Arkansas Fishing Report from Anglers

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September 30, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 9/30/2010

During the past week, we have had no measurable rain and cooler temperatures. The skies have been generally sunny with quite a bit of wind. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell eight tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot below power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty one and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose three tenths of a foot to rest at one and eight tenths of a foot above power pool or fourteen and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two tenths of a foot to rest at three and eight tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and four tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had light generation over night and in the morning with slightly heavier generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with a few precious periods of no generation. This made for limited wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake remained steady at three tenths of a foot above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty seven and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some reliable wading. All of the lakes on the White River System are near or below power pool and we should have wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers. Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The dissolved oxygen levels on the White and Norfork Rivers have dropped below the State standard of six parts per million. This problem will be more prevalent near either dam. Please be careful when fighting and releasing fish to avoid stressing them in these areas. Carefully revive and release all trout caught.

On the White, the browns are beginning to pod up from below Rim Shoals to the dam in preparation for their run to the spawning beds in November. Now is a good time to key in on a trophy trout. Approach them with stealth and try a big streamer like a sculpin or zoo cougar. Watch your presentation and try not to spook them.

Though they are still working, grasshoppers are on the wane this past week. The cooler temperatures, particularly in the morning, seem to have slowed them down. If you catch a sunny, windy afternoon give them a try. Increase their productivity by suspending a dropper. Try a zebra midge or copper John.

The lower flows we have received have been perfect for fishing nymphs. Small zebra midges, black or red with silver wire and silver bead in size sixteen or fourteen have been the go to flies. Copper Johns and Y2Ks have also been very productive. Fish them with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly and a strike indicator set at the depth of the water. When the flows increase go to a hot fluorescent pink worm with a zebra midge or copper John dropper.

The Catch and release section below Bull Shoals Dam remains the hot spot. The most effective technique has been to swing soft hackles on low water. The best patterns have been partridge and orange or Dan’s turkey tail emerger. There has also been success reported with Chernobyl ants near the dam.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are low and clear. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. Fall is approaching and these streams will soon be too cold for effective fishing. 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.

The Norfork has been fishing well. With a lot of generation on the White, it has received quite a bit of pressure. The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Soft hackles and Dan’s turkey tail emerger have also produced well. Others have reported success by fishing deeper holes with olive woolly buggers.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. With a lot of fly fishers coming into town for the conclave, Dry Run can get a bit crowded. The Youth Conclave will be here on Saturday afternoon. If you have no plans, go down there to help the kids catch some big ones. Do not forget to carry a big net and your camera.

The water level on the Spring River is low and clear. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

Remember that the White and Norfork Rivers are infected with didymo, an invasive alga. Be sure and thoroughly clean and dry your waders (especially the felt soles on wading boots) before using them in any other water. Many manufacturers are now making rubber soled wading boots that are easier to clean and are not as likely to harbor didymo.

September 27, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - As of Monday 27 September, Largemouth Bass are good to very good. Bass are continuing chasing shad schools at creek mouth junctions and all along Little River at random schooling. These Largemouths are ranging anywhere from 2-4 pounds and intermingled with schooling White Bass in lily pads. These randomly schooling Bass over the past week in Little River, were close to creek channels, inside lily pads and vegetation such as pond weed. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation.

For the past few weeks good catches of bass continue on Millwood, hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads, swimming 6" Turbo Shads, Rat-L-Traps, clear Baby Torpedoes, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite has shifted from early & mid-morning till early afternoon with these cooler night time low temperatures dropping the surface temps. The schooling bass are entirely at random, and can surface break at any time during these cooler mornings. Watch especially inside vegetation lines and lily pad stands for shad flicking at the surface! The schooling can bust loose at any time!!

As of Monday 27 September, USACE lake level rose slightly over last weekend with the much needed rain, and is now 39 inches below normal pool and falling, with little current in Little River of 220 CFS, and the four foot drawdown continues. Surface temps dropped over the past week and are currently ranging 78ºF to 83ºF, dependent on location and time of day. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for lake level updates, tail water level, and on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 27 September, is 255.96 mfsl, slightly up from last week. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has maintained total discharge, of 220CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot and one sluice gate open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels were 226.14 feet as of Monday 27 September. Clarity on main lake worsened with the increased thunderstorms, rain and wind; currently ranging approx 5-7 inches, and 8-11" in Little River current depending on location. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 12-18" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

Millwood's 4' drawdown is currently underway, to control unwanted aquatic vegetation, make scheduled repairs and complete other projects, such as shoreline improvements, Ranger Tony Porter said. It will take approximately 14 days and lower the water level to 255.2 feet, approximately 4 feet below normal and the project will last until 11 February 2011, when the lake will be filled to 261.2 feet, which is 2 feet above normal and return to normal elevation of 259.2 feet after two months, or approx 11 April 2011. Use extreme caution in lake navigation during the drawdown due to stumps nearing the surface in cut over boat lanes, and the river channel. Some boat ramps maybe inaccessible during the drawdown due to sedimentation build up and rebar at / near end of ramp concrete areas. Some boat lanes maybe inaccessible due to water levels.

To volunteer for one of the cleanup dates or ramp and USACE park information, contact Brooke Kervin at the Millwood Tri-Lakes Project Office.

To receive updates or volunteer, call the Corps’ toll-free information line at 888-697-9830.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The bass bite over the past week is good with the cooler nighttime temperatures which have again reduced surface temps as much as 10-15º over 2 weeks ago. Bass are good up to 3 and 5 pounds each, and numerous schools of Largemouths continue surface breaking, entirely at random along Little River and the oxbows chasing schools of shad. The best times for schoolers we have noted is shifting from mid morning to mid day. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and these fish are hitting crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Shad Assassins and swimming Turbo Shads in black shad colors. Curly tail grubs on jig heads, clear Baby Torpedoes, chrome/black Cordell Crazy Shads, all are working for the schooling fish outside of vegetation. When the bass begin schooling inside lily pads or other vegetation keep a Johnson chrome spoon with white or smoke curly tail grub trailer tied on to hoss them out of the pads and weeds. Largemouths continue roaming Little River at random with schools of White Bass, in search of large pods of shad. Many of these schools will be found at the numerous creek intersections w/ the river.

Keep a Rat-L-Trap and a curly tail grub on a 1/4 oz jighead handy for when the surface commotion begins so you can reach the school that maybe some distance from your location as long as they are outside the vegetation lines. Throw beyond the school, count down approx 5 to 10 feet of depth and begin a yo-yo retrieve through the school of fish.

Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), 7-10" worms, and jigs are also working when the surface schools along Little River subside the breaking activity. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. For the suspended bass, the Carolina rigged lizards, bulky worms, and jigs are working along cuts in the river bank in 12-15 feet stair-step washouts. Bass Assassin 7" worms in Black/Blue Flake or purple, and grape are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colored worms and jigs are working for deeper bass on stumps.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in White Shad, Chrome/blue back, Millwood Magic, or Gold chrome colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite as well as the schooling bass, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Best jigs colors are black/blue, peanut butter/jelly, or Texas craw colors, and are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. We are using a hog craw trailer in black or black/blue flake on any of the jig skirt colors.

Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are still randomly taking fish during the day. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches.

White Bass: Large schools continue roaming Little River, some intermingled with Largemouths, randomly breaking topwater in Little River in front of Hurricane Creek, Jack's Isle, Mud Lake's first and second entrances, and the Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks. These White Bass were randomly schooling with yearling Largemouths, early morning and ranging in size from 2-4 pounds each. There were some yearling Largemouths chasing the schools of threadfin shad, mixed in with the Whites this week and were noted schooling inside the lily pads and grass. Johnson spoons in chrome, with a white trailer are catching these schoolers inside the vegetation like lily pads and pond weed. In subsurface schools, the Rat-L-Traps will connect and catch these fish as well.

Crappie: bite tapered off recently with the reduced water clarity. Best spots along Little River are over planted brush in 15-20 feet and once you find the school stacked over brush on your electronics, live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, or Blakemore Roadrunners in white/chartreuse are the better bets for bait.

Cats: Channel Cat's bite remain consistent over the past week on trot lines in Little River and yo-yo's hung from cypress tree branches in 9-12' depths using blood baits, cut shad, and Catalpa worms, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows.

September 26, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The lake level at greers ferry is at 455.79 it is 5.24 feet below normal pool and falling , the temp has fell back to 75 degrees again.

The crappie are biting well over man made brush piles and in pole timber suspended in about 15 feet of water and eating right bite jigs in the spring craw color and also tipped with minnows.

The bass are scattered fron 6 inches out to 40 feet and biting a variety of baits from top water on down , c-rigged right bite cinkos, football heads with twin tail grubs , jighead worms and texas rigged worms and buzz baits.

Walleye have slowed with passing of the front , but the bite should get better in 4 days after the wind shifts back to the south.

Catfish are eating , with good catches coming from all over the lake on a variety of baits on jugs and floating trotlines.

Bream are real active all over the lake as well eating crickets and crawlers.

The hybrid and white bass bite is hot right now and will be even better in a few days when the water temp gets on down to around 70 degrees , which we should see before the week is out, if you fish 8 hours it is not uncommon to catch 150-300 head of fish, on spoons , in-line spinners , knock offs and swimming a right bite grub.

September 27, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

9/26/10 - Norfork Lake water temperature is in the upper 70's and the lake level is 552.3. Watch for bass busting shad early and just before dark. Look for fish suspended 30-45ft. and get your bait or jigging spoon down just above them.

September 26, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

9/26/10 - The stripers are on the move, I caught one on a free line near 6A and saw lots of bait and fish. In the evening I caught stripers near the dam in water from 28' to 45' on both down lines and free lines. You need to look at shallow water instead of the deep water pattern we would normally see this time of year.

September 23, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 9/23/2010

During the past week, we have had no measurable rain and moderate temperatures. The skies have been generally sunny with little wind. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell two tenths of a foot to rest at three tenths of a foot above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose one tenth of a foot to rest at one and five tenths of a foot above power pool or thirteen and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell one tenth of a foot to rest at three and six tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had light generation over night and in the morning with heavier generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with a few periods of no generation. This made for limited wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake rose three tenths of a foot to rest at three tenths of a foot above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty seven and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some reliable wading. All of the lakes on the White River System are near or below power pool and we should have wadable water.

