Not sure if that's what you want, but have you tried this in your .inputrc?
"\e[B": history-search-forward
"\e[A": history-search-backward "\e[B": history-search-forward
"\e[A": history-search-backward bind '"\e[A":history-search-backward'
bind '"\e[B":history-search-forward'
It's one of the things I always tell people to use since it makes using bash so much easier.