Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake is the place to enjoy the remaining summer days, before the fall water sports time begins. I have been striper fishing several times in the last couple of weeks and have been catching fish, even though it has been a tough bite. I have been fishing the dam area and finding fishing in 60 - 80 feet of water sitting on the bottom. It can become very frustrating when you know you are on fish and they will not bite. What I have found is that if you wait them out you will eventually get nice fish. I have caught several in the 20 - 25 pound range and some in the upper teens since my last report. I have been using live thread fin shad. Spooning is working somewhat. Some are telling me that vertical jigging has not been working, but instead you need to drop the spoon to the bottom and reel up 3/4's of the way, then drop it back down. They seem to be more aggressive on the reel up and are chasing the spoon. Trollers are catching fish,  you have to get your bait down to the 60 - 80 foot level.

Bass, walleye, crappie and bluegill seem to be down 20 - 30 feet on the bottom. I have been finding lots of bait fish hovering in the 20 - 30 foot range and when I find the bait usually I mark a lot of fish. This is also telling me that the thermocline is dropping. Several weeks back the bait was all 20 feet or above. I am still noticing increased numbers of black bass breaking the surface at sunrise. Yesterday I actually saw (in the distance) a huge area of water just start to boil. There were big fish coming totally out of the water. They had to be hybrids due to the size of the fish or some really big white bass. I was a good 1/2 mile away and  could still see the fish coming out of the water. This lasted about 15 minutes as they moved up a shore line. I also heard from Robert Lee that he also saw some nice top water action in a different area, but it didn't last as long. Normally you don't see this type of top water action this time of year, but the fishing this year has been a little different than past years.

Catfish are being caugth on trotlines using live bait and also on rod and reels using chicken livers.

The Norfork Lake surface water temperature was 84 - 85 degrees yesterday morning. The lake is sitll falling 2 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 562.8.. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves off color.

Hummingbird Hideaway Resort's dock parking area and launch is back to normal operation. We're glad to again have the convenience of launching right beside the dock.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.