Though they are still working, grasshoppers seem to be on the wane this past week. The cooler temperatures, particularly in the morning, seem to have slowed them down. If you catch a sunny, windy afternoon give them a try. Increase their productivity by suspending a dropper. Try a zebra midge or copper John.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing nymphs. Small zebra midges, black or red with silver wire and silver bead in size sixteen or fourteen have been the go to flies. Fish them with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly and a strike indicator set at the depth of the water. When the flows increase go to a hot fluorescent pink worm with a zebra midge dropper.

The Catch and release section below Bull Shoals Dam remains the hot spot. The most effective technique has been to swing soft hackles on low water. The best patterns have been partridge and orange or small hares ear soft hackles. There has also been success reported with Chernobyl ants near the dam.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are low and clear. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

The Norfork has been fishing particularly well. The crowds have diminished a bit and the fish are a bit larger and more plentiful. The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. The best hopper patterns have been western foam in tan with rubber legs. Try a sowbug dropper in the upper river and a midge dropper in the lower river. Others have reported success by fishing deeper holes with olive woolly buggers.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. With a lot of fly fishers coming into town for the conclave, Dry Run can get a bit crowded. You should try to go early or late. Remember you cannot fish there after sun down. Do not forget to carry a big net and your camera.

September 20, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - As of Monday 20 September, Largemouth Bass continue chasing shad schools at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 3-5 pounds and randomly schooling in lily pads. These randomly schooling Bass over the past week in Little River, were close to creek channels, inside lily pads and vegetation such as pond weed. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation.

For the past few weeks good catches of bass continue on Millwood, hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads, swimming 6" Turbo Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning. The schooling bass are entirely at random, and can surface break at any time during these cooler mornings. Watch especially inside vegetation lines and lily pad stands for shad flicking at the surface! The schooling can bust loose at any time!!

As of Monday 20 September, USACE lake level dropped slightly over last weekend, is now 41 inches below normal pool and falling, with little current in Little River of 220 CFS, and the four foot drawdown continues. Surface temps continued to hold over the past week and are currently ranging 84ºF to 86ºF, dependent on location and time of day. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for lake level updates, tail water level, and on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 20 September, is 255.85 mfsl slightly down from last week. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has decreased total discharge, to 220CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot and one sluice gate open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels were 226.48 feet as of Monday 20 September. Clarity on main lake improved, currently ranging approx 10-11 inches, and 12-15" in Little River current depending on location. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 18-26" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The bass bite over the past week is good with the cooler nighttime temperatures which have maintained the reduced surface temps as much as 8-10º over 2 weeks ago. Bass are good up to 5 pounds, and numerous schools of Largemouths continue surface breaking, entirely at random along Little River and the oxbows chasing schools of shad in the mornings. The best times remain from daybreak to around 10 or 11am. Numbers of bass from 2-5 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and these fish are hitting crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Shad Assassins and swimming Turbo Shads. Curly tail grubs on jig heads are working for the schooling fish outside of vegetation. A variety of surface lures like Cordell Crazy Shads and clear Baby Torpedoes work for the schooling fish also. When the bass begin schooling inside lily pads or other vegetation keep a Johnson chrome spoon with white or smoke curly tail grub trailer tied on to hoss them out of the pads and weeds.

Largemouths continue roaming Little River at random with schools of White Bass, in search of large pods of shad. Many of these schools will be found at the numerous creek intersections w/ the river.

Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), 10" worms, and jigs are also working when the surface schools along Little River subside the breaking activity. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, bulky worms, and jigs are working along river wash outs and cut outs in river bank in 12-15 feet stair-step washouts. Berkley 10" Power worms in Plum, Cherry Seed, and Blue Fleck are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colored worms and jigs are working for deeper bass on cover.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in White Shad, Chrome/blue back, Millwood Magic, or Gold chrome colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite as well as the schooling bass, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Best jigs colors are black/blue, peanut butter/jelly, or Texas craw colors, and are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river.

Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are still randomly taking fish early and late. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches.

Crappie: continue to improve now the current has reduced and water clarity is better. Best spots along Little River are over planted brush in 15-20 feet and stacking nicely on your electronics, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs Blakemore Roadrunners in white/chartreuse.

Cats: Channel Cat's bite remain consistent over the past week on trot lines in Little River and yo-yo's hung from cypress tree branches in 8-9' depths using blood baits, cut shad, and Catalpa worms, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows.

September 19, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service. Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

9/19/10 - The water temperature is 80 and the lake level is 552.2. Look for fish 35-50ft. and get your bait down just above them. There is some top water activity early and just before the sun sets.

September 19, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers ferry is at 4.89 feet below normal pool again and falling and the temp is around 80 degrees.

Crappie are biting pretty well over brush pile any where from 15-20 feet deep on jigs and minnows.

The catfish are still eating it up all over the lake on live and cut bait.

Bass fishing is good with all species eating rattle traps,small cranks, spinner baits and the like up shallow around wood cover , the mid depth fish will eat jighead worms,texas rigged worms , and the deper fish can be caught with football heads and c-rigged lizards, and of course top water baits.

The bream are trying to get one more spawn on the full moon and biting worms and crickets as well as small flies.

Walleye are eating between 23 and 32 feet of water on crawlers jighead worms and when suspended crankbaits, and spoons.

The whites and hybrids continue to go crazy with 40 acres of fish coming up at once , at different times, the bottom fish will not bite much with out some wind, but they are eating all over the lake , with a lot of other types of fish mixed in with them.

September 16, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 9/18/2010

During the past week, we have had several rain events and moderate temperatures. The skies have been generally sunny. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose one and five tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose nine tenths of a foot to rest at one and four tenths of a foot above power pool or thirteen and six tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake rose four tenths to rest at three and five tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had light generation over night and in the morning with heavier generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with some significant periods of no generation. This made for very limited wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake rose eight tenths of a foot to rest at power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty eight feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some reliable wading. All of the lakes on the White River System are near or below power pool and we should have more wadable water.

After a rain like we received this week, try a brightly colored San Juan worm. Rains wash worms into the river and the trout key in on these tasty morsels. The most effective colors have been cerise and hot fluorescent pink. Add plenty of weight to make sure you get them down.

The Catch and release section below Bull Shoals Dam has been a hot spot. The most effective technique has been to swing soft hackles on low water. The best patterns have been partridge and orange or small hares ear soft hackles.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are high and lightly stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

The Norfork has been fishing particularly well. The crowds have diminished a bit and the fish are a bit larger and more plentiful. The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. The best hopper patterns have been western foam in tan with rubber legs. Try a sowbug dropper in the upper river and a midge dropper in the lower river. Others have reported success by fishing deeper holes with olive woolly buggers.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. Have your youngster fish a short line and set the hook quickly. Do not rush the fight. A lot of fish are lost by trying to land them too quickly. Carry a big net. Use heavy tippet (at least 4X). Do not avoid moving around. There are good fish everywhere.

The water level on the Spring River is high and stained. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

September 14, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers ferry is 4.72 feet below normal it did come up a little with the rain and is back falling as well as the temp.

The bass fishing smallmouth,largemouth and Kentucky bass is good with a lot of fish up shallow eating topwater baits and small cranks, as well as spinnerbaits,the mid-way ffish will eat small jigs , worms , while the deeper fish can be caught on football heads, c-rigs and drop shots.and some schooling is going on as well

The bream are up shallow biting pretty good on crickets and crawlers.

Catfish,blue’s and flat heads are biting all over the lake on an assortment of baits , just use your favorite.

Walleye are back to hit and miss darnest fish to stay up with you have ever seen or really I think they are just so finicky that they just will not bite anything at times and you think they have left, but are still their, try dragging crawlers in 23-35 feet of water

Crappie are biting somewhat , but are not on fire , they are really scattered.

The whites and hybrid bass are on fire though, the catch rates are really high for any and everyone on the lake , the bigger fish are just in their regular holes and biting and will be all over when they decide to start chasing bait them selves. Watch your electronics, and use spoons and in-line spinners and for schoolers use top water baits and hair jigs and hold on

September 13, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation during four foot drawdown. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Fall is just around the corner folks! These cooler daytime highs and lower nighttime lows are very much a welcome relief from the past 3-4 weeks of 100º+ days!!

The continued cooler temperatures over the past week continue to hold surface temps as much as 10º down from prior couple weeks, having positive effects on the bass and are randomly schooling along Little River

As of Monday 13 September, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and chasing shad schools at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 3-5 pounds and randomly schooling. These randomly schooling Bass over the past week in Little River, were close to creek junctions, inside lily pads and vegetation such as pond weed. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps continued to hold over the past week and are currently ranging 83ºF to 85ºF, dependent on location and time of day. For the past few weeks and since drawdown began pulling fish out of creek channels toward Little River, good catches of bass continue on Millwood hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads and Curly Tail Grubs on jigheads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning. The schooling bass are entirely at random, and can surface break at any time during these cooler mornings.

As of Monday 13 September, USACE lake level rose slightly over last weekend, is now 40 inches below normal pool and falling, with little current in Little River of 236 CFS, and the four foot drawdown continues. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 13 September, is 255.86 mfsl slightly up from last week. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has increased total discharge, to 236CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot and one sluice gate open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels were unavailable as of Monday 13 September. Clarity on main lake worsened recently due to rain and high winds, currently ranging approx 6-10 inches, and 8-12" in Little River current depending on location. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 15-22" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The bass bite over the past week continues improving with the cooler temperatures which have maintained reduced surface temps as much as 8-10º over 2 weeks ago. Bass improved and numerous schools of Largemouths continue surface breaking, entirely at random along Little River chasing schools of shad in the mornings. The best times remain from daybreak to around 10am. Numbers of bass from 3-5 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and these fish are hitting crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Shad Assassins, curly tail grubs on jig heads, buzzbaits and a variety of surface lures like Pop-R's and clear Baby Torpedoes. With the four foot drawdown in effect, bass continue to relate to the river, creek mouths, and points intersecting with Little River. The deeper sections and washouts in Little River from 12-16 feet continue to work better for Carolina rigs and crankbait bites.

Largemouths continue roaming Little River with schools of White Bass, in search of large pods of shad. Many of these schools will be found at the numerous creek intersections w/ the river. Best bite still remains best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads, remains very good on numerous surface lures such as Cordell Crazy Shads, clear Baby Torpedoes, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors.

Some Largemouths are breaking inside lily pads where a silver or gold Johnson spoon and white curly tail grub will draw a reaction strike and hoss them out of the cover. Keep a Rat-L-Trap and a curly tail grub on a 1/4 oz jighead handy for when the surface commotion begins so you can reach the school that maybe some distance from your location. Throw beyond the school, count down approx 5 to 10 feet of depth and begin a yo-yo retrieve through the school of fish.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in White Shad, Chrome/blue back, Millwood Magic, or Gold chrome colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite as well as the schooling bass, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Siefert's Buzz Baits are working for a reaction bite early in the morning hours around daylight, in Casper Ghost and Firecracker colors. Best jigs colors are black/blue, peanut butter/jelly, or Texas craw colors, and are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river.

Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are still randomly taking fish early and late. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches.

White Bass: Large schools continue randomly breaking topwater in Little River in front of Hurricane Creek, Jack's Isle Mud Lake's first and second entrances, and the Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks. These White Bass were randomly schooling with yearling Largemouths, early morning and ranging in size from 2-4 pounds each.There were some yearling Largemouths chasing the schools of threadfin shad, mixed in with the Whites this week and were noted schooling inside the lily pads and grass. Johnson spoons in chrome, with a white trailer are catching these schoolers inside the vegetations

Crappie: continue to improve now the current has reduced and water clarity is better. Best spots along Little River are over planted brush in 18-23 feet and stacking nicely on your electronics, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging Tiny Rat-L-Traps in chrome or white. Bite dies off substantially after 9-10am.

Cats: Channel Cat's bite remain consistent over the past week on trot lines in Little River and yo-yo's hung from cypress tree branches in 8-9' depths using Chicken livers, cut shad, and Catalpa worms, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows.

September 12, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

9/12/10 - Norfork Lake level is 551.8 and the water temperature is running around 80. Watch for bass busting shad early and late in the day and throw a top water like a Spook Jr. or a Pop-R. Look for suspended fish 30 - 60ft and get your bait to the depth you mark the fish. Whites are 30 - 40ft along with a few largemouth. The stripers are 40 - 60ft.

September 9, 2010 - Norfork -Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

9/9/10 - Fishing remains good on Norfork Lake. The stripers are shallow before daylight at 38' then moves out to the 45 to 50' depth of water off the points near the dam. Spoons and shad are your best baits.

September 9, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 9/09/2010

During the past week, we have had some rain (thanks to hurricane Hermine) and a bit cooler temperatures. The skies have been generally sunny and we have had several days with strong winds (to include lake wind advisories). The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose one tenth of a foot to rest at one foot below power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty two feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose one and five tenths of a foot to rest at three tenths of a foot below power pool or sixteen and three tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake remained steady at four and three tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had light generation over night and in the morning with heavier generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with some significant periods of no generation. This made for very limited wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake remained steady at one and five tenths of a foot below power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty nine and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some reliable wading. All of the lakes on the White River System are below power pool and we should have more wadable water.

After a heavy rain like we received this week, try a brightly colored San Juan worm. Rains wash worms into the river and the trout key in on these tasty morsels. The most effective colors have been cerise and hot fluorescent pink. Add plenty of weight to make sure you get them down.

Rim Shoals has been a hot spot. We have been getting a caddis hatch in the afternoon. The insects are tan and size sixteen or eighteen. The most effective technique has been to swing soft hackles. The best patterns have been partridge and orange or hare’s ear soft hackles. Fishing the deeper holes with olive or brown woolly buggers has also been effective.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are high and stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

The Norfork has been fishing particularly well. The crowds have diminished a bit and the fish are a bit larger. The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. The best hopper patterns have been western foam in tan with rubber legs. Try a sowbug dropper in the upper river and a midge dropper in the lower river. Others have reported success by fishing deeper holes with olive woolly buggers. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. The most effective technique is to high stick nymphs. There is very little room to cast. Carry the biggest net you can find. I use a large rubber bagged boat net. Do not forget the camera. This is where dreams are made.

The water level on the Spring River is high and stained. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is on the wane (the canoe season normally ends on Labor Day). Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

September 9, 2010 - Sonar Question - Anyone experience this? I have a Lowrance LCX 19 sonar, (fish finder). Its 6 years old or so. Been experiencing when I turn it on the unit, (Cristal's) are upside down. All the readings, water temp. depth are upside down. Then after a few Min's. the problem corrects itself and functions fine. I know I can call Lowrance and be put on hold for awhile and ask them if I can get home in time before they close but just thought I'd put this out there for remarks. I'm afraid one day it's not going to correct itself.

September 8, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The lake level at greers ferry is at 5.06 feet below normal pool and falling, the temp is at around 80 and falling as well.

The walleye are being caught mixed in with the hybrids and white bass, and can be caught as well dragging crawlers around 23-35 feet of water on a jig head.

The black basses some are shallow and some are still deep, but in a fall pattern and some more coming to the bank everyday, try frogs,buzzbaits,top water baits all day or jighead cinkos or c-rigged lizards and football heads for the deeper fish , the smallmouth will be grouped up good and be on a massive tear not before to long

The bream are eating good right now on crickets and crawlers , fished up shallow and out to about 27 feet.

The catfish bite is good all over the lake using any of your favorite types of bait.

Crappie are still being caught big ones but with transition they are not grouped real well yet for the fall bite

The hybrids and white bass are eating all over the lake , the bigger fish are just in certain spots, everyone is catching small fish and even keeping a lot of them, its no problem catching 100 to 200 a day, swimming a spoon is catching bigger fish now as well as the buckshot bait, try hair jigs and swimbaits as well , try and stay away from the crowds for bigger fish catches.

Tommy Cauley

September 7, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Fall is just around the corner folks! These cooler daytime highs and lower nighttime lows are very much a welcome relief from the past 3-4 weeks of 100º+ days!!

The continued cooler temperatures over the past week have dropped surface temps as much as 10º and are having positive effects on the bass and are randomly schooling along Little River

As of Monday 06 September, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and are good at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 3-5 pounds and randomly schooling. The schooling Bass over the past week in Little River were close to creek junctions, and inside lily pads, vegetation such as pond weed, & continuing to converge on creek mouth's intersections with Little River. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps continued to drop over the past week and are currently ranging 81ºF to 83ºF, dependent on location and time of day. For the past few weeks and since drawdown began pulling fish out of creek channels toward Little River, good catches of bass continue on Millwood hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads and Curly Tail Grubs on jigheads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning. The schooling bass are entirely at random, and can surface break at any time during these cooler mornings.

As of Monday 06 September, USACE lake level update from Friday (due to Labor Day Holiday) is now 43 inches below normal pool and steady, with little current in Little River of 223 CFS, and the four foot drawdown continues. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 06 September, is 255.62 mfsl slightly down from last week. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has maintained total discharge, of 223CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot and one sluice gate open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels were unavailable as of Monday 06 September, due to Labor Day Holiday. Clarity on main lake remains approx 8-12 inches, and 10-20" in Little River current depending on location. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The bass bite over the past week continues improving with the cooler temperatures which have dropped surface temps as much as 8-10º over the past week. Bass improved and numerous schools of Largemouths continue surface breaking at random along Little River chasing schools of shad in the mornings. The best times remain from daybreak to around 10am. Numbers of bass from 3-5 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and these fish are hitting crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Shad Assassins, curly tail grubs on jig heads, buzzbaits and a variety of surface lures like Pop-R's and clear Baby Torpedoes. With the four foot drawdown in effect, bass continue to relate to the river, creek mouths, and points intersecting with Little River. The deeper sections and washouts in Little River from 12-16 feet continue to work better for Carolina rigs and crankbait bites.

Largemouths continue in roaming Little River in search of shad schools and many of these schools will be found at the numerous creek intersections w/ the river. Best bite still remains best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads, remains very good on numerous surface lures such as Cordell Crazy Shads, clear Baby Torpedoes, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors. Some Largemouths are breaking inside lily pads where a silver or gold Johnson spoon and white curly tail grub will draw a reaction strike and hoss them out of the cover. Keep a Rat-L-Trap and a curly tail grub on a 1/4 oz jighead handy for when the surface commotion begins so you can reach the school. Throw beyond the school, count down approx 5 to 10 feet of depth and begin a yo-yo retrieve through the school of fish.

Yum Dingers, 10" worms, and jigs are also working when the surface schools along Little River subside the breaking activity. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, bulky worms, and jigs are working along river wash outs and cut outs in river bank in 12-15 feet stair-step washouts. Berkley 10" Power worms in Plum, Cherry Seed, and Blue Fleck are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colors are working for deeper bass on cover.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in White Shad, Millwood Magic, or Smokey Joe colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite as well as the schooling bass, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Siefert's Buzz Baits are working for a reaction bite early in the morning hours around daylight, in Casper Ghost and Firecracker colors. Best jigs colors continue to be black/blue, pumpkinseed, or Texas craw colors, and are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river.

Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are still randomly taking fish early and late. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches. .

White Bass: Large schools continue randomly breaking topwater in Little River in front of Hurricane Creek, Jack's Isle Mud Lake's first and second entrances, and the Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks. These White Bass were schooling early morning and ranging in size from 2-4 pounds each.There were some yearling Largemouths chasing the schools of threadfin shad, mixed in with the Whites this week and were noted schooling inside the lily pads and grass. Johnson spoons in chrome, with a white trailer are catching these schoolers inside the vegetations

Crappie: continue to bite fair now that the current has reduced and water clarity is improved. Best spots along Little River are over planted brush in 18-23 feet and stacking nicely on your electronics, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging Tiny Rat-L-Traps in chrome or white. Bite dies off substantially after 9-10am.

Cats: Channel Cat's bite remain consistent over the past week on trot lines in Little River and yo-yo's hung from cypress tree branches in 8-9' depths using Charlie, cut shad, and dough baits. Catalpa worms are also working in the same areas, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows.

September 2, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 9/02/2010

During the past week, we have had a moderate rain event and a bit cooler temperatures. The skies have been sunny and there has been little wind. The best time to fish has been early morning. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell four tenths of a foot to rest at one and one tenth of a foot below power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty two and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell six tenths of a foot to rest at one and eight tenths of a foot below power pool or seventeen and eight tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell four tenths of a foot to rest at four and three tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had light generation over night and in the morning with very heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with some brief periods of no generation. This made for very limited wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell four tenths of a foot to rest at one and five tenths of a foot below power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty nine and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some reliable wading. All of the lakes on the White River System are below power pool and we should have more wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

Fishing on the White has been universally good from Bull Shoals Dam to Buffalo Shoals. The hot technique has been to fish hoppers. Try foam hoppers or Dave’s hoppers. Rubber legs are a plus. Use a stout six weight rod with a seven and a half foot 3X leader. Cast the fly to the bank or work structure. For added action tie a dropper around the bend of the hook with 5X tippet. A black zebra midge or a sow bug would be a good choice. Hang on, the takes can be vicious.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are low and lightly stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

The Norfork has been fishing particularly well. The crowds have diminished a bit and the fish are a bit larger. The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. The best hopper patterns have been western foam in tan with rubber legs. Try a sowbug dropper in the upper river and a midge dropper in the lower river. Others have reported success by fishing deeper holes with olive woolly buggers. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. With school starting again, the crowds are somewhat diminished particularly during the week. While you are there take a tour of the adjacent National Fish Hatchery, it is fascinating.

