Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It rained the last two evenings on Norfork Lake, but currently the rain has slowed and the lake is calm. The air temperature is in the 50's at night and 60's to 70's during the day. It looks like there is another cold front on the way, but that doesn't stop the fishing. I fished for about an hour last evening in our cove. I caught a 15" largemouth and a 16" inch walleye. Both were caught on a rogue jerk bait. I have used this bait for the last few days and have caught several nice bass along with some undersized ones. The bass are hitting the rogue in about 10-15 feet of water and the walleye I caught hit next to the boat which was in 25feet of water. It appears that the lake is turning over that the turn may be almost complete since I am catching these fish on a rogue which only goes down 1 - 3 feet. Once the lake complets its turn, the water temperature is the same down deep and the oxygen levels go back up. The fish should really start feeding heavily for the winter months. Crappie have stayed in the same depths 20 - 30 feet over brush and the black bass and white bass are coming up at sunrise and sunset. To be ready for the topwater bite, have your favorite top water bait tied on and be ready to go at a moments notice. Striped bass should start coming up soon, early morning and late in the evening. During the day they will be in 40 - 70 feet of water close to deep water or suspended in deep water channels. I marked a nice school of stripers in the the Robinson Point area on Friday, but it was so windy I couldn't get my spoon down to them.

The lake level is rising and is currently at 563.08. The Corps is generating one generator a portion of the day. The Norfork Lake water temperature is between 64 - 65 and falling slowly. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves stained.

Have a great fishing day and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Own lawn maintenance crew has been working hard cleaning up persimmons at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort on Norfork Lake. I guess these bucks know about hunting season so they are coming to a safe haven. We have seen 4 bucks at one time and a herd of 8 does and fawns. We also have a group of 8 turkeys feeding on the resort grounds on a frequent basis. It's a lot of fun watching the wildlife from the porch of your cabin.

I finally have my boat back and fished for a about an hour this morning, mainly breaking in the new motor. I did catch several white bass and two undersized largemouth bass. I was spooning in 30 feet of water off main lake points close to the 101 bridge. The whites are schooling and move quickly when you find them in the open water. There were a few bass coming up after shad. I tried throwing a spook, but had no luck with top water bait.

Fishing heats up and then the weather changes to slow it down. I hope Mother Nature starts giving us more constantly normal fall temperatures and weather conditions. Last week was cool with a strong north wind. With the north wind our cove was stocked full of white bass and hybrids, with a few stripers mixed in. Spooning was pulling in some nice 3 - 3.5 pound whites. This week the wind has changed to the south and conditions have changed. My fishing guests are finding large and small mouth bass off of main lake points typically on the bluff side. A few bass are being caught in the submerged buck brush in shallow water. A few are being caught on top water, but they're having the most luck in deep water 20 - 30 feet down. Jig and pigs with a 3/8 ounce jig head are working well, dressed in dark colors.

Reports from my guide friends are that the striped bass are moving up the lake. They are finding some nice fish in the mid lake area close to deep water. The fish are suspended 40 - 60 feet down in anywhere from 60 - 120 feet of water. The main lake points are producing fish, as well as, spots back in the channels of the major creeks. I hope to get out this afternoon to do a little serious fishing.

Crappie are being caught over brush in 25 - 35 feet of water. White grubs are working the best tipped with a crappie minnow. Drift slowly over the brush dragging your bait or cast out, let it sink, retrieve slowly, stop and let sink again. Repeat this action until you get back to the boat. The crappie are hitting the bait on the fall.

The Norfork Lake level is rising slowing at 560.26. The corps is generating with one generator for over 12 hours per day. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are starting to clear but are still stained. The Norfork Lake surface temperature is around 66 degrees and falling slowly. I am looking for about 60 degree water temperature to help trigger the striper fall top water bite. Hopefully by the end of this month or the beginning of November.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It is a rainy morning on Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. We have had our share of rain in the last week as has the rest of the country. The lake is rising slowly, which is a good thing. The buck brush and the shore line foliage is going under water which give the bass a great place to feed. My current guests are throwing crank baits that dive about 8 ft and catching many large and smallmouth bass. The water temperature is slowly dropping which is also a very good thing. With the 65 - 68 degree temperatures the bass, crappie and walleye are becoming much more active and are really starting to feed aggressively. Sunday afternoon one of my guests caught his limit of walleye using a 2 ounce bottom bouncing weight attached to a night crawler harness. He was fishing along bluff lines in 25 - 30 feet of water. Last evening another guest got into some top water white bass. They had a blast throwing top water baits and then spooning when the fish would go down. They were fishing at the mouth of our cove and said they could see the fish erupt all the way towards the 101 bridge. Another guest has been crappie fishing and the large slabs are being caught in 20 - 30 feet of water over sunken trees/brush. Live crappie minnows are the bait of choice. Roadrunners and curly tail grubs are also producing some nice fish.

