No one was counting the number of fish we caught during a foggy trip on the White River below, but we could count the number of casts on two hands.
Trolling was our route to a fine catch of fish when Roy Clark, a fishing guide from Eureka Springs, and I got together to celebrate the first day of spring, March 20, in his boat. Our mission was a bit different from our usual trips, and brought a smile to Clark's face.
Troll with the flow
Crank baits are the lure of choice for Roy Clark when the fishing guide trolls for walleye below Beaver Dam. Lures with some chartreuse in the color scheme are a good choice.
Walleye must be 18 inches or longer to keep below Beaver Dam or at Beaver Lake. The daily limit is four.
Information: Roy Clark, 479-253-5323.
We were after walleye. Trout are our target fish most trips, but it was walleye or bust this day on the White River below Beaver Dam. Most of Clark's customers want to catch trout, too, but the guide was eager to concentrate on walleye. We launched his boat before dawn.
"When spring spawning time comes, it's the fish everyone is after. We're right at the start of prime walleye time," Clark said.
He was at the helm of his 20-foot john boat pushed by an 8-horsepower outboard. The boat is Clark's "office" where he's worked as a White River guide for 25 years.
Our game plan was simple. We'd troll crank baits over gravel and sand flats between Houseman Access and the town of Beaver. Houseman is seven miles downstream from Beaver Dam. It's another six to Beaver, the town.
Any color crank bait is a good choice, long as it's got some chartreuse, Clark coached. His eyes lit up when I pulled a totally chartreuse Flicker Shad crank bait out of my tackle box. All of it was chartresue except the hooks. Clark had to have one.
I promised to bring him a couple next trip. First, lets see if it catches fish.
We started a slow troll downstream from Houseman Access. The two lures Clark trolled had a dab of chartreuse on the belly. I trolled my all-chartreuse lure and one other plug that looked like a minnow.
We were about one-half mile upstream from the Little Golden Gate suspension bridge at the town of Beaver.
"There's a sand bar that runs right up the middle of this river channel for quite a ways," Clark said.
My rod tip did a nose dive on the second pass.
Dang. A stick, I told Clark.
"Ha. I've heard that story before," the guide shot back. Walleye are known for their delicious taste, not for their fight.
Sure enough, halfway to the boat, that stick came to life. Line sliced the water and Clark grabbed his net. Walleye No. 1 was in the boat, fooled into biting my gawdy chartreuse lure. Too bad my pal didn't have one.
We hit the jackpot on largemouth bass by heading into Butler Creek, near Beaver town. Here we cast our crank baits instead of trolling. Clark had the hot hand, catching two dandy bass.
Walleye were our game this day, but a fisherman takes what the river gives. By trip's end we'd caught largemouth bass, white bass, trout and two walleye. Both walleye were an inch or two below legal size, so back in the river they went. Walleye must be 18 inches or longer to keep below Beaver Dam or on Beaver Lake. Daily limit is four.
All of April is prime walleye fishing time below Beaver Dam, Clark testified. We were happy with our two nonkeeper walleye and our mixed catch this first day of spring. Clark cracked a bigger grin when I clipped that chartreuse lure off my line and handed it to him.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 04/09/2015