Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Fishing on Norfork Lake keeps getting better and better. Last Sunday two of our guests, Steve and Jeff, took a guided striper trip with Robert Lee of Lee's Lite Line and caught several nice stripers and plenty of bass. The largest striper was 14 pounds. They used live shad were casting the bait without weight to a point in the dam area. The bite is still an early morning bite. In the afternoon look for the fish in deeper water. The fish are coming shallow again at sunset.

I have been fishing for the last 3 mornings and have been slamming the white bass, spotted bass and largemouth bass. We have also caught a few smallmouth and a nice 6 pound hybrid yesterday. This morning we caught eight 2+ pound white bass and at least 6 largemouth bass with the biggest weighing about 3.5 pounds. We missed more fish than we caught. All fish were caught on a Zara Spook and we worked it at different speeds. The fish were erupting all around us until the sun got over the trees. Then as stated before the fish switch was turned off. I have reports that fish are being caught in various locations, 6B, 6A, Panther, Float and also up the river from Cranfield. The top water bite is starting to take off and I hope it continues to improve. You will need to be out on the water before the sun rises. An additional report from one of my scuba diving guests is that he is marking fish from 11 - 17 feet down suspended on the deep bluff lines. Nothing is below 17 and nothing above 11. He is marking a lot of walleye and large bass.

I have been catching a catfish or two each day on my trot line. I caught my first blue for this year yesterday morning and it weighed 12 pounds. The rest of the cats have been flatheads. I have been using large live shiners.

Crappie are starting to bite again. Guests have been catching on brush piles that are in 20 - 30 ft of water and the fish are anywhere from 4 - 12 feet down. Live minnows have been working the best. The hottest spot has been under my dock. Two days ago a guest limited out and yesterday he caught 8 with the monster being 15 inches long. These fish are being caught in the middle of the day.

The Norfork Lake level is rising slowly with no generation and currently sits at 555.92. The surface water temperature was 64 - 66 degrees this morning. The lake is very clear.

Have a great fishing day and see you on the water.