Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I've had a lot of fun the last two mornings fishing in Arkansas on Norfork Lake. Bass fishing has been fantastic early in the morning. The Kentucky bass (spotted) and largemouth bass are hitting top water baits with a vengeance. The striped bass and hybrid bass are also coming to the surface, but not with the frequency that I saw last Wednesday. I think the slight cold front and the 1 inch of rain turned them off a little. The warmer night time temperatures should make them take off again. Friday morning I fished the Cranfield area and caught over 20 Kentucky bass with 6 keeper size. I released all fish. I even caught a double header on a spook, a fish on each treble hook. This morning I sent several of our guests to my Cranfield fishing spot and though I haven't heard a final report, I do know that they caught a 9 pound hybrid on the first cast. (Cell phones are great on the lake) I decided to venture to other areas of the lake this morning to see if I could find more stripers. I failed, but I did catch smallmouth, largemouth and Kentucky's. I first headed to the Diamond Bay area, then went to Panther Creek. I caught fish, but could not find stripers coming up. The weather pattern seems to be stabilizing so hopefully this will help the fish get energized.

I need to apologize to the crappie fisher people. I've been having so much fun striper and black bass fishing that I haven't even thought about going out for crappie. I'll see what I can do about that so I can give you a detailed report. They should be on brush piles in 20 - 30 ft of water, some will be suspended and others in the brush.

I have been baiting up my trotline again and doing well. This morning I caught three nice channels and yesterday a really nice flathead. I am using large shiners and crawdads. The fish are feeding heavily on crawdad, because when I was cleaning one of the hybrid bass on Wednesday it was full of crawdads and shad. So for the bass fishermen that use plastics go with the crawdad colors and shapes (greens, brown, orange.)

The Norfork Lake level is at 562.29 and rising slowly. Two generators are being run about 6 hours per day. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves still stained from the rain last Wednesday. The lake temp has dropped a little ranging from the upper 60's to the low 70's in the morning then rising during the day. The current weather report is for just gorgeous warm weather.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

WAHOOO!!! Fishing for striped bass on top water is finally happening in Arkansas on Norfork Lake. It was a dynamite morning of top water action. I was throwing my favorite Zara spook and had the first fish on at 5:30 AM. The top water action lasted solidly until 7:30, and was still going sporadically when I left at 8:00. I ended up catching 6 stripers and hybrids, 4 white bass in the 1 - 1.5 lb range, 3 spotted bass and 2 largemouth bass. I released all except these three striper/hybrids. That is a lot of fish for one person in 2 hours. (I guess it is fish for supper again. Last evening Linda made a fantastic Thai curry fish.) My big striper was 11.5 lbs and the biggest hybrid was 8.5 lbs. Talk about excitement. Remember, I only use 8 lb test on a spinning reel. Norfork Lake is clear water so you don't want heavy line that is visible. At one point the fish were pushing the shad to the shore line so hard that the shad were literally jumping up on the rocks. The birds were having a field day. Well that is two mornings in a row, so hopefully I can say officially, the top water bite is here and should be here for a while. Of course mother nature will have something to say about this. I have also talked to guide friends fishing the dam area and the top water action was the same for them. I think the whole lake erupted today.

Norfork Lake level is at 561.62 (9.52ft above normal pool) and still rising slowly. The water is clear in the main lake and stained in the creeks and coves. The water temperature is in the mid 70's and holding steady. The lake was flat calm this morning so you could see the top water action all around you.

The lake is in great shape for all water sports, swimming, waterskiing, wakeboarding, jetskiing, and of course my favorite FISHING. So plan your Ozark mountain vacation get-a-way, now.

Happy fishing & boating! See you on the lake!

