Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The photos taken last week by our Saint Louis and Chicago guests show why Field and Stream Magazine has ranked the Mountain Home, Arkansas area second as one of the best small fishing towns in the US. During their 5 day fishing trip on Norfork Lake and the White river they caught hybrid bass, largemouth, whites, crappie, bluegill, walleye and rainbow and brown trout. The striped bass eluded capture. They fished with a guide on Norfork Lake using live shad and also used a guide on the White and North Fork rivers. They fished on their own for several days and nights using one of our resort pontoon boats. They used live minnows with small 1/16th oz. jigs for their crappie fishing and the walleye were caught using rogues at night. They used an assortment of baits for the trout. The four guys had a great time enjoying Norfork Lake and the surrounding Ozark Mountain area.

I haven't been able to get out fishing myself for 3 days and won't be able to get out until Sunday at the earliest. Here we go again letting work interfere with my play time. Even though I can't get out we do have a full resort of bass fishermen and ladies. They are all owners of Bass Cat boats. So far it sounds like they are all finding fish (large & smallmouth bass) as well as crappie, walleye and catfish. Crappie are hitting some of their small crank baits and the walleye have been hitting jerk baits. I guess a rouge type bait is working during daylight hours. Catfish are being caught on a trot line baited with large shiners. I am sure some will catch stripers before the end of the week with their soft and hard jerk baits. The largemouth bass are sitting on beds and others are staging to start the process. We should have a good spawn again this year as the lake level is up just slightly. This slight rise over normal pool places a lot of buck brush at the lake's edge and should give some cover for the young fry.

The lake level is at 554.3 and rising slowly, 2.3 ft above normal pool. One generator has been running most of the day. The lake temperature has risen to the upper 50's to the mid 60's. We are under a storm watch and have a possibility of a few inches of rain, 1/2 inch of rain so far today. This rain will stain the creeks, but the main lake and mouths of creeks are still clear. The forecast for the remainder of the week is looking OK.

Hope to see you on the lake and happy fishing.