The water level on the Spring River is low and lightly stained. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you should fish during the week. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs

August 30, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at Greers Ferry Lake is at 456.19, that’s 4.84 feet below normal pool and the temps have fallen some to low 80’s of a morning to around 87 in the afternoons.

The whites and hybrid bass are eating it up on top schooling and down deeper feeding on small shad , try throwing topwater baits with front runners on top as well as small rooster tails, or just swim a spoon, the same baits will work deeper , but for the bigger fish try the buckshot in-line spinner , it is an 1 ounce bait and you can use it with bigger tackle for the bigger hybrids down deep and will hold up well while fished in the pole timber where a lot of these fish are suspended right now , the fishing is great now, but as the water cools you will not be able to get a bait through them without catching one.

The crappie are kinda hard to come by right now, but the ones being caught right now are big, try for night fishing them or suspended in the pole timber around 22 feet over 60 feet.

Catfishing is good aqll over the lake if you cannot catch any , try baiting an area with dog food for a couple of days and them pitch some jugs out.

Walleye are biting kinda slow but some are being caught on crawlers , and jigging spoons in 30 or less of water , and some are coming in with the whites and hybrids.

The black bass fishing is good with some fish being caught out of the pole timber again and shallow and mid range and deep up to 70 feet , try topwater baits ,buzzbaits , jighead worms , split shot worms , football heads and c-rigs for the deeper fish as well as the texas rig

Tommy Cauley

August 30, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - The last week's cooler temperatures have had positive effects on the bass and the fishermen! Fish are schooling, and more fishermen are chasing them!

As of Monday 30 August, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and are good at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 3-5 pounds. The Bass were schooling over the past week in Little River at creek those junctions, and inside lily pads, vegetation such as pond weed, & continuing to converge on creek mouth's intersections with Little River. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps dropped slightly over the past week and are currently ranging 83ºF to 88ºF, dependent on location and time of day. For the past few weeks and since drawdown began pulling fish out of creek channels toward Little River, good catches of bass continue on Millwood hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning. The Mayfly hatch has finished under willow trees.

As of Monday 30 August 2010, USACE lake level update is now 42 inches below normal pool and steady, with little current in Little River of 220CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 30 August, is 255.69 mfsl and was unchanged from last week. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has reduced total discharge, to 220CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot and one sluice gate open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels of 225.13 feet are as of Monday 30 August. Clarity on main lake remains approx 8-12 inches, and 10-20" in Little River current depending on location. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The bass bite over the last week's cooler temperatures improved and numerous schools of Largemouths were surface breaking along Little River. The best times remain from daybreak to around 10am. Numbers of bass from 3-5 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and these fish are hitting crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Shad Assassins, buzzbaits and a variety of surface lures like Pop-R's and Jitterbugs. With the four foot drawdown in effect, bass continue to be pulled to the river and creek mouths and points intersecting with Little River. The deeper sections and washouts in Little River from 12-16 feet are beginning to work better for Carolina rigs and crankbait bites.

Largemouths continue in roaming Little River in search of shad schools and many of these schools will be found at the numerous creek intersections w/ the river. Best bite still remains best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads, remains very good on numerous surface lures such as Cordell Crazy Shads, clear Baby Torpedoes, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors. Yum Dingers, 10" worms, and jigs are also working when the surface schools along Little River subside the breaking activity. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, bulky worms, jigs, and 4" magnum tubes are working along river wash outs and cut outs in river bank in 10-12 feet stair-step washouts. Berkley 10" Power worms in Plum, Cherry Seed, and Blue Fleck are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colors are working for deeper bass, or suspending bass on Carolina Rigs.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in White Shad, Millwood Magic, (or Chrome/Blue on sunny days) colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Jigs in black/blue, pumpkinseed, green pumpkin or Texas craw colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working for a reaction bite early in the morning hours around daylight, in Casper Ghost and Firecracker colors.

Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are still randomly taking fish early and late. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches. .

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Little River in front of Hurricane Creek, Jack's Isle Mud Lake's first and second entrances, and the Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks. These White Bass were schooling early morning and ranging in size from 2-4 pounds each.There were some yearling Largemouths chasing the schools of threadfin shad, mixed in with the Whites this week and were noted schooling inside the lily pads and grass. Johnson spoons in chrome, with a white trailer are catching these schoolers inside the vegetations

Cats: Channel Cat's bite picked up somewhat over the past week on trot lines in Little River and yo-yo's hung from cypress tree branches in 8-9' depths using Charlie, chicken livers/gizzards and dough baits. Cut shad and catalpa worms are also working in the same areas, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows.

August 29, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

8/29/10 - The lake level is 550.6 and the water temperature is in the mid 80's. Watch for bass coming up early and just before dark. Look for fish suspended 30-60ft. and get your bait to their depth you see the fish at. The stripers are holding the deepest.

August 29, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tim Partin 101 Grocery and Bait.

http://www.101groceryandbait.com

08/23/10 - The temperature is beginning to cool down at night finally this will bring the water temp. down some the surface temperature has been in the upper 80 degrees for some time now but these cool nights should do it some good. The lake level has been good, and visibility is fair. Bluegills are hitting crickets and worms. Crappie fishing has been slow. Bass fishing is deep 30-40 feet. White bass fishing is deep using a jigging spoon from 20-40 feet. Striper fishing is deep using live bait and spoons 40-70 feet deep. Walleye fishing is fair using night crawlers fished 25-35 feet around the main channel points. Walleye and Striper fishing is good for the ones fishing up in the river toward Udall and Tecumseh areas. Catfish are hitting worms. The best time to fish is early morning.

August 29, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

8/29/10 - Evening fishing is very good right now Fishing will last until full dark. You can catch stripers in Diamond Bay, George's Cove, Shoal Creek, and all around the dam area. In the morning you will find them in 40 to 50' of water, as the sun comes up the fish move to deeper water and are feeding heavy on shad. Position your shad or spoon above the fish and hold on.

August 26, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 8/28/2010

During the past week, we have had no discernable rain and a bit cooler temperatures. The skies have been sunny and there has been little wind. The best time to fish has been early morning. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell eight tenths of a foot to rest at seven tenths of a foot below power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty one and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell six tenths of a foot to rest at one and two tenths of a foot below power pool or seventeen and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell six tenths of a foot to rest at three and nine tenths of a foot below power pool or thirteen and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had little or no generation over night and in the morning with very heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand). This made for some excellent wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell six tenths of a foot to rest at one and one tenth of a foot below power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty nine and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had periods of no generation daily which has created some fairly reliable wading. The lakes are below power pool and we have wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The dissolved oxygen level on the White and Norfork Rivers have dropped below the State standard of six parts per million. This problem will be more prevalent near either dam. Please be careful when fighting and releasing fish to avoid stressing them.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing nymphs. Small zebra midges, black or red with silver wire and silver bead in size sixteen or fourteen have been the go to flies. Fish them with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly and a strike indicator set at the depth of the water. Strikes can be subtle. When in doubt, set the hook!

On the higher flows we have been receiving later in the day, the key to success has been to fish brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns. The best colors for the San Juan worms have been red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise. The best colors for the eggs have been orange and peach. You must add a substantial amount of weight to the leader to get the fly down and use a large strike indicator to float the rig. Concentrate on working near banks, structure and submerged weed beds.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are very low and gin clear. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

On the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. With school starting again, the crowds are somewhat diminished particularly during the week. If your favorite spot is taken, don’t worry. There are fish everywhere. Remember that this is strictly Catch and Release. Be sure and pinch down all barbs and no bait is allowed.

The water level on the Spring River is low and clear. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you should fish during the week. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

August 23, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation during four foot drawdown. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 23 August, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and are good at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 2-5 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally along vegetation lines, continuing to converge on creek mouths and move toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths intersect the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are 87F to 93F range dependent on location and time of day. For the past few weeks and since drawdown began pulling fish out of creek channels toward Little River, good catches of bass continue on Millwood hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning. The Mayfly hatch has finished under willow trees.

As of Monday 23 August 2010, USACE lake level update is now 42 inches below normal pool and falling, with little current in Little River of 220CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011. Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Lake level as of Monday 23 August, is 255.69 mfsl. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. The USACE has reduced total discharge, to 220CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot. Tailwater levels of 225.43 feet are as of Monday 23 August. Clarity has improved on main lake to 8-12 inches, and approx 10-15" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks continues to occur from daybreak to around 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and biting almost anything you can put in front of them. With the four foot drawdown in effect, bass continue to be pulled to the river and creek mouths and points intersecting with Little River. The deeper sections and washouts in Little River from 12-16 feet are beginning to work better for Carolina rigs and crankbait bites. Largemouths and White Bass were schooling together herding shad in front of numerous creek dumps into Little River over the past week.

Largemouths continue in routine summer patterns over the past many weeks remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads, remains very good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors and Yum Dingers along the Little River. Other surface lures like Ken Pops, Jitterbugs and Baby Torpedoes continue to draw reactions for those fish as well. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, bulky worms, jigs, and 4" magnum tubes are working along river wash outs and cut outs in river bank in 10-12 feet stair-step washouts. Berkley 10" Power worms in Plum, Red Bug, or Cherry Seed are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colors are working for deeper bass, or suspending bass on Carolina Rigs.

The thermocline zone areas are becoming much more important to big bass location, during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons and deep diving crankbaits were working over the past week for Largemouths along those river wash outs, and for the schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in Red Shad, Millwood Magic, or Spring Bream colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Jigs in Texas craw or metallic amber colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working for a reaction bite early in the morning hours around daylight, in Casper Ghost, Watermelon/Bubble Gum, and Firecracker colors.

The best water clarity is being found upriver. Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are randomly taking fish again early and late. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches. Swim baits are beginning to work for suspended bass around drop offs next to stumps.

August 23, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers ferry is at 456.57 that is 4.44 feeet below normal pool and falling with generation.

The hybrid and white bass continue to be good, you just have to stay with them , a lot of small fish are surfacing and moving a lot with the shad, and the bigger fish are moving a lot down deeper, stay over the top of them and catch them with spoons and in-line spinners as well as swim baits and hair jigs, the fish on top can be caught with small rooster tails and knock-offs and top water baits with front runners on them.

