I have a love-hate relationship with the White, my favorite river for 45 years. It stems from a combination of the White's beauty, fertility, and excellent fishing for lots of big trout--and the unpredictable water levels, large numbers of anglers who kill their daily limit two or three times a day, and the occasional mismanagement of one of the world's most productive trout fisheries. The White probably doesn't need more fishing pressure, but it does need a lot more fly-fishing friends who will help to restore this fishery.

The White River Tailwater System

Born from limestone springs and 40 to 50 inches of annual rainfall in the highlands of the ancient Ozark Mountains, just east of Fort Smith, Arkansas, the White flows north out of Arkansas into Missouri, turns southeast and back into Arkansas, and eventually flows into the Mississippi. Its fast-flowing waters are enriched by dissolved limestone and billions of tons of chicken, turkey, and hog manure produced in giant growing operations throughout the Ozarks and then spread over poor soil of the rocky hills and valley farms.

The White was a productive smallmouth and largemouth bass river in the 1940s when the Army Corps of Engineers designated the White and Arkansas Rivers for a major flood-control plan. Over the next 30 years, five tall dams were constructed along the White's course. Much of the White River's warm waters disappeared under five 30-mile long, deep, serpentine lakes. However, the 100-plus miles of flowing sections (or tailwaters) that were left--below Norfork, Bull Shoals, Greers Ferry, Table Rock and Beaver Dams--became cold waters!

Within a short time, the White's populations of spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass, sunfish, and catfish dwindled away. Then, as mitigation for these losses, the federal government began stocking the nearly barren, cold tailwaters with rainbow and brown trout. Soon after, biologists successfully introduced coldwater minnows, plants, and invertebrates from the Spring River.

The trout adapted beautifully to the river's almost constant, ideal temperatures (between 45 and 65 degrees F), and the abundance of nutrient-laden food in the water allowed an estimated growth of 1/2 inch or more monthly. In these conditions, an eight- to ten-inch stocked trout, weighing about six to ten ounces could gain two to three pounds per year the first, second, and third year--if they weren't removed.

In the late '50s and early '60s, I estimated from Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) survey data and my own observations and catches, that the White's rainbows averaged 4 pounds and regularly grew to over 15 pounds. In the early '60s, at one public access near Cotter, the AGFC was recording between 1,200 and 1,700 trout, weighing between 4 and 19 pounds, caught per month.

But, like the great western buffalo harvest, the White's lunker-trout population was soon overharvested, and by the late '60s, the average trout size was around 12-14 ounces. However, because of regular, heavy stocking, good numbers of these smaller fish continued to be harvested along with occasional large trout (especially browns).

As time went on and the rainbows continued to decrease in size and number, local anglers, resorts, and businesses cried for a reversal back to the good ol' days of big rainbows. A well-meaning state warmwater biologist decided that the decline in rainbow populations was due to big brown trout cannibalizing smaller rainbows. So, for the next couple of years, most of the adult wild brown population was removed by electroshocking, netting, fishing, and a number of other methods. The rainbow fishery still continued to decline.

Finally it became clear to officials that the problem was overharvesting by anglers. The AGFC finally admitted that browns were not the problem and granted the local fly-fishing clubs permission to stock wild brown eggs in the White using the Whitlock-Vibert Box method. From 1971 to 1980, they purchased and stocked one million brown trout eggs, and the almost nonexistent brown trout population grew from less than .10 percent to nearly 16 percent of the river's trout population. Catching wild, trophy trout returned to the realm of possibility.

Through the '80s and '90s, the state hired several coldwater biologists, implemented stocking of larger as well as smaller trout, and introduced a winter lures-only season, along with slot- and catch-limits on brown, cutthroat, and brook trout. More recently, a mile stretch of water was closed below Bull Shoals Dam from November 1 to January 31 to protect spawning browns and rainbows, a few (extremely controversial) short sections of catch-and-release areas were created, and law enforcement has been increased.

Each of these changes has had a positive but often limited effect on preserving and restoring the fishery. The bottom line is that in the 100 miles of trout tailwaters, the majority of the 1 to 2 million annually stocked trout survive in the river a mere two to four weeks before they are caught and removed. Most of the 100 miles are open all year to bait fishing and it is estimated that 95 percent of the anglers who fish these open areas take their limit of trout. If all these fishermen would stay within the regulations or keep only what they could really eat, it would be a much different situation. Many of these trout would have a chance to grow bigger, making for a much better fishing experience for everyone, and possibly get the chance to spawn and increase the wild fish population.

Unfortunately, too many times that's not the case. A river guide with 22 years of experience recently told me that he "always cooks his clients a limit of trout each day for lunch, then proceeds to catch more, so they can take home a limit as well." He then complained, "The fish were getting smaller each year!"

I began fishing for trout on the White River in June 1956. Other fly fishers eventually discovered the White's remarkable fishery, but even 44 years later fly fishers are a five to ten percent minority. Sometimes, especially on weekends, the catch-and-release areas can get congested, but outside of these times most of the good shoals are rarely crowded with fly fishers. Trout in the non-catch-and-release sections of the river usually average smaller (8 to 12 inch) but are also much less selective and easier to catch on flies. That's because most have been in the river less than a month. There are large fish, but their populations are smaller than in the catch-and-release zones.