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It was very productive and fun fishing Norfork Lake this morning. I caught crappie, white bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass (kentucky) and striped bass. All from about 6:00 - 8:30AM and all (except crappie) on a top water Zara spook lure. I was using my favorite color pattern, a white body with a chartreuse head. The fish are starting to surface more, which is what I have been looking for. The feeding frenzies do not last long, but today when they went down they would surface again not far away. It was a blast. I started fishing in a cove by East Pigeon where I caught the crappie, white bass and largemouth bass. Most of the white bass were on the small size, but still fun. If I would have down sized to a Zara spook puppy I could have had a field day catching whites. I moved to the Cranfield area looking for striper top water action. I was fishing along a bluff and they started to come up. I caught two on top water. I also caught small, large and spotted bass in the same area. I was sitting in about 60 - 70 ft of water close to shore, but not casting distance. Once I looked across the lake and for 15 minutes I could see the most fierce eruption I had seen this year, but I have learned that if I start to chase the fish, by the time I get there they are gone, with great reluctantance I stayed put. My patience paid off as they came up again around me and I caught a nice 12 pound striper. I ended up releasing all fish caught today even though most were keeper size fish. One largemouth weighed 3 pounds.

The Norfork Lake level is 561.5 and rising slowly. One to two generators are being run 5 - 6 hours per day periodically. The Norfork Lake water temperature was in the mid 70's this morning and gets warmer during the day. The lake was calm with a slight ripple with south winds. The water is clear in the main lake and slightly stained in the creeks and coves. The current weather is just perfect for all types of water sports.

The fishing couldn't have been better this morning so plan your vacation soon to share in all the fun.

Happy fishing and see you at the lake or at least in our pool.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Hope all are having a great Memorial Holiday.

Norfork Lake welcomed the start of the summer vacation season this week end. We have had families swimming and playing in the pool again. Guests are skiing, wake boarding, jet skiing and swimming in the lake as well. The lake temperature was in the mid 70's yesterday afternoon. Lake level is at 560.22 and rising slowing. Currently two generators are running. They have been running two generators for about 6 hours per day. The main lake is clear, creeks and coves are slightly stained.

The fishing reports I have been receiving have been good to moderate. The guides are fishing the dam area as well as the Bennetts area. They are catching stripers one day, then the next day finding that the fish have moved to new areas. Over the last several days stripers have been caught in East Pigeon as well as the Cranfield area early on top water baits. Top water action is spotty, but you will find fish are coming up if you're in the right spot. Walleye are being caught on the flats as well as main lake points. Wally divers, live shiners and nightcrawlers are all working well. Black bass are still hitting very good. All types of baits are working, crank baits, plastics and spinners. I haven't been out crappie fishing lately and haven't heard much either. They should be on brush piles suspended anywhere from 5 - 20 ft down. Catfish are still hitting jugs and trotlines on live shiners.

Hopefully I will be able to get out in the next day or so. Daily boat rentals keep me busy checking in and out boats.

See you on the lake. Happy boating and fishing.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake produced top water action this morning. My better half (Linda) wasn't the fisherwomen who caught the fish, but she is the person who cooks up the fish. I tried to get her to hold them, but no luck. She also is not willing to get up with me and go out on Norfork Lake at 5AM. I just don't understand this!! I did get into a short period of striped bass top water action. I caught this 8 pound striper and also a diaper striper (undersized). I guess I was a little lucky that I was in the right place at the right time. They started hitting the surface around 6:30AM and it lasted just 20 minutes if that long. The bigger fish was a blast to catch. It came up at about 25ft from the boat. I casted a white with chartreuse head Zara spook a little past the surfaced fish. I was doing a walk the dog retrieval and thought I had missed the fish, but when it was only 4 ft from the boat it hammered the lure and dove straight down. It spooled half my reel so I think it went down to the bottom. It was a good fight. I was sitting in about 55ft of water. I casted a spook most of the day. I landed 6 largemouth bass, one weighing about 2 pounds and the rest around 10 - 12 inch fish. It was a fun few hours. I was fishing the Bennettes Arm area. A guest fishing in the same area caught several nice largemouth and a nice smallmouth, plus several more undersized fish. Big or small, I just like to catch fish, and I had a nice time this morning.

