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Davy Wotton's
White River & North Fork River Fly Fishing Report
Updated about once per month, or as conditions change.
Current Report: September, 2007
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Hello Fly Fishers!
The 15th of August saw the 50th year anniversary of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery.
The rededication ceremony was well attended despite the awful heat and humidity of the
day. In attendance were many USFW dignitaries, Arkansas State representatives, directors
and board members and members of the Friends of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery and
many local citizens.
The evening events saw a Banquet celebration at Gastons. During the evening both a live
and a silent auction took place, in excess of $5000 was raised which will be used towards
the expenditures of the days events and funding toward the visitor center at the hatchery.
The Norfork National Fish Hatchery is the life blood for the White River system. It
provides overall some 2 million fish, that are distributed around the State. Without the
operation of the hatchery we would not see fishing of the quality that we do. It is also
the largest Federal hatchery in the USA.
If you are not a member of the Friends, then your support would be greatly appreciated. We
are the USFW accepted organization that advocates for the hatchery. We cannot afford to
loose this resource. We are in fact the largest friends organization for any USFW
hatchery.
My sincere thanks to all who contributed and attended the events of the 15th.
Davy Wotton.
President FNNFH.
http://www.norforkhatcheryfriends.org
After the events of the 15th l left for Montana to film some new fly fishing shows, l was
not sorry to leave the heat and humidity of AR behind.
The trip was great, the fish were good to us, but l am pleased to be home to my own
territory, and the expected great fishing that the fall period offers here on our own
rivers, and so far this past week that has been the case.
In my last report l indicated that this time of the year will see the trophy Browns moving
upstream to the designated spawning zones that they choose, and that certainly is the case
at this time. The fishing this week has well proved that one.
Typically Browns are very territorial by nature and as they move upstream to new locations
they are aggressive toward intruders within that zone, which is good for the angler, as at
such times they do loose some of their natural caution.
Females are becoming full of eggs and look for shallow water zone close to structure that
they do not have to fight current, males do same but are also looking to side with a
female before the spawn, so they may well be found all over the river at given times,
likewise they also become very aggressive toward lesser forms of life.
How do you catch them? You have a number of options here. Streamers and large surface
fished flies are all on the cards to promote a trophy fish to take your offering. The
majority of these fish will be found tucked up close to shorelines, moss beds and rock
structure. They are the zones to concentrate your efforts.
Either a dry line or a intermediate are the lines in my book the way to go here,
regardless of the type of fly you choose to use. In fact one of my deadly tactics is to
use a intermediate line, with a leader around 10ft in length. Attached to that is a large
dry which may be a hopper, stonefly, stimulator cast to the shoreline. The fly will float
for a period of time until the effects of downstream drift and the sinking line will start
to draw the fly subsurface, it is at this time you start to strip the fly back to ward
you. Takes may come when the fly lands and is still on the surface or when you start to
retrieve the fly, as a rule within 6ft of the shore line expect a explosive take at times.
It is a tactic l figured out way back in the UK, to generate takes from fish that were
cruising shorelines around the lakes and reservoirs, along with the moving water systems.
A dry fly fished both as a surface fly and then as a sunk fly, fish have no idea you have
a fly that is only supposed to float !! And use large flies, 10 or 8 LS are fine
I have seen some 50 Browns this week caught by this method through the system.
You may of course also go with casting streamers into and off shore lines and around
shallow water structure, the deal is simply not to let the fish know you are there.
Overall generations have been up and down from long daily periods of zero to a high water
push, so need to check out what is going on to determine best locations to fish for the
day here.
Over and above that we will see as a rule more surface activity from all species of trout
found in the system. The food base will likely be chironomids, micro caddis, BWO and
terrestrials to name a few, all will be evident this month.
So do expect some good top water action during the day, particularly early and late on, in
fact the last two hours of daylight can see some unreal fishing after the blue sky of the
day departs, or days when we have good cloud cover.
No surface activity, then ring the changes, outside of trophy zones double up with both
dry and nymph combinations, nymph and soft hackle combinations fished in the dead drift
mode, from surface to bottom. Trophy zone permit only one fly, so go here with generics
such as PTN, GR.,Caddis larva and Chironomids, flies of that nature.. Streamers, wet fly
and soft hackles fished across and down are also good tactics to consider at this time of
the year.
If you are working a drift in higher water flows then opt for either intermediate or sink
tip lines, both the dry/sink techniques or regular streamers such as woolly buggers in
olive and black, often at this time of the year it also pays to add either silver or gold
flash to your flies as that does add a further attractant
Here again work into shorelines and if you locate a big fish, it can be worthwhile to
motor back up stream and return a number of drifts to the know zone of that fish.
As dusk settles in l will opt for fishing the intermediate line with both surface fished
streamers such as muddlers and bait fish imitations, or a dry line over more shallow water
zones. The odds are in your favor at this time of the year to connect with a good one.
General dead drift techniques will of course score real well with the Bows.
Both Bull Shoals Dam and Norfork typically fish well at low water with chironomids and
small dries, micro soft hackles, scuds and sowbugs.
I am not a egg man myself but egg flies are also a good option along with SJ Worms when we
have high water flows.
Given the number of trophy Browns l have seen caught this year, and those that l know of
caught, expect some very good fishing with a very good chance of a trophy trout. Trophy
Bows over 20ins are hard to find these days, but there are fish of that caliber out there,
all be it few and far between.
Good luck guys, the fish are there, go catch them!
Davy.
American International Schools of Fly FishingAbout 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.
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