Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

Norfork Lake fishing continues to be good in the early summer. The lake is clear and warm and great for all water sports. Whether you are a sun worshipper, boater, skier, tuber, wakeboarder, diver or fishermen. Norfork lake is the place to be. Early morning and later in the afternoon are great times to fish the lake, not many boats out and you can fish most anywhere you want.


Striped bass fishing has been good. The fish are starting to go deeper as the lake develops its summertime thermocline. I have noticed the thermocline 22 - 30 feet deep depending on where you are located on the lake. I have had my grandkids out fishing most days over the last week and they are having a blast. Thread fin shad has been my go to bait with the kids. They are doing great and all of them have learned how to fight this strong fish. Their biggest so far has been 14 pounds. I have been finding the fish back in major creeks in 50 - 80 feet of water and the stripers are suspended 20 - 50 feet down. Vertical jigging with a spoon as well as casting a swim bait are both working well. Place a 1/2 ounce jig head on the swim bait and let it sink then reel back to the boat slow and hang on. I am also starting to find larger schools of stripers out on main lake points along the deep water bluff lines. Live bait and jigging with a spoon are two great methods to catch these fish once you find the school. Still finding a few hybrids coming up at daybreak chasing shad so have a top water bait handy to have some fun.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass fishing has also been good. I have been finding some good topwater action at daybreak, but it typically only lasts up to an hour at the most. Top water baits, swim baits, swimming minnows are all working well early in the morning. As the sun comes up, start working the bottom with a plastic bait, jig & pigs, Texas rigged worms, craws or just about any type of bait worked along the bottom. The best depths to fish are 10 - 30 feet down. You will also notice some suspended fish in deeper water following shad, drop a spoon to their depth and start jigging. Spinner baits and jig & pigs are working after dark up along the banks.

You can still catch a few nice sized crappie, but they are deep. Find brush in 30 - 40 feet and the crappie will be on the tops and also buried inside of the brush. Live minnows seem to be working the best, but small crappie jigs and small crank baits are also working.

Norfork Lake level is currently holding steady at 564.60. We have been having about 6 hours worth of power generation per day. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are slightly stained. The surface water temperature is in the mid 80's.

Happy Fishing and see you on the lake. We still have a few cabins available for many weeks yet this summer. Our fishing derby is still going strong. Hope to see you at Hummingbird Hideaway!

All photos taken over the last week.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Hummingbird HIdeaway Resort

Striped bass fishing on Norfork Lake continues to be very strong. The fish are moving to different feeding grounds and are starting to go a little deeper. You can still find the stripers all over the lake. Stripers that I have cleaned are full of crawdads, which tells me you can find them laying on the bottom or close to it. Today was a very good day for striper fishing. I had a couple of our guests out with me, one a 7 year old. What fun I had helping and watching him reel in fish. We landed 5 stripers, the biggest one was 14 pounds. Mason did a fantastic job. There was a second boat that I sent to a totally different area. They ended up landing 9 stripers and kept 3. Today we were all using live thread fin shad. Another guest, Tom, has been trolling umbrella rigs. Today he thought he had a monster on but when he finally got it to the boat he had twin 8 pound stripers. That must have been a great battle. There is still some topwater action for striped and hybrid bass, but this is slowly coming to an end until the fall. I have been finding stripers part way back into creeks as well as on the main lake flats and points. Trollers are doing well in deeper water getting their baits down 25 - 35 ft. I have been working 40 - 60 feet of water and find the stripers suspended as well as on the bottom.

The bigger largemouth and smallmouth bass are in 10 - 25 ft of water. Work the bottom with a jig and pig, crawdads, grub or just about any type of plastic bait. There is still some good topwater action for bass early and late in the day. Get your topwater bait into or very close to the sunken buck brush then work it back to the boat. There are alot of bass in the sunken brush on the shoreline, but most are on the short side.
The Norfork Lake water level has risen to 562.28. The surface water temperature has also risen to around 82 degrees. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are somewhat stained, but clearing. The Corps of Engineers is releasing water through the generators about 6 hours per day and the lake level is fairly stable. The lake is in great shape for fishing and all summertime water sports.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.