My trotline is still producing, caught a nice flathead and two channel catfish. I am using live shiners as bait.

The lake level is still rising slowly, currently sitting at 560.08. Water is clearing quickly all over except for in the backs of flowing creeks. Our south winds and warm days are really warming the water quickly. I was marking temps in the low 70's this morning and I am sure it will be much warmer in the afternoon. None too soon for the upcoming holiday weekend. The swimmers and skiers will enjoy the warmer water. The forecast is for sun and warm temperatures.

Happy fishing and see you all on the lake.

Vacation Getaway

Hummingbird Hideaway Resort on Norfork lake is ready for your vacation! Are you?

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Attention catfishermen! The bite is happening on Norfork Lake. I have a few friends that have been dragging shiners and nightcrawlers over flats and points for walleye, and are picking up nice catfish along with their walleye. I have taken the easy way out. I set a trotline in our cove and have been using large shiners as my bait of preference. (Our freezer is finally stocked up again with catfish nuggets). Jugging is working well if you don't mind finding them spread over the lake in the morning. The walleye bite is starting to improve, live bait seems to be working the best. The walleye are in 15 - 20 ft of water on flats and points.

I went out striper fishing this morning (chilly!!), and got skunked. I was mainly looking for top water action, but I guess this cold front kept them from coming up. The other boat that was fishing with me was using live shad, that they had caught back in the bayou. They had much better luck and landed two nice fish but lost several others. They said the fish were biting short, one yank and then let go. They had quite a few of these bites. We were fishing the Bennetts area. The weather forecast this week is just fantastic so hopefully the top water bite will start up again.

We had a few people fishing on our dock over the weekend. They caught a lot of crappie, with many being keeper size. Crappie are also being caught over brush piles in the lake. They will be suspended, so you need to find the right depth. Live minnows on slip bobbers are working the best.

The lake level is still slowly rising currently at 560.7 ft which is 7.3 feet above normal. The lake temp this morning dropped to low 60's, but rose quickly as the sun came up. The main lake is gin clear with the backs of creeks very muddy. There is some floating debris in the creeks so be careful.

The weather forecast is just beautiful for this upcoming week and it happens to be a holiday weekend. Come out to the lake and enjoy yourself either fishing or just relaxing.

Until next time happy fishing and hope to see you on the lake.

Getting ready for summer

We have been busy around here this week. The pool will be ready for swimmers in a day or so. It takes quite some time to fill a 50,000 gallon pool. Picnic areas are getting their spring sprucing. Flower beds get a new plant or 2 each day. The herb garden is well stocked and ready for guests who like to add fresh herbs to their burgers.

Lou has been catching a couple catfish each day on a trotline baited with live shiners. I like getting a good supply of catfish in the freezer before our busy summer begins. We clean, filet and bread the pieces before we freeze them. We just put the breaded pieces on a tray until they are frozen and then bag them. This lets us choose how many pieces we want to cook at mealtime, rather than at freezing time. We've tried all different ways to freeze fish and like this method best for fish we plan to fry. We deep fry the pieces without thawing. The breading protects the fish from freezer burn and keeps the fish tasting fresh caught.

