This handsome brown trout chased down Vic Attardo’s Smithwick Rogue jerkbait while guide Jon Miller maintained a perfect drift on the Bull Shoals Tailwater. Photo by Steve Taylor.

Trout fishing on the White River below Bull Shoals Dam in north Arkansas is so good that many guides fearlessly guarantee you’ll catch fish. It sounds too good to be true, but this world-famous river usually keeps those promises. Folks who’ve never before wetted a hook routinely take limits of colorful rainbows, but the largest, wiliest fish go to anglers who understand and adapt to this challenging fishery.

This White River guide will help you cope with its notorious ups and downs, and spend more time catching fish instead of sitting in a coffee shop waiting for the water to rise or fall at your favorite hole. What follows is an overview of the river and its trout, how water moves through it, formulas for estimating when water will rise and fall and techniques to help you catch trout in the various conditions you’ll encounter there.

WHITE RIVER OVERVIEW
The river arises in the Boston Mountains of northwest Arkansas, turns north into Missouri, then returns to the Natural State for the bulk of its 720-mile course, ending at its confluence with the Mississippi. A series of dams built between 1911 and the 1960s forms a chain of reservoirs and tailwaters in both states. This system controls flooding and provides hydroelectric power and municipal water.

Because the 50-degree tailwaters in the upper sections of the river were too chilly for native fish, the government mitigated their loss by stocking cold-natured trout. While the entire river fishes well, the 92-mile section between Bull Shoals Dam and Guion (Izard County) is the most spectacular, drawing anglers from across the country and abroad to catch millions of trout every year.

WHAT YOU’LL CATCH
Hatchery-reared rainbows dominate, but cutthroats, brook and brown trout spice up the mix. Pinkish-red stripes and a purplish sheen distinguish rainbows from the others. They use all parts of the river and readily take flies, lures and bait. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission plans to stock 1.2 million rainbows that average 11 inches long and 9.6 ounces this year.

A reddish-orange slash under the jaw is a cutthroat’s unmistakable field mark. Most of the 195,000 scheduled for stocking in the White this year will be caught in the coldest water near the dam. They prefer bugs and frequently fall to flies, micro-jigs and lures that imitate terrestrial insects.

Brook trout, with vividly orange fins and wormlike markings on their backs, are the dandies of the Arkansas trout clan. They, too, prefer the coldest water. The state record weighed 5 pounds, but the brookies’ dazzling colors make it a pleasure to catch specimens of any size. About 12,000 11-inchers will be stocked this year.

Brown trout are the heavyweights, often measured in pounds rather than inches. These hungry carnivores chase sculpins, river minnows and jerkbaits fished near cover. The AGFC plans to put 100,000 browns in the river this year.

ACCESSES ABOVE THE NORTH FORK
Public access is excellent here, thanks to properties owned by government agencies and private trout docks, lodges and resorts. Here’s a review of some -- but not all -- of the accesses on the upper half of the Bull Shoals Tailwater.

As you enter Bull Shoals-White River State Park, off state Highway 178 in the western Baxter County town of Bull Shoals, you’ll see a concrete boat ramp at the AGFC’s Jim Griffin Access. Slightly downstream and across the river lies a smaller ramp and walk-in access named for Ranger Boats founder Forrest L. Wood and his wife, Nina. The state park features a trout dock with boat rentals and supplies. Check out the spectacular new visitor’s center, named after resort owner Jim Gaston, while you’re there.

Eight miles downstream on the west (Marion County) bank, the White Hole access produces big browns. Expect more boaters than flyfishermen here, on Marion County Road 7001, a couple of miles west of Fairview.