Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Summer fly fishing on the White River is governed by generation schedules: the difference between low and high flow is about eight feet of water, which moves every edge, drop-off and island. Caddis peaks in spring, sulfurs follow into early summer and terrestrials carry the rest, fishing best on steady higher flows.
Steve Dalley is a guide with Dalley Ozark Fly Fisher in Arkansas who moved from Tasmania in 2001 and has fished and guided the White River water system since 2007.
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How do dam releases change fishing on the White River?
The power station above the White River has eight generators, each capable of pushing about 3,200 CFS, and the difference between roughly 650 CFS at the low end and 24,000 to 25,000 CFS at the high end is about eight feet of water. That eight feet moves everything: where the edges are, where the drop-offs are, where the humps sit, and whether an island is an island at all. At 24,000 CFS an angler can be fishing a dry fly over three feet of water on top of a submerged island while sitting over twelve feet just off its edge. Water can change six feet in two hours, so anyone fishing the White River without a plan B for a different flow gets stranded.
When is the caddis hatch on the White River?
The caddis hatch on the White River runs in April and May, and it has strengthened and shifted over the last two decades. It used to run up from below and rarely reached much above twelve miles from the dam; now the best stretch is the top ten miles below the dam. Size 16 is the working size, and the fish are not especially fussy about pattern during it. A parachute caddis is easy for a client to pick out among thousands of naturals, while a low-riding emerger pattern sitting in the film gets eaten nearly every time.
What hatch follows caddis on the White River?
Sulfurs follow caddis, and in some years the two overlap on the water at the same time. Sulfurs are fished in size 16 and 18, and counterintuitively the sulfur hatch does better on higher flows: in a low-water year the hatch runs shorter, while in a strong year it can last close to two months. Floating nymph and emerger patterns fished behind a visible dry work well during the sulfur window, because much of the body hangs below the film with only a low parachute hackle and post holding it up.
Do terrestrials fish better on high or low water?
Terrestrials on the White River fish better on consistent higher flows, around 6,000 CFS or more, because that water pushes into the bank and creates seams the fish will sit in. As long as the flow does not drop out from under them, the trout stay in those seams rather than being pushed off. The banks here are wooded rather than grassy pasture, so terrestrial season means cicadas, leaf hoppers, katydids and beetles falling out of overhanging trees as much as grasshoppers. Three fish around 30 inches have come out of one shop on terrestrials in the last decade, which puts the ceiling of that fishing in perspective.
Why should you set the hook straight up on a tailwater?
On the White River, an angler nymphing often has a long drop, a lot of line and heavy weight to move, and straight up is the most efficient direction to move a fly vertically in the water column. Setting downstream pulls the fly straight out of the fish's mouth when the fish is facing into the current, and sweeping sideways or upstream toward the bank leaves nowhere to go when a hooked fish then runs at the boat. Straight up also works in the case that costs anglers the most fish: a trout following the fly downstream eats it, nothing moves on the indicator, and only a vertical set converts it. Anglers who sweep low and sideways in the back of the boat, bass-style, lose fish after fish.
How does body position improve fly casting accuracy?
Beginning casters keep landing the fly in the same spot because they never move their feet. Aim in fly casting is set the same way it is in golf, by hip and shoulder alignment, and fly casting is best done in straight lines, so changing the direction of a cast means turning the feet rather than twisting at the waist. Getting the casting arm aligned so the shoulder, arm and target sit on one line stops the top of the loop from drifting off to one side, which matters when the fly has to go into a small gap between overhanging trees at high water. The same principle applies in a boat: an angler standing at 90 degrees to the current can only cast at 90 degrees, so hopper fishing further downstream means physically turning to face downstream.
Should you cast over your opposite shoulder?
Casting over the off shoulder costs both power and accuracy, and it is avoidable most of the time by turning the body instead. The comparison is throwing a fastball with the wrong arm: velocity falls off, accuracy falls off, and the parts of the cast that matter most degrade together. There are genuine reasons to change the casting plane, including old shoulder and back injuries that limit how far back an angler can reach, but the default should be to rotate the hips and feet and keep the stroke over the strong shoulder. When the body is aligned to the target, the same cast that felt awkward becomes long, powerful and repeatable.
Key takeaways
- Check generation before you plan a day: the White River swings about eight feet between low and high flow, and can move six feet in two hours.
- Fish the top ten miles below the dam for the April and May caddis hatch, in size 16.
- Sulfurs in size 16 and 18 follow caddis and hatch longer in higher-water years.
- Terrestrial fishing wants steady flows of at least about 6,000 CFS so bank seams stay put and fish stay in them.
- Set the hook straight up, not downstream and not sideways; straight up is the efficient direction and it converts fish that ate while facing you.
- Move your feet to change casting direction, and align shoulder, arm and target on one line before casting into a tight gap.
