Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The forecasted weather indicates that it's going to warm up a bit on Norfork Lake. I went out fishing this morning and found that it was a little colder than I thought it would be. I guess I better layer my clothes a little more for early morning fishing trips. I started out fishing for striped bass and marked many big arcs, but nothing hit my baits. I had two shiners down and was also vertical jigging. I was fishing in the Bidwell area. One of my neighbors caught an 8 pounder this morning, just shortly after I left. I headed back to the 101 area and was fishing a point leading into the boat dock. I caught one nice Kentucky bass along with a smaller one, both were keeper size. I also caught two undersized largemouth bass, a 14 inch walleye and two white bass. This was the forth walleye I've caught over the last week and this is the biggest so far. I guess I am working my way up to the keeper size fish.

The striped bass are anywhere from 50 feet of water to the deep channel, but they are suspended at about 40 feet. The Kentucky's and largemouth were caught in 30 - 40 feet of water sitting on the bottom. The white bass are in the same areas up to 50 feet down and also on the bottom.

The Norfork Lake surface temperature was 54 - 56 degrees. The Norfork Lake level was 565.9, falling about 6 - 10 inches per day. The Corp. has dropped the lake about 6 feet since the first of December. They are attempting to bring the lake back to normal pool of 552. The main lake is clear and the coves and creeks are stained due to the rapid decline of the lake.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.