Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Hummingbird Hideaway's dock on Norfork Lake had a lot of action yesterday. We had several fisher people catching fish at the dock all day long. Bluegills and sunfish were being caught by kids of all ages with the nice panfish pictured above caught in 4 feet of water on a nightcrawler. A 3.5 - 4 pound largemouth was caught, as well as a 25 pound carp and a 4 foot long gar. Yes, the two gentlemen are brothers. One of them caught the big catfish that I blogged awhile back.

Another group of guests have been fishing the early morning hours for stripers. Yesterday morning they caught their first striper along with many largemouth and white bass. They were vertical jigging in 30 - 50 ft of water in the Cranfield area. They had successful mornings on both Thursday and Friday in the same general area.

The fish are still holding at the thermocline in 30 - 35 feet of water. Vertical jigging is working well once you find the schooling fish or the bait fish. Walleye are on the bottom and the whites, largemouth, and stripers are either on the bottom or in 50 - 70 foot depths suspended at 30 - 35 feet. Bluegill and sunfish are being caught at all depths. Crappie are hanging around brush piles in 30 - 35 feet of water.

The surface water temperature on Norfork Lake is in the mid to low 80's with some high 70's being marked early in the morning. The water temp. should rise with the upcoming warmer temperatures. The lake level is 555.22 with generators being run for half of the day. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are off color.

Well until next time happy fishing and see you on the lake.

The Lake Norfork Bluegill Hunter

Hummingbird Hideaway Resort welcomes Guest Blogger, Nathan with an account of his morning fishing on Lake Norfork. Pictured above is Nathan and his daughter, 'the bluegill hunter.'You may recall seeing this young lady in one of our earlier blogs with her "June catch." She's back for a two week visit and is putting food on the table again! "The Bluegill Hunter" is pictured to the left with her granfather. Here is Nathan's blog...

We took the bluegill hunter with us this morning!

We went down by Robinson Point with no success, then we headed to the Cranfield area where I spotted a bunch of bait fish in the 30 ft flats around the island. I caught a few 12" Largemouths on a Bink's spoon, then things calmed a little.

Then we headed north of the island to the points on the north side of the lake. We saw a lot of splashing but by the time we were over there all that was on top was a lot of gar. We spotted large schools of bait fish in about 25' of water so we started jigging and had some fun. I caught a good size white bass that ended up in the lake (long story) then a good size largemouth that flipped out of the net, anyway we ended up with this 16"er that my dad hauled in.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Several of our fishing guests have had good luck with early morning and late afternoon fishing trips. They were fishing with a live bait fishing guide, Tom Reynolds, of STR Outfitters. The largest Striped bass was 16 pounds, but all fish gave a great fight on Tom's 10ft long poles with light line and tackle. They were using live shad and fishing in 35 - 55 feet of water. The stripers were on the bottom, as well as suspended in 20 - 30feet of water. The Striper bite is going strong and improving each day. The afternoon bite started last week and seems to be holding. The fish are being caught in the mid lake area not far from the bridges. Stripers are also being caught on spoons by either vertical jigging or casting the spoon and letting it fall to the bottom, then giving a few quick cranks and letting it fall to the bottom again. The fish will typically hit the spoon on the fall so watch your line carefully.

Spotted bass, large mouth and white bass are being caught close to the surface early morning and at sunset on main lake points. Keep a top water bait handy for these times. As the sun rises the fish including small mouth bass are going deeper to 20 - 40 feet of water. Throw a grub or your favorite plastic bait up to the shore and then let it drop to the bottom and retrieve slowly.

Crappie and walleye are being caught around brush piles in 30 - 40 feet of water. Live crappie minnows are working well for crappie. Night crawlers and shiners, Carolina rigged are working for the walleye. Vertical jigging or casting a spoon and letting it fall to the bottom is also working for walleye.

Since my boat is rented this week I haven't been out pole fishing, but I have been setting my trotline. I have been catching some nice flatheads, channels and blues. Jugging is also working well with live bait. I have been using shiners, goldfish and crawdad for my baits.

Start thinking about your fall fishing trip. The stripers and hybrids usually start surfacing once the water temperature gets back in the 60's and 70's. The crappie will stay over the brush, but will become more active in the cooler water. We will also start having our late night bite for striped bass and walleye. This is one of my favorite fishing times.

The Norfork Lake water level is falling and is at 556.36. Both generators are being run 12-18 hours per day. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves somewhat stained due to the receding water level washing mud into the water. This will clear once the water level stabilizes. The lake surface temperature52. is in the mid 80's and holding.

As for the vacationing non-fishing boaters. The water has been calm with little or no wind early and a slight chop in the afternoon. I find the water best for skiing, tubing and wakeboarding early in the morning. Not many boats are on the water and you can travel for miles and be in complete solitude except for the occasional eagle fishing or deer coming down to the waters edge for a drink. The air temperature has been in the 70's early and 80's in the afternoon. Overall a great week to play on Norfork Lake.

