Norfork Lake has been outstanding for winter Crappie fishing. The fish are hanging around brush piles that are sitting in 25 - 35 feet of water. The crappie that I found this morning were suspended from 15 - 25 feet down and would hit almost anything I threw at them. No live bait was used just artificial. I was in the back of Float Creek where the water was really stained. The mud line has dissipated and left the water in great fishing condition. Color in the water is not normal for Norfork Lake. It is typically gin clear, but I will take this stained water when I can get it. One good reason that I like the murky water is that the fish don't get spooked as easily. You can sit on one brush pile and catch many fish without moving to another brush pile. I first started vertical jigging with a 1/8 oz. spoon (white) and caught two immediately. I decided to experiment with different tackle that I sell in our store. I switched to a Bobby Garland double silver rainbow baby shad and caught two more. I then switched out to a curly tail Roadrunner (white/chartreuse) and caught two more. I was very slowly vertical jigging the spoon and the Baby Shad and the fish hit the bait when it was motionless. They would pick it up and just start to move slowly. The hook needed to be set quickly because the bite was light. If I waited they would spit out the hook. I found this out the hard way on several bites :-( I cast the Roadrunner beyond the brush and let it sink, then retrieved slowly, then stopped to let it sink and retrieved again. With this the bites were much more aggressive, it may have to do with the spinner getting a reaction bite. I switched out to a 3/4 ounce spoon when I got into 40 feet of water and picked up several nice size spotted bass. I fished one brush pile for about an hour before the bite stopped. The crappie and bass were caught between 9 and 10AM, but I was on the lake by about 6:30AM looking for striper without much luck! I did fish the mouth of our cove first thing this morning. As I was heading out I was graphing in about 50 feet of water and marked bait and a lot of arcs. I tossed out a couple of live shiners and also started to vertical jig with a spoon. The live baits were attacked quickly by largemouth bass. I caught 3 very quickly then headed out on my quest for stripers.
The 2.5 inch + rainfall we had the other day has caused the lake to rise almost 1 1/2 feet since Wednesday. This just takes us to a little above normal pool.
The Norfork Lake level is rising and currently sits at 552.33. The surface water temperature was 46 - 47 degrees this morning. The main lake is still clear, but the creeks and coves are very stained. Generation is happening very sporadically during the day.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
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