White River Fishing Report

Here is the latest White River Fishing Report from the Baxter Bulletin. Here is an excerpt that makes a passing mention to a sad event on the North Fork.

Another hot spot, on the White River, has been Rim Shoals. On low water, this section has been very productive. The best flies have been the zebra midge in brown with copper bead and copper wire in size 18 and partridge and orange soft hackles. The grasshopper has also reigned supreme here.

The North Fork is not fishing as well as the White. On the days when they are running water on the White, the North Fork can get pretty crowded, particularly on the weekends. The overcrowding has been worsened by the closing of McClellan's.

Access to the North Fork via McClellan's trout dock fell victim to the land developers purse strings.

North Fork in Trouble

The next time you visit Mountain Home Arkansas and fish the North Fork River stop off and say hello to the good folks at Overlook Estates. According to KAIT channel 18 and others, they are responsible for that layer of silt covering the rocks in this (for the moment) world class fishery.

Massive erosion from a north Arkansas developer's building site that threatens the prized North Fork River continues as state environmental regulators try to put together the funds to contain the problem.

Flyfishmagazine.com Contributing Editor, Jeff Paisley will be visiting the area at the end of March to check it out and report on it for us first hand. Last year Jeff told us he didn't see much of an impact (other than the closing of McClellan's Trout Dock) but judging from this post on the Ozark Angler message board it seems to be getting worse.

Looks like the state and this guy will fight it out as the river dies a slow death. I just can't believe that there is nothing that can be done to stop this problem right now. This is a disgrace to the entire state of Arkansas. I was fishing last weekend in the Moccassin Creek C&R area on the White and watched as the nasty Norfork water made its way down and muddied the river up and shut down the fish. This guy is not only destroying the Norfork but also putting the White below the confluence in serious danger