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

The weather and the water temperature on Norfork Lake are perfect for your summer time pleasure. Whether it be skiing, tubing, swimming or fishing, Norfork Lake has it all.

Striper fishing on Norfork Lake has been outstanding lately. The fish have gone deep and you will find them on the bottom early mornings in 40 - 50 feet of water or suspended in 100+ feet of water 30 - 70 feet down. The stripers have finally started to school and when you find a school get ready!! Live bait is working great and vertical jigging a spoon through the school is producing some nice fish. Last Thursday I fished alone and landed 6 stripers by 8AM. I had to work at it but I finally got the first three fish to go back down, then I kept the next three fish. I am going to have to learn how to vent these fish because starting soon and for the next  couple months they will not be able to be released. When you catch your limit you will need to go do a little bass or crappie fishing. Friday I fished with my daughter and a couple of our guests. We had a great time. At about 6:45AM the stripers started to erupt all around my boat. Every rod bent to the water. We landed two and broke off two. Each time I rebaited and cast the bait out it got hammered within minutes. We ended up landing 5 stripers out of this school. The fish were from the surface down 40 feet. It was really fun. My top water rod with a Zara spook tied on had a malfunction so I could not cast it out which really disappointed me. I know I could have landed a couple more fish. This top water action is very unusual for this time of year. I also fished Sunday with my daughter and granddaughter. We ended up missing three good bites. I was on fish, a huge school which was 50 - 70 feet down in about 140 feet of water. Boats all around me were catching fish with live bait as well as by spooning. I guess I didn't have my bait deep enough as we only got one bite and missed it. My granddaughter had a blast playing in the bait tank :-) I think she was relieved we didn't catch a big fish because they scare her a little!!!

There is still a little top water action early in the morning for black bass. This action is typically just as the sun is starting to rise and can last a couple of hours. I have found bass around docks and also off of main lake points and creek points. The black bass are also starting to go deeper. You can find them on the bottom just outside of the brush line in 20 - 30 feet of water. They are also on sunken brush in 40 feet of water.

I have had reports that crappie have started to move to the deep brush in 30 - 40 feet of water. Live bait as well as small jigs are working. Crappie are also being found under docks.  Yesterday morning I netted 5 huge slabs by a dock where I was trying to net shad. These fished were 15 and 16 inches long. I released all.

Pan fish are plentiful under docks and in the brush. My granddaughter had fun fishing on my dock and caught some nice bluegills.

Catfishing with live minnows on trotlines are producing some nice fish. If you are pole fishing drag a nightcrawler on the bottom in coves after dark. You will find them in 20 - 25 feet of water and possibly  at shallower depths.

No reports on walleye, but they should be in the 20 to 40 feet range on the bottom off of points with rocky bottoms.

The Norfork Lake level is still falling slowly and currently sits at 570.59. The surface water temperature is in the upper 80's. The main lake is clear and the creeks are coves are continuing to clear.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It was a great day to fish Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. I decided to fish with live bait this morning and finding bait was no problem. One throw and I had all I needed and more. This was a good start to the day since I over slept and didn't wake up until 4:30AM. I should have already been out on the lake baiting. It worked out and I got an extra hour of sleep:-) I headed back to Fall Creek and started with two poles down with weights at about 25 feet and two poles with free swimming baits that I was pitching toward the shore. It didn't take long before I found spotted bass, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. I ended up catching 12 bass in total and 7 were keeper size. I released all but 3 spotted bass. At one point while I was setting the hook on a bass, one of my down poles bent to the water and the drag started to zing. This fish just would not stop running. I actually started to use my trolling motor to make sure the fish did not spool me. It was a very good fight but finally I won the battle (this time) and landed this nice 12 pound striped bass. I also caught another striper on a free swimming bait and one on a weighted fluke. Those two 10 pound stripers were released. I tend to cast artificial when I am live bait fishing. That gets me into trouble frequently. It's difficult to retrieve the artificial bait when one of my other poles takes off. Live bait fishing can be very exciting and sometimes it's very hard to handle multiple poles when you are fishing by yourself.

Robert Lee of Lee's Lite line took three of my guests fishing this morning. They ended up "having one of the best fishing trips ever!" (quote) They limited out by 6:30AM with 7 striped bass and 2 hybrids. The big fish weighed 15 pounds. They ended up fishing for bass and had a blast. Robert was fishing in the Bennett's area. Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters has been fishing the dam area and limiting out with consistency. The fish are all over the lake and are being found off of points and the side of points on the main lake as well as back in the major creeks. If you are artificial fishing use a fluke with a weighed hook, I like white with a chartreuse tail. Swimming minnows and a 3 inch grub are also working. A top water bait is still handy to have ready as it would have been today but I was already fighting the 12 pound striper when the fish exploded all around me. All I could do was watch with!

