Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Two guests from Hummingbird Hideaway Resort had a great morning crappie fishing on Norfork Lake. They headed to one of my favorite holes at about 9AM and ended up catching almost twenty fish with 8keepers. One was 14 inches and two others were 13 1/2 inches long. This is going to be some good eating. Yesterday evening they had a fish fry with their prior catch. I truly enjoyed the plate they brought over. Most of the fish were caught on a crappie minnow with a 1/16 oz split shot. They are using 4 pound test line, casting to the edge of the brush and letting their bait sink. The fish hit the minnow while it's free falling. They were sitting in 40 ft of water casting to brush that was 20 - 30 feet deep. They also used a twister tail grub with some success.

I went out this morning. The striped bass were coming up sporadically. White bass, largemouth and spotted bass were also pushing the shad to the surface. The stripers were coming up in deep water toward the center of the channel while the white and black bass were coming up closer to shore. I had better luck with the white and black bass than I did with the stripers. I caught a couple of nice size largemouth bass and several nice whites. I caught all fish on my white and chartreuse head Zara spook. The guides are catching their limits of stripers using live shad. The fish are being caught both on a free swimming shad as well as on a down pole in 20 - 40 feet of water. Thread Fin and Gizzard shad are being used with great success. The white bass are schooling big time in the back of creeks and coves. Use a Rooster tail spinner or a Road Runner. You can either cast and retrieve or slow troll with your trolling motor. Once you find them, stop trolling and start casting.

Walleye fishing has been picking up. Walleye are being caught in 15 - 20 ft of water outside of the buck brush and on flats. Slow troll a crawler harness with a bottom bouncing weight or drift with live shiners Carolina rigged. Some fish are being caught suspended at 10 ft as well as on the bottom.

Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and is currently sitting at 562.15. The Corp. has been generating at least one generator for the last 30 hours. Norfork Lake water temp is ranging from the mid to up 70's. The water is still gin clear even after the rain showers from last evening.

We have a lot of families vacationing with us at this time. During the heat of the day they are playing in the water (skiing, tubing, swimming, ect..) and in the morning and evening they are fishing. What a great way to spend time as a family and have a great vacation.

See you on the lake and happy fishing.