Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake fishing patterns are starting to change a little with the cooling of water. Since my last report most of my fish were caught in deep water 50 - 60 feet down, but over the last couple of days I have seen a movement of the larger fish to shallower water. It appears fish are starting to move to their winter patterns and locations which means you will need to start to down size your baits, as well as, your fishing line and slow down your method of fishing. During the winter months I typically use 4 pound test mono for black bass, crappie and walleye. I continue to use my 8 pound test mono line for striped bass fishing.

Lately I have been fishing more in the afternoons than the mornings but the bite seems to have been about the same either time. Over the last 3 or 4 days the bass bite has started to improve for  bigger fish. I have been vertical jigging with a 1/4 ounce spoon in 18 - 30 feet of water. I am trying to stay around brush piles. Sunday afternoon I was fishing a main lake point near our resort and landed 7 bass including this 20.5 inch largemouth. The others were all Kentuckies in the 12 - 15 inch range. Saturday evening was much of the same, but walleye was the fish  in the area biting. I landed this 22 inch walleye and lost two others at the boat. My netting techniques need to improve as I lost one as I was reaching for the net and the second cut the line when I was trying to scoop him up. All of the walleye were in 18 - 25 feet of water on the bottom. I was slowing jigging a small white spoon.

Crappie still appear to be some what scattered, but are starting to show up on brush in 30 - 40 feet of water. I have caught many crappie over the last couple of weeks, and most were caught in places where I did not expect to find them. I was striper fishing about a week ago around a sunken bridge and was spooning with a 1 ounce spoon off of the edge in 60 feet of water. I was dropping my spoon in bait that were 40 feet down and caught two nice white crappie. I caught one along a bluff line in 50 feet of water. Each time I really wasn't targeting crappie, but there they were. I have picked up a few in the normal spots, in and around brush, but still the numbers have been hard to come by. But that being said in order to catch a lot of crappie you need to keep moving from brush to brush after you catch a few. They are a very skittish fish and get spooked easily. I have only been using my 1/4 ounce spoon, but live small minnows on a slip float and also a small grub tipped with a crappie minnow will work great.

Striped bass fishing has been hit and miss for most, but there have been some nice fish caught. Luke was fishing with Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters and landed these two nice stripers up north in the Calamity area. Stripers have also been caught over the last couple of weeks in the Bennett's area, White Rock area, around the 101 bridge, Red bank area and Float Creek. As you can see they are scattered all over the lake and starting to feed. They have been alluding me, but I will find them! Six inch gizzard shad have been the best bait of choice, but shiners are starting to catch a few fish. If you find a school drop a spoon in the school and I am sure you will get hammered. I have also found big schools of white bass and hybrids on the deeper flats around our resort. (Hummingbird Hideaway) I have found them in 35 - 54 feet of water. When you do find the school there will be the big whites and some nice hybrids. I have tried the night bite a few times last week with no luck. I got hit a couple of times, but could not get a good hook set. I will go out a few times this week after dark to see if they are coming in to feed. I have been fishing until about 7PM, but who knows, they may be coming into feed after that. I have become a big sissy because it sure is starting to get cold as the sun sets! Hard to stay out too late.

 

When you are planning your spring fishing trip on Norfork Lake don't forget about staying at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort. Why stay somewhere else when you can stay at a resort that the owner actually fishes most every day. We have very affordable pricing with clean and comfortable cabins that your wife and friends will enjoy. I will give you my best spots to fish and tell you the best fishing techniques to use at the time. I even like to get your cell number so I can give you a call on the lake if I get into fish. Where else can you get this service and comfort! Give us a call for reservations at 870-492-5113.

 

Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and currently sits at 542.45. Sporadic power generation. The lake temperature yesterday was 58.5 - 60 degrees. The main lake is clear with the coves and creeks a little stained.

 

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

 

 

 

 

 



Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Spring fishing on Norfork Lake has been good for the last week and the weather has been even better. The best bite, in my opinion, on Norfork Lake is largemouth and spotted (kentucky) bass. Second is striped bass fishing. Bluegills, crappie, walleye, white bass and catfish are coming in on a regular basis.

 

I have seen many 2.5 - 5 pound largemouth bass and very large k
Kentuckies coming into the dock. Kentuckies are a very good eating fish and makes a great fish taco. Live bait, either large shiners or shad, are the best baits to use to get numbers of fish, but artificial baits are also working. I have been finding the black bass in  2- 27 feet of water on main lake points. At sunrise and sunset you will see some top water action so keep your favorite topwater bait ready for action at all times. My favorite color lure is a white body and a chartreuse head in the Zara Spook Jr. size. Clear and bone colors also work very well. I am sure other colors will also work, but I just haven't tried them. Other baits that have been working are jig & pigs, plastic worms and crawdads, spinner baits on windier days and some crank baits. Bass are feeding heavily on crawdads so this should help on you color selection.

