Fishing Reports
August 23rd, 2010
Buffalo River – The river is very low from the headwaters to the Highway 14 bridge. Much dragging will be experienced. After the bridge the water level is low but floatable. Be aware that you may have to drag your boat in places. River level is 2.64 feet and flowing at 139 cfs near Harriet at the Highway 14 Bridge.The really hot weather has pushed the best times for fishing to early morning and late evening. Soft plastics such as 4″ Zoom lizards, baby brush hogs and tube baits in greens and brown shades are working best.Fly fishing is good with top water stuff in the evening and subsurface flies all other times. Crazy Dads, Clouser Minnows and muted colors of Sparkle Grubs are working best.
Crooked Creek – The river level is 10.93 feet and a flow of 119 cfs. This is about 1.5 feet below the low water bridge at Kelly’s Access. Smallmouth fishing continues to be very good on the creek. Crawdad patterns bounced on the bottom along with Clouser Minnows (both Deep Minnows and the Darter series) and KC’s Slider have been picking up some good fish.
King’s River - The river level is 2.44 feet and a flow of 31 cfs at the Grandview Bridge. This is normal for this time of year. Floating is still possible but there will be dragging involved. The fishing has been consistant with soft plastics with a Zoom 4″ lizard in green pumpkin or watermelon red working best. Fly fishing with smaller flies (sizes #4-#10) will get you as many sunfish as you care to catch. Popping bugs, streamers and San Juan worms are the best bets for sunfish on a fly rod.
Beaver Tailwaters (White River) - Beaver Lake level is 1116.82 feet which is almost 4 feet under Conservation Pool level. Table Rock Lake continues to be about a foot into the flood pool making some areas tough to wade at Beaver. Water releases have been in the afternoon with wadeable water most mornings. Gray bead head sowbug/scuds, Zebra midges in blue dun and marabou tail midges have been picking up a lot of healthy fish. Most days the fish are holding tight to the bottom. Asv the day goes on switch to darker beads if fly fishing and muted colored lures if you are spin fishing. The flash seems to be turning off the fish later in the day.
Norfork Tailwater - Lake level-551.25ft - Generation has been starting around 2:00pm which is giving anglers plenty of low water wade fishing. Hoppers, hoppers, hoppers! Use a grasshopper pattern with a scud/sowbug as the dropper. Try various sizes &/or colors for the hopper. Some days they’ll go for a size 4 yellow and other days it might be a size 12 tan. Some suggested hopper patterns to try are; Chubby Chernobyl, Rainey’s Grand Hopper, Charlie Boy and Dave’s Hopper.
Bull Shoals- Lake level: 653.61ft. Bull Shoals lake is right at conservation pool, which is 654.0ft. Generation has mostly been around the clock with some low water early in the day, especially on the weekends. Generation has been averaging 1-3 soft units with some wadeable water. Hopper patterns seem to be part of the setup while fishing. Try a hopper/dropper rig with a scud/sowbug or zebra midge as the dropper. The hopper will be your indicator if you get a strike on the subsurface nymph. Varying the size and color of your hopper pattern can improve your success. Suggested patterns: humpback scud, BH Simple Sow, zebra midge, Rainy’s Grand Hopper, Charlie Boy Hopper & Dave’s Hopper.
Posted in Fishing Reports
August 18th, 2010
Norfork Tailwaters - Lake level: 551.68ft - No generation all morning until 2:00pm has been the pattern lately. Again, scud and sow bug patterns seem to be the best patterns. Look for fish rolling on the bottom and drift your flies down to them. Humpback scud(gray or olive), BH Simple Sow or a Ray Charles sow bug are reliable patterns to fish. Some midge activity early and late in the day. Try small dries like a Parachute Adams or Griffith’s Gnat or emergers like a Yong’s Special or RS2 just below the surface, sizes 18-22. Terrestrials(hoppers, ants & beetles) and small streamers including wooly buggers, sparrows & .56ers are other patterns to try.
Buffalo River – The river is very low from the headwaters to the Highway 14 bridge. Much dragging will be experienced. After the bridge the water level is low but floatable. Be aware that you may have to drag your boat in places. River level is 2.68 feet and flowing at 149 cfs.The really hot weather has pushed the best times for fishing to early morning and late evening. Soft plastics such as 4″ Zoom lizards, baby brush hogs and tube baits in greens and brown shades are working best.Fly fishing is good with top water stuff in the evening and subsurface flies all other times. Crazy Dads, Clouser Minnows and muted colors of Sparkle Grubs are working best.
