rock Crawlers, square bills and Wiggle Warts will work around the windy transitions. Offshore, the shad are starting to group up a lot better. Try a Jewel Scuba Spoon or drop-shot a Damiki Ice Jig. Fish the conditions.

Bull Shoals clarity is good, the surface temperature is 57 degrees. Water level is about 4 feet low.

See Del’s YouTube site (Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock) for more information and tips on fishing Bull Shoals Lake.

• Norfork Lake — As of Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers reported the lake’s elevation at 552.47 feet msl (normal conservation pool: Sept.-April, 553.75 feet msl; April-Sept. 555.75 feet msl; top flood elevation 580.0).

Steven “Scuba Steve” Street at Blackburn’s Resort reported Wednesday that the lake level is 552.64 feet msl and had dropped about 1 inch in the last 24 hours with both generators running about 4 hours. The White River at Newport is 3 feet. The surface water temperature was 55.5 degrees and dropping with the cooler weather this week when Steve went out fishing Tuesday. “There was a cool breeze from the northwest but it calmed at about 4 p.m. when the fish started to bite. It was slow before then. Very slow. The cold fronts just keep coming through about one or twice a week and do not help fishing any. I saw no other boats for the entire time I was out.

“I started out with the crappie jig and switched to the spoon when the wind quit. Crappie, Kentucky bass, bluegill and walleye are the best bite now with a few smaller stripers being caught trolling.

“Overall the lake is in excellent condition and at a good level for fishing. Work the bank for bass at sunset and brushpiles earlier at 25-35 feet the rest of the time. Winter bass fishing will pick up as the water cools. Some big crappie are being caught but not high numbers. Some white bass are on deeper brush.”

For daily fishing reports go to www.blackburnsresort.com for Scuba Steve’s Blog.

• Norfork Tailwater — John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870435-2169) said the Norfork tailwater had less wadable water. All of the lakes in the White River system are below power pool. The tailwaters have wadable water on a daily basis.

There has been little wadable water on the Norfork and it fished well some days and poorly on others. The most productive flies have been small midge patterns like zebra midges. Grasshoppers have produced fish, particularly when used in conjunction with a small nymph dropper. Double-fly nymph rigs have been very effective.

Try a small bead-headed nymph (zebra midge, copper John or pheasant tail) suspended 18 inches below a brightly colored San Juan worm. The fishing is much better in the morning and late afternoon.

Dry Run Creek has fished well. School is back in session and now is a great time to fish it, particularly during the week. Weekends can get a bit crowded. The hot flies have been sowbugs and various colored San Juan worms (worm brown, red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise).

Small orange or peach eggs have been very effective.

Carry a large net, as most fish are lost at the net.

• Buffalo National River & Crooked Creek — John Berry of Berry Brothers Guide Service in Cotter (870435-2169) said Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are low and gin clear. With colder temperatures, the smallmouths are not active.

The most effective fly has been a tan and brown Clouser minnow. 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.