Hi Everybody!

My wife and I are heading to Eureka Spring for 4 days in late December, and I'm looking to hit the river for the day. Is my best bet fishing the beaver dam tailwater near town? I've never fished the White before, and I'll be on foot. Do any of you have suggestions on where I'd have the best luck for a single day of fishing? Thanks!

Not a simple place. Big browns are mostly nocturnal. Here are some links from my limited experiences - White River Arkansas

My wife and I fished the Beaver Dam tailwater portion of the White back in September and had a blast! Double nymph rigs where the water was moving a little quicker and stripping sz. 8-14 steamers produced rainbows. We really wanted to land a brown while we were out there but it didn't happen and we also saw that AR Game & Fish was going to stock that portion of the river with cutthroats. The tailwater is wadeable with several deeper runs that hold fish and there was also plenty of room along the banks to walk to different sections. If you head that way it wouldn't hurt to stop by The Dam Store to see what's producing, the owner was pretty helpful.

Scuds, San Juan worms, sculpin, and wooly buggers. That's always been what works for me on the white river. Either a sculpin or wooly bugger stripped back, or a scud dropped below a San Juan worm and dead drifted.

I'd add sow bugs to the above list. Prime trout food. Tight lines.

Sow bugs a must worked well two weeks ago. I fished from midnight till five in the morning four nights. As always 2 o'clock in the morning is the magic hour for Browns on the white it seems I managed around 20 Brown's a night with rainbows before and after. I did not get to fish the normal stretch I am used to I did manage to catch one that was 20 inches but caught a ton of fish that were 16 to 19 inches. Should be a great trip if they are having any type of shad killed then throw a white Zonker or white woolly bugger especially when they generate. Good luck don't forget those big browns we will hit little bity nymphs in the dark as well as big streamers.

For a fishing the nymph rig in the dark you will need to get these bigger indicators take a cordless drill with you with a 5/32 drillbit drill it out right down the middle of the original whole make sure to thread it on the line before you tie on your flies though because it does not have a slip for the line to go through then use the glow stick as the peg you can get those glow sticks at Academy for pack for .98 Break them the day before you want to fish them because they are too brat the first day use them the next night. You can easily adjust it by pulling out the glow stick and moving the indicator and re-Peggit. Other than that just set up a double membrane egg like you normally would and watch the glow stick in the dark this year a black scud size 18 with a 18 Sow bug 15 inches below it was key.

Thanks Robert! That is an awesome idea.

Thanks.

Yea it works really well and membrane egg was double nymph rig lol auto correct fail