Crooked Creek – The river level is 10.94 feet and a flow of 121 cfs. This is about 1.5 feet below the low water bridge at Kelly’s Access. Smallmouth fishing continues to be very good on the creek. Crawdad patterns bounced on the bottom along with Clouser Minnows (both Deep Minnows and the Darter series) and KC’s Slider have been picking up some good fish.
King’s River – The river level is 2.55 fet and a flow of 43 cfs at the Grandview Bridge. This is normal for this time of year. Floating is still possible but there will be dragging involved. The fishing has been consistant with soft plastics with a Zoom 4″ lizard in green pumpkin or watermelon red working best. Fly fishing with smaller flies (sizes #4-#10) will get you as many sunfish as you care to catch. Popping bugs, streamers and San Juan worms are the best bets for sunfish on a fly rod.
Beaver Tailwaters (White River) – Beaver Lake level is 1117.33 feet which is 3 feet under Conservation Pool level. Table Rock Lake continues to be about a foot into the flood pool making some areas tough to wade at Beaver. Water releases have been in the afternoon with wadeable water most mornings. Gray bead head sowbug/scuds, Zebra midges in blue dun and marabou tail midges have been picking up a lot of healthy fish. Most days the fish are holding tight to the bottom.
Bull Shoals Tailwater (White River) – The lake level is 654.19, right at Conservation Pool level. Water releases have been lower in the morning with wadeable water, then ramping up during the afternoon. Sowbug/scud imitations, midge pupa patterns and smaller Woolly Buggers have picked up good quantities of fish. There has been some activity on Hopper patterns. Your standard patterns along with Chernoble Ants in smallish sizes in tan and green have worked best.
Posted in Fishing Reports
August 10th, 2010
Beaver Tailwaters (White River) – The lake level is 1118.35 ft, just under the conservation pool of 1120.4 ft. Water releases are occuring early morning and afternoon with the heavier amounts being in the afternoon. Table Rock Lake is still above conservation pool making wading difficult in some areas. The fish are holding close to the bottom and are very spooky with the bluebird skies. Best fishing is occuring when there is a breeze to riffle up the water surface. Best flies are still midges, sowbug/scuds and very small Woolly Buggers. Gray and olive/brown are the best colors for the nymphs and olive or black are the best colors for the streamers.
King’s River - The river level at the guage is 2.68 ft. with a flow of 61 cfs. This is low and floating is difficult in a lot of areas. Water temperatures are hitting the mid 80′s in the afternoon. The best times for fishing are early morning and late afternoon/evening. Crawdad, minnow and topwater flies are all working. Make sure you are using flies big enough unless you want to catch a lot of sunfish. Clousers, Clouser darters and crazy dads are the best subsurface flies and poppers and sliders are the best top water flies.
Crooked Creek – The river level is 11.11 ft and 130 cfs at the Kelly Access. This is just over a foot below the low water bridge. Fishing has been very good for smallmouth with high numbers being caught. The normal smallmouth flies are working. Crooked is probably the best smallmouth stream right now. The water is a bit low but is still very floatable.
Buffalo River – The upper and mid sections of the river are extremely to very low right now and the lower section is low with the level at Hwy. 14 being 2.84 ft. and 196 cfs. Late evening and early morning are the best times to fish. Take time for a swim in the middle of the day. Streamers such as Clousers and KC’s slider are working very well. Use colors that mimic the naturals in the river – tans, olives, white and gray.
Bull Shoals Tailwaters (White River) – The lake level is 655 ft. just about a foot still into the flood pool. Water releases have been light in the morning and higher in the afternoon due to the heat and more a/c’s being on. Nymph fishing has been the best with midges and sowbug/scuds ruling. Best colors are gray, tan or olive. There has been some top water action with midges and small grasshoppers. Try throwing a midge dry such as a Griffith Gnat to rising fish. Where there is grass near the bank try plopping a small tan or olive hopper pattern near the bank. As the water rises streamers are picking up a few fish. Throw a sink-tip or full sinking line to keep your fly down in the water column.
Posted in Fishing Reports
August 4th, 2010
Beaver Tailwaters - The flows have made fly fishing kind of hard. With just a bit of water releases in the morning and then starting back up around noon, there is not much chance for wading. But – When the water is down the fishing has been good with gray sowbugs and bigger midge pupa. Small woolly buggers are also working. Canebreak Hole seems to be the hot spot along with people going after the BIG one at Parker Bottoms. On higher water suspending minnow crank baits are doing well.
Crooked Creek – The weather is hot and so is the smallmouth fishing. Fly fishing minnow patterns such as Clouser’s Minnow and Shenk’s Minnow have been picking up some good fish wherever there is water. Wading is the best bet and pulling along a canoe or kayak for the deeper holes. Spin fishing is still good with soft plastics, especially in the green and brown colors. Popping bugs are pulling in tons of sunfish. Best colors are white with black spots and froggy colors.
