Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake is always open. Today it is 61 degrees with the sun shining. Don't you just love this type of winter weather! The fish are feeding heavily and hitting very hard. No light bites today. Linda and I were in Houston, Texas over the Christmas holiday visiting family and friends. It was very enjoyable, but I still couldn't stop thinking about all the fish that I wasn't catching. I fished the last two mornings with success and had a ball.

Yesterday I caught one striper and missed two others and also landed several nice largemouth bass. I started fishing the beach area around Bidwell Point then headed to Float Creek. I caught bass at Bidwell and the striper bites were in Float. I was using medium to large size thread fin shad, but shiners have also been working. I found the bass in 25 - 35 feet of water suspended 10 - 20 feet down. The striper bites came 40 feet down in 70 feet of water off of a bluff line.

Today was much more exciting. I left my dock around 6AM and headed over to the Henderson bluffs. I graphed for a while, but decided to leave since the wind was blowing about 12 mph straight into the bank. I am sure it would have been a great place to start fishing, but I didn't want to fight the wind. It is also very hard for me to fish live bait alone in strong winds. I headed to the Diamond Bay area along a bluff line that I knew would be protected from the wind. I got there before daylight and marked plenty of bait on the surface, but no fish. I decided to fish for a while to see what would happen once the bait started to drop into deeper water. Once the sun came up the bait dropped to 30 - 40 feet and I started marking many fish slashing through the bait balls. I had 4 poles down with live shad and was casting a 3 inch green paddle tail grub with a 1/8 oz jig head. I started catching black bass immediately, both close to the bank and also in deeper water. I started the grub on the bottom close to shore and retrieved it slowly to the boat. Then the live bait started to get active. I had two poles down at 20feet and 2 poles down at 40feet.  I had poles going off one after the other. At one point I had 4 bass lying on the floor of the boat. Action was non-stop for about an hour. I landed 12 fish and missed many more. 7 of the 12 were keeper size. The photo above was and example of my catch. All bass were released. Once the bite slowed I headed to Float Creek. The wind was blowing hard straight into the creek, but I decided to fish anyway. I set out 4 poles with live bait, 2 at 30feet and 2 at 40feet. I fished the same bluff line as yesterday staying in 70 - 75 feet of water. I started marking big arcs down 60feet so I dropped a 1/2oz spoon right on the head of this one big arc and when I went to jig it upwards the fish was hooked. I knew immediately that is was a big fish as it was having its way with me. I think the fight lasted 20 minutes. Over half of this time the fish sat in 20 feet of water and would not budge. Half way though the fight one of my live bait poles took off. I didn't want to loose the fish I was fighting so I just left the pole in the rod holder. I kept an eye on the reel and finally could see the silver metal of the spool. The fish spooled me in less than one minute. I had at least 140 yds of line on that reel. I guess it was a good size fish and it must have known I needed new line.

I still haven't been crappie fishing myself, but friends and guests that have been crappie fishing have been doing well. Live bait is working the best, but small grubs tipped with a minnow is also working well. The fish are still on the brush in shallow water early and late in the day and go to deeper brush in mid day. You can also find them at all depths. From 6 - 10 feet down over the brush as well as closer to the shore line. They can also be found directly inside of the brush pile. Find brush in 20 - 40 feet of water and start fishing at different depths until you find them.

The Norfork Lake level is holding fairly steady at 552.26. The Corps is running both generators a good portion of the day and this is maintaining the level. The surface water temperature this morning was a little above 50 degrees. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves stained. The upcoming weather forecast is calling for daytime temps in the 50 - 60's with evenings dropping into the 30's & 40's. Great winter weather. We brought our granddaughter from Texas home with us for a week and she is hoping for snow. This is one wish I hope is not granted:-)

Happy fishing and see you on the water.