The catfish bite is good on live and cut bream all over the lake.

No-report on walleye.

The basses some are deep and some shallow as always , and some are schooling , try top waterbaits, buzzbaits earily and late, jighead and texas rigged worms for the mid depth fish and footballheads and c-riggs for the deeper fis, try grass hopper color and red with gold flake.

Bream are up biting well with the moon up as they will bed again , try crickets and crawlers.

No-report on crappie

August 23, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

8/23/10 - Evening fishing is very good right now, if you want to catch a big fish this is the week to be fishing. The moon phase has the stripers getting very active starting about 7 pm, they are moving into 40' of water to feed. The fishing will last until full dark. You can catch stripers in Diamond, George's, Shoal, and all around the dam area. In the morning you will find them in 40 to 50' of water, as the sun comes up the fish move to deeper water and are feeding heavy on shad. Position your shad or spoon, above the fish and hold on.

August 22, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

8/22/10 - The lake level is 551.2 and the water temperature is still in the upper 80's. Look for fish 30-60ft.deep and get your bait to their level whether you are using live bait or a jigging spoon. The stripers will be holding deep and the bass, whites and walleye will be 30-40ft. There are still some bass coming up early but they are not staying up very long, about a hour. Look in coves and out on points close to deep water. Bass are hitting 8" red worms and jigs down 20-40ft

August 19, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 8/21/2010

During the past week, we have had no discernable rain and a bit cooler temperatures (it was still in the nineties). The skies have been sunny and there has been little wind. With the hot temperatures we have been receiving, the best time to fish has been early morning. Wet wading has been the way to go and do not forget to drink plenty of water.

The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell four tenths of a foot to rest at one tenth of a foot above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell nine tenths of a foot to rest at six tenths of a foot below power pool or sixteen and six tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to rest at three and three tenths of a foot below power pool or twelve and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had little or no generation over night and in the morning with very heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand). This made for some excellent wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell five tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot below power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty eight and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had periods of no generation daily which has created some fairly reliable wading. The lakes are all at or below power pool and we have wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

Fishing on the White has been universally good from Bull Shoals dam to Rim Shoals. The hot technique has been to fish hoppers. Try foam hoppers or Dave’s hoppers. Rubber legs are a plus. Use a stout six weight rod with a seven and a half foot 3X leader. Cast the fly to the bank or work structure. For added action tie a dropper around the bend of the hook with 5X tippet. A black zebra midge or a sow bug would be a good choice. Hang on, the takes can be vicious.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing nymphs. Small zebra midges, black or red with silver wire and silver bead in size sixteen or fourteen have been the go to flies. Fish them with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly and a strike indicator set at the depth of the water. Strikes can be subtle. When in doubt, set the hook!

On the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. With school starting again, the crowds are somewhat diminished particularly during the week. In addition to children under sixteen years of age, handicapped adults are allowed to fish here. You must have a handicap fishing license. A handicap hang tag is not enough. Adult handicapped anglers are restricted to the boardwalks.

August 18, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers ferry is at 456.88 that is 4.15 feet below normal pool.

The white bass and hybrids are continuing to school all over the lake at time –but who knows when or where that bite will pick up and be dependable real soon, the best bite is vertical with spoons and in-line spinners and sometimes swim baits anywhere from 25-35 feet deep use your electronics

With the dry cool front the bass bite will pick back up some all over the lake on jighead worms, drop shots, buzzbaits, topwater baits and the deeper fish on c-rigs and texas rigged worms as well as footballheads

Catfish are good all over the lake

No report on the crappie

Bream are going well on night crawlers and crickets

Walleye some are coming in under the hybrids and whites and the bite should pick back up in 23-27 feet of water on crawlers since this front has came through

Tommy Cauley

August 16, 2010 - Norfork -Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

8/15/10 - The past week the striper fishing has been good in the morning & evening. Stripers are being caught in Diamond Bay, George's Cove, Shoal Creek, and all around the dam area. Early morning and late evening you will find them in 40 to 50' of water. As the sun comes up the fish move to deeper water. We have caught Stripers in 130' and they are feeding heavy on shad. Position your shad or spoon, above the fish and hold on.

August 12, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 8/14/2010

During the past week, we have had a minor rain event, ever hotter temperatures (to include heat advisories) and high humidity. The skies have been sunny and there has been little wind. With the brutally hot temperatures we have been receiving, the best time to fish has been early morning. Wet wading has been the way to go and do not forget to take plenty of water with you.

The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell seven tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is forty and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell six tenths of a foot to rest at three tenths of a foot above power pool or fifteen and seven tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell eight tenths of a foot to rest at two and six tenths of a foot below power pool or twelve and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had little or no generation over night and in the morning with very heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand). This made for some excellent wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell five tenths of a foot to rest at power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty eight feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had periods of no generation daily which has created some fairly reliable wading. The lakes are all at or near power pool and we should receive more wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing nymphs. Small zebra midges, black or red with silver wire and silver bead in size sixteen or fourteen have been the go to flies. Fish them with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly and a strike indicator set at the depth of the water. Strikes can be subtle. When in doubt, set the hook!

Wildcat Shoals has been particularly hot. The periods of no generation have been very productive. The hot flies have been zebra midges either red with silver wire and silver bead or black with silver wire and silver bead. The best sizes have been sixteen. Other productive flies have been olive woolly buggers and partridge and orange soft hackles.

On the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). The most productive nymphs have been zebra midges and Norfork bead heads. Black has been the hot color. There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and cerise San Juan worms. This has been a great place to beat the heat. The creek is located in a deep valley with extensive tree cover and cold water. Fish the White or Norfork River in the morning and then take your youngster to Dry Run Creek in the afternoon, when things begin to heat up. Remember to treat the fish with care. Always wet your hands before handling fish and release them quickly.

August 11, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers ferry is at 457.54 and falling the temp is 89-91 degrees

The blacks basses are getting ready for a transition between summer and fall as things are changing everyday , topwater baits will catch schoolers and rinkey dinks , try jighead worms and dropshots for the in between fish and texas rigged worms and c-rigged cinkos as well as football heads for the deeper fish

Crappie are biting fairley well in brush piles and pole timber on minnows and jigs

Catfish have kind of disappeared for the time .

Walleye are slow most being caught on or near bottom on spoons

Bream are biting well on worms and crickets in the main lake pockets

Hybrids and white bass are schooling all over the lake and are hugging the bottom as well, the schoolers are and can come up anywhere and anytime, chasing real small bait, the bottom fish are a lot more consistent on spoons and i-line spinners and swim baits as well as swarming hornets

Tommy Cauley

August 9, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 09 August, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and are good at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 2-5 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally along vegetation lines, continuing to converge on creek mouths and move toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths intersect the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are in the mid to upper 80F to lower 90F range. For the past few weeks and since drawdown began pulling fish out of creek channels toward Little River, good catches of bass continue on Millwood hitting 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of Monday 09 August 2010, USACE lake level update is now 45.6 inches below normal pool and falling, with reduced current in Little River of 220CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level today. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011!! Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 88ºF early, to 94ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Monday 09 August, is 255.40 mfsl. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has reduced total discharge, to 220CFS (cubic feet/ second) with 1 tainer gate open at 1/2 foot. Tailwater levels of 225.78 feet are as of Monday 09 August. Clarity has improved on main lake to 8-12 inches, and approx 10-15" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks continues to occur from daybreak to around 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each remain concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby and biting almost anything you can put in front of them. Now with the four foot drawdown in effect, bass have pulled to the river and creek dumps and points intersecting with Little River and deeper sections and washouts in Little River from 12-16 feet. Largemouths and White Bass were schooling together herding shad in front of numerous creek dumps into Little River over the past week.

Largemouths continue in routine summer patterns over the past many weeks remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads is good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors and Yum Dingers along the Little River. Other surface lures like Ken Pops, Jitterbugs and Baby Torpedoes continue to draw reactions for those fish as well. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards and Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes are working along river wash outs and cut outs in river bank. Berkley 10" Power worms in Plum, Red Bug, or Cherry Seed are catching good keeper bass from 16" to 19" in length. Peanut butter / jelly colors are working for deeper bass, or suspending bass on Carolina Rigs.

A good number of these fish continue moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas are during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons and crankbaits were working over the past week for Largemouths and schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in Cajun Craw, Toledo Gold, and Orange Shad colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river.

Jigs in Texas craw or black / blue colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working to get reactions in Firecracker, Grasshopper, or Kudzu colors.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Little River, and the Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks were yielding early morning schooling bass chasing schools of threadfin shad.

Crappie: are improving now that the current has reduced and water clarity is improved. Best spots along Little River are over planted brush in 17-18 feet and stacking nicely on your electronics, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging tiny (1/32) Beetle Spins in white/red dot or Catalpa colors. Bite dies off substantially after 9am.

Cats: Channel Cat's bite slowed somewhat over the past week with the reduced current in Little River. Blues and channel cats are biting best on cut shad, catalpa worms, and Charlie, by either anchoring and tight-lining, or trot-lines, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows over 9-15 feet depths.

August 9, 2010 - Norfork -

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

8/8/10 - The past week the fishing has slowed down, the lake is being drawn down and the fish are moving around. Stripers can be at one place one morning and gone the next. You can find schools of stripers from 80 to 130 feet feeding on shad. When you hit them they will bite anything that is presented. Look for fish on the channel swings and deep pockets by the points. They are still hitting the spoons and shad, you can also catch some trolling, set your depth at 35 feet.

August 9, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

8/8/10 - Water temperature is in the upper 80's and the lake level is 552.5. Keep looking for fish 30-60ft and get your bait down to them regardless if it is live bait or a jigging spoon. Some bass are coming up early chasing baitfish. After they stop chasing throw a worm or a jig and work it back to the boat.

August 3, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 7/31/2010

During the past week, we have had no rain and continued hot temperatures and high humidity. With the brutally hot temperatures we have been receiving, the best time to fish has been early morning. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell one and four tenths of a foot to rest at one and eight tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is thirty nine and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell four tenths of a foot to rest at one and six tenths feet above power pool or fourteen and for tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell nine tenths of a foot to rest at four tenths of a foot below power pool or ten feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had steady generation with heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand) with a bit of wadable water thrown in. This made foe some excellent wading and some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell one and five tenths of a foot to rest at one and seven tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty six and three tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had some periods of no generation daily which has created some fairly reliable wading. The lakes are near power pool and we should receive more wadable water.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing grasshoppers. These are large wind resistant flies and require shorter leaders (nine feet or less), heavy tippets (at least 4X) and a substantial rod (a six or a seven weight). Work the bank and heavy structure. Cast the fly so that it splashes down and give it a twitch from time to time to imitate a struggling insect. Work the banks and pay particular attention to structure. This is where the bigger fish will be located. This technique can generate some vicious strikes. Add a dropper fly to the bend of the hook on the grasshopper and increase your hookups. A couple of good flies for this would be a small copper John or a black zebra midge.