Things have not changed much on the striped bass fishing. Fish are being found on main lake points in 25 - 40 feet of water. In the very early part of the mornings you may find them right on the bank. The problem is that one day the fish are on a point but the next day they are gone. You do have to do a lot of moving around until you locate the fish. I have mainly been using live shad, but several of my guests have caught stripers on big shiners. The umbrella rig or Alabama rigs are also working very well. Most of my guests that are fishing with these rigs are trolling them at a slow speed. You need to stay in 20 - 40 feet of water and make sure they are getting down to about 10 - 15feet. The stripers are still scattered all over the main lake. I am fishing main lake points and large flats in about 25 feet of water. Very soon the stripers should start to move back in the creeks, so keep checking.

Catfishing with jugs and trotlines are producing many nice fish. Every morning I see jugs bobbing up and down all over the lake.

Crappie are being caught over brush piles that are in 20 - 30 feet of water. The fish will be suspended so keep changing your depths until you find the level they are feeding at. Live minnows and jigs tipped with a minnow are working well.  If you can find some timber that is sticking up out of the water, check it out for crappie.

I don't have a lot of information on walleye, but I have caught several in the same locations as the bass and stripers. They should also be on the shallow flats so start dragging a crawler harness to pick up a few tasty meals.

Norfork Lake level is at normal pool of 552.01. Sporadic power generation is occurring to maintain this level. The surface water temperature is in the mid to upper 70's. The main lake is starting to look a little clearer, but the creeks and coves are still stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Fishing on Norfork Lake is getting better and better every day. The best part of all of it is the weather, it has been in the 70's during the day and 50's at night. It is really hard to ask for nicer fishing weather than what we are currently having. I have been doing really well on the lake as have our guests. All species are being caught on a regular basis. Undoubtedly the best bite on the lake is the largemouth and spotted bass bite. In second place is the striper and hybrid bite. Catfish are not far behind. Crappie, bluegill, white bass, walleye are all being caught.

I fished this morning and had a really good day. I landed a 16 pound striper, two 8 pound hybrids, broke off another big fish and missed one other. My break-off was the fisherman's fault, I noticed too late that my line was wrapped around the tip of my rod. Boy did it make some noise when the line snapped. I also caught 8 largemouth and spotted bass and missed numerous others. Today I strictly fished with live shad. There was a little top water action, but they only came up when I was fighting a fish. Figures!! I am finding stripers and hybrids on main lake points in 10 - 50 feet of water. I also look for points that have the deep channel close by. The stripers seem to like the deep water near as easy escape. The hybrids are feeding on crawdads so you will find them closer to the bottom. The stripers are still hitting free swimming baits. I have been
pitching the bait close to shore then letting it sit for a while. I then pull the bait off of the shoreline using my trolling motor. I have gotten many hits when the baits starts to move away. I am also placing a small split shot about 2 feet up from the hook and dragging it slowly across the point in 25 - 40 feet of water. The hybrids and bass are feeding on the bottom so I am picking up fish with both methods. If you can't get or keep shad, larger brooder shiners are the next best bait. Bass just love them and stripers and hybrids will also hit the shiners.

Smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass are in the same areas as the stripers and hybrids. It doesn't get better than this. Fish for both species in the same manner. I have also found that when the striper bite stops and they move on, the black bass start to get more aggressive. Fishing is great!

Catfish have been hitting jugs and trotlines set with live bait as well as cut bait. I have seen  many good fish coming into out dock that were caught in our cove. I still like live bait over cut bait. I typically use live shiners, shad or crawdads for catfish. I did forget to mention that the black bass are also feeding on crawdads.

Crappie are being found suspended over brush in 20 - 30 feet of water. They will be at different depths so you will need to keep testing until you start to catch fish. They tend to move higher in the water column as the sun warms the water.

Norfork Lake water level currently sits at 551.8, which is almost normal pool. Periodic power generation is occurring to maintain this normal pool level. The surface water temperature this morning was in the mid 70's. The main lake is somewhat clear, but all creeks and coves are stained. We did have a cold front roll through the area at the beginning of the week. This frontal system slowed the bite, but the weather has been stable ever since and the bite is getting strong again.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Wow what an unusual fishing week and a half on Norfork Lake. We have had cold fronts, very windy days, and the lake level dropping. During the past 10 days I have gotten into top water action for hybrids and whites then the next day a cold front moved in and the wind started. Prior to the cold front the fish were in shallow water being caught on free swimming shad and shallow running lures, but from what I have seen over the last couple of days the fish went deeper. It is very hard to determine what the fish will be doing over the next couple of days as the lake level is stabilizing, the air temperature is on the rise and no frontal systems for a while.

The largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass bite is still one of the best bites on the lake. Crawdad colored crank baits diving 10 - 15 feet have been one of the best baits. Sunday, when the wind, started to blow 10 - 30 MPH, a few fishermen braved the wind and caught a lot of bass on spinner baits in the wind blown pockets close to the shoreline. The smallmouth bass that I have been catching have moved out to about 25 feet depths but are still hugging the bottom. Early and late in the day you will still find the bass along the shore line feeding.

