Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

 

 

The bite on Norfork Lake continues! Good top water action in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Hybrids, stripers, whites and largemouth are chasing shad to the surface then going wild. Top water action is a lot of fun. Spooks, Kastmasters or just about any surface type bait will work. Just remember, if you are walking the dog with your spook, make sure the fish takes the bait under before you set the hook, don't stop your retrieval. Once the fish stops busting the surface start looking at your fish finder and you will find them 20 - 40 feet deep. Once they go deep, throw your Kastmaster out and let it sink 10 seconds or maybe a little more then start your retrieval with a crank, stop jerk stop, then start all over again. Make that bait swim erratic. Live bait is also working very well. Thread fin or small gizzard shad are the best, but large shiners are also working. Today I went hunting for new locations to fish. I checked out a lot of the areas that  I think the fish will be  at very shortly, but found very few stripers. I did manage to land a couple stripers on live shad in one of my regular locations. Once it was light I got distracted from my hunt with some top water action on a main lake point. For the next 40 minutes I threw my spook and landed many nice largemouth bass and big white bass, it was crazy. Around 8AM I decided to head back to the area where my guests are fishing. I found a little top water action still going on but it was winding down. I did start marking some big arcs on my graph down at 40 feet. I dropped a couple of thread fin shad down to 36 feet. While I was moving slowly I was casting my spook and the largemouth bass were still very active. Landed a couple 19 - 20 inch long fish then one of my down poles start to sing and I landed a nice 13 pound striped bass.

Walleye fishing has also been good both in the early morning, as well as right before dark and after dark. Live shad is working as well as artificial baits. You can work your Kastmaster back to the boat bouncing it along the bottom or cast out a spoon and jerk it back to the boat along the bottom.  You can still catch a few casting a suspending jerk bait up to the shoreline and working it slowly back to the boat. The jerk bait seems to be working in the morning before sunrise. Mid day vertical jigging a spoon around brush is picking up a few fish. The walleye seem to be hanging out at 15 - 25 feet depths on the bottom.

Norfork Lake level is falling slowing and currently sits at 553.35. The lake surface water temperature this morning was 72 degrees. The main lake is clearing nicely, but the coves are stained and the major creeks are getting clear. One generator has been running continuously.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.