Norfork Lake Fishing Report

1 of 2 - 13 pound striped bass caught 1/24/13

Hybrids caught 1/20/13

Mr. Kassel with a 19 pound striper caught 1/22/13

 

Chuck & Roger 19 pound big fish 1/22/13

The Winter fishing bite on Norfork Lake has been outstanding over the last couple of weeks. It is hard for me to say what is the best bite due to the fact that I have been catching so many different species. Striped bass, hybrid bass, white bass and black bass have all been equally outstanding. We have had guests staying with us and catching fish with Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters as well as catching fish on their own. Now is definitely the time to get out on the lake and do a little fishing. This has been one of the best winter bites I have seen in a long time.

I have three main areas where I have been catching striped bass and hybrid bass. (Cranfield, Henderson and 101 areas) All these areas are from 1 to 3 miles of our resort.  It is great when it only takes minutes to get to my fishing hole. I have been using live shiners and have been vertical jigging with a spoon. Both methods have been working great and have produced some really nice fish. I have been using a 1 - 3/4 ounce spoon and working it very very slowly.  Many of my fish have hit the spoon when it's motionless. This shows how slowly you need to work the spoon. The fish are in small to large schools and are suspended from 30 - 50 feet down in 60 - 100 feet of water. You need to find the bait with your graph or if you happen to see a flock of sea gulls feeding, go fish in the same area as the birds. When I am using shiners as my bait, I tie on a 2 ounce weight with a 2 - 3 foot leader and a #4 kahle hook. I fish the bait straight down from the side of the boat and sometimes put out a balloon (float) on one or two rods to get the bait away from the boat. You need to keep your bait above the bait you mark with your fish finder. Stripers will come up after your bait, but typically will not go down after it, so make sure your bait is above the fish.


Chuck & Roger with Stripers, Hybrids and largemouth bass

3 of many Largemouth and spotted bass caught 1/20/13

The largemouth and spotted bass bite has also been outstanding. Currently the best baits for black bass have been a small spoon, wiggle warts, suspending jerkbaits and 3 - 4 inch paddle tail grubs & swimming minnows. The bass are coming up in shallow water (10 - 15 feet) early and and late in the day and will drop back to 25 - 50 feet of water other times. My bait of choice lately has been a 1/4 ounce spoon. I jig the spoon right on the bottom very, very slowly. I move from 20 - 50 feet of water with my trolling motor and slowly jig the spoon along the bottom. I have been catching many 12 - 14 inch spotted bass, one after the other, in 25 - 35 feet depths. Once I get to about 40 feet of water I have been getting some nice size largemouth and the bigger spots.  The biggest fish have come on drop offs. I have only fished along deep bluff walls and close to points of coves and also the points on small cuts in the bluffs.

2 of many White bass caught 1/24/13 

Another great bite has been for white bass. I have been finding massive schools of whites in 60 - 70 feet of water. The fish have been feeding on tiny shad and you can see the feeding frenzy from 20 feet down to the bottom. Good electronics really help you find the depth of the feeding school of fish. I have been using a 1 ounce spoon and a 3/4 ounce spoon and work the bait really slow. I find the school and drop my bait right into the fish. I slightly twitch the bait and bam a white hammers it. A great thing about finding the white bass is that you have also found the stripers and hybrids. Birds have been my friend the last couple of days. I see the sea gulls feeding, I pull up under the birds and the screen will light up with fish and bait. This morning I boated over 20 whites and 3 stripers, one 10 pounds, and two were only 6 pounds along with one nice 8 pound hybrid. It was a great morning. No photos this AM as I was just catching a releasing as fast as I could. Yesterday morning was even better, I landed two 13 pound stripers and many more than 10 whites (I lost count). The whites are not the little ones, they are the big 3 + pound fat fish. It looks like they are full of eggs getting ready for the February run. I only fished for 2 hours yesterday morning. It was a cold windy, wintry day. I was a frozen fisherman with frozen rod guides.  All fish were released. It was a ton of fun though:-)

I have been having so much fun catching stripers, hybrids, whites and black bass that I haven't left enough time to see what the crappie have been doing. I guess I will check them out soon.

Watch for walleye staging for their spawn. Start looking for them from Cranfield up to Calamity. You will typically find them in 30 - 40 ft of water off of points and drop-offs.

I better shut-up. As you can tell I am pretty excited about the great fishing. I am loving it!!

The Norfork Lake water level is currently fairly stable at 540.3. The main lake is getting gin clear and the creeks and coves are also clearing up. The surface water temperature this AM was 45 - 47 degrees. Periodic power generation.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.



Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake fishing has been pretty good over the last week. It does seem that I have a great day then the next day is mediocre. I guess that is why they call it fishing. Today was one of those mediocre days. I ran all over the lake this morning and ended up catching 7 white bass at the last stop closest to the resort. Yesterday was much better, I landed this 10 pound striper and missed three others and was only out for a couple of hours. I had to be back at the resort to check out one of our pontoon boats. Tuesday was an OK day. I had one of our guests with me and we caught white bass, hybrids and this nice 12 pound striper. We caught it at the same location where I caught all the whites this morning. I am finding fish from the Robinson area to the dam. Most fish are being caught on main lake points anywhere from 45 feet to 80 feet of water. The fish are at 40 - 55 feet depths. There is still is a little top water action just as the sun is rising so have your favorite top water bait ready to go. I like the Zara Spook jr. I am still vertical jigging with a spoon and will continue this method of fishing into the fall. I will start fishing closer to brush piles once the water temperature gets back in the low 80's.

Catfish are being caught on trot lines and jugs using live bait. Cut bait will work, but the turtles and gar seem to get there before the catfish. Blue gill are biting good on crickets and nightcrawlers. Crappie are still slow but will pick up once the water temperature gets in the low 80's. Black bass are feeding shallow early and late in the day then they go deep in the heat of the day. I have been catching a few walleye when I get into 30 - 40 feet of water and they hit the same spoon I am using for striper fishing.

The Norfork Lake water level is falling slowly and currently sits at 551.6. The lake is clear. The surface water temperature is in the low 90's.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Well, I ended up missing out on a good time this morning. I was just too tired (work interfering again) to go out fishing on Norfork Lake, so I slept in. Boy was that a mistake. My phone has been ringing non-stop with guides asking me how fishing was at my end of the lake. Of course I had to tell them that I slept in. The responses from all were "you messed-up". I guess the stripers erupted all over this morning. The live bait guides gave up on using shad and changed their rods over to Zara spooks and their clients had a blast. All whom I talked with limited out in an hour with big fish. I'm going to have to go without sleep, I guess! I did go out Sunday morning with no luck. I went to a location where I got into top water action on Saturday morning, but on Sunday nothing was happening. I left that area as the sun was coming up and headed across the channel and saw the fish coming up all over. The sun was starting to get over the trees, and as I got closer they all went down and did not come up again. What's that saying? Something about a dollar short! The fish are there, but they are moving constantly. If the fish aren't surfacing by six you better move to another location because by seven the sun's too high and the fish go down.

We have a couple of guests crappie fishing and they caught several nice crappies using minnows yesterday over brush in about 20' of water. They also caught a nice walleye in the same area on a twister tail grub. I haven't heard how their fishing was today.

The Norfork Lake level is holding steady at 562.4. Water temp is in the mid 70's. Water clarity is gin clear with creeks and coves clearing steadily. Two generators are being run about 6 hours per day.

I am definitely going out in the morning, hopefully I will have a success story to tell later.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

We have had fabulous weather here in Arkansas at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort. The watersports people are out in force; fishing, waterskiing, tubing, swimming, and jetskiiing. There is a place for everyone and all are having a great time on Norfork Lake. Our swimming pool is also getting a lot of use. The air temperature has been in the 80's during the day and 60's at night. I can't ask for anything better.

Fishing has been a lot of fun for me. I have been out every morning but one for the last week. I have been catching Kentucky bass (spotted), largemouth bass and today a couple of nice stripers. Yesterday morning I started in the Cranfield area and caught several Kentucky bass, but the top water action was not there. I left and headed to the Bennett's area and found some bass chasing shad on the surface. I started throwing my spook and caught about 6 bass with 3 keeper size. I headed back in and stopped at a point close to our resort and found the gar rolling on the surface. I threw my spook several times and caught several more Kentucky bass. I think you can find Kentucky and largemouth bass almost anywhere in the lake.

Today I headed to a totally different area for me. I found some stripers hitting the surface out in the middle of the lake in about 150 ft. of water. I ended up catching two stripers and missing two others. The striper on top water is a very early bite. You need to be at your site before daybreak and if it happens, it usually ends as the sun gets over the tree tops about 7AM. If you get lucky and get cloud cover, the topwater bite could last longer. When you check into our resort ask me about striper locations. I'll be happy to mark your map. After I left my striper spot I headed to do a little bass fishing. One of our guests gave me some Chomper skirted twin tail grubs to try out. It's a great bait. On my first cast I caught a 2.5 pound largemouth. After that I caught 3 Kentucky bass, one keeper size.

