Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort 870-492-5113

Norfork Lake fishing has been good for most species over the last week. The weather has been fairly stable with cool mornings and warmer afternoons, but the lake level changes has affected the fish most, in my opinion. The Corps of Engineers has opened up a flood gate to evacuate some excess water from Norfork Lake. Our lake is dropping roughly 6 inches a day. What I have noticed is that a lot of the bait fish are moving out of the backs of the creeks and into the main lake or other coves that are close to the deep river channel. This has mainly affected the striped bass in the lake, but will also affect where the largemouth will start to feed.

The last several days I have been fishing back in a major creek in 15 to 40 feet of water. Each day I have noticed fewer bait fish in the area. When I moved out towards the mouth of the creek, I found more bait, but they have moved into coves and sometimes all the way to the back of the cove. When I find a large concentration of bait, I have found many largemouth and a few spotted bass

feeding heavily. Yesterday in 2 different coves, in roughly 15 to 20 feet of water there were many largemouth feeding close to the surface, as well as right on the bank. Small swimbaits and crank baits are both working, as are jigs worked along the bottom, from 5 feet of water out to 20 feet. I have also gotten into some good topwater action for largemouth. This action has only occurred when there is a lot of bait in the area. Topwater action can occur anytime of day so keep your eyes open.

Hybrid and striped bass are continually moving around in search of their food source. The common saying, when you find the bait the stripers will be nearby held true most of the time in recent days. The striped bass are feeding in very shallow water in the early morning and also in the latter part of the afternoon. Start looking at the shallow side of the lake for this species. They are on points with brush and cover. This is normal for spring time fishing, but it is happening a little earlier than usual. The other type of areas where stripers are showing up is in the backs of coves, but only if the bait has moved in. I have been trolling   Try both and see what the fish want.

Berkley Flicker Minnows, size #7 and #9. The 7 dives about 15 feet and the 9 dives about 20 feet. I am hugging the shoreline staying in 18 to 30 feet of water. I have found that the stripers are also relating to brush piles, so don’t hesitate to troll over the brush, but be prepared to lose a few lures. The other method of fishing for stripers is to cast out suspending jerk baits or 6-inch swim baits. Yesterday afternoon a few of our guests found stripers right on the bank, on a long shallow point. They were casting a swimbait up in 5 feet of water and retrieving slowing and getting hammered, almost as soon as the bait hit the water. With these shallow feeding fish, I would have to say that the stripers are continuing to feed after sunset so If you have interest in some
exciting fishing, start slow rolling a suspending jerk bait on shallow points after dark. Cast your bait as close to the shoreline as possible, then retrieve to the boat very, very slowly. I like to keep the bait on the surface or close to it. Some other fishermen like to jerk it once to get the bait down a couple of feet, then start the retrieval.

Like Hummingbird Hideaway Resort’s Facebook page for frequent fishing report updates. Our fishing derby for Hummingbird Hideaway Resort guests has also started, so if you like a little friendly fishing competition and a chance to win some cash or free stays for your big catch, give us a call at 870-492-5113. Our derby runs throughout the year.

Norfork Lake is dropping about 6 inches per day with both generators and a flood gate partially open. The current level is 556.04 feet MSL. The surface water temperature yesterday morning was 49 to 52 degrees. The lake is clearing, but still stained. If you head up river and up in the Bennett's area the water is still brown from the heavy northern rain a week ago.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake is in its final stages of winter and spring is right around the corner. I can’t wait! I really enjoy winter fishing on Norfork Lake, but I am getting the warmer weather fever. Hahaha! We have several guests staying with us and a couple of them have been crappie fishing. Over the last several days they have caught many crappie, with most on the small side. Today was a different story. This morning they were jigging a ¼ ounce spoon in brush piles that were anywhere from 20 to 40 feet deep. They found some really nice slabs in 22 feet of water. The fish were buried in the brush. They ended up landing a dozen or so 12+ inch crappie and releasing all the smaller ones. This afternoon they went out for a short period of time and again landed a bucket full of nice crappie over 12 inches long. Over the last 5 or so years Norfork Lake has had several high-water events that lasted though out the spawn. High water is a benefit to the fishery as it adds new nutrients into the lake to help feed the new fry, as well as, provides plenty of new cover for the newly spawned fish to hide. To say the least, catching big slab crappie in Norfork Lake is common at this time and when you land a nice 15-inch fish, know that it came from the 2015 spawn year. Yes, it only takes about 4 years to grow to this this size. Over the next several weeks, as the water warms the crappie will begin to school and roam the banks from brush to brush in

