Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake has been on fire for the past week. I have been out in the mornings live bait fishing as well as throwing a topwater Zara spook . We have landed striped bass, hybrid bass, white bass, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, with a few catfish thrown in for good measure.

The stripers and hybrids were caught in 25 - 40 feet of water. They seem to be suspended in the 10 - 25 feet range. I have been using all down poles with live shad set at 20 - 30 feet deep. My daughter and I arrived at my current fishing location at around 5:15AM this morning. I started marking fish, but nothing was biting. I was rebaiting a pole and had drifted into 25 feet of water when all of sudden one rod bent to the water. My daughter grabbed that pole and the fish started to swim into a line next to it, I grabbed this rod and as soon as I had it, it bent to the water. I got that pole out of the way and it had a large white bass on it. I flung it into the boat because a third rod took off. Both of us had a big fish on and it was really fun listening to the drag of both rods zing out to deep water. I had my fish close to the boat, it took a dive and my line snapped. I guess I should have retied after yesterday's trip. My daughter did a much better job and finally landed her 12 pound striper. With all the break-offs, missed fish and released fish we could have had 3 limits by 7:30AM. It was a really fun morning.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spots are coming to the surface early in the morning, off of points that have trees in the water. You need to have space between the trees to cast your lure. I caught 4 nice black bass this morning and I think around 6 yesterday morning all on a spook. Live bait still is working the best for the black bass. Today we released over a dozen bass including this nice 3 - 4 pounder that my daughter caught. Shiners should work as well as the shad. I have been using a down rod with a slip sinker and dropping it to the bottom. The fish are in the 20 to 25 feet range. Last Friday I had a couple of our guests (Jim & Scott) out and we started to pitch live shad between the trees with no weight. We were catching fish after fish. Jim also landed one nice striped bass. On Wednesday I fished with one of my guests (Greg) and my daughter and we landed one nice striper and many, many black bass. It has really been a great week of fishing for me..

I have been fishing the mid lake area both on points in the creeks and off of main lake points.

Pan fish are biting well on crickets, worms or nightcrawlers. Use a bobber and a small split shot. The fish are on the bottom in the trees and at the edges of the trees. You should be able to fill up a basket in no time.

Catfish are still biting well on trotlines with live bait.

Norfork Lake is still falling slowly (about 2 - 3 inches per day) and currently sits at 573.91. The water temperature is in the low 80's. The main channels are clear and the creeks and coves are clearing up nicely.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

What a great striped bass bite this morning on Norfork Lake. I headed out to catch shad at 4AM and on my first throw I caught enough for me to fish. I love it when one throw works. I have had mornings that what seemed like 100 throws didn't catch enough. I was fishing alone so I just headed straight out to the same spot I had fished last week for several days. What a change a few days can make in fishing. I set out two down poles to about 40feet and one free swimmer with a large split shot. It wasn't more than 5 minutes before one of my down poles started to sing. I was fighting this fish when the second down pole took off. What a dilemma :-) I decided to land the first fish and as I was reaching for the second I noticed it was under the boat next to the trolling motor. That was all she wrote, the line was cut off by the trolling motor. The third rod that had the free swimmer ended up getting wrapped around my big motor. What I'm willing to go though for a fish :-) The main reason for all the mess up with the poles was that the wind was blowing about 15 miles an hour. It's hard to control the boat in wind when you fight a fish. After the first fiasco I decided to just fish with 2 down rods. This made it much easier. I motored back to my point and set out the two down poles and again it wasn't more than 5 minutes before both poles started  singing. I grabbed one and set the hook and the fish came off, but the second rod was was still going strong. I set that hook and landed the fish. I ended up landing 5 striped bass and missed 4 others. I kept my limit of 3 for the freezer and released the others. I did all of this in the first 2 hours of fishing, what a great morning!!! The stripers I caught this morning were 25 - 50 feet down in 40 - 60 feet of water biting on thread fin shad.

This morning was quite different than a few days last week. I fished 4 mornings last week and did not boat a striper. I fished with my brother-in-law and daughter 2 of the days and we did fair on black bass and white bass, but we could not bring a striper to the boat. One day we did break off two stripers and missed several other short bites. I also had two trips last week with a couple of our guests. Again I could not buy a striped bass bite. We caught some nice smallmouth bass and white bass, but could not find a striper.

The black bass are still in the bushes on main lake points. The white bass are also in the same areas. We caught some nice whites and smallmouth's on 1/4 - 3/8 oz. rooster tails, Rogues, flukes and spooks. These fish are in 10 - 25 feet of water and are starting to go deeper.

Catfish are biting well on trotlines. I caught 4 nice channels the other day with live shiners.

Panfish are also biting well on nightcrawlers, worms, and crickets. They are in the bushes on the bottom. Some really nice red ears and pumpkin seeds are being brought into our dock for cleaning. Many are also being caught off of our dock.

