Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Happy New Year to all and may the new year bring you many exciting memories of catching fish on Norfork Lake. The sun is shining with no clouds in sight. What a gorgeous day to start the first day of 2010 at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort.

The winter bite for striped bass, white bass, Kentucky bass, largemouth bass, and crappie is in full swing. Some undersized walleye have been caught recently, hopefully we'll see the larger ones soon. The striper bite has been fantastic. Since so many species are biting well it makes it difficult to decide what to fish for. I decided for my final catch of the year, I would striper fish. I headed out yesterday around 10AM to the same area my guests caught fish the day before. (check out the blog from 12/30/09, nice fish!)I ended up landing 2 - 10 pound stripers, broke off one other and had 4 - 5 short bites. I also caught several nice white bass spooning. The Stripers were caught on live shiners. I had the boat in 60 - 70 feet of water and the stripers were on the bottom to 25 feet down. When I drifted over a school of shad I started to vertical jig and found that the whites were feeding under the ball of shad. All fish were released except for this stiper in the photo. The white bass was released after he had his picture taken. The striper will make it to the frying or baking pan. Another striper fisherman, fishing near the same area pulled in several nice stripers and a monster Blue Catfish that weighed 41 pounds. I could hear him screaming during the fight that he had a monster. It was a monster!

Crappie, walleye, Kentucky bass, and largemouth bass are are hanging in the same areas. They are around brush piles on the rock bluff lines, in 30 - 45 feet of water. At least that is where I have been fishing and catching. I have been vertical jigging with a 3/4 ounce spoon, and I also use a small grub with a twister tail tipped with a crappie minnow on a 1/16 ounce jig head. The bite is light so pay close attention to your line.

We will see what today brings. The sun is shining and the wind is light. Who knows, I may be able to catch my first fish of 2010 today. What to fish for?? Decisions, decisions!

Norfork Lake is clear in the main lake and stained in the creeks and coves. The Lake level is starting to fall slowly and is sitting at 559.75 above sea level with normal pool at 552. The Corps is starting to run all generators again. The lake surface temperature is around 47 degrees.

Happy New year and see you on the lake.