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.