Winter arrived in our area this week with a little of that
white stuff and cooler weather, which has dropped the lake surface temperature
a few degrees. The bait is starting to move out to deeper water due to the cooler
water and has suspended 40 to 60 feet down in 70 to 100+ feet of water. When
the bait moves so do the predator fish. The striped and hybrid bass are
following suit. I have been finding quite a few striped bass in pairs, up to
large schools. It appears the fish that have moved under the bait are not
feeding but the fish on top of the bait have been feeding aggressively. The
areas to start finding them is anywhere from the mid lake creeks around the
Robinson area, to the bridges then farther north toward the 101 Boat Dock area
and anywhere in between. Concentrate your search to areas close to the deep
river channel specially on channel swings. Live bait is working well set at about
38 feet. Artificial baits are working as well. Vertical jigging a spoon, larger
ice jigs and plastic jigs have been the best. Find the depth the stripers are
feeding at and drop your bait to that level.
Largemouth and spotted bass fishing has been really good for
me. My best areas have been bluff line
points in 33 – 38 feet of water. The
fish are hugging the bottom. I have been dropping a 1 ounce spoon to the bottom
and slowly jigging it up and down just a little. When the jig is falling is the
time when the bass have been sucking it in. Once you start to lift the bait off
of the bottom, you feel the fish and the fight is on. With the cooler water temperature,
the bass will also move into shallow water early and late in the day to feed.
Use crank baits for these shallow fish or jigs worked slowly along the bottom.
Crappie fishing has stayed about the same. The best areas
have been on brush piles in 20 to 25 feet of water. The fish will typically be
toward the tops of the brush. They may move inside the brush to shallower water
early and late in the day. Jigging a spoon on top of the brush is working or
dropping a small soft plastic with a 1/16 – 1/8 ounce jig head. You can also
cast out the plastic jig to the shore line and let it sink to your desired
depth and reel it back to the boat, making sure the jig crosses over the top of
the brush pile. Live bait is typically always a great way to catch crappie.
Norfork Lake level currently sits at 553.82 feet msl. The
lake has risen roughly ½ foot since last week. The surface water temperature is
currently around 48 degrees. The lake is slightly stained.
Happy Fishing and enjoy Norfork Lake.
