The black bass and crappie bite on Norfork Lake has been outstanding. Even though most people in the area hated the high water that we had in 2008 and 2011, it appears the fish in Norfork Lake benefited. It appears that the high water years have increased the population of bass and crappie and has also increased the size of the fish. This winter I have caught more big bass and big crappie on a routine basis then I have in prior years. Maybe I'm just becoming a better fisherman. (lol) I haven't fished much since my last report, but when I did get out I did well. I have had the best luck on the morning bite verses the afternoon bite, but still am catching fish both times.Today I landed this nice 6.05 pound largemouth with a white 3 inch Berkley's paddletail grub (similar to a swimming minnow). I was using a 1/4 chartreuse jig head on the grub and casting the bait toward the shore line, then working it slowly back to the boat along the bottom. This big boy hit when the bait was roughly in 25 - 30 feet of water. I thought I had a very large catfish on the line because it was fighting so hard to stay on the bottom and not come up. I also spooned up several nice bass from the bottom in 30 - 40 feet of water. Along with the grub and spoon I casted a wiggle wart and caught 4 bass, but all were undersized. Today I fished Float Creek along bluff lines and around brush piles. A week ago I fished in the Diamond Bay area and caught many bass right at sunrise. The bite lasted over an hour in one area. Photo 3 above is an example of the size of fish caught that day. I typically release all fish, but today I cleaned the Kentucky bass and two of my crappie for dinner.
Crappie have also been hitting. Today I caught 5 crappie, all in the 11 - 13 inch range and kept two to eat. I was using a 3/4 ounce spoon fishing for bass and a big crappie slammed my bait in 41 feet of water. I decided to downsize the spoon to a 1/4 ounce spoon to see if the crappie bite would improve and it did. I was fishing in brush in 35 - 45 feet of water and the fish caught were inside of the brush. I have also caught nice crappie using a small curly tail grub as well as my Berkley's paddle tail grub. Retrieval methods that I use are to cast and slowly retrieve with stops along the way to let the baits drop and I also work the grubs vertically like the spoon.
Striper fishing has been another story. The stripers have outsmarted me for the last several weeks. It appears they have moved out to the main lake in deep water chasing shad. I usually start each of my fishing trips targeting stripers but if I can't find them in an hour or two I tend to switch to other species. That was the story today, but I will take a 6+ pound largemouth any day:-) I think all the various fronts, cold, warm then more cold and warm fronts have gotten the stripers confused. Hopefully things will stabilize this week and the striper bite will start to happen again.
The Norfork Lake level is fairly stable and currently sits at 551.67. The surface water temperature was 46 - 48 degrees this AM. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are still a little stained, but starting to clear. The Corp of Engineer is running generators sporadically during the day and maintaining lake level.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
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