The Norfork Lake level is dropping about 2 - 3 inches per day and currently sits at 577.8 feet above sea level. The lake surface water temperature is in the upper 70's and you could find temps in the 80's back in the creeks. The lake is still stained, but is clearing.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Striper fishing on Norfork Lake is going strong. I fish this AM with some success. I decided to check out several areas that I haven't fished in a while. I started in the Diamond Bay area. I arrived about 5:15 AM and set out two balloons and two free lines with live thread fin shad. It wasn't more than 15 minutes before both balloons started to ZINGGGG! I set the hooks on both fish, set one rod back into the rod holder and started to fight one of the fish. I had it almost in and saw it dart right into the other line. And then there was one. I landed this nice 10 pounder, but who knows what the other was. (must have been a 35 pounder!!) As soon as I reset the two balloons one of the free lines took off. I was heading into the wind at this time and I guess when I got off of the trolling motor it gave slack in the line and the fish escaped. I was fishing in 20 - 30 feet of water. Sunrise was starting and it was like someone turn off a switch and the fish stopped biting. I then headed to the dam area to see what was happening there. As chance would have it nothing was happening for me. I fished three different areas with no bites. Robert Lee of Lee's Lite Line has been fishing the dam area for the last week and has done quite well on hybrids and stripers, but I guess I didn't go to the right places. I then headed back to Fall Creek. No stripers, but plenty of bass. I landed 7 spotted and largemouth bass in about a 45 minute period. It was then time to head back to the resort and start cleaning the pool.

Jeff, one of our MO guests landed this nice 28 pound striped bass the other afternoon. He released the fish after the photo. He has caught many striped bass over the last several days all with gizzard shad. He has been fishing the Bennett's area and has had most of his success late in the afternoon. He has been pulling 4 - 6 planer boards trying to stay near the shoreline. His fish have been caught in 8 - 30 feet of water.

Bud Gauger of Howard Cove Striper Service took several of our guests out fishing yesterday. They had a successful trip, landing 6 striped bass and missed 3 others. The largest was 17 pounds. Essie caught the big fish of the day, and by the way she is 90 years young and going strong. She had a great time on her guided birthday trip and fishing off of our dock. Bud was fishing with gizzard shad back in the Bennett's area.

Norfork Lake level is on the rise and currently sits at 552.21. The surface water temperature has dropped to around 60 degrees north of the bridges and as low as 55 at the dam. A warm southerly wind is forecast for the next several days, this should help spur on the top water action. Coves and creeks are still stained and the main lake is clear.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Welcomes BASS tournament

Welcome BASS fishermen and women to Norfork Lake. The Arkansas BASS Federation is holding their annual championship tournament on Norfork Lake this week. The actual tournament will be this coming Friday and Saturday and the weigh-in is at Henderson Marina. I haven't heard a final count, but I am being told it should be close to 150 boats.

My new Skeeter Bay boat has finally arrived. This new addition to the Hummingbird Hideaway fleet will allow me to fish whatever style is working best. I have a shad tank ordered so I will soon be able to live bait fish as well as fish with artificial bait as I have done in the past. I will also be able to start guiding occasionally. With all the bass boats around I was trying to wait until after the tournament to break in the boat, but I couldn't do it. We cruised around for about an hour this morning.

Look for an updated fishing report next week, but the guides are telling me that the fishing trends have not changed from my last report.

Norfork Lake level is at 552.3 and hold fairly steady. Generation has been sporadic. The surface lake temperature is in the low 80's early and mid 80's in the afternoon. The lake is clear and the creeks and covers are clearing nicely.

Happy fishing and see you on the water.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake fishing is still in full swing in the heat of the summer. Live bait as well as vertical jigging is working really well. Most of the fish that are being caught are in the Diamond Bay area to the dam. Both early morning and the late afternoon bite is strong. The Stripers, hybrids and whites are schooling and once you find the school hold on for a lot of fun. I fished this morning with two of my guests. We fished the dam area in 45 - 70 feet of water off of main lake points. Today I found a huge school at around 6:45AM and it was nonstop action for about 45 minutes. Then I lost the school and couldn't find it again. I fished a few other areas and caught several small whites. We ended up catching white bass, hybrid bass and stripers. These were the first stripers/hybrids these guests have caught on Norfork Lake. I also fished Sunday morning in the same area as today and ended up catching 2 nice 9 pound hybrids. Cody is much more photogenic than me.

Nothing new on other species. I will have better info later.

The Norfork Lake level is still falling slowly and sits at 550.96. The Corps is running one to two generators sporadically during the day. The surface water temperature was in the high 80's to low 90's. The main lake is clear and the coves and creeks are slightly stained.

