Power generators cause fish to bite

Fishermen in an Arkansas stream caught a break from a power spike.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
COTTER, Ark. -- Throughout the Ozarks, people were returning home from work on a hot summer day and turning on their air conditioners.
And trout fishermen Moose Watson and Pete Cobb couldn't have been more grateful.
The two guides sat in a boat on the White River in north-central Arkansas and watched as the spike in power demand had a direct influence on their fishing.
After hours of no power generation at Bull Shoals Dam, two generators were now cranking. That pulled cold water from the bottom of Bull Shoals Lake and sent it surging down the White River, causing the water level to rise by the minute.
And it flipped the switch on the trout fishing from off to on.
"This is what we want," said Watson, who owns the White River Inn, a luxury bed and breakfast situated on a bluff overlooking the river. "These big brown trout feed on a rise.
"They'll get inactive during low water, and they can get hard to catch. Sometimes they'll just nose up under a rock and just lie there.
"But when the water comes on, it's a whole different world. They're active, and they're ready to eat.
"That's like their feeding bell."
Cobb, a longtime guide on the river, proved it moments later.
When he cast a suspending Rogue to a stretch where water had risen to cover a series of rocks, he watched as a golden fish flashed up and inhaled it.
He set the hook and watched the large fish make an arching leap. Then he held on as the fish landed and strained to get free. But it wasn't long before the big brown was in the net -- and Cobb was giving thanks for the power of power.
"This power generation can make all the difference in the world," Cobb said. "This river fishes differently with each generator.
"But when they're running two like this, it's just about ideal -- especially after it's been off for a while."
It would be hard to argue that based on what Watson and Cobb did Wednesday evening. Not long after the water started running, they started catching trout. And they didn't stop until the sun started to melt into a bluff overlooking the water.
By the time they were done, they had caught and released some 40 brown and rainbow trout, including some of the big ones that have brought the White River national acclaim.
They estimated the biggest brown trout at 51/2 pounds, and they had several others they thought were 3 to 4 pounds.
But that was only part of the show. They also watched when a huge brown trout swam by with a rainbow sideways in its mouth, shaking it like a junkyard dog with a bone. And they got to witness another big fish chase a rainbow into the shallows and porpoise out of the water as it closed in for the kill.
That's the kind of stuff, they'll tell you, that you don't see every day.
Watson and Cobb caught trout two ways -- jerking a Rogue through the clear water and swimming a white jig with a snapping motion.
They fished from below Bull Shoals Dam to eight miles downstream. About the only problem they had was getting back.
As nightfall approached, they noticed that the power generation had been cut back and the water level was dropping. That meant Cobb had to idle through some holes where he knew rocks were perilously close to the surface at low water.
Such is life on the White River. Fishing -- and navigation -- is often controlled by hydropower production. In low water, fishermen often are restricted to the holes where they launch. They catch big browns by anchoring over holes and still-fishing with sculpins. And they can still catch the smaller rainbows on either bait or small spoons, spinners or jigs.
Great spots
But the best fishing -- the fishing everyone talks about -- usually takes place when the water is moving. That's when fishermen can roam freely from hole to hole and when the big browns come out of hiding and go into a feeding mode.
Cobb reminisces about the day when he caught a 22-pound brown on the river in 1983. And Watson still talks about the cold January day in 2005 when he caught one that weighed 15 pounds.
Trophies such as those just add to the White River's reputation as a world-class fishery. Fisheries biologists say the White is one of the best you will find in North America for producing trophy brown trout.
It has an abundance of fish in the 5- to 10-pound range. And every year, the word will get around about browns even bigger being taken.
The latest talk is of the 181/2 -pound brown that was caught within the last week by one of the fishermen out with a guide.
But there are other big ones out there. And that's what excites Cobb.
"Back when I started guiding, there were still a lot of big rainbows in here," said Cobb, 47, who lives in Three Brothers, Ark. "You don't find that now. The pressure is too heavy.
"But there are still some huge browns in here. You can see them. Getting them to hit isn't always easy. But you know they're in here."