Trial and error is a great teacher, especially when it comes to learning the ways of trout at the White River below Beaver Dam.
Gary Henderson of Bella Vista is a willing student. He ventures to the stream twice a week all year with his fly rod and flies he ties himself. Henderson aced the final exam on a trip to the water in early October by catching and releasing a few dozen trout during his morning of fishing. He was happy to share information learned over the years.
Outfitted for trout
Gary Henderson prefers fly fishing when he visits the White River below Beaver Dam. He uses a 3-weight fly rod, with a tippet of 5X or 6X flourocarbon, equivalent to 4-pound test monofilament line. Flies he likes to use include hare’s ears, zebra midges and micro jigs.
Bob Mills regularly uses red Copper Johns and micro jigs. He’s also fond of fishing for trout at night with a large black woolly bugger.
Keeping fish?
The daily limit is five trout. Between the dam and Houseman Access, all trout from 13 to 16 inches long must be released. Only one fish longer than 16 inches may be kept. Bait fishing is allowed with a single hook, no treble hooks.
Other regulations apply in the Beaver tailwater special regulations area.
Information: www.agfc.com.
— Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Trout fishing has been good below the dam this fall, especially for anglers who like to wade. Power generation at Beaver Dam has been mainly in the afternoon. That means low-water conditions in the morning, which are ideal for fly fishing. Henderson likes to start casting in the gray light of dawn in the fog that shrouds the river many autumn mornings.
Trout aren't everywhere. Sometimes it takes some hunting to find areas where rainbow and brown trout prowl the clear, cold water. Henderson started his morning at a pool about one-half mile downstream from the dam. It's been a hot spot since fall began.
"You see where the current swirls around toward that bank? There have been fish in there. But you can't catch them from this side of the river, so we'll wade over to the opposite bank," he coached.
A bead-head hare's ear has been one of his best flies this fall. Henderson started with that, but the trout evidently had vacated the pool. Henderson vacated it, too, and walked to hot spot No. 2 a hundred yards upstream. There was less current here, so Henderson switched flies to a black zebra midge.
Henderson is a long-time member of the Bella Vista Fly Tyers and an expert at creating his own flies. Black zebra midges were among the wide selection of flies he's tied, arranged row by row inside his fly box.
It was easy to see why he likes fishing here so much. Sycamore trees along the stream bank sported fall colors of yellow and orange. Not another angler was in sight. Trout can be eager to bite. It took maybe 20 minutes for Henderson to catch his first trout of the day, but definitely not the last,
More trout bit his black zebra midge and the size improved. Henderson slipped his net under a dandy 12-inch rainbow trout.
"When I'm keeping fish to eat, this is the size I like," he said. On this trip, Henderson released all the trout he caught.
A 20-fish day is a good day in Henderson's view.
"I've had some 30 fish days and a few in the 50s. One trip with my son-in-law, we caught over 100."
There was another spot downstream Henderson wanted to try, especially after he bumped into another angler who's learned the tailwater by trial and error. That's Bob Mills of Garnett, Kan., near Kansas City. Mills comes to the stream frequently. He and his wife camp in their RV for a week or more each visit.
Mills told Henderson he'd caught and released 50 trout already that morning, including a 23-inch brown trout, by fishing with a red Copper John.
The two friends wade-fished together, up to their hips in cold water, near the Bertrand access, two miles downstream from Beaver Dam. Brown micro jigs were the hot lure here. The little jigs weigh about one-100th of an ounce, light enough for fly fishing.
More often than not, Henderson and Mills had doubles, each battling a trout at the same time. Henderson used his limber fly rod, while Mills cast his micro jig with a spin-cast outfit. Henderson fished his jig under a strike indicator, which is fly fishing lingo for tiny bobber. Mills had his jig about four feet under a conventional bobber. When they called it a morning, Henderson's tally was about 30 trout.
Their excellent day confirmed reports Christy Graham with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has heard this year. She's the trout management program supervisor for Game and Fish.
"We've heard the fishing has been good. We did an electrofishing sample there in September. Numbers-wise, the results have been steady the last several years. " she said.
The trout population is good, with lots of fish but not to many.
"That's really good to see this year since there were some heavy flood gate releases from the dam last year," she said.
The brown trout population in the stream is good, Graham added.
She'll get additional info on the trout soon. Game and Fish will begin a creel survey along the stream in December. The survey team will interview anglers, asking how many fish they've caught, how their fishing compares to previous years, their opinion of the fishery and other questions. The last creel survey of the stream was in 2010, Graham said.
If the team bumps into Henderson, he'll likely have good things to say.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 11/15/2016