pre spawn mode. This will be a great time to slow troll crank baits, such as a Flicker Minnow for these schooling fish.

Not only crappie have been positively affected by the various high-water events, but our bass population has also been greatly increased. Another of our guests has been trolling crankbaits in 20 – 40 feet of water and has done quite well with bass. Largemouth and spotted bass have been roaming close to the shorelines. They have been suspended out away from the bank down 10 – 30 feet deep. I was out looking for striped bass today and started to mark a lot of fish out in

deep water of 60 – 70 feet. The fish were anywhere from 5 to 30 feet down. I had live bait set at 30 feet and the spotted bass were just mauling the baits. I started casting out my ½ ounce chrome colored Kastmaster and letting it sink down to about 20 feet and the largemouth bass were just inhaling the bait. It takes about 8 seconds for my lure to reach this depth with 8-pound monofilament line. I slowly retrieve the bait with a jerk-stop-reel retrieval method.

Striped bass fishing has been a challenge as of late. I am finding stripers lying on top of bait that is so thick you can walk on it. The bait that I find back in one of the major creeks is only 10 – 20 feet down and is in places 20 – 30 feet thick. In a mid-lake creek, the bait is 50 – 60 down, but very few fish. The bait appears to go deeper in the clearer water. I have managed to catch a few, mainly on live bait, but I have picked up a nice fish on a swimbait, as well as, a couple fish trolling a deep diving crankbait, a Bandit Walleye Deep Diver. This morning (2/19) I found an area in the main lake out in 100 feet of water that has minimal bait, but there were

scattered stripers in the area. I did not reach this area until 11:30AM and got to land a nice hybrid. The fish were only 5 to 30 feet deep. As the water starts to warm the stripers will become more active.

As the spring time water temperature begins to rise, all species will become more and more active and aggressive. Most species will start to move in closer to the shore line to feed and topwater action will start to happen, first will be the largemouth bass. I know I am getting excited.

The surface water temperature this morning ranged from 45 – 47 degrees. The lake is fairly stable with a slight lowering of the lake level with both generators running continuously. The current lake level is 560.62 feet MSL which is roughly 7 feet over normal seasonal pool. Some coves and various areas of the lake are still discolored from the recent rains, but all the areas that I have been to are start to clear up nicely.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort - 870-492-5113

Who wants to striped bass fish! The striped bass bite has been pretty good the last couple of weeks. If you like to fish in the dark, when it is cool, quiet and calm, there are several good areas near our resort. I have had guests fishing all night long, and others fishing from sunset until around midnight. Still other guests enjoy the early morning bite and get on the lake around 4AM and fish until about 9AM. The best bait has been live shad or large shiners, but vertical jigging a spoon has also picked up some nice fish. This morning I had a difficult time finding bait, but I had a few left overs, so I headed to my first area and started fishing around 4:30AM. I dropped one bait down to about 30 feet, while sitting in 100 feet of water. I also started to vertical jig a one ounce white spoon at the same depth. It wasn't more than 10 minutes before the live bait rod went singing and I landed a nice 9+ pound striped bass. I continued to jig and got hammered on the spoon, but lost him half way up. Over the next 45 minutes I landed 2 stripers on my spoon and 2 more on live bait. Not bad for a short time. Once it started getting light out the bait and fish scattered. I headed out to a big main lake flat and found fish, but they would not hit my spoon. I moved locations to part way back into a major creek and found more scattered fish at depths from 10 feet down to 40 feet, and I was mainly in 50 - 80 feet of water. My only taker was hooked by casting my Kastmaster. I was doing a steady fast

retrieval, and was stopped dead in my tracks with a big fish taking off the other direction. To say the least I only got to fight this fish for about a minute before he broke off.

