Weather for the last week has been gorgeous on Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. Air temperatures have been in the 80's during the day and the 50's and 60's at night. We had a small front move through last evening that is going to cool things off a bit for a few days.
Catfish are hitting on my trot line. I'm using large shiners and crawfish. I have been catching 2 a day. This morning I only caught one small channel catfish which I am giving the opportunity to grow a little bigger. The flatheads have began to cruise the shoreline looking for spawning beds. The small channel cats are just starting to come in. The blues will be next. They are typically the larger of the species.
Last evening around 6PM I headed to a cove close to us to see if I could find any crappie. I started to work the banks of a finger in the cove with a chartreuse colored roadrunner. I immediately started catching large bluegill. They are a lot of fun on very light tackle. Every cast I had a hit or a fish. I caught two 10 inch crappie and 4 bluegill in about 20 minutes. The water was calm and the bait fish where starting to surface then all of a sudden the wind went from calm to 20 MPH. The cove I was in was acting like a wind tunnel. I tried to fish a little longer but was having a hard time moving against the wind even on high power. I ended up going back to the dock to wait out the weather.
I spoke with both crappie fishing guides yesterday to see what they have been doing on crappie. Both guides (Jay Smith of Crappies Only and Harvey Hall of Hard Times Crappie) stated that the spawn is in full swing. They have been catching many crappie in very shallow water, 4 ft or less. Harvey likes to go back in creeks and find the stained water and then find some wood along the banks. He is casting a small crappie jig tipped with a minnow, but a live minnow on a small slip bobber will also work. Jay was on the lake when I talked with him and was having one of those days. He was catching fish, but was having to move from spot to spot. He also has been catching crappie along the banks pitching a crappie jig. The spawn should continue for the next few weeks so get out on the lake and have some fun.
The night bite is still going strong for striped bass. One group of our guests had a good night even with the wind causing issues. Right as the sun was setting one was casting a bass assassin on a point. On one cast just as he was getting ready to lift the bait out of the water an 11 pound striper came up and just hammered it. He was lucky to land this fish, I usually lose them when they hit so close to the boat. GOOD JOB Terry! They also caught several nice stripers & hybrids after dark slow rolling a rogue. This morning they had another great trip catching smallmouth, largmouth, white bass and one nice striped bass. They were using live shad this morning pitching various points.
Another of our guests landed a 5 pound brown trout yesterday morning. This is the first brown I have seen in the lake. He was in the Bidwell area fishing for bass with a silver rattletrap. Last evening he caught a nice 5 pound walleye on the same rattletrap after dark. He release the fish to be caught another day.
Isn't fishing just great! I love it.
The Norfork Lake level is falling slowing and currently sits at 555.47 ft above sea level. Normal pool is 552 so we are 3 1/2 ft above normal. The lake surface temp is still in the mid 60's, but should fall a little with the cooler temps the next few days. The lake is gin clear as well as the coves and creeks. To get to the stained water you need to go deep into the creeks.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
No comments:
Post a Comment