Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Early fall has been a great fishing time for the bass fishermen and fisherwomen. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are being found all over the lake. I have had the best luck on bluff line points for spotted bass, deep bluff lines and brush piles for the largemouth and deep bluff lines for the smallmouth. All of my fish have been caught in 30 - 40 feet of water either vertical jigging with a spoon or with live shiners. Live crawdads will work great this time of year for the spotted bass. One guest last week fished a few hours in the morning and a few hours at sunset and after dark. He was pitching a dark colored jig and pig along the bluff lines and caught close to his limit each time he went out. His fish were caught in 15 - 25 feet of water.

I fished with a couple of my guests yesterday morning and we started looking for stripers with no luck so I started to move closer to the points and bluffs. We hooked up with some nice bass, catfish and walleye. We were fishing with live shiners as well as spoons. One of the guests started throwing a small popper at the banks. He picked up a few nice largemouth and a whole bunch of hand sized blue gill. I fished the Fall Creek area, Diamond Bay area and along the Robinson bluffs. We caught fish at all locations. It wasn't non-stop action, but we caught some quality fish.

Last week we also had a couple of pan fisherpeople. They loaded up on large hand size red eared blue gill and had a blast. They took home a freezer full. Crickets were the bait of choice. This was non stop action!

Striper fishing has still been slow. I have had reports of one or two being caught, but nothing to say they are in the fall feeding pattern. This time of year we should be finding them schooled in the mid lake area, but we're not at this time. The lake is still a little warmer than normal so this may be affecting the bite. I have marked stripers, but I can not get them to bite. This is what I'm hearing from everyone I've asked. Once the lake temperature gets into the 60's I think we will see a major change. Of course this is not going to stop me from trying to locate and catch them. If all else fails I will go catch some nice bass and walleye.

Crappie fishing has picked up. You can find them over brush piles that is in 30 - 40 feet of water. The crappie should be suspended about 15 - 30 feet down. Use live minnows, a small spoon or a twister tail grub tipped with a minnow. Keep checking the various brush piles in the lake, you will find them.

The lake level is falling slowing and sits at 551.2. The Corps is running 1 - 2 generators sporadically during the day. The surface lake water temperature has been around 72 degrees. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves cloudy.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.