If you enjoy open water fishing in the winter months, Norfork Lake is the place to be. The fish are feeding and the bite is on for most species. Whether you enjoy fishing early mornings, mid day, evenings or after dark you can find fish. We are still getting mid morning topwater action for striped bass and white bass, watch for the feeding seagulls.
The striped bass are schooling and are continually on the move. In early mornings I have found them on flats in 28 - 50 feet of water feeding on shad. Live bait such as thread fin shad and shiners and artificial are all working. I have caught fish in the Cranfield and Bidwell areas early mornings. Just last Monday mid morning the stripers started to erupt back in the bayou area. This info is from one of my fishing friends. The birds have been a big help. Flocks of seagulls will suddenly appear and start diving into the water. If you happen to be in the same area start throwing a Rooster tail, rattle trap and even a topwater bait such as a Zara Spook. A Rooster tail has worked great for me. I let it sink to different depths and then retrieve it to the boat. As the sun gets up a little the fish tend to go a little deeper into 50 - 70 feet of water, but are still following the shad. Once the fish move to deeper water I start to vertical jig with a spoon and of course, still have live bait down on several poles. I have also been fishing in the afternoons. I have found fish in the mouth of our cove as well as back in Float Creek and back by the 6A area. The problem with winter fishing for striper is their movements. You will find and catch fish one day in a certain area one dat and then the next day they are not there. I have about 5 different areas that I tend to check out until I find the bait and then the schools of stripers.
I told my facebook followers that I would give some details of my comedy of errors fishing trip last Monday afternoon. I was fishing back in Float creek. The bait was thick from 30 feet down to 55 feet and large schools of striper started to appear. I had been casting a Rattle trap with little success and laid the pole down by my feet and started to spoon. I also had 4 live bait poles out, set at 25 and 35 feet deep. All of a sudden one of the live bait poles started to zing, I quickly jumped up from my seat and must have kicked my casting pole a little and when I stepped down to the deck to grab the pole with the fish I heard and felt a big snap. My casting rod snapped in half. My drag went out on the pole with the fish and the fish broke off: A few minutes later both of my back poles took off. I ran to the back of the boat to see both lines going straight towards each other. Needless to say the two fish tangled and both got off. I was getting pretty discouraged at this point. Then another live bait pole took off and I landed the above 11 pound fish. Finally! Another bite came on live bait while I was retying one of the leaders and to say the least I got to the pole too late to set the hook. Things started to quiet down a little and I started to spoon again. I hooked into a nice fish and my swivel broke in half. This was a first for me. It was a great afternoon for bites, but a really poor performance day for the fisherman LOL
You would think by now that I would learn that too many rods on the boat is not always a good thing. But of course I still have not learned this lesson! 4 poles out with live bait and the 5th pole with artificial, I think will always be a standard for me while striper fishing.
Crappie are still on the brush from 20 - 35 feet down. Live bait, grubs, grubs with live bait and spoons are my baits of choice. I have not fished much for crappie lately as I have been have too much fun striper fishing.
White and small hybrid bass are also following the shad. I have found then on the flats in 30 - 50 feet of water and vertical jigging with a spoon has been working the best for me. The above photo of 4 fish show the size of the whites.
Walleye fishing is starting to pick up, but is the slowest bite of all species. You will find them on the same flats early in the morning, late afternoon and after dark. Bluffs with chunk rock in 20 - 40 feet of water are also holding some nice walleye during mid day. We should start see a good pick up in the walleye bite in mid January and on.
The Norfork Lake Level is currently at 552. It has risen slightly from my last report, but is starting to fall slowly as power generation is starting to increase. The surface lake temperature is in the low to mid 50's. The main lake is clear and creeks and coves are still stained.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
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