Happy fishing and hope to see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY. It is another gorgeous morning on Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. It has been a great father's day for me so far. I went out fishing this morning (first time in over a week) and caught all the white bass and Kentucky bass that I wanted and also limited out on Striped Bass. I was releasing all that I caught this morning, but had to keep the striper and the white in the photo. I tried to release them, but they would not go down. I guess we have supper planned for today or tomorrow. The other two stripers were in the 10 pound range and all the white's were in the 1.5 - 2.5 pounds range. It was a fun, fun morning!!! I started out throwing a Zara Spook and was catching white bass, but when I saw huge schools of fish down in 35 - 50 feet of water I switched over to vertical jigging with a spoon and caught over 15 white bass and the 3 stripers. I was fishing back in a major creek off of a channel swing. It was hard not to throw my spook since there was sooo much top water action, but the bigger fish were deeper. I did end my trip by throwing the spook at a school of Kentucky's that just kept coming up. They were all 12 - 14 inches long and very fat and sassy.

I caught several channel catfish last week on my trot line, but it seemed to be slow. Not much news on crappie fishing, but I would think the hot weather is going to make it tough going.

The Norfork Lake water temperature is in the mid to upper 80's. The lake level is dropping and currently at 557.42. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are somewhat stained due to the drop in water pulling the silt off of the shore line. Once the drop stops the water will clear.

Happy fishing and see on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It is a beautiful day on Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks. The lake is calm, the sky is blue and the air temperature in in the upper 70's. Definitely shorts and t-shirt weather if not your bathing suit. (Our pool is OPEN) I have fished the last two mornings and today did very well, yesterday was so so. We caught 15 fish with a mixed bag of white bass and Kentucky bass all in less than 2 hours. I arrived at my fishing spot at day break and immediately Jason caught a nice Kentucky. We were throwing Zara Spooks. A clear one and a white and chartreuse. The fish were surfacing and hammering the spooks until the sun moved over the trees, then it was like a light switch. The bite turned-off. That was fine as I had to get Jason back to the house so he, my daughter and granddaughter could head to Silver Dollar City in Branson. The white bass are also hitting spinner baits very well. You can find the whites in the backs of creeks in the Bennett's area, Float Creek and Panther Creek. Bass are also hitting crank baits and plastics worked close to the buck brush. Black bass, spotted Bass and smallmouth bass are being caught all over the lake. The bite slowed a little the latter part of this week due to a cold front that moved through, but it looks like the bite is back on.

Our guest's guided crappie trips with both guides (Jay of Crappies Only and Harvey of Hard times) had to be cancelled due to weather last Friday. The wind was blowing 20 -30 mph with higher gusts. Since they couldn't get on the lake they decided to head to the river and had a great time catching rainbow trout. The crappie are biting at least today under our dock. One of our guests has caught 12 crappie so far in the last 2 hours. He is using live minnows and the fish are only about 4 - 5 feet down. He should have his limit by now. The best part is that while he is entertaining himself with fishing, his wife is laying in the sun in her bathing suit on our swim platform. A vacation made in heaven!

The Norfork Lake level is rising slowly and currently is at 555.75 with no generation. The surface water temperature was 65 degrees this morning. The lake is clean and clear. It is so much fun and a pleasure living and vacationing on such a beautiful lake.

Have a great day filled with lots of fun and of course fishing. See you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Yesterday was a gorgeous day on Norfork Lake with great fishing to make it even better. The Spring bite is starting. It cooled off a little and was only in the high 50's, but the forecast for the next several days is for warm day time temperatures and in the 40's for the evenings. There is a slight chance of showers over the next couple of days.

Here is a nice 5 pound bass caught by one of our guests from the St. Louis area. He caught this fish back in the Fouts area around some docks. He was pitching a jigging frog with good success. There are two men in the party and they have fished the bayou area to coves across from our dock and have caught many bass from the dinks to keeper size fish. The fish are all being caught in the 10 foot deep range. All fish have been released with this big one released at my dock.

I fished last evening in the Cranfield area. I left the dock around 5:30PM and came back in around 8:30PM, when I got too cold. I'm going to have to dress much warmer for when the sun sets! I caught 5 largemouth bass in the 2.5 - 3 pound range in the first 45 minutes and then it got dark and the bite stopped. I was throwing a bone colored suspending rouge along a deep bluff line. I casted next to the shore line, twitched the rouge twice to get it down to about 2 feet then stopped. All hits came when the bait stopped and was motionless. I was hoping for striped bass after dark but no luck last evening. I have plans on going out again this evening with a guide friend to see if the night bite starts. All my fish were released immediately, and are waiting for the next fisherman to come along.

The Norfork Lake surface water temperature was at 48.7 in the Cranfield area. Reports are that the water temperature was above 50 back in the bayou. The lake is clearing nicely with the creeks and coves still a little stained. Not a bad thing for fishing. The Norfork Lake level is holding steady at 551.92, slightly under normal pool. The Corps is running generators only part of the day.

Happy fishing and see you all soon for the Norfork Lake spring bite.