MOUNTAIN HOME — Asher Samsel, 11, flips his lure into one of the cascading pools of Dry Run Creek.
Clear water pours over rock ledges and from fish hatchery outflow pipes into this stream densely stacked with trout on this early November day.
Asher, along with his father, Jeff, and brother, Nathaniel, has come about 600 miles and 12 hours from Georgia to fish this place.
Located near Mountain Home, scenic Dry Run Creek starts at the Norfork National Fish Hatchery and runs roughly three-fourths of a mile to its confluence with the North Fork River below Norfork Dam. This popular youth-only stream is known for big fish and easy access to wading or bank fishing.
Dry Run Creek is open from sunrise to sunset to anglers under the age of 16, accompanied by an adult, and to mobility impaired anglers, who may fish from the pier or boardwalk. The area is catch and release; trout must be released immediately. Only artificial lures with single, barbless hooks are allowed. You cannot fish with natural or scented bait.
The creek carries the hatchery effluent (32 million gallons/day) and has significant numbers of large trout trying to migrate from whence they came.
“I don’t remember ever seeing it this dense all through the creek,” Jeff Samsel said of all the fish stacked up in deep pools and on submerged tree limbs.
It’s spawning season and trout are moving upstream from the North Fork River. Some try to jump up the waterfalls of the hatchery outflow pipes.
Asher reels in a nice brown. It’s his second time to fish these waters. He caught a 5 pound rainbow on his first trip to Dry Run Creek. On that trip, Jeff Samsel said, two fly fishing guides from the area happened to be here and let Asher try out a fly rod. “They said, ‘This is the closest we can come to fishing it,’” Jeff Samsel recalled. “They just like to watch kids fish here.”
Jeff Samsel enjoys watching his children fish here too, which is why he has returned to this area for a weeklong excursion on the Spring River, Dry Run Creek, White River and the nearby Buffalo National River. He’s been coming to Dry Run Creek for almost 10 years.
He first carved out time to visit the stream on a March trip that included a visit to Gaston’s White River Resort in Lakeview. He son, Nathaniel, was around eight years old at the time.
Since Nathaniel Samsel’s first visit, he has been back to fish Dry Run Creek about ten times. He turned 16 in May of 2014, about a month after his last visit to the creek, and is now too old to cast into these waters.
He said it’s hard to watch Asher fish Dry Run Creek.
“It’s kind of hard to remember I can’t take his rod and show him how to cast it,” he said, adding that he loves the creek because of the atmosphere. “It’s not just a grassy bank catfish pond kind of thing. That’s what stands out to me the most,” he explained.
Nathaniel Samsel’s favorite two times fishing Dry Run were his first and his last experiences. On his first trip, he caught an 8 pound rainbow trout. On his last excursion, he caught an 8 pound brown.
“Those were his two biggest fish at Dry Run,” Jeff Samsel said. “And they were in the same pool too.”
Asher lands numerous fish throughout the morning – a brown trout on a Lindy Fuzz-E Grub, another on a Lindy Watsit Grub. Nathaniel Samsel teaches him how to hold his fish for a photo and how to catch and release properly. While Nathaniel Samsel clearly enjoys helping his brother, after a while he’s ready to do some fishing of his own and heads off across the highway to the North Fork River, giving dad and Asher some one-onone time.
Asher talks to his dad about changing lures. Jeff Samsel helps him tie on a new barbless lure using a polymer knot.
“Go a little further up and cast,” Jeff Samsel advised. “There you go, that’s good water. Slow it down and add more twitches. Just play with the cadence until you see what works.”
The fish are thick and Jeff Samsel laughs as he watches them dart for it or ignore it.
“Last summer we fished nine states and this was his favorite,” Jeff Samsel said of Asher. “I think it’s special to him too because it’s just for him.”
Jeff Samsel said he has taken his kids to fish other youth-only streams in other states, and that the designation alone doesn’t make a stream great. He said Dry Run Creek is special because it’s pretty, full of trout, has good access and the outflow from the hatchery makes it such a great resource.
“I’ve got a line issue,” Asher yelled, immediately followed by. “I think I can get it.”
He’s been catching fish all morning, although a few flipped off before he could net them.
Asher spends the rest of the afternoon fishing Dry Run Creek, making memories and adding to family tradition.
Jeff Samsel is an outdoor freelance writer and blogger who often takes some of his six children on his work excursions. You can read about the rest of his Arkansas fishing trip at www.JeffSamsel.blogspot.com.
Directions
To reach Dry Run Creek, take Arkansas 5 to Salesville in Baxter County, then follow Arkansas 177 almost 2 miles east out of Salesville toward Norfork Dam. The hatchery parking lot is on the north side of the road.