Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake striped bass and hybrid bass fishing has been on fire the last 4 weeks. As you can see from my photos, striper fishing has been the targeted fish for our Hummingbird Hideaway Resort guests and me. The stripers can be found on the bottom in 65 to 85 feet of water in the main lake toward the dam area. You will also find them suspended 60 - 80 feet down in 100 - 150 feet. of water. There is a good bite in the morning as well as the afternoon. I have been mainly fishing two methods, live thread fin shad and vertical jigging with a spoon. Live bait has definitely been the best bite, but I usually have 4 live baits out versus one spoon, 4 times the opportunity. It has really been a blast with many doubles and triples on at the same time. Lately most of the fish that were will not swim away. If you get a floating fish make sure you pick it up and eat it for dinner. Striped bass is really good fried or baked. Once you have your limit of 3 striper/hybrid in the boat per fisherman you need to target another species or call it a day.

The next best bite on the lake is crappie. Yep I did say crappie. Very unusual for this time of year, but I guess the cooler than normal water temperature and the better than normal oxygen level and relatively shallow thermocline has made the difference. I talked with two crappie fisherman on the lake this morning and the first one had several in the boat already at 6:30AM and the next person had limited out on crappie. John, with the limit was fishing brush piles with a hair jig and finding the fish in about 25 feet of water. The crappie are ranging from 10.5 inches to 12 inches, not monsters, but respectable fish
Today I did change gears from striper fishing to try and find walleye. Ever since we had the rise in water back in early August, the walleye disappeared for me, and today was not different. No walleye, but I did run into several large schools of white bass in about 36 feet of water. The problem with these schools is that they are moving very quickly and not staying in the same location. I would spoon up 2 or 3 then lose the school. I was working main lake points in 25 - 40 feet of water. I'm hoping that when the lake stabilizes from its current fall and gets a little cooler, the walleye will move back to the brush.

I have not been bass fishing, but I did notice something very interesting this morning. I was marking many bass suspended at 20 - 25 feet deep is all depths of water. They were not on the bottom, at least where I was fishing, but hovering just above the thermocline level. Throwing a deep diving crank bait or a weighted swimming minnow should catch you some very nice fish. The arcs were good size for bass. There is also on most mornings good top water action for bass, so have your favorite top water bait handy. Today, however, was one of those days and very few fish were coming up. The bass are on main lake points as well as back in creeks off of secondary points.

The Norfork Lake water level is falling slowly and currently sits at 555.82. A foot or so above normal pool. One generator is running most of the day. The lake surface water temperature was 85 degrees this AM. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves somewhat stained.

A quick note to all those lake loving enthusiasts. It is still summer on Norfork Lake, the water is warm, the day time temperatures are warm, and the lake is calm. There is still plenty of time to plan a little lake vacation. Our pool is open and cabins are ready for your stay. Give us a call at 870-492-5113. Priceless vacation memories made affordable at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.