The White River below Bull Shoals Dam runs clear and cold year round.  If not for the stocking of trout only a few native Arkansas fish could survive in this frigid water.  Nathan Lackey and Ron Armagost are two experienced trout fishing guides who know all about the White River and its plentiful trout population.  Both are licensed fishing guides working out of Gaston’s Resort and are experts at navigating the White River.  They excel at finding schools of trout willing to bite, but can also put an angler on a fish of a lifetime.

My guided fishing trip with Gaston’s (www.gastons.com) fishing guide Nathan Lackey started out with breakfast first at Gaston’s Restaurant.  I was so full from breakfast it was hard to make the short walk down to the boat dock located directly beneath the restaurant.  Lackey was already there waiting for us.  Ron Wong from Memphis, Tennessee, was going to be my fishing partner for the day.  Lackey quickly loaded our fishing equipment into the boat and told us about what the trout were biting on.  After that we took off from Gaston’s Resort boat dock heading down stream.  Our first stop, Wong and I cast XCalibur Xt3 jerkbaits towards the bank and around deep holes near shore.  Wong caught the first rainbow trout.  It was small, but the first fish.  After staying in the area a while we took off downstream heading to where Lackey had ripped them the day before. 

Nathan Lackey is the son of White River’s legendry Troy Lackey who once held the world record for brown trout at 32.8-pounds back in 1972.  The younger Lackey explained, “I have fished on the White River all my life; it’s a part of me and my family.”  Lackey has worked as a full time guide on the White River all his adult life.  “I usually take out two or maybe three clients on a guided fishing trip for four or eight hours.  As for what bait I use it depends on the time of year, but I will use whatever the rainbow or brown trout are biting on that day.  Some of the common baits I like to use are shrimp, red worms, sculpins, crawdads, and crickets.  The best times of the year for trout fishing are April and May then again in October and November.”  Lackey usually spends his day helping his clients catch fish or putting on bait for them.  “It’s rewarding to watch young kids catch fish or someone catch a trout who never goes fishing; they just get really excited,” said Lackey.  The day passed too quickly as Lackey, Wong, and myself shared stories of catching fish while landing trout.

The next day out my guide Ron Armagost was already waiting for us when I walked down to Gaston’s boat dock.  Today, Larry Rea from Germantown, Tennessee, would be my fishing partner.  Rea is the host of Outdoors with Larry Rea and a freelance outdoor writer.  Armagost helped us load our fishing gear and cameras in the boat.  Rea had fished with Armagost the day before and was excited about getting back to where they had caught them.  Experience was on my side again.  Armagost has over thirty years experience on the White River and a license guide for Gaston’s Resort for over seven years.  “I spent the first part of my life in the Army and later in life came down to buy a bass boat and just ended up staying.  I know that this is where the Lord wanted me to be and do,” said Armagost.

Armagost quickly started the boat and headed upstream.  “Yesterday, I went up this way and we caught a bunch of trout on bait,” Armagost explained to me.  Sounded good to me, I was ready to catch some for our shore lunch.  Armagost baited up my hook and said, “Cast your bait upstream, never downstream and watch so you don’t get to much of a bow in your line,” Armagost explained.  For bait fishing Armagost likes to use live worms, shrimp, and power bait; however to catch big trout he uses live sculpins or dying shad early in the year.  We caught fish on the second cast and consistently all day with one of us reeling a trout in; however, fishing that day seemed to play second fiddle to the stories that Armagost and Rea told.

Fishing the tailwater of Bull Shoals Dam is an experience that every angler should have at least once in their life.  Anglers will fall in love with the sound of rushing water over shallow shoals and a trout jumping on the end of their line.  That’s why Lackey and Armagost take clients out fishing to share what they experience every day.