Lou has plans to fish in the morning with one of our guests. More fish tales later.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I have had a couple of fun days of fishing Norfork Lake. Yesterday one of our guests and I (both in our own boats) headed to the dam at about 5AM. At about 6:00 the stripers just erupted. It lasted about 40 minutes, by the time we reached the fish we only had about 20 minutes of fun. I only landed one with plenty of other slaps at my bait. As you can see our guest had a great fishing trip. Today we both decided to head to the same location, but this was a new day. I only saw one fish break and our guest coaxed up one striped bass on his Zara Spooks. We were fishing near the Jordan Marina area. At about 8AM I headed back to the Cranfield area. As I was passing Mallard Point I notice several pockets of fish breaking the surface. They looked like white bass. Once I got near the fish they went down. I made a few casts with my spook and on one cast as I started to lift the spook out of the water there was a huge eruption right next to the boat. That fish actual splashed water into the boat. Of course (not to my surprise) I missed the fish. I guess the breaking fish were not all white bass! The top water bite has started, but it is a very early bite and very inconsistent day to day. One thing that I am sure of is that the stripers are pushing the shad to the surface somewhere and also that there are stripers to be caught all over the lake. Hard to cover 550 miles of shore line!! (But I will try) We are also getting some nice evening top water action in our cove. The white bass have made their way in and you can see them feed from our dock.

Large and smallmouth bass are still hitting spinner baits, crank baits and soft plastics. I have had the best luck at sunrise and sunset. I have thrown a bone colored rogue with good success, but it needs to get into the buck brush.

The catfish are hitting jugs and trot lines on live bait (crawdads are my favorite). Bluegill are still plentiful and big. Worms and crickets are working well with them. Crappie have slowed, but you can still get them over the brush piles. They will be suspended over the brush anywhere from 5 - 20ft. You just need to test the depths until you find the right one.

The Norfork Lake level is still rising and currently is sitting at 558.73 (6 3/4 ft above normal pool of 552). The water temp goes from the low 60's in the morning and rises to the upper 60's in the afternoon. The water is getting back to gin clear all over the lake, but the creeks may get stained as we are currently getting a heavy rain.

We still have openings for the upcoming holiday period (Memorial Day weekend). Should be a great time to fish.

See you all soon and happy fishing.

Readying for summer!

This is not the way we typically vacuum the pool, but our handy bissell seemed to be a lot more efficient at catching all the little bits we wanted out of the way before painting began. Yesterday Lou had a nice morning of fishing followed by a full day and evening of painting. 14 gallons of paint, mixed up one gallon at a time. Fishing report later- when Lou gets in off the lake!

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL.

We have a lot of fishermen and women staying at our resort on Norfork Lake this week. They have all been catching plenty of fish and we have been told they are already planning their fall Norfork Lake fishing trip. I made an evening trip yesterday and did really well on largemouth bass. I thought I had a striper on the line with the fight a 3 1/2 pound fish gave me. I fished the Pigeon Creek area and was throwing a bone colored rogue up in the buck brush. A spotted bass (Kentucky) did me a favor. I casted over some buck brush and was snagged. While trying to twitch it out of the brush a 15 inch spotted bass attacked the lure and came out of the water with lure in mouth. I landed the fish and gave it its freedom for saving a trip into the bank. I actually give all my largemouth, spots and smallmouth their freedom. I moved to the Cranfield Island area after the sun set to see if I could find some walleye. No walleye but a 5 pound catfish attacked my rogue right next to the brush. It really gave a great fight. I think this was my first catfish on a rogue.

We had a father son team from St Louis go out with a guide striper fishing on Friday. The guide was using live shad and fished the dam area. They both caught their limits of striped bass. It was the first striper caught for both the son and his 81 year old father. They had a fantastic time and are planning their trip for next spring.

A couple from St. Louis (Collinsville area) have been fishing for several days. Last evening they got into a nice school of white bass in the Cranfield area. They were throwing a clear spook puppy and had a blast, a fish every cast. What more can you ask for. This morning they went out striper fishing on their own. They wanted to fish the dam area so I gave them a few good locations to check out. They ended up catching two 10 pound stripers on weighted white bass assassins. They also missed a few on clear spooks. The major problem was that the man caught the two fish so the wife was not happy, with it being mother's day and all. I told her next time is her turn.

We have others from St Louis and Chicago fishing for crappie and bluegill. The bluegill bite has been great and the size of these fish is amazing. The crappie bite is OK, but has slowed a bit. They are spawned out and have moved from the shore out to the tops of the brush piles. Once you find them you will get some very nice slabs. Nightcrawlers are working well for bluegill and twister tail jigs, tipped with a minnow or just a minnow is working for crappie. When you check-in ask for my brush pile locations. This will give you a great start to your fishing trip.

