Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Spring has finally arrived on Norfork Lake. It has been sunny and warm the last couple of days and more of the same is in store for us next week. There are a few days of rain forecast, but this will only help the spring bite get better.

The striped bass, hybrids, white bass, black bass and crappie are starting to get very active with the warming of the lake. Yesterday I was marking 50+ degree surface water temperature for Norfork Lake.

Ed, a guest from Wisconsin, was thrilled with the battle given to him from this nice 23 pound striped bass. He states that the stripers are much stronger fish then Muskies. He caught this fish yesterday trolling a Shad Rap back in the Bennett's Bayou area. He was following the channel in around 20 feet of water and his bait should have been about 7 to 8 feet down. He was also using light tackle with only 6 pound test. The fish are coming up. He also noted that there were other boats in the area, both trolling and using live bait, that he saw boating fish. Ed has also caught his share of white bass and hybid bass in many different areas of the lake. I believe the whites have started their spring run and fishing for them will only get better. Look for the whites and hybrids on shallow sand flats. Small crank baits, jigs, rooster tail spinners and gulp minnows should all start to work.

After working around the resort all day yesterday, I decided to see if the night bite was heating up. I have heard though the grape vine that stripers are being caught after dark, but I guess I was not in the right location. I was throwing several different colors of rogues and did catch a few nice largemouth but no stripers. The largemouth bass were caught right as the sun was setting, then I did have a few bumps after dark, but did not hook them. I only fished till about 8:30PM so the bite could have been later.

Crappie are on the brush and should be close to their spawn. Whenever I crossed a brush pile last evening the fish were just stacked from 5 to 15 feet down. The brush that I was marking was in 20 - 30 feet of water. Live bait on a slip bobber should be the most active bait, but throwing a small jig tipped with a minnow will entice a few fish.

The surface water temperature last evening was 50 degrees in the main lake up to 55 degrees back in the creeks and coves. The main lake is clear with the creeks off colored due to the rising water. The lake is rising slowly and currently sits at 545.2 feet above sea level. Currently no generators are running and they have mainly been shut down for that last week or so.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Yesterday morning was another great day for striped bass fishing on Norfork Lake. I took out Robert Lee of Lee's Lite Line (striper guide on Norfork Lake) and we had a very productive morning. We boated our limit of stripers in 2 1/2 hours, broke off 2 others and missed at least 4 short bites. We were using live bait, large gizzard shad and suckers, on down rods. I was setting the bait about 24 feet down and fished in 27 - 32 feet of water. We were fishing the Calamity area. I have also gotten reports that large shiners are starting to catch fish.

Bass fishing has been good. I have had a lot of luck off of main lake points at the end of a bluff line and points on channel swings back in creeks. The fish are anywhere from the shoreline to 30 feet deep. You can also find many bass hanging around brush piles.

Crappie are just stacked over brush piles. They are suspended from 10 to 20 feet down. The brushy area where I have marked fish is in water 25-30 feet deep. Small jigs and a Northland Tackle Bro's Bloodworm has been the ticket.

The Norfork Lake level is at 547.05. The surface water temperature is in the high 50s to 60 degrees. The lake over all is clear with the main lake being the clearest. The Corps is running generators sporadically during the day.

This is a short report, but I mainly wanted to brag about yesterdays catch!!

Happy fishing, Happy Thanksgiving and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It has been windy on Norfork Lake for the last 4 days. Even with the wind I have been able to get out this morning and a few evenings over the last week. The bass bite is still good. I am catching bass in 30 - 37 feet of water on the main lake points as well as over sunken brush piles. I have been using a 3/4 ounce spoon for vertical jigging. This morning I caught several bass. One was a 6 pound lunker. I caught a double header on a Zara Spook top water bait. Both were Kentucky bass. One was 14 inches long and the other was 12 inches. I thought I had a really big fish when I was bringing them in. The double headed was caught casting close to docks. All bass were released immediately so I have no pictures today.

The crappie bite is improving. They are on sunken brush and suspended anywhere from 15 feet down to the bottom of the brush. Minnows are working the best at this time. Once the water cools the crappie should become more aggressive.

Still have not caught any striper lately and haven't heard of many being caught. I did see some really nice top water stripers about 4 evenings ago. I was fishing the Cranfield to Point 8 area. Along the bluff line the stripers started to blow up. By the time I got close enough they went down. I started to spoon in the same area and saw them come up again right behind my boat. I got so excited I almost threw my spooning rod in the water reaching for my top water rod. To say the least I was too late and they went down not to be seen again that evening. I am soooo happy I didn't lose my rod and reel! I hope this early top water action is a sign of what's to come in November.

The Norfork Lake level is falling and currently sits at 550.12. One to two generators are being run sporadically during the day. The surface water temperature this morning fell to 69 degrees. (This is a good thing) The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I have been going through fishing withdrawal, but finally today I was able to get out on Norfork Lake for a great day of fishing. I fished with one of my striper guide friends, Robert Lee, of Lee's Lite Line and we had a fantastic day of fishing. We were on the lake at 3AM in order to net live shad. We ended up getting about 50 nice size thread fin shad and then left for the Robinson Point area around 4:30AM. We were fishing the flats outside of the island. At around 5:15AM the fish started to hit non-stop for about an hour. We ended up catching hybrid bass and stripers in 25 - 35feet of water. The fish were on the bottom and feeding heavily. The bites were coming so quickly that we ended up missing as many fish as we caught. We left this area and headed to several points around Bidwell Point. We were marking plenty of fish, but found no takers. Our last stop was back in the Bennetts area. We fished a point at around 35feet of water and were catching nice size Kentucky bass. I caught a nice 5 pound walleye. Robert wanted some Kentuckys for dinner this evening for his fish tacos. We had fried walleye at our house. mmm good!

Vertical jigging would have worked well today. The fish were schooling and in a feeding frenzy. There was very little topwater action today. I think most fish will be caught in the 25 - 40 foot range from this point until the cool fall weather starts.

I will be back to my normal fishing schedule next week so hopefully the fish will react the same to artificial baits as they did today on live bait.

The Norfork Lake level is currently at 558.4 and falling. Two generators are running most of the day. The Norfork Lake water temperature is in the mid to upper 80's. Water is clear.

Well I'm am off to bed, it has been a long but very productive day. See you on the lake and happy fishing.