White River, Arkansas

[slage]

Anybody have anything on the White?

Any info appreciated.

[luckydog]

I fished the White below Bull Shoals dam in the late 80s. We stayed at Gaston's Resort. Back then, as a fly fisher, I was a curiosity to the local anglers. It was mostly a bait/lure deal back then. Our guide used a jon boat, and had one prop for going down river and another for going up river. He also carried a huge cast iron frying pan in the boat to cook the catch.

There can be huge fluctuations in flow during the day, so you have to be careful where and when you get out of the boat to wade fish. Lots of stocked fish and there are some huge browns. We only fished a half day and our guide basically knew nothing about fly fishing. I did hook something that felt big on a streamer, but it came undone when the guide decided to take the boat upriver... Other than that, we caught a bunch of stockers that we had for dinner.

Now, fly fishing is a big deal on the White. I would definitely hire a local guide, and there are some pretty nice resorts located right on the river. For example, you can take a look at Gaston's at www.gastons.com

[Larry S]

Slage:
Sent you a PM.
Larry S

[Dan LeCount]

I had some friends that lived there, this is the jist I got from them. Like was said earlier, stream flows can fluctuate dramatically so be careful. Larger streamer patterns in white and olive work well by imitating baby rainbows and shad for the trophy fish. Scuds, sowbugs, and san juans are good choices for nymphs, but Im sure hares ear, birds nests and PTs would probably do the trick as well. The former world record brown was caught there and another record fish from the Little Red was caught on a small marabou jig, similar to a wooly bugger. What Im basically saying you never know what youre going to tie into on those rivers, even with light tackle. Guide might be a really good idea.

[Jay Murakoshi]

I"ve never fished the white river but I do tie a few flies for a guy who fishes it. I met this guy a few years back at the San Mateo show and he say my sea habit rainbow trout and wanted some in 6/0 to 8/0 - 12"-14" in length. He mentioned that he fished the AR a lot for big browns. Dang, I was thinking to myself they must be some pretty damn big browns to eat a fly this size. I wish I could find the photo he sent me. It's amazing
I'll have a rainbow sea habit at the Pleasanton show that's 13" long

Jay

[luckydog]

I"ve never fished the white river but I do tie a few flies for a guy who fishes it. I met this guy a few years back at the San Mateo show and he say my sea habit rainbow trout and wanted some in 6/0 to 8/0 - 12"-14" in length. He mentioned that he fished the AR a lot for big browns. Dang, I was thinking to myself they must be some pretty damn big browns to eat a fly this size. I wish I could find the photo he sent me. It's amazing
I'll have a rainbow sea habit at the Pleasanton show that's 13" long

Jay

The USFWS plants a lot of trout/cutthroats in the White, North Fork, and Little Red Rivers. Those browns get sloppy fat on those planters. I've seen some photos of the browns from those waters. They are fat!

[PMD]

I fished the Little Red river 2 1/2 years ago and the biggest deal was the extreme/ drastic flow changes. You could be wading in knee high water and if your not paying attention, could be up to your waist in an hour. Like everyone else has said, huge browns in that system. Good luck.


-Taylor

[Kneedeep]

I fished it last year in early Dec., and although the weather was unseasonably cold and the rivers were above flood level and flowing like a bat out of Hell, fish were still caught and I had a very enjoyable time. If you've got the chance, do it.