The Norfork Lake level is 558.27 and rising slowing (4 1/4 ft above normal). One generator is running. Last evening the lake temps where in the mid 60's for the main lake and slightly higher in Pigeon Creek. Water clarity is clear in the main lake and slightly stained back in the creeks due to the recent rains. They will be gin clear again before long.

The above photo shows a couple of our pontoons in the background.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Lake Norfork Fishing Report

This morning brought a nice catch of a 3.5 pound largemouth caught in Norfork Lake. Our guest from the Chicago area, was using a white fluke and casting a point in the Pigeon Creek area. We were fishing out of my boat and fished Pigeon Creek, Cranfield Island and a few coves across from the island. We had OK luck, but not as good as last Tuesday. We caught several smaller largemouth and Kentucky bass. I mainly used a white & chartreuse Zara spook.

I was out scouting for top water action, but it was minimal, very hard to find in the fog. I spotted some action off of Cranfield Island, but it was too far away from where we were fishing. It lasted about 10 minutes, then boat traffic drove the fish down and that was that. I had planned on traveling to the dam area, but the fog changed my fishing location very quickly. It was dense, wet and cool. Several of my guide friends are fishing the dam area and said the striped bass are coming up very early, then once the sun is up the bite stops or slows greatly.

The Norfork Lake level is still on the rise, currently sitting at 556.8 (4.8 ft above normal pool). The Norfork Lake water temperature is in the low to mid 60's and rising slowly. Full moon will be Saturday 5/9/09. It already looks full to me. The lake is gin clear. Even back in coves sitting in 10 ft of water the bottom looks like you could touch it. Down size your line and make sure it is clear or invisible once in the water. The clear water has its benefits, when you miss a fish you can see what you just lost.

Well, hope to see you all soon and happy fishing.

A foggy morning fishing on Lake Norfork

I finally made it out onto NorforkLake fishing today. I wasn't able to make it to all the spots I hoped to because of the heavy fog. It was even difficult to see the front of my boat. Without a GPS it would have been impossible to find my way around. I've been out in the fog before (without a GPS) and ended up going in circles and having to just stop the boat and wait for the fog to lift. I made it to Cranfield Island and stopped on the land side point and started to throw a rogue with no success. I switched to a white and chartreuse Zara spook and the largemouth and spotted bass started hitting on the first cast. I just caught little ones on this point then moved over to the island. I probably caught 15 bass around the island with 3 being keeper size. I headed out in the fog again and made it across the lake from the island. I fished in a cove and caught two really nice keepers. I took pictures with our phone, but I guess I don't know what I'm doing since they are not there. The fog finally lifted so I headed home. If there was any striper top water action I couldn't see it for the fog. I plan on going out in the morning unless torrential rains keep me in. Hopefully the storm headed our way passes us before 5:30AM.

The lake temp has fallen and the water is on the rise. The temp is in the low 60's and the lake level is currently 556.22 (4 1/4 ft above normal) The forecast is starting to look a little better with our normal 20 - 30% chance of thunderstorms. The buck brush is fully in the water, so if this water level remains constant, it should be really good for the spawns and fishing. The major problem with the submerged brush is that you will loose more fish to the twigs. That's fishing!

Catfishing is starting to take off on limb lines and trot lines. I have seen several really nice channels and flatheads come into the dock. The crappie are over the brush piles in shallow water and are biting good. Small curly tail jigs and road runners (both tipped with minnows) are working really well. Bluegill are hitting well on crickets. My guide contacts are catching many stripers using live shad. The fish are on points all over the lake. The bite is starting to heat up. Hopefully I will be able to talk about stripers first hand tomorrow.

See you all on the lake and happy fishing.