The third week of October my wife and I are going up to Mountain View, Arkansas and spend a few days. I think the river that flows near Mountain View is the White River. I have always wanted to fly fish in some the Arkansas streams but I do not have a clue as to what flies to tie to be prepared. I do not even know exactly what kind of fish I will be fishing for. I am sure that someone on this forum has fished the streams around MV. Could you please give me some advice as to what to use, what I will be fishing for? I will probably be wading because I probably will not be able to afford a guided trip whether a day or half a day. Thanks in advance for any info you can give me. Mathcarver
If you’re planning on fishing the white, that’s pretty much going to be trout fishing. Plan on fishing midges, soft hackles, sjw’s, egg patterns, terrestrials, wooly buggers, etc…
Now, if you’re interested in doing some warm water fishing (since this is the warm water forum), Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River are nearby, which offer good smallmouth and sunfish action. If you go that route, then various streamers, terrestrials and crawfish imitations are the way to go.
Well, there’s Mountain View, AR, and there’s Mountain Home, AR. They aren’t all that far apart, either. But Mountain View is more in the Buffalo River/Little Red River striking range area of the watershed while Mountain Home is in the heart of the world famous trout fishing water of the White River. The Buffalo and Little Red are tributaries of the White. The Buffalo is warm and the Little Red is cold.
Silamore Creek is also near Mt View, if you are looking for warmwater action. You may want to ask for info here http://flyfishingarkansasandmissouri.yuku.com/
Steve
If you’re actually headed to the White River the prime fly is a sowbug.
Here’s a typical pattern
http://taneycomotrout.com/sowbug.html
Scuds and sowbugs. The trout eat more sowbugs but generally prefer scuds. It takes several sowbugs to equal the food value of a scud.
(Sowbugs = Krystal hamburger, Scuds = Wendy’s triple)
Ed
i fished it several years ago on a 2 day guided wading trip. excellent trout fishing. be careful wading. if too far to hear alarm at dam you can get in trouble in a hurry with rapidly rising water and strong current. also have heard good things about smallmouth there when trout fishing is off.
Thanks one and all for info. I hope that when wife and I get there in October I will physically feel like fishing and the weather will cooperate. Thanks again. mathcarver
Don’t let the weather stop you. Caught my largest Brown swinging a soft hackle in the rain on the White.
When I head that way usually I’m towing my little Starcraft popup camper and we stay at the Bull Shoals State Park just below the Bull Shoals Dam. We’ve found all along the campground stretch of river that it’s good fishing … browns, rainbow and cutthroat. Easy wading when the dam is not opened, but like already posted, when that alarm siren sounds it means they are going to open up in 15 minutes and when they do that water rises pretty fast!
You can also rent a boat right there or hire a guide. We’ve enjoyed staying and fishing at the campground and have caught plenty of trout.
Dale
-red soft hackles
-red ***(soft hackle with a little peacock herl in the middle)
-olive soft hackles
-olive wooley buggers
-egg patterns(but may not work yet at that time of year)
-small brown wooley buggers will get the brookies in Norfork)
-sow bugs, sow bugs, sow bugs
-scuds
-zebra midges!! red worked best last time.
Don’t forget some Pheasant tail or Copper johns. They seem to work. That said, the fly I almost always start off with on the White is a tan scud.
John Berry posts a regular water and fishing report for the White River System that can be read at http://www.berrybrothersguides.com/fishingreport.html . It will give you some information on the water and weather conditions as you get ready to go.
TxEngr
The White is trout fishing at it’s finest. You don’t need many different fly patterns. Sow bugs in different colors, black zebra midge, sculpin patterns and olive wooly buggers. Go to rim shoals, that is a catch and release area, with lots of pocket water. I’ve been there 2X and I love it. 15" rainbows really, really fight. Wildcat shoals and the narrows are good too. I tell you what I wish I lived there, the fishing is so good.
-JK
Add a tan scud to the list and you are set! It’s my no. 1 fly on the White.