The Norfork Lake spring fishing bite is in full swing. It is very hard to say what is the current best bite on the lake, but I guess I would have to say it is smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass. Coming in a very close second would be hybrid bass and striped bass. The walleye and crappie bites are picking up and the catfish are hitting trotlines and jugs. Oh yeh, throw some white bass into the mix and you have the full spectrum of fish on Norfork Lake. Pick your species and go out and have fun. I guess I am making it sound easy, every day has its ups and downs, but I believe this is a great time of year for fishing. Norfork Lake is a very dynamic place right now, the fish are continually moving, the lake is dropping rapidly, the water is trying to clear-up and Mother Nature has thrown in a few cold fronts on occasion to make sure we get fishing changes. After our 11foot rise in water a few weeks back the bite stalled for about 4 days after the rise, but boy has the bite come back with a vengeance.
The smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass bite for this spring is the best I have ever seen. You can find fish on shallow points as well as on deep bluff lines. Crank baits that dive about 10 feet are catching nice fish. Spinner baits on windy days are working great. Probably the most productive baits are the tube jig, jig and pig, and Texas rigged worms worked slowly along the bottom. Start your baits in around 5 feet of water and work it through 25 feet depths before you bring it up. Crawdad colors of the green to the deep reds are working well. Of course, swimming minnows / grubs worked close to the bottom are also effective. I am finding bass up very shallow early in the morning with some top water activity. If you see the top water action throw a Zara Spook. I have caught many smallmouth this way early in the morning. As the sun comes up I have found the fish dropping back to 10 - 20 feet depthsr. The largemouth and spots are typically in the 10 - 15 range and the smallmouth seems to be in the 15 - 20 range. You can find bass all over the lake. Live bait is working exceptionally well.
The striper and hybrid bass bite are improving by leaps and bounds. Just today one of my guide friends, Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters, caught a limit for 2 clients in 50 minutes and continued to catch and release thereafter. Tom was fishing the dam area with live shad. I have been catching hybrids and stripers up close to the banks early in the morning with Zara spooks, Flukes and free swimming live shad. After the sun rises fishing with swimming minnows should also work. Live bait is still one of your best options. Drop a couple baits down about 20 feet and also have a few free swimming baits thrown towards the shore. The fish are continually moving and if they are in the area they will find your bait. The dam area has been one of the better bites lately, but the fish are starting to bite in the Bennetts area, Float and Panther creeks as the water in these areas are starting to clear. I am going to concentrate my striper fishing to these areas next week. I will let you know.
Walleye fishing has improved. Several of our bass fishermen have been catching some nice fish off the ends of deep bluff lines with crawdad colored crankbaits. The walleye seem to be in about 10 feet of water. I caught a nice 22 inch 3.5 pound walleye the other morning before daylight throwing a suspending rogue at the ends of docks with lights.
Channel cats are coming into shallow water to feed and spawn. A couple of our Bass Cat guest set a couple of trotlines and were baiting them up with live shiners. They ended up catching a bakers dozen. the best part of their catch was that they ended up catch 4 nice cats on bare hooks. Yes I did say no bait. They had set their lines one evening then a storm rolled in and they didn't get a chance to bait them up. The next evening they went out to bait up the lines and ended up finding 4 cats with no bait. These fish must really be hungry.
The lake level is currently falling about 8 inches per day and sits at 555.84. The Corps has forecast to be at normal pool of 552 by April 22, 2012, The quick drop in water level will slowly diminish over the next week until the level stabilizes. This will also enhance the clearing process. The surface water temperature yesterday morning was from the mid to upper 60s. This should help spur on some top water action. The lake is still stained, but is having color changes showing the clearing process has started.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
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