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

Norfork Lake fishing is starting to pick up for all species. It would even get better if Mother Nature would give us some consistently nice weather, but I guess we cannot control the weather. The water temperature is starting to rise again, but it is still 4 - 5 degrees colder than it was at this time last year, which was in the low 50's. Spring is on the way. The long range weather forecast looks great with warmer, dryer weather. Everything is looking up!

Crappie fishing is getting better. Some say the evening bite is the best, but the morning bite was fairly decent yesterday for me. I headed out to check some new water for striped bass. During my graphing exercise I would occasionally stop and fish nearby brush piles.  I checked out some 45 - 50 feet deep brush, but found no fish and also checked out some 20 feet brush with no fish. The 30 to 35 feet deep brush piles appeared to be the best for me. The crappie that I found were buried inside of the brush towards the bottom. I caught some nice fish in the 11 - 13.5 inch range, along with a few short fish. All were released. I was jigging with a 1/4 ounce white with chartreuse back spoon. The bite was super light. Live bait would work well with a slip float or used with a small curly or paddle tail grub. Crappie have also started to move under my dock. One of our guests, between rain showers today, fished our dock with a small Kastmaster. He landed 3 nice crappie along with many short bass. As the water continues to warm the crappie will gradually move towards shallower brush piles. I mainly found my fish on main lake brush or brush at the mouths of coves.

Largemouth bass fishing has also been good. This time of year I have typically found nice bass in deep 40 - 50 feet of water, but that's not the case this year. The bass have moved up in shallow water and are being caught on crank baits and jerk baits. I was talking with Paul, the owner of Gerry's Quick Shop, about the bass bite. He is definitely in the know, as a lot of his shoppers are bass fishermen. Gerry's is one of the largest tackle shops in Mountain Home and is definitely a go to bait shop for many. The current color is red and the old standby of peanut butter and jelly. The green to clearer water is holding more of the bigger fish than the stained brown tinted water. Main lake shallow points have been a great area to fish as of late, especially if the deep water channel swings in close to the point. Once the water level stabilizes the backs of creeks will become the go to spots. As with other species, when the water warms the bass will become more active and start gearing up for their spring time spawn.

Striped bass, Hybrid bass and White bass fishing has also been good, but not consistent. I am finding these species on large flats in 27 - 60 feet of water. When I find them on a main lake flat they have been in the deeper water of 40 - 60 feet. They are typically suspended at all depths. When I head back to a major creek flat I am finding them in 27 - 35 feet of water and again they are at all depths. The water has typically been several degrees warmer back in the major creeks so the fish are shallower. I have been using live bait, either thread fin shad, gizzard shad or shiners and they are all working well. With live bait, I have a couple of down lines set around 30 feet and then a couple of free swimming baits with a small split shot. Vertical jigging with a spoon, one of my favorite methods of fishing, is also catching some nice fish. Trollers are picking up some nice fish trolling large swim baits or umbrella rigs. There are scattered striped bass throughout the lake and they are typically suspended down to the 50 foot level.  The whites are in the process of spawning or have finished up the process. Once they complete the spawn they will move out into the main lake assuming the warming trend continues.

Norfork Lake level is falling fairly rapidly as the Corps has opened some of the spillway gates to evacuate the excess water. The lake level currently sits at 556.93, which is less than 4 feet above normal seasonal pool. The lake surface water temperature has been in the mid to upper 40's. Some of the creeks and coves are stained and the main lake is starting to clear. The lake is in great shape and fishing is a lot of fun.

Don't forget that Hummingbird Hideaway Resort's Facebook page has daily fishing updates on current catches by our guests and me.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

The bite for all species on Norfork Lake has been outstanding for the last week. The lake has finally stabilized, the weather has stabilized, the threadfin shad are spawning and the surface water temperature has reached the 70's. Perfect fishing conditions.

Striped bass, hybrid bass and white bass fishing has been very good over the last 7 days. Currently the best bite has been from the start of dawn until the sun gets above the tree line. The same holds true for the evening bite which is just prior to sunset until it becomes dark. With the shad spawn ongoing, using live bait has been excellent. I have mainly been using free swimming shad. I either pitch the bait up close to the shore and let it swim or I have been slowly moving with a free swimming bait behind the boat while still staying in 20 feet or less of water. Main lake points that have a lot of sunken brush seem to be holding the most fish. There has been good topwater action for these species throughout the week. It may not be consistent in a certain location, but the stripers are coming up somewhere on the lake in the early morning and late in the day. Artificial baits that are working with my old standby method of walking the dog, are topwater baits, paddle tail swimbaits, flukes and blade type baits.

The largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass bite has also been excellent. The shad spawn, as well as their own spawn has been ongoing. The largemouth and spotted bass are inside of the sunken shoreline brush or just on the outside edge of the brush in the same locations as the striped and hybrid bass. Live bait is working excellent. Artificial baits that are producing some nice fish are a topwater bait worked on top of the brush, but one of the best bites is with a fluke type bait. Cast your fluke inside of the brush and just give it little twitches and watch the bass come up and hammer the bait. Plastics, such as a lizard with no weight or very little weight are also producing. A good color at this time is a dark green with some flakes in it.