The section from Rim Shoals down to Buffalo Shoals has been particularly good. The hot flies here were tan grasshoppers. Other productive patterns were zebra midges in red with silver wire and silver bead and disco midges. Olive woolly buggers, pheasant tails and copper Johns also accounted for a lot of fish.

The alga problem that we had earlier in the year is completely cleared on the White and Norfork.

.Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are lower and clear. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

On the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). There has also been some pretty spectacular hopper action. Try a size ten Dave’s hopper or Rainey’s hopper in tan. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. This has been a great place to beat the heat. The creek is located in a deep valley with extensive tree cover and cold water. Fish the White or Norfork River in the morning and then take your youngster to Dry Run Creek in the afternoon when things begin to heat up. Use at least 4X tippet and carry the biggest net that you can lay your hands on. The fish here are huge. Do not forget the camera.

The water level on the Spring River is low and much clearer. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you should fish during the week. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

August 2, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation during four foot drawdown. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 02 August, Largemouth Bass continue congregating and are good at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 1-6 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally along vegetation lines, continuing to move toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths dump into the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are in the mid to upper 80F to lower 90F range. A variety of good baits are working for the past few weeks and producing catches on Millwood include 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Salty Rat Tails, Buzzbaits, oversized Southern Pro Magnum Tubes, spinnerbaits, and at random on Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. The best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of Monday 02 August 2010, USACE lake level update is now 37.8 inches below normal pool and falling, with reduced current in Little River of 2,605CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level today. Use extreme caution at boat ramps, and navigation on Millwood during the four foot drawdown in effect through Feb 2011!! Stumps and boat ramps are very shallow. Some cutover boat lanes through timber on main lake are inaccessible during drawdown conditions, and merely inches of depth remain! Call the USACE for updates on all USACE boat ramp closures.

Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 87ºF early, to 92ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Monday 02 August, is 256.05 mfsl. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has maintained total discharge, to 2605CFS (cubic feet/ second) with all 13 tainer gates open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels of 229.81 feet are as of Monday 02 August. Clarity has improved on main lake to 8-12 inches, and approx 10-15" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouths continue in routine summer patterns over the past many weeks remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads is good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors and Yum Dingers along the Little River. Other surface lures like Ken Pops, Jitterbugs and Baby Torpedos continue to draw reactions for those fish as well. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes, and 10" Power worms in Plum, Red Bug, Watermelon/Red, or peanut butter / jelly colors are working for moving deeper bass, or suspending bass. A good number of these fish continue moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas are during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons were working over the past week for Largemouths and schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow cranking or trolling Rat-L-Traps in Baby Bass, White Shad, or Gold colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river. Jigs in Texas craw or black / blue colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working to get reactions in Bleeding Copperhead, Casper Ghost, or Firecracker colors.

The best water clarity is being found upriver. Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Cordell Red Fins, Yum Dingers (wacky rigged), and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are randomly taking fish again early and late. The Carolina rig bite and Shakey-Head jig bite, is improving weekly along Little River. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in deeper water, those areas will produce good catches. Texas or Carolina rigged 6" lizards in pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, redbug, or grasshopper colors and magnum 8" lizards in junebug, kiwi, or redbug are taking some bass in creek channels around live cypress trees and stumps and in Little River. Swim baits are beginning to work for suspended bass around drop offs next to stumps.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks, early morning chasing schools of threadfin shad.

Crappie: are fair over planted brush in 14-17 feet and stacking nicely on your electronics, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging tiny (1/32) Beetle Spins in white/red dot or Catalpa colors. Bite dies off substantially after 10am.

Longnose Gar: continue to surface blow in McGuire and Horseshoe Oxbows, in good numbers for bow fishermen. We continue seeing large groups surface rolling, in groups of large numbers, making perfect opportunities for bowfishermen. Try back of creeks and oxbows up Little River for some really big gar over the next couple weeks. McGuire had several schools of gar in the 40-60 pound range surfacing over 18-22 feet depths close and adjacent to flats over past several weeks.

Cats: Channel Cats continually bite well over the past week with the current in Little River. Blues and Channel cats are biting best on cut shad, cottonseed mill cakes, catalpa worms, and homemade blood dough, by either anchoring and tight-lining, or trot-lines, along Little River and in Mud Lake or Horseshoe Oxbows, on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows over 9-15 feet depths.

August 2, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

8/1/10 - The lake level is 553.2 down 1 foot from last week and the water temp is still in the upper 80's. Look for fish breaking early and throw a top water bait. Look for fish 30-60ft. deep and get your bait down to the fish.

July 26, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service -

Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation during four foot drawdown. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 26 July, Largemouth Bass are good and are congregating at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 1-6 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally and moving toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths dump into the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are in the upper 80 to low 90 range. A variety of good baits are working for the past few weeks and producing catches on Millwood include 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Salty Rat Tails, Buzzbaits, oversized Southern Pro Magnum Tubes, spinnerbaits, and at random on Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. Best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of Monday 26 July 2010, USACE lake level update was unavailable. As of Friday, Millwood is now 39.1" inches below normal pool and falling, with reduced current in Little River of 2,605 CFS, and the drawdown continues to reduce lake level today. Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 86ºF early, to 90ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Friday 23 July 10 was 255.94 feet. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has reduced total discharge, to 2605CFS (cubic feet/ second) with all tainer gates open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels of 229.44 feet are as of Friday 23 July as the update was not available on Monday. Clarity has improved on main lake to 5-10 inches, and approx 7-12" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks continues around daybreak to approx 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each are concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby. Now with the four foot drawdown in effect, bass have pulled to the river and creek dumps and points intersecting with Little River.

Largemouths are in normal summer patterns over the past many weeks remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads is good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Twitch Assassins, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors along the Little River. Other surface lures like Pop-R's, Ken Pops, Jitterbugs and Baby Torpedos are beginning to draw reactions for those fish as well. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes, and 10" Power worms in blue fleck, plum, or peanut butter / jelly colors are working for moving deeper bass, or suspending bass. A large number of these fish continue moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas will be during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons were working late last week for Largemouths and schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow rolling Rat-L-Traps in Millwood Magic, Firetiger, and Cajun Craw colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, ditches, and creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river. Jigs in Texas craw or black / blue colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working to get reactions in Midnight Magik, Grasshopper, and Bleeding Bluegill colors.

The best water clarity is being found upriver. Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Cordell Red Fins, Twitch Assassins, and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs or Rattling Zara Mouses around pads, are randomly taking fish again early and late. With the drawdown comes a change in strategies, and if you fish flats, make sure you are close to deeper drops, the river, or creek channels. The Carolina rig bite and Shakey-Head jig bite, is improving weekly along Little River. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in those areas will produce good catches. Texas or Carolina rigged 6" lizards in pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, redbug, or grasshopper colors and magnum 8" lizards in junebug, kiwi, or redbug are taking some bass in creek channels around live cypress trees and stumps and in Little River. Swim baits are beginning to work for suspended bass around drop offs next to stumps.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks, early morning chasing schools of threadfin shad.

Cats: Channel Cats continually bite well over the past week with the current in Little River. Blues and Channel cats are biting best on chicken livers, Charlie, red night crawlers, by either anchoring and tight-lining, or trot-lines, along Little River and up river in back of Mud Lake on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows over 9-15 feet depths.

July 25, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters.

http://www.stroutfitters.com/

7/22/10 The summer pattern for stripers is in full swing, the fish are feeding on crawdads & shad and have moved towards the dam area. You can find them in 40 to 80' of water, the shallow fish is feeding on crawdads and the deep water fish is chasing schools of shad. The fish will hit both live bait (shad) and spoons. Check out the flats and deep water creeks near the dam area. They is both a morning & evening bite.

July 25, 2010 - Norfork - Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Steve Olomon of Steve's Guide Service.

http://www.fishingwithsteve.com/

Lake level is 554.2 and the water temperature is in the upper 80's. Look for fish breaking early and late in the day just before dark. Most of these fish are whites and bass. Keep a top water rod on deck. Look for fish down 30-60ft. and drop a spoon. The stripers and hybrids will be down at least 40ft. Bass, whites and walleye are 30-40ft. Had a client this week catch a 6 pound largemouth in a Cabela's spoon down 30ft. and lost another 4-5 pounder at the boat.

July 22, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 7/22/2010

During the past week, we have had no rain and hotter temperatures. With the brutally hot temperatures we have been receiving, the best time to fish has been early morning. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell seven tenths of a foot to rest at three and two tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is thirty seven and eight tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell one tenth of a foot to rest at two feet above power pool or fourteen feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two tenths of a foot to rest at five tenths of a foot above power pool or nine and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had round the clock generation with heavy generation in the afternoon (during peak power demand). There has been little wading but some great drift fishing conditions. Norfork Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to rest at three and two tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty five and one tenth feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had some periods of no generation daily which has created some limited wading. The lakes are near power pool and we should receive more wadable water soon.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The lower flows we have received early in the day have been perfect for fishing grasshoppers. These are large wind resistant flies and require shorter leaders (nine feet or less), heavy tippets (at least 4X) and a substantial rod (at least a six weight). Work the bank and heavy structure. Cast the fly so that it splashes down and give it a twitch from time to time to imitate a struggling insect. Work the banks and pay particular attention to structure. This is where the bigger fish will be located. This technique can generate some vicious strikes. Add a dropper fly to the bend of the hook on the grasshopper and increase your hookups. A couple of good flies for this would be a small copper John or a black zebra midge.

Rim Shoals has been a hot spot. The hot flies here were tan grasshoppers. Other productive patterns were zebra midges in black with silver bead and silver wire, brown with copper wire and copper bead, red with silver wire and silver bead and disco midges. Olive woolly buggers, pheasant tails and copper Johns also accounted for a lot of fish.

.Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are higher and stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

On the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. Be sure and take a camera. It is important to carry one that has a flash. With the heavy tree cover on the creek there are some times when there is insufficient light to take a good photograph. Remember that the creek is Catch and Release. No bait is allowed and all hooks must be barbless.