Walleye fishing has been very good whether you are dock fishing or fishing out on the lake. There has been many walleye caught off my dock over the last couple of weeks. Live crappie minnows has been working well, or smaller shiners. The best time has been after dark. The fish under my dock have come off the bottom in about 30 feet of water. The other location that has been producing some nice fish is on the normal pool shore line, which is just outside of the sunken buck brush. The water depth will vary, but ranges from 20 - 30 feet deep. Slow trolling a crawler harness with a bottom bouncing weight has been working great. You can also drop shot a shiner to the same depth.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are showing up in the same areas as the walleye. This morning, as the sun was rising, I stopped to check out a few main lake points. While I was heading back into a creek. I had my Kastmaster tied on so I casted to the shoreline, letting the bait sink about 10 feet and started to retrieve the bait twitching it slightly. It wasn't long before I boated a smallie and a nice largemouth. They were probably in about 20- 25 feet of water.


It has been tough finding crappie. With our higher than normal water level the fish have plenty of cover all over the lake. The best areas to find confined crappie are under docks. Live bait or small jigs are working. You can also troll small crankbaits, such as a Flicker Minnow or Shad, in about 20 - 25 feet of water.

The Norfork Lake surface water temperature this morning was 78 - 79 degrees. The water level has finally stabilized with a very slight daily rise, and currently sits at 573.81. The lake is clear with some areas having a slight stain. The lake is high, but in great condition for all you summer time water sports.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort 870-492-5113

Norfork Lake fishing is in the early stages of its summer pattern. This means that the lake has a thermocline forming and many species are close to this level and other species are going deeper. Several species school this time of year while other species scatter to the cooler depths of the lake.

The bite for striped bass and hybrid bass has been excellent over the last week. Yes, you do need to find them, but once you do you are going to have a lot of fun. I had the pleasure of fishing with my daughter's family and two of her friends over the last week and we had a great time. I would take out the girls one day and the next the guys. The girls definitely out performed the guys.  I love to instigate trouble. :-) I am finding these fish in many different types of locations, main lake points, main lake flats, back in the major creeks and some in the larger secondary creeks. In the morning is the fish seem to be congregating close to deep channel swings. These are areas where the creek or main lake channel is curving in close to the shore, especially if it is close to a rocky point. The fish have an opportunity to go shallow to feed on crawdads during the night then move out to deep water to feed on shad during daylight hours. I am finding stripers in 60 - 100 feet of water with the fish suspended from 30 - 70 feet down. A pretty good bite in the afternoon has also started. In the afternoon look for a deep main lake flat or a big rounded point. The fish will be out in the 60 to 80 foot range. You will need to look for the bait and if you can find them the stripers will be nearby. The striped bass are still scattered throughout the lake, but the better areas for me have been around the bridges and heading south. It appears the bigger stripers (at least for me) are at the deepest level, nice fish but smaller ones are up higher in the water column. Live bait, either shad or shiners are working great, but vertical jigging with a spoon is working very well for me. Trolling large swimbaits or deep diving crank baits is also working as long as you can get your bait down below the 35 foot water depth.

Walleye fishing has also been very good.You will find the biggest concentration of fish at or near the thermocline from 20 - 30 feet water depth. As the thermocline drops so will the fish. I am also picking up a few that are out chasing shad while I am striper fishing. These fish have been anywhere from 40 to 60 feet deep. Trolling crawler harnesses with a small spinner has been working very well, as well as, trolling a deep diving crank baits. Both of these baits need to be close to or actually in contact with the bottom to entice the fish to bite. Another good method of walleye fishing is vertical jigging a spoon. I have been using a 3/4 ounce spoon bouncing it off of the bottom.

