Ozarks Trout Fishing
March 31, 2008
By Rod Davis
At a business meeting in February in Nashville, I was invited for the second time to the White River in Arkansas for a weekend of trout fishing. The first invitation, I had let slip by, but I was determined to accept this time.
I was invited by “ Big Dave” Storm, CEO and founder of Storm Showers of Cookeville, Tennessee. It turns out his brother, Paul is a full time guide in Salesville, Arkansas, on the Norfork River.
I did not know much about the area, only that I had once read an article about the incredible trout fishery in that area and that the world record Brown Trout had been caught there several years ago. That fish was a little over 38 pounds. Yes, you read that right, 38 pounds!
I called my boyhood friend and idol, Lee Rosencrance, a great American, and asked him if he was…..”I’m in!” he almost shouted over the cell phone. Plans were made and a few weeks later we left Charleston, W.V. for yet another spine-tingling experience. We had been watching the weather for several days and colder temperatures were forecast, with a tiny amount of flurries possible on the day we were scheduled to arrive, so we packed all the “snuggies” and long johns we had.
We left a day early and stopped in Lexington, Kentucky for lunch at Ted’s Montana Grille, a favorite that specializes in Bison dishes ( owned by Ted Turner). While at Ted’s I looked over Lee’s shoulder and saw a TV screen in the corner showing a weather map with a huge snow and ice storm moving eastward. I could see it was heading toward the route we were about to travel. We had no warning of bad weather so we pushed on westward in beautiful sunny skies and temps in the 60’s. We were in my GMC 4×4 so were weren’t really concerned.
Six hours later we stopped in Charleston, Missouri and spent the night. Early next day, we started on the last 200 miles of our trip that was mostly two lane back roads….in a blizzard! Actually the really bad weather was 50 miles south of us where 10 inches of new snow were predicted. We missed most of that, but spent a few miles with the hubs locked in on very, very slick roads. Once we passed into Arkansas, we left the ice and entered the snow, but the roads were being treated there and good travel resumed.
We arrived at Charley’s Rainbow resort which sits directly downstream of the Norfork Lake dam, about one half mile. Charley’s is a collection of sleeping rooms, cabins and a couple of very clean and nice, mobile homes that were very reasonably priced. We checked in, found Big Dave Storm and a couple of his Cookeville cronies. Spirits were high, and so were they, I fear.
The river was running high and clear and it was quite chilly. The floating river dock had a selection of 20’ fiberglass jon boats, equipped with 10-15 HP Mercury and Honda outboards that are very popular for this type of fishing.
We toured the area and saw the state fish hatchery which was absolutely huge. They had 3-4 acres of trout runs full of stocking age fish that averaged 12-15 inches. They also had some brooders that went 15-20 lbs. The entire hatchery was covered with a coarse weaved netting that we found out was to discourage the local bald eagles from snacking on the trout!
We had a great dinner and fellowship with all our new friends that evening and prepared our gear for the next morning. The day dawned sunny, bright and only 18 degrees!
We bundled up and after a huge breakfast at the local diner, we piled into the boat with our guide who zoomed us upriver to the dam’s spillway where we started fishing. The technique of choice in this river is drift fishing with the swift current. The guide stopped the boat at the end of a channel he said was between us and the bank and then drifted downstream, backwards, while our baits bumped along the gravel bottom. This pattern was repeated over and over with a fish or two taken it seems on every drift. Fifteen seconds into the first drift, I hooked up with a 16 inch cutthroat trout that thumped my bait hard ! The bait of choice at this time of year was one or two Berkley “Power Eggs” tipped with a few kernels of…corn!
I was a bit taken aback, being almost a purist, hearing that the preferred bait in the world famous White and Norfork Rivers was canned corn. Furthermore the guides usually went through several cans a day throwing handfuls of the stuff for chum. Hey, when in Rome….
However I was quite impressed with the Power Eggs. I have used the Power Bait dough on many occasions. It does indeed catch fish. The eggs , however were very tough and you could usually catch 6 or 8 hard fighting trout before a bait change was needed.
As usual, Lee out-fished me that day and again the next day, but we both landed about 100 trout. The guides apologized that fishing was slow, but 100 trout was fine with us. Neither of us caught any large trout but caught many fish in the 2 pound range, up to 17-19 inches in length. The second day both us lost trout that easily went up to 25 inches or so, mine right by the boat at rod’s length, on the surface. We saw a kid in another boat land a big brown, easily over 30 inches.
We were told these size fish were common and especially in warmer weather with lower waters.
The Norfork runs 4.5 miles downstream from the dam where it merges into the White River, at that point a much bigger river. We were told that in the month of March alone the Norfork’s 4.5 miles were scheduled to receive 24,000 trout stocked, in the 12-15 inch range. Wow! That’s a lot of trout.
The trout in these rivers thrive and grow big. The river’s temperatures are between 45-55 degrees years round due to drain from the bottom of the dams. They are crystal clear almost always. The river supports a lot of natural forage for the trout and big browns are caught on sculpins that are caught in the tributary creeks.
We spent two full days of guided fishing for less than two hundred a day for us both. We stayed in a comfortable mobile home with deck, charcoal grille, washer and dryer with a full kitchen. It was a two bedroom model that slept six and cost only $89.00 nightly.
Meals were taken at several local diners and dives that were quite inexpensive and mostly quite good.
The river was a tad bit crowded, even early in the season and in the cold temperatures, but mostly this was not an issue, although one guide from a nearby lodge needed a lesson or two in fishing etiquette. I explained all this to him in nothing but the most loving terms, after he ran his boat over our lines for the fourth time.
After much prayerful consideration, I refrained from throwing a Power Egg jar at him.
I would highly recommend that anyone who likes to catch fish and lots of fish make the trip to north-central Arkansas and try this great place. I can assure you, if gas prices permit, we will go again. I can see at least an annual trip in the making.
This part of the Ozarks is quite pretty. Salesville, is only 115 miles south of Branson, Mo. And 150 miles from the big Bass Pro headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. The last 150 miles is back roads, now matter where you come from, but a great drive.
Here is a list of helpful websites:
See you out there!
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[...] Ozarks Trout Fishing [...]
[...] Gonzoâ??s Bar & Go-Go Grill wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt By Rod Davis At a business meeting in February in Nashville, I was invited for the second time to the White River in Arkansas for a weekend of trout fishing. The first invitation, I had let slip by, but I was determined to accept this time. I was invited by “ Big Dave” Storm, CEO and founder of Storm Showers of Cookeville, Tennessee. It turns out his brother, Paul is a full time guide in Salesville, Arkansas, on the Norfork River. I did not know much about the area, only that I had once read [...]