Until my next report happy fishing & skiing. See you on the lake.

Fishing Fun

One of our regular guests from St. Charles sent me this photo to do a little bragging. Even though Norfork Lake produces 60+ pound Blue catfish, this 84 pound Blue was caught on rod & reel in the Mississippi River. He and his partner caught about 600 pounds of fish one evening and all were released. Nice fish Kyle. We will try and catch a big striped bass this year when you are down.

I tried to go out fishing on Norfork Lake this morning, but the lightning kept me home bound, maybe I'll be able to go tomorrow morning. I did get out on Tuesday and Wednesday and had a good day Tuesday and a slow day on Wednesday. I have been fishing the Robinson Point area with live bait (medium size shiners and gold fish). I have had the best luck with shiners. The fish I caught have been on the small size 5 - 10 pounds, but I like catching any fish. I've released all fish lately. My secondary spot is off of a point heading back into the Bennetts area. On this point I have been catching some really nice spotted bass and a few walleye. Here again the shiners out fished the gold fish. I am going to try crawdads and shiners the next time. The fish are starting to school, but the schools are still small. There is some early morning and late evening top water for whites, spotted and large mouth bass. One of my guide friends fished until 9pm last evening and said the stripers really started to bite well around sunset. Hopefully this means the night bite has started.

Fish are being caught at 30 - 40 feet of water either on the bottom or suspended in 50 - 70 feet of water. Fish main lake points or flats at this water depth. Vertical jigging is also working very well at this depth. I will start spooning soon after I finish testing out the live bait.

Norfork Lake water level is dropping 3 - 4 inches per day and currently is at 557.37 feet, only 5 feet above normal pool. The lake water temperature has fallen slightly, but is still in the mid 80's. The main lake is clear and the creeks and cove are a little muddy due to the 3 inch rain last evening.

See you on the lake and happy fishing.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I have been going through fishing withdrawal, but finally today I was able to get out on Norfork Lake for a great day of fishing. I fished with one of my striper guide friends, Robert Lee, of Lee's Lite Line and we had a fantastic day of fishing. We were on the lake at 3AM in order to net live shad. We ended up getting about 50 nice size thread fin shad and then left for the Robinson Point area around 4:30AM. We were fishing the flats outside of the island. At around 5:15AM the fish started to hit non-stop for about an hour. We ended up catching hybrid bass and stripers in 25 - 35feet of water. The fish were on the bottom and feeding heavily. The bites were coming so quickly that we ended up missing as many fish as we caught. We left this area and headed to several points around Bidwell Point. We were marking plenty of fish, but found no takers. Our last stop was back in the Bennetts area. We fished a point at around 35feet of water and were catching nice size Kentucky bass. I caught a nice 5 pound walleye. Robert wanted some Kentuckys for dinner this evening for his fish tacos. We had fried walleye at our house. mmm good!

Vertical jigging would have worked well today. The fish were schooling and in a feeding frenzy. There was very little topwater action today. I think most fish will be caught in the 25 - 40 foot range from this point until the cool fall weather starts.

I will be back to my normal fishing schedule next week so hopefully the fish will react the same to artificial baits as they did today on live bait.

The Norfork Lake level is currently at 558.4 and falling. Two generators are running most of the day. The Norfork Lake water temperature is in the mid to upper 80's. Water is clear.

Well I'm am off to bed, it has been a long but very productive day. See you on the lake and happy fishing.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The fish are still biting and top water action is active at sunrise and sunset on Norfork Lake. I went fishing yesterday morning and caught two nice hybrid bass. One was 8 pounds caught on my top water Zara Spook, the other was 7 pounds caught on a 2 inch "Baby N" crank bait. I was fishing the Robinson Point area close to the Big E. A couple of guides were fishing with live shad closer to the island. One limited out by 7:30AM and the other landed an 18 pound striper. The striper bite, white bass, Kentucky bass and largemouth are still active back in Bennetts area as well as outside of our cove. The fish are coming up in the main channel and some are suspended in 20-40 feet of water. The fish are in transition, but soon they will all be down around 40 feet. One of our guests has been fishing back in the Bennetts area with live shad. Today they caught over 20 fish, 3 were stripers, one walleye, and the rest were white and largemouth bass. They had a great time fishing and enjoyed their time swimming in the pool and lake this week. We enjoyed having them here at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort. Seeing our regular guests return year after year reinforces that we are doing what we need to do to keep them coming back.

The Norfork Lake level is being lowered by the Corps. They are running 2 generators most of the day. The lake level currently sits at 560.56. The Corps forecasts the lake to be at normal pool by July 26Th. The Norfork Lake temperature has dropped slightly over last week and is in the low to mid 80's. The water is clear with a slight stain in the creeks and coves.

No pictures or fishing for me for a week. My boat is rented out and my daughter has taken my camera for a few days. I will keep you informed with the information I get from my guide friends and fishing guests.

Until next time happy fishing and have a very happy and safe 4th of July.