The Norfork Lake level is falling 1 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 575.49. The surface water temperature is stable at around 82 degrees. The water is somewhat stained, but clearing every day.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I have had a fun week of fishing on Norfork Lake. Not to mention that the weather has been just gorgeous. All species have been very aggressive and biting well on both live bait as well as artificial baits. I fished 4 mornings this week and did very well with bass and stripers. I fished with my son-in-law and one of his friends. The 16 pound striper that Jason is holding was his biggest striper so far on Norfork Lake. The hybrids that Vance is holding were the biggest fish he has ever caught. We also caught many largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass along with a few whites. I fished the mid lake area off of points. Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters took four of our guests out last week and they just slayed the stripers. I believe these were the first stripers that a couple of the guys have ever caught. Tom was fishing the dam area. Fish are being caught all over the lake. This time of year is great for fishing Norfork Lake in the early mornings and afternoons. This frees you up to play in the water during the midday :-)

Striped and hybrid bass can be located on main lake points early in the mornings. They are feeding heavily on shad and crawfish. If you're fishing with live bait pitch a free swimming bait next to the trees and keep working the points and the sides of each point. If you prefer artificial baits try a fluke, bass assassin or a swimming minnow with a weighted hook. Cast between the brush and work it back to the boat as a jerk bait or slow it down and work it with slight twitches until you reach the boat. Grubs with a 1/8 ounce jig head are also working once the fish go down to the 20 - 25 feet range. Top water baits are working occasionally as well as shallow diving crank baits. Once the sun gets higher in the sky the stripers are moving into deeper water. Live bait will need to be weighted and set straight down next to the boat about 30 - 40 feet down. The fish may be suspending in deep water so watch your sonars. You can also slowly drag a long line with live bait with a split shot to get the bait down a little. Vertical jigging a spoon is starting to work once you find the fish.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are also in the brush early and late in the day. Same techniques are working for the black bass as for the stripers. Flukes, bass assassins, swimming minnow and crank baits. Top water for the black bass is found more frequently than for stripers. Live bait is working very well.

Walleye can be found in 20 - 30 feet of water on the bottom. Live bait on a drop shot rig is working as is vertical jigging a spoon. Trolling a crawler harness slowly is catching some nice fish.

White bass are schooling and can be found in the bushes with the black bass and stripers. Flukes are catching a few, but the hooks are a little big. Small spinners (rooster tails) are work well both in shallow and deep water. You can also find them in deeper water along chunk rock banks. Use a rooster tail and let it sink about 10 feet down then reel back to the boat slowly. If you find the school of fish you can also vertical jig a spoon.

Crappie are biting well if you can get to them. They are back in the bushes in very shallow water. You can also find them under docks that have brush sunken under them. I had a guest last week that had an under water camera and was seeing many crappie as well as large blue gills. The blue gill fishing has been really good. I have seen many huge slabs brought into the dock for cleaning.

Catfish are biting well on trot lines baited with live shiners. I pulled off three nice channels from my line this morning. One of my guests caught 6 nice cats fishing with nightcrawlers and stink bait last evening.

The lake level is falling slowly 1 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 576.7. The surface water temperature is in the mid to up 80's. The lake is clearing and appears to have a 5 - 8 foot visibility.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It was a great day to fish Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. I decided to fish with live bait this morning and finding bait was no problem. One throw and I had all I needed and more. This was a good start to the day since I over slept and didn't wake up until 4:30AM. I should have already been out on the lake baiting. It worked out and I got an extra hour of sleep:-) I headed back to Fall Creek and started with two poles down with weights at about 25 feet and two poles with free swimming baits that I was pitching toward the shore. It didn't take long before I found spotted bass, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. I ended up catching 12 bass in total and 7 were keeper size. I released all but 3 spotted bass. At one point while I was setting the hook on a bass, one of my down poles bent to the water and the drag started to zing. This fish just would not stop running. I actually started to use my trolling motor to make sure the fish did not spool me. It was a very good fight but finally I won the battle (this time) and landed this nice 12 pound striped bass. I also caught another striper on a free swimming bait and one on a weighted fluke. Those two 10 pound stripers were released. I tend to cast artificial when I am live bait fishing. That gets me into trouble frequently. It's difficult to retrieve the artificial bait when one of my other poles takes off. Live bait fishing can be very exciting and sometimes it's very hard to handle multiple poles when you are fishing by yourself.

Robert Lee of Lee's Lite line took three of my guests fishing this morning. They ended up "having one of the best fishing trips ever!" (quote) They limited out by 6:30AM with 7 striped bass and 2 hybrids. The big fish weighed 15 pounds. They ended up fishing for bass and had a blast. Robert was fishing in the Bennett's area. Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters has been fishing the dam area and limiting out with consistency. The fish are all over the lake and are being found off of points and the side of points on the main lake as well as back in the major creeks. If you are artificial fishing use a fluke with a weighed hook, I like white with a chartreuse tail. Swimming minnows and a 3 inch grub are also working. A top water bait is still handy to have ready as it would have been today but I was already fighting the 12 pound striper when the fish exploded all around me. All I could do was watch with!

The Norfork Lake level is dropping about 2 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 577.8 feet above sea level. The lake surface water temperature is in the upper 70's and you could find temps in the 80's back in the creeks. The lake is still stained, but is clearing.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.