Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort 870-492-5113

Norfork Lake fishing has not really changed much over the last couple of weeks. The fish are still in the summertime pattern and should remain in this pattern for the next 4 weeks. The only thing that might change is that the thermocline should start to drop from its current level of 20 – 25 feet down to 30+ feet.

The best bite for striped bass is within a mile or so of the dam. Stripers are hanging around in the 60 to 90 feet water depth and are typically very close to the bottom. Hybrids will be with the stripers, but will also be up towards the thermocline as they handle the warmer water much better than striped bass do. You will be able to find stripers on points near the dam including Thumb, Koso, Long Point and Point 1. At times you may find them roaming out on the deeper flats in the same area. I fished for striped bass on Sunday and Monday of this week. On Sunday I found a lot of fish, but they were not very energetic. I got bites, but very light and they let go of the bait quickly. Monday was a different story. I fished the same area and again lots of fish, but this time they were hungry. When they hit the bait, they took off running. It was a lot of fun. Live shad or shiners are the best baits to use at this time, but vertical jigging a spoon or trolling may pick up some nice fish.

Most other species of fish are hanging around the thermocline. The thermocline is currently at approximately 25 feet. The last couple of days I fished for shallower fish and caught almost every species in the lake. This morning, August 13^th, I spent my time looking at different types of areas within several miles of our resort. (Hummingbird Hideaway Resort) This morning I only used one bait which was a Bink’s Many Shad, 1oz. spoon. I was vertical jigging in 20 to 30 feet of water. The best depth this morning seemed to be around 25 feet. I caught and released walleye, bass, bluegills, crappie, and catfish. I believe I boated over 20 fish, but only the spotted bass and a few crappie were keeper size.  The best areas seemed to be on main lake points. I marked some nice size bass suspended 10 to 15 feet down near bluff line points. I checked out the back of one cove where I knew there were some shallow brush piles. The brush was in 24 to 27 feet of water and came up to about 15 feet. I found crappie just stacked at the top of the brush. I still only had the 1-ounce spoon tied on, but the crappie were aggressive. Several of the crappie were 10 – 11 inches, but most were on the short side.

Norfork Lake continues to drop about 2 inches per day with about a half of day of full power generation. The current level is at 567.01 MSL. The coves are slightly stained with the main lake clear. The surface water temperature this morning was 85 to 87 degrees.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.