Sports
White River fishing report
By Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
Jun 14, 2025
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Cotter, Arkansas -- Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said Bull Shoals Lake is rising slowly, sitting at just above 692 feet msl; water releases have begun to increase a little. Mornings on the river begin with a near-perfect floating level, now averaging four generators operating (about 12,000 cfs). You’ll see higher releases starting later in the afternoon (five to six units, 15,000-18,000 cfs) but not apparent in the Cotter region until 5 p.m. or later. An angler can drift without hanging up too often.  There are fewer places to safely wade, but bank fishing is not out of the question.

Both boaters and shore anglers can catch a creel full of rainbows with red wigglers or nightcrawlers. Best bait? The rainbows have been hitting the pink worm — Berkley or X-Factor — better when drift-fishing from a boat. A lot of anglers elect to use the “mouse tail” worm. It comes ready-made with a white egg at the top; thread it to cover the eye of your hook and dangle the rest of the imitator worm like you would a live red wiggler.

The average size of the rainbows here in the Ozark region of The Natural State seems to be increasing, and with this new influx of water — which will likely be the norm for the remainder of the spring and summer — they’ll continue to grow. Put your money on bright and shiny: gold spoons and spinners; fluorescent yellow bellies on a Smithwick; bronze Coloradoes; and the scent of shrimp. The bigger brown trout have been looking for sculpins, redworms and shad.

“Keep anglin’ and stay aware of your surroundings with the higher water. Prepare for the heat and come ready to catch some great trout on the White River.” 

Calico Rock Area

(updated 6-12-2025) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said, “Before the rains last Friday night/Saturday the river remained high but the water clarity was pretty good.  Drift-fishing the gravel bars with silver inline spinners with eggs and shrimp worked well. Adding an extra sinker to get to the bottom of the deeper holes also produced some nice rainbows.

The storms dumped a lot of water by noon on Saturday. Saturday afternoon, the fishing was good, but by Sunday morning the Buffalo River had risen and we had muddy water.  Norfork Dam closed their floodgates and without that water to help flush out the dirty water, it was Tuesday before we were seeing fishable water. Fishing on Tuesday was tough but doable, but by Wednesday morning fishing was really good. With more rain later this week into the weekend we will see what happens to the water conditions.  Hopefully it isn’t enough rain to cause the Buffalo River and local creeks to get muddy.