White River, Arkansas · fly box
A tailwater you fish from a boat, where the generation schedule is the tide table.
| Pattern | Imitates | Size | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulldog Midge | Chironomid larva | #18-20 | Fish it under an indicator 1.5 m deep on the drift; the boat does the work. |
| San Juan Worm, pink | Aquatic worm | #12 | Best during generation, when the river is up and food is dislodged. |
| Sowbug, tan | Aquatic sowbug | #14-16 | Dead drift along the weed edges in slow water; a whole season fly. |
| White River Wiggler | Scud | #14 | Point fly in a two-fly rig; add a small split shot 30 cm above it. |
| Foam Hopper | Grasshopper | #10 | Late summer on the low-water periods; fish tight to the willow bank. |
The dressing plate
On this river
Fishing the generation schedule
Plan the day around generation, not around the clock. When the dam is off, fish the shoals with a dry or a shallow nymph; when generation starts, move to the bank and switch to a deep two-fly rig under a float. The first hour of rising water is often the best fishing of the day because dislodged scuds and worms are drifting while the fish are still shallow.
Night fishing for big browns
The White's reputation for 3 kg brown trout comes largely from night fishing with a large streamer or a mouse pattern around the Norfork confluence. Use a floating line, a short leader with 12 lb tippet, and fish by feel in the dark. The take feels like a hook set into a log rather than a bite.
Drift-boat positioning
The boat is your casting platform and the rower is the reason you can fish 100 metres of bank in a minute. Fish from the back of the boat with the fly already in the water before the boat settles, and let the rower pick the line: the most productive drifts follow the 60 cm depth contour where gravel meets weed.