19

The Norfork Tailwater

You’ll find Norfork, Arkansas, population 494, nestled deep in the Ozarks at the confluence of the White and North Fork rivers halfway between Flippin and Calico Rock, about twenty miles from the Missouri border. As you cross the town line, you are greeted by a billboard-sized sign that reads: Welcome to Norfork, Arkansas, Home of the World Record Brown Trout, 38 Pounds 9 Ounces.

That behemoth measured 41 inches long and had a girth of 27¾ inches. The great fish was caught from the Norfork Tailwater in August 1988 on a small treble hook impaled with kernels of canned corn and drifted on the bottom. It remains the town of Norfork’s main claim to fame.

When the lucky fisherman reeled it in and saw what he had, he called local trout guru John Gulley for help. Gulley put a tape to that record brown and couldn’t help chuckling.

A few days earlier he’d taken Arthur Hempsted out for some night fishing. Hempsted was a specialist at catching big trout on light fly tackle at night. The Norfork Tailwater was his favorite destination, and John Gulley was his favorite guide.

“Arthur was using a size 12 wet fly and 4X tippet and a 5- weight rod,” remembers Gulley. “When he hooked that fish, he just gentled him over to a sand bar so I could corral him. I don’t think the fish ever realized he’d been hooked. Arthur was awfully good at catching big fish. In the light of my flashlight, this one looked huge. I told Arthur it was way over 30 pounds. He said, ‘I always thought if I caught one over 25 pounds I’d kill it and have it mounted.’ I said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ and he said, ‘Let him go.’ So I measured him and released him. Next thing I knew, there he was again. Same fish. Identical measurements. A world record brown, as it turned out. Arthur never seemed to regret putting him back, though.”

The record stood until 1992, when a 40-pound 4-ounce brown was taken from the nearby Little Red River. The Norfork fish remains the second-largest ever caught anywhere.

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That record trout was not a fluke (pun noted, but incidental). Six days after the record brown was caught, a local fisherman took one from the Norfork that weighed 34 pounds 4 ounces. The Norfork Tailwater is probably the best place in North America to catch a truly humungous brown or rainbow trout on a fly. The brookies and cutthroats grow big, too.

I do not exaggerate. The Norfork joins the mighty White River at the town of Norfork, infusing it with cold water and luring big White River trout into its channels. In summer and fall, White River browns and brookies and resident Norfork fish follow their spawning urges up the river toward the hatchery on Dry Run Creek, a Norfork tributary, where they were born. In winter and spring, rainbows and cutts do the same thing. When I fished the Norfork Tailwater in late June, some of the browns we caught were already showing their spawning colors.

Young trout grow at the astonishing rate of one inch per month in the Norfork. There are many reasons for this. It’s a tailwater, with cool well-oxygenated water from the bottom of the reservoir and constant ideal water temperatures year round. The river cuts through limestone hills and valleys, making it exceptionally fertile. Sowbugs and scuds, trout staples, blanket every rock and weed stem and leaf in the river. There are loads of crawfish, creek chubs and sculpins. Mayflies, caddisflies, midges and craneflies hatch in abundance. Plus, every winter Norfork Lake, the reservoir that feeds the Norfork Tailwater, undergoes a mysterious phenomenon that locals call “the shad kill.” Tons of threadfin shad, the predominant baitfish in the lake, get sucked into the hydroelectric turbines where they’re diced and sliced and spewed into the North Fork. Trout chow. Local fish fatten up.

The Norfork is the only river I know where you can legitimately anticipate a 10-pound trout on any cast. Your best chances are on low water at night, when the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the dam and its releases, generally holds back water. Big trout of all four species prowl the shallows, especially on cloudy, moonless nights. If you’re in the right place, swinging a woolly bugger or a muddler through the currents at the right time . . .

Usually it doesn’t happen, of course. I fished the Norfork Tailwater two June nights in a row, midnight to sunup. I caught about a dozen fish each night, none over 20 inches. Nice fish, but not the certifiable Big One I was hoping for, although I did hook a couple that sounded truly big.

In the dark, you learn to judge the size of a fish by the timbre and volume of the slosh it makes when you first hook it. On our second night my partner Pat, standing 30 yards downstream from me, landed browns of 25 and 29 inches in rapid succession. The second fish, he estimated, weighed about 12 pounds. I heard the sloshes his trout made. I believe I hooked a couple that big.

