Sports
White River fishing report
By Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Apr 5, 2026
Print this page
Email this article

Cotter, Arkansas -- Cotter Trout Dock (870-435-6525) said, “The trout bite has brought excitement to kids of every age this week — children, parents, grandparents, every angler on the White River. The water level has been lower during morning and early afternoon hours, with late afternoon releases bringing a rush of cold, clear water for a whole different fishing adventure. Daytime flows have remained fairly constant, which is good news; steady water levels cause less stress to the trout than frequent changes to the generation amounts. Bull Shoals Lake level was sitting Wednesday at 655.32 feet msl continuing to slowly drop.

Lots of success with spinners and spoons on the low water, best in the morning. The sparkle from gold or silver Cleos is attracting really nice-sized rainbows, and the nickel/gold Colorado or a 1/6-ounce Rooster Tail with a gold blade, yellow skirt is hard for the trout to resist.

Another hard hitter this week: jig fishing, mossy green with some peach or solid white, 1/8 ounce, will provide some strikes. You can experiment with shrimp, too, or with various colors of floating eggs and you’ll increase your catch count, but the action will be faster when you use them together.

Brown trout catches continue to delight the anglers around Cotter, mostly with live bait taken from the river (minnows, crawdads, sculpins), but more than one brown was hooked with shrimp and PowerBait.

Enjoy the best of spring with the best The Natural State has to offer: trout-catching on the White River in the Arkansas Ozarks. Come visit. 

Calico Rock Area

(updated 4-2-2026) Dave McCulley, owner of Jenkins Fishing Service in Calico Rock, said, “Another great week of fishing around Calico Rock. In the mornings we have been seeing water below 4 feet and clear, which is great for artificial lures. On these mornings, we started at the Calico Rock bridge and then fished downriver to stay ahead of rising water. Throwing quarter-ounce Thomas Colorado Spoons in nickel/gold worked great for rainbows and the occasional brown trout. For larger browns and rainbows, Rapala Countdowns, CD5 or CD7, in brown trout or rainbow trout colors worked well. Additionally Dynamic HD lures in ghost brown or rainbow trout colors worked well.

“In the afternoon, with the rising and dingy water, we were moving several miles upriver to find dropping and clearer water and changing to drift-fishing with Uncommon Bait UV eggs and shrimp. That resulted in some fat 16-inch-plus rainbows being caught.

“North-central Arkansas is in a severe drought and we look forward to the rain coming on Friday and Saturday. As of now they are predicting over 1.5 inches of rain. The dry ground should soak up most of the rain, and we don’t expect there to be much effect on the river.”