Bull Shoals Tailwater- Lake Level: 655.02 ft. Generation has been a soft two until 1:00pm, then bumped up to 5 to 8 units the rest of the day. Drift fishing has been quite good using various nymphs. Scuds, sowbugs, Copper Johns, BH Pheasant Tails, BH Caddis and San Juan worms, all fished under an indicator near the bottom with an occasional twitch is producing good numbers of fish.
Kings River – The gauge at Grandview is reading 2.72 ft. as of Tuesday/August/3rd. Floating is difficult at this low level. Try wade fishing at the various public accesses. Top flies are Clouser minnows, Schenk’s White streamer, KC’s Slider, Crazy Dad, Murdich Minnow, Crease Fly, Dave’s Bass Hopper and Todd’s Wiggle Minnow. Spin fishing with soft plastics on the bottom is providing the most consistent action. 4″ lizards, 3″ tubes, Tiny Brush Hawgs and 4″ ringworms, all in shades of green, brown and black, are good producers.
Posted in Fishing Reports
May 24th, 2010
Crooked Creek – Water levels ar still high in the mid section around Yellvile. The level is 14.12 feet, 1.5 feet over the low water bridge at Kelly’s. The water is slightly off color and the temperatures are around 65 – 72 degrees. Larger plastics such as brush hogs and tubes fished along the bottom are working in green and brown colors. Water is too high to fly fish in the mid sections, but from Pyatt and above fishing is good.
King’s River – Water levels are at 5.16 feet and slightly off color. This is about 1.5 feet over the best water level for fly fishing. Spin fishing with tubes and lizards on the bottom are working. Best colors are watermelon red and green pumpkinseed.
Buffalo River (Hwy. 65) - The water is still a bit high for most fly fishing. It is at 6.88 feet. water temperatures are in the 65 – 72 degree range. Spin fishing with soft plastics and heavy weights is working.
Beaver Tailwaters – The tailwater level is high from Table Rock Lake being backed up and there is very little flow. The TW level is 918 feet, about 3 feet over normal. There is not much wading available except near the dam. Some type of watercraft will get you to many other wading spots. The best flies have been black/silver zebra midges and charcoal gray beadhead scuds. Spin fishers have had luck with Rebel minnow patterns in Rainbow or brown trout colors.
Bull Shoals Tailwaters – The lake level is 665.01ft, 11 feet above power pool. Generation has been around the clock with 3 units. Conditions are great for drift fishing with some wading in certain areas. Various caddis patterns are still working including BH Caddis, Z-Wing Caddis, Partridge & Green soft hackle and Elk Hair Caddis. Sulfur mayflies should start hatching soon so various mayfly nymphs will work including BH Pheasant Tail, Copper Johns and BH Hare’s Ear. Streamer fishing with sink-tips should also be part of your arsenal.
Norfork Tailwaters – lake level is 559.81ft, 7.8ft above power pool. Generation has been for approximately 8 hours a day which allows for some low water wade fishing. Nymphing with various patterns is the most productive method. Scuds, sow bugs, midge, caddis and mayfly patterns can all be fished with success. Look for insects emerging or observe how fish are feeding to help determine which fly to fish.
Posted in Fishing Reports
May 12th, 2010
Beaver Tailwaters – Fishing has been very good on the Tailwaters. Lots of large fish and great low water opportunities. This changed earlier in the week with the beginning of the drawdown of Beaver Lake by the corp. Generation has been pretty well around the clock with the occasional window of low water. Predicted end date of the drawdown is May 15th, but with rain in the forecast for the better part of next week, this date may change. High water nymphing techniques from a boat are recommended. San Juan worms, larger nymphs drifted pretty deep under an indicator. High water makes using streamer rigs a good option. Fish this deep in the channel and around the structure.
Bull Shoals Tailwaters - Low water earlier in the week continued the great fishing. Lots of caddis, midge, and mayfly hatches. Sz14-16 Elk Hair Caddis and varied nymphs were getting large fish. Higher generation started mid week and limits the wading areas. Prince nymphs, Hare Ear Nymphs, and copper johns are producing lots of fish. Target water seams and structure while floating down the river.
Norfork Tailwaters – Low water for the first half of the week has allowed many wade fishing opportunities. Good hatches have been observed. Mid-week brought about fewer windows of wade fishing due to high generation. Boat fishing is a good option using high water nymphing San Juan worms, typical nymphs, and caddis dries are good options.
Kings River – Water is still warming and the smallies are currently spawning. Lots of active males, but the females are staying on the nests. Water level is around 3.3 and ample for floating.
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