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The water levels in the Norfork vary dramatically. The flows are unpredictable and at the whim of the Corps, but generally speaking, when Norfork Lake is high (as it usually is in the spring and early summer), the times of high water are more frequent and longer-lasting.

When both gates are closed, the river resembles a placid spring creek. It flows low and crystal clear, and you can navigate all of it in waders. There are riffles, runs, and pools, and everywhere sight-fishing opportunities for nymphing trout. Mayflies, midges, and caddisflies hatch on low water, offering the best chance for hatch-matching dry-fly fishing.

Even when the Corps is running a lot of water, they generally shut it down at night. Swinging streamers and wet flies through low-water currents at night is fun and deadly. At daybreak the trout become active on midges, and it’s worth switching to a sight-fishing setup.

They blow a siren to announce the opening of a gate and the release of water from the dam. Don’t hesitate. Get the hell out of there promptly. In a matter of minutes the gentle little Norfork Tailwater is transformed into a big brawling river. On high water it looks daunting and unfishable, but, in fact, the fishing can be terrific then.

John Gulley has developed a lethal method for catching the big fish that rub their bellies on the riverbottom in high water. You brace yourself in the bow of his specially-designed motorized Norfork boat. You’re rigged with a San Juan Worm or a Glo Bug, a split-shot the size of a mothball six inches up the leader, a bulky strike indicator ten feet up from the fly, and a 6- or 7- weight rod. Heave it (you don’t really cast this rig) up into the current seams and through the runs and along the edges of the sunken grass beds, while John maneuvers the boat to maximize your drift. Mend constantly and, when the indicator darts under, as it will frequently, set the hook with a sharp sideways jerk.

When only one gate is open and the water isn’t quite so high, muddlers and woolly buggers on sinking lines, and even floating cranefly imitations, will take some of those big fish. Cast toward the banks, along current seams, and over grass beds.

* * *

It’s tantalizing to know that on any given cast you might catch a 12-incher or a 12-pounder. The big ones are there all year, but you don’t have to be a big-trout fanatic to enjoy excellent year-round fishing on the Norfork. The river is stocked frequently, and there are always loads of fish in the 13- to 19-inch range.

Winter: Snow and freezing temperatures are unusual in the Ozarks. Most days you can fish without discomfort, and in the winter the river runs low for long periods of time. Midges hatch every day, offering excellent sight fishing with larva and pupa imitations and sometimes dry flies. Norfork trout feed on sowbugs and scuds year round. On the right kind of day, you’ll find superior dry-fly fishing to a blue-winged olive hatch.

Spring: In March caddisflies begin to show up—first blacks and olives, and toward April, green and tan bugs—along with comfortable fishing temperatures. The BWOs and midges continue to hatch, and sowbugs and scuds remain important. In May and June come excellent mayfly hatches—sulfurs (sizes 16 and 18) and pale morning duns (size 20).

Summer: The high July and August temperatures in the Ozarks, coupled with oppressive humidity, often make daytime fishing on the Norfork uncomfortable. Then it’s time to go night fishing—always with a local angler or guide who’s familiar with the river and its trout as well as the whims of the Army Corps. Big tailwater trout feed day and night, but in the summer they are particularly active after dark on low water. Local nightfishing specialists look for overcast. They stay home on bright moonlit summer nights.

Autumn: Tourists come to the Ozarks in the fall just to view the spectacular foliage. Fishermen come to the Norfork to catch aggressive, spawn-minded brown trout. Sight fishing with nymphs on low water remains productive, but in the fall faststripped streamers work well under all conditions. The gorgeous foliage and the comfortable daytime temperatures are a bonus.

* * *

I was embarrassed to tell my guides and the other local folks I met in Norfork, Arkansas that I knew very little about the Norfork Tailwater. But they didn’t seem surprised. The big White, half a mile wide and a hundred miles long, and the nearby Little Red, where the current world-record brown trout was taken, get most of the publicity.

The Norfork Tailwater is only 4½ miles long, and even under a full head of water, it’s barely fifty yards across. But it is perhaps the most interesting trout river I have ever fished. Its face changes constantly—high to low water, high to low light, day to night, season to season. It is loaded with trout, and especially with large trout. The current state record brook trout, a 5- pounder, was taken from the Norfork in 2002. No one would be surprised if the next world-record brown trout lives there.

And there are all those 10-plus pounders sloshing around out there. I can still hear them.