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.
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