Norfork Lake Fishing Report

 

Norfork Lake is bustling with fishing activity. The fishing and catching has been great and our guests are landing nice size fish. The Cystic Fibrosis fishing tournament was held yesterday and the winners weighed-in over 16 pounds. They had 224 boats participating for this great benefit and many of the fisher people brought in limits of fish. Bass fishing is good! Next Friday and Saturday the BassCat Owners Invitational is being held on Norfork Lake. We have many Basscat boat owners staying with us that are pre-fishing the lake in hopes of winning the grand prize. But I really think most are here to have a good time, relax and experience some great Arkansas hospitality from Mountain Home and all of its residents.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted Bass fishing is by far the best bite on the lake. Over the past week or so I have seen more 3 - 5 pound bass caught than ever before. I believe this shows that the previous high water years was a benefit to the Norfork Lake fishery with the increase in numbers of fish as well as the size. My guests and I have been bringing in limits of bass on a consistent basis. A lot of the fish are released after photos, but some find there way into the frying pan. Nothing better than eating fresh caught fish. The fish are hitting top water lures early in the mornings and late in the day. Cast a spook, fluke, rogue or your favorite top water bait into the sunken buck brush, let it sit for 10 seconds or so then walk-the-dog back to the boat.You may get hammered immediately in very shallow water or they may follow it back and hit part way back to the boat. It is really exciting to see any fish erupt on that spook and then take off running. Once the sun comes up the fish are falling back into 12 - 20 feet of water. You can then cast crank baits, swimming minnows, jig and pigs. If it is windy try a spinner bait. I have found that the closer to the bottom you are the more strikes you will get. For those live bait fisher-people cast your bait right up into the buck brush with no weights. Let the minnow do its job and attract the fish. I have been getting as many if not more bites on live bait as artificial. Once the sun comes up add some weight to the line and fish in 12 - 20 ft of water right on the bottom.










April has always been a great month for smallmouth bass fishing, but this year it seems even better. I have been catching limits of smallmouth on a daily basis with the  above mentioned methods. Each time you cast your artificial bait or live bait you are not really sure what you might catch. The stripers and hybrids are in the same areas and hitting the same baits. If you want to consistently catch smallmouth bass April is a great time to come to Norfork Lake.

The Striper and hybrid bite is starting to happen, but is still a little inconsistent. At least it has been for me. One day I find them and just have a field day and the next they are gone somewhere else and I can't seem to find them. They should be in the same locations as the bass, and you fish for them in the same way as you do for bass.

I forgot to mention that the walleye are feeding in the same areas as the bass and stripers, I haven't landed any yet, but I know of quite a few nice size walleye are being caught.

Catfish are coming up shallow to feed so if you like to run trotlines or jugs this is a good time to do it. I find that live bait works better than cut bait. Also night crawlers are working on pole fishing. Find some flowing water from a creek or spring and fish the bottom with your crawlers the cats should be in the area.

Crappie are starting to bite, but I haven't had the chance to do any crappie fishing. Not enough time in the day. I guess I should cut down on the sleep! I will try and get some info soon.

Norfork Lake level is falling about 7 inches per day and currently sits at 559.3. Two generators are being run with some partially opened flood gates. This will continue to mid month. The lake is forecast to be back to normal pool by May 1, 2012. The surface water temperature has fallen to the upper 60's. The lake is still very stained with some clearing starting to happen in parts of the lake.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

