Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Summer has made its way to Norfork Lake in the Arkansas, Ozarks. The high temperature for yesterday was in the low 90's and today is looking to be about the same. It was 70 degrees this morning at 5AM when I was getting ready to go fishing. I had a successful morning of fishing. I caught 3 walleye, several white bass, several Kentucky bass and two largemouth bass. I headed to the Cranfield area to see if any top water action was occurring on the flats or in the various coves in the area. But to my dismay very little top action except for the carp and gar. I did get a few bass to come up for my spook, but it was relatively quiet in this area. At around 7:30 I decided to start spooning on the deep rock bluff lines. I am glad I did. I ended up spooning up 3 walleye, a white bass and two Kentucky bass. The big walleye was 6 pounds (26 inches long), I also had a 3 pounder but the third one was short. I was spooning in 30 - 40 feet of water at a location that has a lot of underwater boulders.

The backs of creeks are holding many white bass. I sent a guest to a location in Float Creek and they have had a blast the last two mornings. The bite is early and stops once the sun gets over the trees. They caught most on a Zara Spook and once they went down they started to catch the whites on a spoon vertical jigging. They also caught a few small hybrids.

The striped bass are still being caught on free swimming live baits as well as with baits set at depths of 30 - 40 feet. A report from another guest fishing back in the Fouts area reported some big fish surfacing, but all were too far away for him to cast into. They ended up catching bass and a few whites on a spook and ended up spooning in deeper water, catching white bass and Kentucky bass.

All the fish that were cleaned today showed that they have been feeding on crawdads. I'm sure this is one reason for the spoon starting to work. In addition the lake temperature is rising, giving the fish another reason to go begin going deep.

Make sure you still have a top water bait tied on, but be ready to start spooning as the fish are starting to go deep.

The Norfork Lake water depth is at 559.57 with the rise starting to slow. Generators are being run intermittently during the day. The surface water temperature was mainly in the low 70's this morning. With the upcoming hot days and warm nights the water temp should continue to climb. The water in the creeks are somewhat stained. The main lake channels are clear.


Happy fishing and see you on Norfork Lake.