Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The weather in the Arkansas Ozarks and on Norfork Lake is starting to settle back to normal. Our daytime temperatures are in the mid 40's and the nighttime temperatures are in the upper twenties. Makes for a cool morning of fishing but the bite has been better earlier rather than late for striped bass. Last week a couple of our guests had a really good morning striper fishing. They were fishing in the Henderson area using live shiners. Over the last week the best locations have been in the deep channels. They had their bait 50 - 60 feet down where they were seeing a lot of bait fish. The bait fish are suspended in 80 - 120 feet of water. They ended up landing 4 and missed netting a fifth. They also at least 6 other bites that were missed. The stripers ranged from 10 - 16 pounds. The trick is finding the bait fish. I have been out a couple of times in the afternoon over the last week and really have had a hard time finding the bait. Usually around 5PM I find the bait but it is getting late and starting to get too cold for me. The mornings have been chilly, but I guess I am going to have to suck it up and go out at sunrise. The stripers are hanging in and around the bait so set your shiners just above the bait or if you are spooning drop the spoon to the top and start jigging or let it fall all the way through the bait then reel up through through the bait and start jigging over the top. With the cold water a slower presentation works the best for all species.

I haven't been out bass or crappie fishing lately so no news from me. I have heard that crappie are still on the brush, but are going a little deeper. They may start to come back up with the warmer days we are having. You should be able to find them 10 - 25 feet down, over and in the brush.

The Norfork Lake water level has dropped to 542.6 and falling about 1 - 3 inches per day. The lake is getting really clear. The surface water temperature was 42 - 44 degrees yesterday afternoon.

Remember that in this cold water slow down your presentation and also downsize your artificial baits. The lake is clear so using light and clear line will get more bites.

Have a great day and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Happy New year to all!

It has been a pretty busy winter for Linda and me, but I am finally back to fishing on Norfork Lake. I think I have only been out on the lake a couple of times, so I am more that ready to get back at it. I headed out on the lake around 1PM to try the afternoon bite. My goal was to striper fish and try to find where the fish are feeding. I did a lot of graphing. I started graphing around the 62 bridge and Henderson area. I marked bait and some fish, but nothing real exciting. I then headed to the mouth of float creek. I headed towards the hump and marked a nice school of striper. I set out four down poles with large shiners. Two at 60 ft and 2 at 45 ft. But as happens on occasion (more than I like to say) I could not find the school again. I was getting ready to move and one of my deeper poles bent to the water. The fish started to run, then it just stopped. I thought I was snagged, then took a quick glance at the depth find and saw I was in 99 feet of water. I finally felt a few head shakes and a constant pull straight down. For about 10 minutes each time I gained on the fish, it headed to the bottom and gained on me. It was a good fight, but I knew it was not a striper. It had to be a huge walleye or a big catfish. Low and behold it was a monster blue catfish. As I was trying to net the fish the hook came out and the cat just layed on its side. I got the net over the head with the tail hung over the edge. It was fun trying to get the fish into the boat, but I finally did. The cat weighed well over 50 pounds as my scale maxed out. I am guessing in the 65 pound range. I am still using 8 pound test monofiliment fishing line on light tackle.

I resumed my search for stripers and graphed back by the 5A marker and didn't see much. I did mark a lot of smaller fish, largemouth and Kentucky bass when I got into less than 40 feet of water. Spooning would have worked as these fish were in good size schools. I headed over the mouth of Fall Creek and then to Panther Creek and again I marked bait, but no fish. I graphed the bluff line along the number 4 marker and started to mark stripers and a lot of bait. I set out my poles and my bait was continually becoming excited, but no strikes. There was fish, but I guess the Arctic blast that we had slowed the bite. Hopefully the warmer days will turn the fish on!

I currently have a guest striper fishing and he had a similar type day. He did land two small stripers, marked plenty of bait and fish, but they were not going to cooperate today. Tomorrow will be a new day.

I went to the Corps of Engineers office on Wednesday and picked up my tree cover permit. At the meeting I got to talk with several crappie fishermen and crappie guides. They are currently doing well with live bait. The crappie are suspended in 10 - 12 feet of water over brush that is in 25 -35 feet of water. Start using your slip float and cast to the brush as our water has gotten really clear. I have also been told that suspending rogues and small crank baits are working for crappie and walleye when cast over the brush.

The Norfork Lake level is falling and currently sits at 544.08. The surface water temperature was 45 - 46 degrees today in the main lake and colder in the creeks where the water is more shallow than 20 feet. The lake is getting gin clear, some stain back in the creeks. The Corps has been running all generators sporadically during the day. The air temperature this afternoon almost hit 50 degrees. I LOVE IT!

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.