What a great striped bass bite this morning on Norfork Lake. I headed out to catch shad at 4AM and on my first throw I caught enough for me to fish. I love it when one throw works. I have had mornings that what seemed like 100 throws didn't catch enough. I was fishing alone so I just headed straight out to the same spot I had fished last week for several days. What a change a few days can make in fishing. I set out two down poles to about 40feet and one free swimmer with a large split shot. It wasn't more than 5 minutes before one of my down poles started to sing. I was fighting this fish when the second down pole took off. What a dilemma :-) I decided to land the first fish and as I was reaching for the second I noticed it was under the boat next to the trolling motor. That was all she wrote, the line was cut off by the trolling motor. The third rod that had the free swimmer ended up getting wrapped around my big motor. What I'm willing to go though for a fish :-) The main reason for all the mess up with the poles was that the wind was blowing about 15 miles an hour. It's hard to control the boat in wind when you fight a fish. After the first fiasco I decided to just fish with 2 down rods. This made it much easier. I motored back to my point and set out the two down poles and again it wasn't more than 5 minutes before both poles started  singing. I grabbed one and set the hook and the fish came off, but the second rod was was still going strong. I set that hook and landed the fish. I ended up landing 5 striped bass and missed 4 others. I kept my limit of 3 for the freezer and released the others. I did all of this in the first 2 hours of fishing, what a great morning!!! The stripers I caught this morning were 25 - 50 feet down in 40 - 60 feet of water biting on thread fin shad.

This morning was quite different than a few days last week. I fished 4 mornings last week and did not boat a striper. I fished with my brother-in-law and daughter 2 of the days and we did fair on black bass and white bass, but we could not bring a striper to the boat. One day we did break off two stripers and missed several other short bites. I also had two trips last week with a couple of our guests. Again I could not buy a striped bass bite. We caught some nice smallmouth bass and white bass, but could not find a striper.

The black bass are still in the bushes on main lake points. The white bass are also in the same areas. We caught some nice whites and smallmouth's on 1/4 - 3/8 oz. rooster tails, Rogues, flukes and spooks. These fish are in 10 - 25 feet of water and are starting to go deeper.

Catfish are biting well on trotlines. I caught 4 nice channels the other day with live shiners.

Panfish are also biting well on nightcrawlers, worms, and crickets. They are in the bushes on the bottom. Some really nice red ears and pumpkin seeds are being brought into our dock for cleaning. Many are also being caught off of our dock.

The Norfork Lake level is falling 1 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 575.49. The surface water temperature is stable at around 82 degrees. The water is somewhat stained, but clearing every day.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

If it wasn't for the 20 mile per hour wind it would be a great day to be on Norfork Lake. It has cooled off a bit today, but warmer and less windy days are not far off. The fishing is improving with the warm weather we had the last few days and if we get the warm south winds that are forecast, fishing should start to explode on Norfork Lake.

Stripers are being caught both during the early in the day and at dark and after dark. I fished Saturday evening and caught one nice fish and lost two others. The fish pictured was released after its photo op. I was throwing a rogue and slow rolling it back to the boat. Two important techniques to remember on the retrieval, reel really slow and reel all the back to the boat. The fish that are biting my bait are hitting it just before I lift it out of the water. I believe that they are following it all the way to the boat from the shoreline. One of my quests has been catching stripers with a 3 inch paddle tail grub. He has been catching bass, walleye and striper with this bait. He casts to the shore and lets it sink to the bottom and works it slowly back to the boat. Most of his fish are being caught in 10 - 25 feet of water. He has also had luck with a white Rapala Shallow Running crank bait. No pictures of Ed as he practices catch and release on most all fish.

Robert Lee of Lee's Lite Line Guide Service took a couple of my guests out fishing this morning. Their trip was delayed for about 2 hours due to the lightening, but the late start did not effect the fishing. They were using good sized thread fin shad and were long lining the bait as well as pitching the bait to the shoreline. They ended up catching 5 stripers, 4 were released with the 20 pound fish in the photo going to become a wall mount.

Stripers are being caught at all ends of the lake. Bennetts, Cranfield, Pigeon, upriver, and down at the dam. All of my main information sources are fishing my end of the lake.

Bass fishing has been very good for most folks. Swimming minnows, twister tail grubs, and paddle tail grubs have all been productive baits. It appears slow motion is still working the best for bass. As the lake warms up into the 60's the bass will start looking for faster moving baits. There is also a small window of top water action early in the morning and right before dark. If you can get close enough to the schooling fish cast a top water bait or a rogue and work it through the active fish. Top water action will improve as the water temperature warms.