The water level on the Spring River is high and it is heavily stained. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you should fish during the week. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

July 21, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The water level at greers is at 459.87 and falling, the temp over most of the lake is at 84-87 degrees.

The black basses are anywhere from 15-45 feet depp and even some as shallow as 6 inches, jigs around any type of wood up shallow will produce, and the deeper fisg can be caught with a texas rig,carolina rig or a foot ball head, for the suspended fish try a drop shot. Be on the look out for the bream to spawn on the full moon and the bass will move up to eat them for sure

The crappie are scatter in the brush that’s in the water , and also traveling with the schooling hybrids and whites and as always suspended in the pole timber in 15-20 feet of water over 60 feet, try jigs and jigs with minnows

The bream, most of which are shallow will bite crickets , and we will have another rush to the bank with the full moon coming as they will spawn again.

Catfish are biting all over the lake using just about any bait you could think of.

The walleye bite is so soft it is really hard to feel them , try crawlers on jigheads drug around real slow on chunk rock flats and points.

A lot of hybrids and whites are schooling but for the most part are knot-heads, for your better fish fish under them or really off to the side of them, try finding bait away from the small fish , to catch the bigger ones, swimbaits jigging spoons, and in-line spinners woring best with the hammered blades.

July 19, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service -

Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation during four foot drawdown. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 19 July, Largemouth Bass are good and are congregating at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 1-6 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally and moving toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths dump into the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in effect, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are in the mid to upper 80 range. A variety of good baits are working for the past few weeks and producing catches on Millwood include 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Rat-L-Traps, Salty Rat Tails, Buzzbaits, oversized Southern Pro Magnum Tubes, spinnerbaits, and at random on Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. Best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of Monday 19 July 2010, USACE lake level update is now 35.5 inches BELOW normal pool and falling, with reduced current in Little River of 2,605CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level today. Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 85ºF early, to 88ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Monday 19 July 10 was 256.24 feet. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has reduced total discharge, to 2605CFS (cubic feet/ second) with all tainer gates open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels of 230.61 feet are as of Monday 19 July. Clarity has improved on main lake to 5-10 inches, and approx 7-12" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks is definitely daybreak to around 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each are concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby. Now with the four foot drawdown in effect, bass have pulled to the river and creek dumps and points intersecting with Little River.

Largemouths are in normal summer patterns over the past many weeks remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads is good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Twitch Assassins, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors along the Little River. Other surface lures like Pop-R's, Ken Pops, Jitterbugs and Baby Torpedos are beginning to draw reactions for those fish as well. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Rat-L-Traps. Carolina rigged lizards, Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes, and 10" Power worms in blue fleck or peanut butter / jelly colors are working for moving deeper bass, or suspending bass. A good number of these fish continue moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas will be during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons were working late last week for Largemouths and schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks, early morning chasing schools of threadfin shad.

July 15, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides -JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 7/17/2010

During the past week, we have had a major rain event and warmer temperatures. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose one and two tenths feet to rest at three and nine tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is thirty seven and one tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake fell one tenth of a foot to rest at two and one tenth feet above power pool or thirteen and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell seven tenths of a foot to rest seven tenths of a foot above power pool or eight and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had significant periods of no generation every day with short periods of moderate to heavy generation in the afternoon. This has created perfect wading conditions. Norfork Lake rose one and four tenths of a foot to rest at three and six tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty four and four tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some great wading.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The heavy rain we had this past week (six inches over two days in my rain gauge) has had little effect on lake levels. The heavy foliage cover helped prevent a lot of the run off. The White and Norfork were severely stained for a while and fished poorly during that period. We had some heavy generation over the week end but then had some long periods of no generation followed by moderate generation in the afternoon. This has created some spectacular wading conditions.

The key to success following heavy rains, like we have experienced, is to fish San Juan worms. A lot of worms are flushed into the river during the rain and the trout key in on these tasty morsels. In heavily stained water use brightly colored worms (hot fluorescent pink and cerise). When the water clears a bit try red or worm brown San Juan worms.

The Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals dam has been red hot and has produced numbers of good fish. The hot flies have been various midge patterns. This is a great place to fish when the river is muddy as the water coming through the dam is always clear.

Another hot spot has been Rim Shoals. There were few sulphurs coming off and the fish did not seem to be keying in on them like they have been (a few fish have been caught on copper Johns). The hot flies here were midges. The most productive patterns were zebra midges in black with silver bead and silver wire, brown with copper wire and copper bead, red with silver wire and silver bead and disco midges. Olive woolly buggers and sowbugs also accounted for a lot of fish.

With low wadable water and warm summer temperatures, it is time to start fishing grasshoppers. These are large wind resistant flies and require shorter leaders (nine feet or less), heavy tippets (at least 4X) and a substantial rod (at least a six weight). Work the bank and heavy structure. Cast the fly so that it splashes down and give it a twitch from time to time to imitate a struggling insect. This technique can generate some vicious strikes.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are higher and stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

With the lower flows we have received on the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The fish have been quite selective and keying in on tiny midges. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger (size 22). On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies. Try a dropper here. Use a sow bug near the dam and a copper John on the lower river.

Dry Run Creek has fished extremely well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. Use at least 4X tippet and carry the biggest net that you can lay your hands on. This is a great place to beat the heat. This tight little valley is always a few degrees cooler. Take a picnic basket. This is also a great place to have lunch.

July 14, 2010- Greers Ferry Lake - Submitted by Fish Finders Fish Service - The black basses have been scattered all over with a lot of the bigger fish staying up shallow, and some out deeper, try 4or 5 feet deep with worms,jigs and jighead worms and some are in the 5-15 foot range try c-rigged 4 inch lizards and texas rigged worms, and the deeper fish can be caught on football heads and c-riggs as well.

A lot of the hybrids and small white bass are schooling all over the lake but are small try topwaters , and reeling spoons, the deeper fish are bigger and are roaming arounf 25-43 feet deep and can be caught on vertical spoons and big in-line spinners .

Bream are good in shallow water on crickets.

Some walleye can be caught under the deeper hybrids and whites on cloudy day on spoons on the bottom.

Catfishing is good all over the lake, all species.

Crappie are good at night with lights and in pole timber during the day suspended in 15-20 feet of water over 70 feet on minnows and jigs

Tommy Cauley

July 12, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service - Navigation conditions are well below normal elevation. Use extreme caution during navigation on Millwood Lake.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 12 July, Largemouth Bass are fair to good and are congregating at creek mouth junctions with Little River, ranging 2-5 pounds each. The Bass continue stacking horizontally and moving toward deeper sections of Little River, where creek mouths dump into the river. The four foot drawdown on Millwood is in motion, use extreme caution during navigation. Surface temps are in the mid to upper 80 range. Lures over the past few weeks producing catches on Millwood include 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Twitch Assassins, salty Rat Tails, Buzzbaits, Texas rigged worms, spinnerbaits, and at random on Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. Best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of Monday 12 July 2010, USACE lake level update is now 20.5 inches above normal pool and falling, with increased current in Little River of 6373 CFS, and drawdown continues to reduce lake level today. Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 84ºF early, to 87ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Monday 12 July 10 was 257.49. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has increased total discharge, of 6373CFS (cubic feet/ second) with nine tainer gates open at 1 foot and four gates at 2 feet. Tailwater levels of 239.14 feet as of Monday 12 July. Clarity has improved on main lake to 5-10 inches, and approx 7-12" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks is definitely daybreak to around 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 2-6 pounds each are concentrating near almost any major creek junction with Little River and close proximity nearby. Now with the four foot drawdown in effect, bass are beginning to pull to the river and creek dumps and points intersecting with Little River.

Upriver, Largemouths are in normal summer patterns. Fish over the past week remain best early and late, and the reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads is good on Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Twitch Assassins, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors. Other surface lures are beginning to draw reactions for those fish. With the 4' draw down in effect, we are catching good numbers of bass on crankbaits like the Fat Free Shad and Swim Baits. Carolina rigged lizards, Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes, and 10" Power worms in blue fleck or peanut butter / jelly colors are working for moving deeper bass, or suspending bass. A good number of these fish continue moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas will be during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons were working late last week for Largemouths and schooling Whites, suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow rolling Rat-L-Traps in Millwood Magic, Firetiger, and Cajun Craw colors continue working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river. Jigs in Texas craw or black / blue colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working to get reactions in Casper Ghost, Bleeding Pine Cone, and Kudzu Apple colors.

The best water clarity is being found upriver. Slow moving, or dead sticking Bass Assassins Shads, Cordell Red Fins, Twitch Assassins, and skipping/hopping the Yum BuzzFrogs around pads, are randomly taking fish again early and late. With the drawdown comes a change in strategies, and if you fish flats, make sure you are close to deeper drops, the river, or creek channels. Lily pads, hydrilla, and pondweed, where the vegetation is growing in close proximity to stumps in those areas will produce good catches. Texas rigged 6" lizards in pumpkinseed/chartreuse tail, redbug, or grasshopper colors and magnum 8" lizards in junebug, kiwi, or redbug are taking some bass in creek channels around live cypress trees and stumps. Swim baits are beginning to work for suspended bass around drop offs next to stumps.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past several weeks, early morning chasing schools of threadfin shad.

Crappie: are fair to good, up to 2.5 pounds over planted brush in 15-18 feet, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging tiny (1/32) Beetle Spins in white/red dot or Catalpa colors. Bite dies off substantially after 9am.

Cats: Channel Cats continually bite well over the past week with the increase of current in Little River. That may change later this week with the reduced current. Blues and Channel cats are biting best on chicken livers, Charlie, red night crawlers, by either anchoring and tight-lining, or trot-lines, along Little River and up river in back of Mud Lake on yo-yo's hung from cypress trees in the oxbows over 9-15 feet depths.

July 8, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 7/08/2010

During the past week, we have had rain, moderate winds and warm temperatures. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam rose three tenths feet to rest at two and seven tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is thirty eight and three tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose two tenths of a foot to rest at two and two tenths feet above power pool or thirteen and eight tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two tenths of a foot to rest at one and four tenths of a foot above power pool or eight and two tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had significant periods of no generation every day with short periods of moderate to heavy generation in the afternoon. This has created perfect wading conditions. Norfork Lake fell five tenths of a foot to rest at two and two tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty five and nine tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had significant periods of no generation daily which has created some great wading.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

The low water we received this past week produced some absolutely spectacular fishing. There were reports of exceptional fishing from every section of the rivers.

