We have had a very interesting past month on both the White and Norfork rivers. The opening day of the trophy zone at Bull shoals dam saw the usual Armada of boat traffic, and fish were caught that day. Heavy boat traffic will eventually put the fish down and you would be wise to vacate the area and go some place else.

We have had good shad kills on both rivers with the Norfork having some real good ones. The trick is to be there when the shad start to come through the turbines, it does not take long for the fish to become gorged on this feast. Popular means to catch are white marabou jigs fished under indicators and various other shad imitations. We caught a number of good fish on my floating shad and when the fish were well down, white and silver streamers, fished on fast sinking lines.

In the case of the Norfork the shad will find their way into and downstream in the White river, and here again good fishing may be had way down stream from the confluence. Even if no shad are present it will pay to fish shad fly imitations as the fish are still on the look out for this food source. That applies also to Bull Shoals dam zone. The low water wade fishing at Bull Shoals has also been very good if you use the right flies and do not spook the fish. Typically here both sowbugs and midges are the order of the day, very small soft hackles size 18 to 22 will work well if you dead drift them.

Some real nice Brook trout have been caught in the Bull Shoals area this past month, and some good class Browns in the 3 to 5 lb range are still around and have not as yet moved back downstream. Browns through the system are now looking for food after the rigors of the spawning period and will take large streamers well, particularly if you are on the water as a rise takes place.

I have seen some great midge feeding activity way down on the White river and you have every chance to nail a trophy fish at this time. It has never ceased to amaze me that a big Brown that could eat a 1lb 'bow will show up and feed in the surface on tiny midges, but they will do that.

The trick to catch those fish is do not in any way let them be aware of your presence and fish fine tippet and real small flies. At times 20 to 24 hook size. They may well be taking anything from ascending pupa to emergers to the winged adults, as long as your fly is first within the fishes zone of vision and is in the meniscus, they will take it most of the time.

You must avoid like the plague any drag, period, what we call micro drag. You may not be able to detect it but the fish certainly can. Use grease on the tippet to maintain your fly within the visible zone of the fishes window. A very common error is to assume that the fish can always see your fly, they do not every time that you drift it over the fishes head. You may need to make at least 10 or more presentation before both the fishes eye and your fly coincide together. One other tip l will give you is this: do not use fluorocarbon for this type of surface work. It sinks much faster than mono and will cause your fly to sink below the line of sight.

There are many fly patterns that will do the trick, RS2, sparkle midge, Griffiths gnat, adult midge, DW midge emerger. If you want to really learn how to midge fish then take a trip to the trophy zone on the San Juan, fish feed on midges most of the day on that river system, and very small ones at that.

We should start to see some of the caddis hatches begin now that the weather is warming up, and on days when it has, l have seen some emergence but not in any great numbers as yet. It will pay to fish both caddis larva and pupa patterns at any time now. Generally for both wade and boat fishing the normal run of the mill flies such as bead heads, scuds and sows will work well, and in higher water flows San Juan worms and streamers as well as wooly bugger’s in olive, white and black.

If there is any evidence of caddis fly activity then go for dry flies such a Elk hair and Davy’s caddis in colors of tan and brown and emerging caddis pupa in shades of bright green, olive and orange. The green tail and other hares ear soft hackle are also a good bet at this time.

For those of you interested in attending some fly fishing schools for intermediate to advanced fly fishing skills contact Jim Smith at River Ridge Inn, 870 499 7775 or myself at 870 453 2195.

Tight lines for now,
Davy Wotton

About Davy Wotton
Davy has been making his living as a full time fly fisher in one capacity or another for over 30 years. He has written many articles for all of the fly fishing magazines, created several unique flies and fly tying materials which he developed into a full scale manufacturing operation in his native country of Wales, and is a much-sought speaker around America at fly fishing functions and shows. Over the years Davy has fished in over 40 countries around the world but his choice for base of operation is right here on the White River. Davy operates his American International Schools of Fly Fishing in Flippin, Arkansas.