I should have my boat back this week, I can't wait.

The Norfork Lake water level is currently at 558.7 and slowly rising. The corps is running one generator about 6 hours per day. The current water temperature is in the mid to upper 60's. The main lake is clear, but the creeks and coves are dingy greenish brown with all the rain and runoff that we have had.

Have a great day and see you all on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The fishing and weather has been really good the last couple of days on Norfork Lake, in the Arkansas Ozarks. My boat is still in dry dock, but I did get some fantastic news last week, Yamaha has approved replacing my motor with a new one. They don't have the main drive shaft in stock so they are just going to replace all of it. Hopefully I get it back within the next week. I am really going crazy not being able to be out on the lake fishing. My wife is somewhat happy, I am getting a lot of honey do's completed.

Largemouth and Kentucky bass are surfacing at sunrise and sunset and are also up on the banks feeding. Any top water bait is working well for the surfacing fish or you can throw your favorite plastic bait and work it back to boat slowly along the bottom for those feeding on the shoreline. My preference is the Zara Spook for top water and a 10" motor oil colored worm Texas rigged. During the middle of the day the bass are going deeper on main lake points and rock bluffs. They are in 25 - 35 feet of water. Work a brown or dark green jig & pig slowly back to the boat. These fish are feeding on crawdads. You will pick up as many smallmouth on your jig & pig as you do black bass.

Crappie fishing is starting to pick up. I have seen quite of few nice size slabs coming into the dock. The fish are in 25-30 feet of water over sunken brush. Live crappie minnows are working the best.

White bass are schooling. They are being found in two different places, midway back in the large creek beds and also on the the main lake flats. Small spinners are working well as well as vertical jigging with a spoon.

Striped bass are on the move. They can be found from the two main bridges down to the dam. They are still deep, any where from 40 - 80 feet down. Vertical jigging with a spoon is producing some, but live shad is still the bait of choice. Large shiners are starting to get a few fish. The changing weather patterns that we have been having are keeping the fish on the move. You may find them in one area today, but they more than likely will not be there tomorrow. Once the weather settles a little and the lake drops another few degrees, the fall top water bite for stipers will be happening! Should be soon. One of my guides friends spotted a few striper breaking surface last weekend.

The Norfork Lake level is dropping and currently is sitting at 554.86. The Corps is running one generator about 24 hours per day. The lake is clearing nicely even in the creeks and coves.I have had reports of the lake water temps between the upper sixties and low seventies.

Hopefully I will see you on the lake soon!!!

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The weather has been gorgeous for the past few days on Norfork Lake and the forecast is calling for much of the same with cooler temperatures. The cooler temps should help to improve the already good fishing. We have several guests bass fishing and catching their limits and more each day. Many of the fish being caught are slightly undersized, but this morning one of our guests brought in a nice stringer of small and largemouth bass (3 - 4 pound range) as well as four 15 - 16 inch Kentucky bass. Their bellies were full of crawdads. Dark colors (browns) were working the best for him this morning. He likes to use a jig and pig and is working it off the bluffs down to about 35 ft. He caught most of his fish this morning in about 20 feet of water. I have heard from a few divers that they are seeing many fish over brush piles in 30 - 35 feet of water, large fish. Crappie are hanging around in the same area and can be caught on live crappie minnows with a slip float or with a 1/16 oz. jig with a twister tail grub. I have found it beneficial to tip the jig with a crappie minnow.

A few of my fishing guide friends have been fairing well on striped bass and hybrid bass. They have been fishing near the bridge columns using live threadfin shad. They have also been catching many Kentucky bass right on the columns in about 20 feet of water. With the water temperature cooling slightly the striped bass seem to be dispersing a little. Hopefully with about another 10 degree drop in water temperature we will get into our fall top water bite.

I have been going through fishing withdrawal. My Yamaha four stroke engine threw the nut off the drive shaft that holds the fly wheel on and did a lot of damage. The motor is only a few months out of warranty and I have been working with Yamaha to hopefully cover the damage. I should know this week who gets to pay for it. I have asked around and so far no one has heard of this happening before. I guess I'm lucky to get to be the first!

The Norfork Lake level is holding fairly steady at about 557, which is 5 feet above normal pool. The Corps. is running two generators about 6 hours per day. The Norfork Lake surface water temperature is in the mid 70's and falling slowly. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves cloudy.