Crappie are starting to show up on shallow (15 - 25feet) brush piles. They are suspended over the brush so you will need to find the depth where they are hovering. More small crappie are being caught but it sounds as though you get a nice slab about every 4th fish or so. Live minnows are working very well. We had a family that took a guided trip with Jay Smith, of Crappies Only, a couple days ago. They were fishing sunken tree stumps with live bait and had a good day, catching a lot of fish, many keepers.

Catfish are hitting trotlines and jugs on live bait. They are coming into shallow water to feed.

Striper fishing, my favorite past time has been up and down. I have mainly been using live bait and have caught nice fish on points close to shore in shallow water, then things changed up a lot. Sunday I was finding striper in 120 feet of water suspended 40 - 60 feet down. This is very unusual for this time of year. I guess the fronts, the lowering of the lake level and the lower surface water temperature have effected the normal spring time pattern. I ended going with my summer and winter rigged poles with a 2 oz. weight and fishing straight over the boat. This method worked for meon Sunday and from what I have been hearing, from some guests, it also worked this morning. ( I slept in this morning, but will be back at it tomorrow early) Another bait that is actually out producing live bait is the Alabama rigs, I have a group of fishermen here this week and they have been trolling the Alabama Rigs. They have caught as many if not more than I have been catching. Great job guys. The lake level has stabilized at normal pool and the weather pattern seems to becoming more stable so maybe things will get back to normal. If you can't find the striper in shallow water check out deep before you give up. There was top water action starting to happen right before the cold front rolled in. Last Thursday evening I got into some nice hybrid and white bass action casting Zara Spooks.

The lake level currently sits at 552.06. The surface water temperature has fallen to the low 60s to high 50's. The main lake is clearing and most creeks and coves are also clear, but still somewhat stained. Periodic power generation is occurring to help maintain the normal pool level.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

All fish in the photos were released except for the Striped bass. These photos only show a sampling of my catches as I do a lot of releasing on site. Check out Hummingbird Hideaway Resort's facebook page for additional current fishing information.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Early spring fishing on Norfork Lake is starting to take off. Striped bass are hitting during the morning hours and the after dark "night bite" is getting exciting. Largemouth bass and walleye are in shallow water and the crappie should be staging for their spawn. What more can you ask for?

I have been fishing the "night bite" for the last 3 evenings and am catching walleye, largemouth bass, spotted bass, striped bass and the occasional gar. All fish except for the walleye have been released, some at the dock after their photo op, some at the fishing location. We had stuffed fresh Norfork Lake walleye last evening and it was really really good! Some of you may ask what is the "night bite"? The striped bass and walleye are on the shoreline feeding after dark. I have been casting Smithwick Suspending Rogues to the shoreline. I get the bait as close to the shore as possible. Then let the bait sit for about 15 - 30 seconds before I start to reel it back to the boat very very slowly. If you think you are going slow try to go even slower. I have even stopped reeling half way back to the boat to let the bait sit for a couple seconds. I typically go out around 7PM and return around 10PM to the resort. I'm sure the fish will still bite later if you want to fish though out the night. 10 PM is late enough for me. I use a 6.75 ft medium light action rod with a spinning reel which has 8 pound Ande green monofilament line. So far this year, I have been fishing main lake points that the wind is blowing into. Typically you find the wind will lay down after dark. This wasn't the case last night. I fish points in the Cranfield area, Benetts/Fout area, Bidwell area, Float Creek, and have gone as far as the Diamond Bay area. I like to venture out and try different areas of the lake. Last evening was very windy which made it very difficult to control both the boat and the cast. I did manage to land one nice 14.75 pound striper which had a belly on it bigger than mine! I also caught a 4 foot gar, no fight until it was sitting next to the boat then it decided it had enough, it flipped, cut the line and swam off with my lure! You never know what is going to hit your bait. The morning bite for stripers is also starting to take off. Jeff in the above photo landed this nice 28 pound striper yesterday morning fishing in 20 feet of water. I fully expect the topwater bite for stripers to start very soon. Have your topwater baits ready. We carry a good supply of rogues and topwater baits in our resort store at reasonable rates.

Walleye are also hitting at night. I caught this nice 20 inch fish Monday evening fishing the Cranfield area. Walleye fishing should just get better in this area soon. The fish have been spawning. The spawn should be complete soon if it isn't finished already. Walleye will start to move down river to feed heavily at night. Dragging a crawler harness works great or casting rogues up to the banks works for me. There are plenty of walleye fishing methods, use your favorite and it will work on Norfork Lake.

Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass are all up in shallow water early and late in the day. Casting rogues, working the bait as a jerk bait is working. Any jerk bait lure, soft or hard will work. Casting the Alabama rig is also catching fish. It is more difficult to cast and work with, but it will catch fish once you find them.

I don't have much news on crappie as I have been targeting stripers lately, but they should be staging for their spawn. The water temperature is getting right and the dogwoods should start to bloom very shortly. Find brush and fish shallow.

The Norfork Lake water level is falling slowly and currently sits at 552.13 feet above sea level. This is only slightly above normal pool of 552. The Corps is generating heavily to bring the lake back to normal pool. The lake temperature is in the mid 50's. In fact, I found the water temperature would change by 3 degrees depending where I was last evening. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are starting to clear, but still a nice stained color exists.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.