Crappie fishing has also been good. Most of this species have spawned, but there are still a few that are full of eggs. A great place to catch crappie in the middle of the day is under a covered dock that has some sort of underwater cover. Live minnows are working the best, but small plastic jigs are also producing some nice fish. The crappie are also moving back to the brush. Look for brush in 20 - 25 feet of water and there will be fish.

Norfork Lake has finally stabilized and is actually falling slightly with 2 generators being run for approximately half of the day. The current level is 565.53. The surface water temperature has risen to the mid 70's and if the high daytime temperature continues, the water temperature will continue to rise. Currently our air temperatures have been in the upper 80's to maybe the low 90's during the day and the mid to upper 60's at night. The water is clear for most of the lake with a slight stain in some of the creeks and coves.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

 

Norfork Lake fishing is in the beginning stage of the summer fishing pattern. Fish are starting to school, feeding in relatively shallow water before sunrise and then going out to deep water after the sun comes up.  As summer progresses the stripers will continue moving out  to deeper water and you will find them early 50 - 80 feet down on the bottom. As the sun comes up, they will stay at this depth, but will be suspended in the old deep river channels. The striper and hybrid bite has been good most days. I am finding these fish in 35 - 45 feet of water feeding on the bottom before sunrise off of main long shallow points. As the day progresses they tend to keep moving to deeper water, but stay at about the same depth. Live bait is working very well, but jigging with a spoon is starting to produce some nice stripers. Trollers are also having success as long as they can get their baits down to the proper depth. I am finding my stripers anywhere from the Robinson area to the dam. The striper fishing pattern is very typical to prior years with the exception of being several weeks early due to the lake warming up early this year.

Crappie fishing is also in the warm water stage. They are harder to find, but when you do you can catch some nice fish. Look part way back in creeks close to brush in 35 feet of water. The crappie will be 20 - 35 feet down. Jigs and live bait are both working.

Catfish are also biting very well some days. You will find them in the same locations as the stripers, as they are also following the shad. I have found some nice channel cats in about 34 feet of water while striper fishing. When you hook one they typically will not run like a striper, but instead are very difficult to get off the bottom as they keep digging straight down. Fun to catch.

Large mouth and spotted bass can be found along bluff lines in 20 - 35 feet of water. Look for ledges and good chunk rock points. Work jig and pigs or your favorite plastic bait along the bottom. The after dark bite in the evening is producing some very nice fish.

Norfork Lake level is hold fairly constant and currently sits at 552.73 feet above sea level. The surface water temperature is also holding constant and is in the mid 80's. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves somewhat stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I went out fishing last evening on Norfork Lake with two semi novices to fishing and definitely novices to night fishing. It was a comedy of errors. My daughter caught the big B'ass of the night. Her friend got in the boat and proceeded to sit in the seat my daughter told him to. When we arrived at the fishing site he stood up and started clanking. Low and behold there was a rogue attached to his back side. My daughter couldn't stop laughing so I had to get out my trusty knife and pliers and get the hooks out of his sweat pants. That was fun!! No blood. Next on his first cast (he is used to pitching side arm) he hooked my daughter's life vest. I knew at that time is was going to be a funny and long night. We finally got to start fishing and all of us were getting strikes but no hook ups. I think the little ones were having fun playing around with us. My daughter finally caught a smallmouth, but that was it for the evening except for making 6 trips to the bank to retrieve lures in the trees.

It looks like it is going to be too windy and cold the next two nights or mornings to fish, so I won't be out for a while. If I get any good, credible insight I will pass it on. I have friends and guide friends that are fishing daily and we all share fishing info.

Happy fishing.

Norfork Lake Stripers

We like fish. Good thing since fishing is year round on Norfork Lake. Some of the guests we get want crappie, some want catfish, some are hoping for walleye, some don't eat or keep fish at all, a few think that they don't like to eat striper. I prefer fresh striper over most other fish. The trick is in the cleaning and storing. We remove all the red meat, wash it well and then freeze it on a cookie sheet. If we are going to want to serve it breaded we bread it before we freeze it. I've tried all the different popular methods and feel like this is the best way for all fish. We are able to move it into a freezer bag after it is frozen. This way we can remove what we want for our meal without having to make that decision before we freeze it. Make sense? No big block of fish and water frozen together. The breading or light coating of water on the fillets protects from freezer burn, there is no water to make the fish a soggy mess. We date the bags and try to use them in the order they went into the freezer. If we get more than we can use in a short period of time we vacuum seal the packages, if we aren't overloaded with fish we just use ziplock freezer bags. Here at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort, we frequently have guests who are happy to help us with our extra fish. This makes everyone happy. Guests have fish and we can keep fishing since we have a use for it!