Largemouth bass fishing has also been good. There is still a little topwater action right before sunrise and then again as the sun is setting. They are located all over the lake from the main lake to the creeks. Most of the topwater action that I have seen has been back in creeks in the mornings and out on main lake flats at sunset. Swimbaits and crank baits are working early in the mornings. As the sun comes up the fish go down. Switch out to some of your favorite plastics either Texas rigged or Carolina rigged. Get your baits down to 18 - 30 feet. I have picked up a few big bass 50 feet down over the last week while striper fishing off of points. The bass are feeding on dark green crawdads, as well as, thread fin shad.

Crappie fishing is still good under docks at different times of the day. The crappie are scattered out in deep water as they normally do this time of year. If you find some 30 - 40 foot deep brush check it out as there will be a few crappie hanging around.

Norfork Lake water level is still falling several inches per day and currently sits at 557.19. The surface water temperature is in the mid to upper 80's. Most of the lake is very clear with some of the creeks and coves slightly stained. Norfork Lake is in great condition of all types of water sports.

Give us a call at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort 870-492-5113 for your summer time vacation. We still have availability for most weeks in July and August. If you are looking for a fishing vacation I will be able to help put you on fish.  I am out on the lake at least 5 days a week trying to keep up with their ever changing locations. If a lake loving vacation if what you are looking for, Norfork Lake is in great shape for your swimming and boating fun.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort - 870-492-5113

January has brought our normal significant weather pattern changes. About 12 days ago we went from the 50's to single digits for about 6 days and even had several inches of snow. Over the last several days we were back in the mid 60's but here we go again with a slight cool down. All of these changes in the weather affect what the bait and fish do. On the 10th of January large schools of fish were feeding in about 60 feet of water, but after the cold snap the hybrids and stripers disappeared, even though the bait was still hanging around. Normal winter time striped bass fishing would have the fish out in the deep water channels feeding on suspended bait in 40 - 60 feet down. The bait is there, but only scattered fish are showing up. With the cold weather and snow, the water temperature dropped about 3 - 4 degrees, but over the last several days the surface water temperature has risen 2 to 3 degrees. All of the changes confuse the fish as well as the fishermen, including me.

We had several fisherman staying with us over the weekend all fishing for stripers, a few were caught, but it was tough going. The areas where I found fish were in the Henderson area close to the bluffs. Big balls of shad were being pushed into the bluffs by the west wind and there were a few stripers hanging around 30 feet down. Both spoons and live shiners caught fish. Yesterday, I was out fishing from the 62 bridge area all the way down to Fouts Marina and only marked a few lone fish. I did more looking than fishing. I heard from a friend that he found  stripers in very shallow water a few days ago, so I guess I am going to need to think outside the box and look at areas that I would typically avoid this time of year. The last two days the wind was howling so I elected to stay at the resort today instead of fish. I will be back at it in the morning and start the hunt again.

I ended my fishing excursion yesterday by doing a little bass fishing. I headed into a cove that the wind was blowing very strongly into. I stopped on a secondary point and found large balls of shad next to the the shore and a few shad  floating on the surface. I tied on a Rogue (a shallow running suspending jerk bait) and started casting to the shore. I gave the bait a couple of hard jerks to get it down, then let it rest for a few seconds, then start twitching the bait softly, then stopped. I did this back to the boat. On the second cast the bass started to get active and I landed 3 largemouth bass in a very short period of time. No monsters, but fun. The wind was blowing so hard that the waves were starting to splash over the boat so I called it a day. The other location where my guests were finding bass was along deep bluff lines. The fish were about 30 feet deep. Live bait was catching these suspended largemouth and spotted bass.

A few small shad are starting to die from the cold water, which is very normal for this time of year. If you can find a school of shad that are distressed, on the surface and close to the shoreline, there will more than likely be bass in the area feeding away. I started to see a little of this yesterday, but I really could not tell if the shad were distressed or just being blown into shore from the strong wind.

Norfork Lake is currently stable and sits at 546.46 feet above sea level. The lake surface temperature yesterday was around 45 degree (+/- one degree). The main lake if finally starting to show some sign of clearing as well as the creeks and coves. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is to be around normal, 40's to 50's in the days and high 20's to low 30's at night.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.