Though on the wane, the sulphurs are still coming off. Before the hatch, fish copper Johns or pheasant tail nymphs (size fourteen or sixteen) under an indicator. When you trout begin feeding on the top, but you see no insects switch over to partridge and orange or partridge and yellow soft hackles. When you observe fish keying in on adult insets, switch over to sulphur parachutes. Hot spots for this hatch have been the section from White Hole down to Cotter, with Wildcat Shoals the epicenter.

Another hot spot has been Rim Shoals. There were few sulphurs coming off and the fish did not seem to be keying in on them like they were upstream. The hot flies here were midges. The most productive patterns were zebra midges in black with silver bead and silver wire, brown with copper wire and copper bead, red with silver wire and silver bead and disco midges. Olive woolly buggers and sowbugs also accounted for a lot of fish.

With the lower flows we have received on the Norfork, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork later in the afternoon, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies. Try a dropper here. Use a sow bug near the dam and a copper John on the lower river.

Dry Run Creek has fished well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. Use at least 4X tippet and carry the biggest net that you can lay your hands on. While you are there take a tour of the adjacent National Fish Hatchery. Please remove your waders before entering to prevent the spread of aquatic diseases.

The water level on the Spring River is lower and clear. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you should fish during the week. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

July 6, 2010 - Millwood Lake - Submitted by Millwood Lake Guide Service -

Navigation conditions are almost near normal elevation.

Drink plenty of water while on the lake during this time of year. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion can sneak up on you while getting double sun intake from the sky and reflection off the water!

As of Monday 05 July, Largemouth Bass are fair to good and continue improving, ranging 2-5 pounds each and summer patterns have kicked in. The Bass continue stacking horizontally, now that the water levels have more recently stabilized. The four foot drawdown on Millwood begins today. Surface temps are in the mid to upper 80 range. Lures over the past few weeks producing catches on Millwood include 5" Bass Assassin Shads, Twitch Assassins, salty Rat Tails, Buzzbaits, Texas rigged worms, spinnerbaits, and at random on Yum BuzzFrogs, & Cordell Crazy Shads. Best bite still remains early thru mid-morning.

As of USACE update was unavailable/not updated on Monday 05 July due to the Holiday, but as of Friday, lake level is now 3.1 inches above normal pool and falling, with same current in Little River as last week of 389 CFS, and drawdown scheduled to begin to reduce lake level today. Main lake and Little River's water surface temps are currently ranging from approx 84ºF early, to 87ºF later, depending of course, on location and time of day. Lake level as of Friday 02 July 10 was 259.46. Normal consv. pool is 259.20 feet. USACE has maintained same discharge, for a total discharge of 389CFS (cubic feet/ second) with only 1 tainer gates open at 1 foot. Tailwater levels were unavailable on Monday 05 July. Clarity worsened on main lake to 3-5 inches due to wind, and approx 5-7" in Little River current. The oxbows clarity ranging approx 24-48" visibility depending on location. Clarity and visibility can change dramatically on Millwood in just a few hours with high winds.

Millwood's next 4' drawdown is currently scheduled to begin today, 5 July 2010 to control unwanted aquatic vegetation, make scheduled repairs and complete other projects, such as shoreline improvements, Ranger Tony Porter said. It will take approximately 14 days and lower the water level to 255.2 feet, approximately 4 feet below normal and the project will last until 11 February 2011, when the lake will be filled to 261.2 feet, which is 2 feet above normal and return to normal elevation of 259.2 feet after two months, or approx 11 April 2011. Use extreme caution in lake navigation during the drawdown due to stumps nearing the surface in cut over boat lanes, and the river channel. Some boat ramps maybe inaccessible during the drawdown due to sedimentation build up and rebar at / near end of ramp concrete areas. Some boat lanes maybe inaccessible due to water levels.

The Details:

Largemouth Bass: The best bite over the past several weeks is definitely daybreak to around 10am due to increase in heat/surface temps after 10am. Numbers of bass from 3-5 pounds are improving over the past week, now that the lake level has stabilized recently. Now with the four foot drawdown in effect, expect bass to pull to the river and creek dumps and points intersecting with Little River.

Upriver, Largemouths are in normal summer patterns. Fish over the past week are on a shallow, (early and late) reaction bite pattern, around vegetation such as coontail, hydrilla, pondweed, and lily pads. Buzzbaits, Cordell Crazy Shads, Spit'n Images, Yum BuzzFrogs, Twitch Assassins, Bass Assassin Shads in salt and pepper silver phantom, and gold pepper shiner colors, and other surface lures are beginning to draw reactions again for those fish. We expect this pattern to slightly change to deeper water with the 4' draw down in effect beginning this week. Carolina rigged lizards, Southern Pro 4" magnum tubes, and 10" Power worms in blue fleck or peanut butter / jelly, and Fat Free Shad crankbaits are the best bites for moving deeper bass, suspending bass, moving further out and to points and intersections of creek channel dumps into Little River, where quick access to the 8-14 foot and deeper thermocline zone areas will be during the draw down. Jigging Cordell hammered spoons were working late last week for fish suspended in standing timber in the 10-12 foot depths on trees.

Slow rolling Rat-L-Traps in Millwood Magic, Firetiger, and Cajun Craw colors are working well in tandem with the crankbait bite, on points of Little River, creek intersections and dumps into Little River, and around new pondweed grass, creek channel mouths, standing timber, and stumps as long as you remain in the creek channel, or deeper drop sections of the oxbows and river. Jigs in Texas craw or black / blue colors, are catching bass on cypress trees and stumps in deeper sections of the creek channels and on points in the river. Add rattles to your jigs for sound attraction in the off-colored or stained water clarity. Siefert's Buzz Baits are working to get reactions in Casper Ghost, Avocado, or Midnight Sparkle colors.

White Bass: Large schools continue breaking topwater in Horseshoe and McGuire oxbows over the past week, early morning.

Crappie: are fair to good, up to 2.5 pounds over planted brush in 12-16 feet, early, on live shiners, jigs, smoke grubs, and vertical jigging tiny (1/32) Beetle Spins in white/red dot or Catalpa colors. Bite dies off substantially after 9am.

Longnose Gar: continue to roam shallow in good numbers for bow fishermen. We continue seeing large fish shallow, and in groups of 4-8 roaming flats, making perfect opportunities for bowfishermen. Try back of creeks and oxbows up Little River for some really big gar over the next couple weeks. McGuire had several schools of gar in the 40-60 pound range surfacing over 18-22 feet depths close and adjacent to flats.

Bluegill and Bream: continue biting very well around Millwood State Park, boat docks, and also up Little River at Jack's Isle off the bank on crickets, red worms, and grubs.

July 1, 2010 - White River - Submitted by Berry Brothers Guides - JOHN BERRY FISHING REPORT 7/01/2010

During the past week, we have had some light rain, moderate winds and much milder temperatures. The Corps of Engineers has continued their aggressive draw down of the lakes. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell two and four tenths feet to rest at two and four tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is thirty eight and six tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose two tenths of a foot to rest at two feet above power pool or fourteen feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell two and six tenths of a foot to rest at one and six tenths of a foot above power pool or eight feet below the top of flood pool. On the White, we have had heavy generation with some significant periods of no generation. Norfork Lake fell one and seven tenths feet to rest at two and six tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or twenty five and four tenths feet below the top of flood pool. On the Norfork, we have had heavy generation with several periods of no generation. It appears like we will receive some lower flows and wadable water over the Fourth of July holiday. The lakes are all near power pool and we should receive lower flows after the holiday.

There were significant changes to trout fishing regulations effective January 1, 2010. The Catch and Release section on the Norfork River will be increased from it current size of 1.1 miles to a new total of approximately two miles. The new upper boundary will be the bottom of long hole and the new lower limit will be the Ackerman access. The new regulations will also allow for multiple hook points in Catch and Release sections on the White and Norfork Rivers . Up to three treble hooks will be allowed. All hook points must be barbless. Of interest to fly fishers, is that the new regulations will allow the use of droppers, multiple fly rigs and articulated multiple hook streamers.

On the higher flows, we have been receiving; the key to success has been to fish brightly colored San Juan worms (red, hot fluorescent pink and cerise) and egg patterns (peach and orange). You will need long tippet leader combinations (up to twelve feet) and plenty of lead (AAA split shot). One of the most successful tactics has been to fish droppers. Rig a San Juan worm or egg as you normally would. Then tie a twenty inch 5X tippet to the bend of the hook (use an improved clinch knot) on the worm and tie a small nymph (try a copper John) on the tag end. Fish as you normally would. Most fish will be caught on the nymph.

The sulphurs are still coming off. Before the hatch, fish copper Johns or pheasant tail nymphs (size fourteen or sixteen) under an indicator. When you trout begin feeding on the top, but you see no insects switch over to partridge and orange or partridge and yellow soft hackles. When you observe fish keying in on adult insets, switch over to sulphur parachutes. Hot spots for this hatch have been Roundhouse Shoals and Wildcat Shoals.

We have a significant alga bloom on the White and Norfork. When the water rises, a significant amount of it is washed downstream. This dirties the water and makes for difficult fishing as you must constantly clean the alga from your hook. It has significantly cleared out on the Norfork but remains a problem on the White. The upper river below Bull Shoals Dam is clear. It has started to clear on the White and is greatly diminished.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are lower and lightly stained. The water is at a comfortable temperature and the small mouths are active. Try Clouser minnows or crawfish patterns. 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.

With the lower flows we have received early in the day, the key to success has been to fish soft hackles and emergers during the midge hatches. The hot fly has been Dan’s turkey tail emerger. On the higher flows we have been receiving on the Norfork, cerise San Juan worms and peach eggs have been the hot flies. Try a dropper here. Use a sow bug near the dam and a copper John on the lower river.

Dry Run Creek has fished well. The most productive flies are sowbugs and worm brown San Juan worms. Expect this place to be crowded over the Fourth of July holiday. You can fish early or late to avoid the crowds. There are fish everywhere. Use at least 4X tippet and carry the biggest net that you can lay your hands on. The fish are huge and most are lost at the net. Don’t forget to take a camera to record the memories.

The water level on the Spring River is lower and clear. The aluminum hatch (canoe day trippers) is in full swing. Many boaters on the river have little experience and can be a nuisance or worse a safety hazard. To avoid them, you can fish at the Lassiter Access. This is upstream of the put in point for most of the canoe outfitters. Be sure and wear cleated boots and carry a wading staff. There is a lot of bedrock that can get very slick. The hot flies have been olive woolly buggers with a bit of flash, cerise San Juan worms and pheasant tail nymphs.

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