Crappie fishing is another thing. One to two weeks ago with all the warm weather the bite was getting very good. The cool weather last week slowed the bite, at least for my guests. Crappie are on the verge of spawning so the fish will be going to the banks. Look for fallen timber close to shore and cast a small grub, small swimming minnows, or a roadrunner. You can still find fish suspended over the brush and as the water warms the fish will not be very deep. With all the warm weather a week ago the fish were only 3 - 6 feet down.

The Norfork Lake water level is rising and currently sits at 549.61 ft. This is only a little more than 2 ft below normal pool. The lake has been gin clear, but with this mornings .4 inch of rain it should cloud up the water a little especially back in the creeks and coves. The water temperature yesterday was in the mid to upper 50's, but it has dropped several degrees today. Our end of the lake appears to be about 3 degrees warmer than areas south of Robinson.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Spring has finally arrived on Norfork Lake. It has been sunny and warm the last couple of days and more of the same is in store for us next week. There are a few days of rain forecast, but this will only help the spring bite get better.

The striped bass, hybrids, white bass, black bass and crappie are starting to get very active with the warming of the lake. Yesterday I was marking 50+ degree surface water temperature for Norfork Lake.

Ed, a guest from Wisconsin, was thrilled with the battle given to him from this nice 23 pound striped bass. He states that the stripers are much stronger fish then Muskies. He caught this fish yesterday trolling a Shad Rap back in the Bennett's Bayou area. He was following the channel in around 20 feet of water and his bait should have been about 7 to 8 feet down. He was also using light tackle with only 6 pound test. The fish are coming up. He also noted that there were other boats in the area, both trolling and using live bait, that he saw boating fish. Ed has also caught his share of white bass and hybid bass in many different areas of the lake. I believe the whites have started their spring run and fishing for them will only get better. Look for the whites and hybrids on shallow sand flats. Small crank baits, jigs, rooster tail spinners and gulp minnows should all start to work.

After working around the resort all day yesterday, I decided to see if the night bite was heating up. I have heard though the grape vine that stripers are being caught after dark, but I guess I was not in the right location. I was throwing several different colors of rogues and did catch a few nice largemouth but no stripers. The largemouth bass were caught right as the sun was setting, then I did have a few bumps after dark, but did not hook them. I only fished till about 8:30PM so the bite could have been later.

Crappie are on the brush and should be close to their spawn. Whenever I crossed a brush pile last evening the fish were just stacked from 5 to 15 feet down. The brush that I was marking was in 20 - 30 feet of water. Live bait on a slip bobber should be the most active bait, but throwing a small jig tipped with a minnow will entice a few fish.

The surface water temperature last evening was 50 degrees in the main lake up to 55 degrees back in the creeks and coves. The main lake is clear with the creeks off colored due to the rising water. The lake is rising slowly and currently sits at 545.2 feet above sea level. Currently no generators are running and they have mainly been shut down for that last week or so.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Springtime at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

What a beautiful day. It is 82 and sunny right now (5:00 PM). We're in for more of the same for the rest of the week! I have to admit- I couldn't help it- I planted tomatoes even though I swore I was waiting til mid May this year. I do have enough saved back just in case I need to replant. The herbs and some flowers are planted, shrubs are trimmed (most of them), and the grounds have been mowed for the first time. We're not crazy about the mowing and trimming, of course, but the rest of it is pure enjoyment. The greenhouse I got for Christmas a couple years ago is still bringing me pleasure. There can be no place prettier than Mountain Home, Arkansas on a sunny spring day!

Lou didn't get out on Lake Norfork last night or this morning. He tried to ignore the backache he had but just couldn't do it. He is out fishing now though. He's trying a mid day into the night fishing shift. We also have guests out fishing as well so I'm sure there will be something to report later.

Enjoy these spring days.

Linda