Happy fishing and hope to see you on the lake soon.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

After a week long low pressure system covered the area and dropped 3 - 4 inches of rain, I can now say that the fishing is picking up. The bite was really slow last weekend but started to pick up around Wednesday or Thursday. The rain has slowed or stopped for awhile and the sun came out today. We had guests catching crappie, bass, catfish and blue gill. They were fishing with live crappie minnows and nightcrawlers. They were mainly fishing brush piles that I have placed in over the years and the crappie bite really started to improve throughout the week. The fish are in 15 - 25 feet of water and are hitting well on live bait or a small tube jig hooked with live bait. Other guests have been fishing for bass. They started to catch fish along banks near deep water using crank baits and spinners. I guess the cooler water is letting the fish come in close to the shore line to feed. Guests were also catching nice large and smallmouth bass using shaky head worms and lizards in 20 - 25 feet of water. Dark colors were working the best. We had other guests strictly catfishing. They started catching nice blue catfish and flatheads on trot lines using live blue gills. Their biggest was 12 pounds, but most ranged in the 4 - 5 pound range. Earlier in the week catching bait fish was even a challenge. Thank goodness the low has moved on ane the fishing has picked up.

The live bait striper guides are still doing well. The best bite is still from point 2 to point 1. The fish are in deep water so either use live bait or vertical jig with a spoon in 40 to 80 feet of water. The fish are typically on the bottom, but you may find them suspended especially when you find them feeding on a school of shad.

The lake level is on the rise and is currently at 555 feet above sea level which is up 1.5 feet over last week. The level is about 3 feet above normal pool. The rain really came down in our area. The main lake is clear, but not gin clear and the creeks and coves are cloudy to muddy due to all the rain and rising water. The Norfork Lake surface water temperature has dropped to the mid to upper 70's.

Keep watching my posts. If the water temperature continues to drop at the current rate the fall striped bass top water bite and night bite may start earlier than normal. Last year from about mid-October through mid-November the early morning and evening top water bite was just fantastic.

Start planning you fall fishing trip. The lake will be gorgeous with the leaf color change and fishing is a lot of fun.

See you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The fishing patterns on Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks has been unchanged for the last 3 - 4 weeks. The fish are deep, but once you find them you will have a great time. I have been out the last couple of evenings for about an hour around sunset and have had good success. I have been vertical jigging with a spoon in 30-40 feet of water and have caught white bass and kentucky bass. I have been fishing main lake points on bluff ends. I have mainly been working the Cranfield island area.

September through November is a popular time of year for bass fishermen on Lake Norfork. We currently have several guests fishing for bass and having a good time. They are using plastic worms and lizards. The fish are around the bluff banks and on bluff points in 25 - 35 feet of water. Yesterday one guest caught over 20 largemouth, smallmouth and kentucky bass with the largest being 4.5 pounds. Darker color baits have been working the best since it has been cloudy. Lighter colors seem to work good on clear and sunny days. Jig and pigs are also working very well.

Walleyes are being caught in the same areas and depths as the bass. You can either vertical jig with a spoon or drag a Lindy rigged crawler harness. Try to find big chunk rock on the points or bluffs.

We have another guest who is fishing for striped bass. He landed a 18, 15 and 12 pounder yesterday afternoon and this morning landed a 20 and 15 pounder. He is using live shad and catching the fish on the bottom in 60 - 80 feet of water. Vertical jigging with a spoon will also work. Watch your fish finder and when you find the school drop your spoon through the school and start jigging up and down. The Striper usually hit the spoon on the fall. If you see your line go slack set the hook quickly.

Catfish have been active on trotlines and jugs. Live bait is working the best. Use small bluegill, large shiners or crawfish. I have been catching blues, flatheads and channels.

Blue gill are still biting very well. Nightcrawlers and crickets are the best baits at this time. You can find the panfish close to shore as well as in 20 - 40 feet depths.

Crappie are holding over the deep brush piles. I have caught several while jigging with a spoon. They are in 20 - 40 feet of water over the brush piles or large trees that have been sunk. When you find the brush, use a live crappie minnow and a slip float for best results or a twister tail grub with a 1/16oz jig head. Tip the jig with a live crappie minnow, cast the jig over the brush and let it sink to the top of the brush pile then pull back and let it sink again. Watch for your line to go slack or start moving sideways, then set the hook.

The Norfork Lake level is mainly holding steady at 553.2. The lake surface temperature is in the low 80's. Main lake water is clear with a slight green tint, the creeks and channels are stained. The Corps is running one to two generators for about 5 - 6 hours per day.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.