The white bass are starting to school back in the coves and creeks. You can find some top water action early in the morning and also late in the evenings as the sun is setting. I caught the above white crappie on a live shiner. To be honest, I actually caught the two pound plus fish on my trot line. It was one of the largest white crappie that I have seen. Catfish are still hitting the trot line. I get about 3 or 4 every morning. Many of our guests have been sent home with a bag of fish. Our lake catfish is a very good eating fish. Blue gill are hitting worms and crickets and you will get some nice sized fish.

The Norfork Lake level is 562.4 (10.4 ft above normal pool) and seems to be holding fairly steady. The Corps. has forecast that the lake has crested and they will start to generate more especially with the warm weather we have been having. The Norfork Lake water temp is in the low to mid 70's in the morning and rising to the upper 70's durinh the day. The water is clear with a slight stain in the coves and creeks, but that too is clearing.

By the way, the young lady in the photo above is my gorgeous granddaughter.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

I've had a lot of fun the last two mornings fishing in Arkansas on Norfork Lake. Bass fishing has been fantastic early in the morning. The Kentucky bass (spotted) and largemouth bass are hitting top water baits with a vengeance. The striped bass and hybrid bass are also coming to the surface, but not with the frequency that I saw last Wednesday. I think the slight cold front and the 1 inch of rain turned them off a little. The warmer night time temperatures should make them take off again. Friday morning I fished the Cranfield area and caught over 20 Kentucky bass with 6 keeper size. I released all fish. I even caught a double header on a spook, a fish on each treble hook. This morning I sent several of our guests to my Cranfield fishing spot and though I haven't heard a final report, I do know that they caught a 9 pound hybrid on the first cast. (Cell phones are great on the lake) I decided to venture to other areas of the lake this morning to see if I could find more stripers. I failed, but I did catch smallmouth, largemouth and Kentucky's. I first headed to the Diamond Bay area, then went to Panther Creek. I caught fish, but could not find stripers coming up. The weather pattern seems to be stabilizing so hopefully this will help the fish get energized.

I need to apologize to the crappie fisher people. I've been having so much fun striper and black bass fishing that I haven't even thought about going out for crappie. I'll see what I can do about that so I can give you a detailed report. They should be on brush piles in 20 - 30 ft of water, some will be suspended and others in the brush.

I have been baiting up my trotline again and doing well. This morning I caught three nice channels and yesterday a really nice flathead. I am using large shiners and crawdads. The fish are feeding heavily on crawdad, because when I was cleaning one of the hybrid bass on Wednesday it was full of crawdads and shad. So for the bass fishermen that use plastics go with the crawdad colors and shapes (greens, brown, orange.)

The Norfork Lake level is at 562.29 and rising slowly. Two generators are being run about 6 hours per day. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves still stained from the rain last Wednesday. The lake temp has dropped a little ranging from the upper 60's to the low 70's in the morning then rising during the day. The current weather report is for just gorgeous warm weather.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

A foggy morning fishing on Lake Norfork

I finally made it out onto NorforkLake fishing today. I wasn't able to make it to all the spots I hoped to because of the heavy fog. It was even difficult to see the front of my boat. Without a GPS it would have been impossible to find my way around. I've been out in the fog before (without a GPS) and ended up going in circles and having to just stop the boat and wait for the fog to lift. I made it to Cranfield Island and stopped on the land side point and started to throw a rogue with no success. I switched to a white and chartreuse Zara spook and the largemouth and spotted bass started hitting on the first cast. I just caught little ones on this point then moved over to the island. I probably caught 15 bass around the island with 3 being keeper size. I headed out in the fog again and made it across the lake from the island. I fished in a cove and caught two really nice keepers. I took pictures with our phone, but I guess I don't know what I'm doing since they are not there. The fog finally lifted so I headed home. If there was any striper top water action I couldn't see it for the fog. I plan on going out in the morning unless torrential rains keep me in. Hopefully the storm headed our way passes us before 5:30AM.

The lake temp has fallen and the water is on the rise. The temp is in the low 60's and the lake level is currently 556.22 (4 1/4 ft above normal) The forecast is starting to look a little better with our normal 20 - 30% chance of thunderstorms. The buck brush is fully in the water, so if this water level remains constant, it should be really good for the spawns and fishing. The major problem with the submerged brush is that you will loose more fish to the twigs. That's fishing!

Catfishing is starting to take off on limb lines and trot lines. I have seen several really nice channels and flatheads come into the dock. The crappie are over the brush piles in shallow water and are biting good. Small curly tail jigs and road runners (both tipped with minnows) are working really well. Bluegill are hitting well on crickets. My guide contacts are catching many stripers using live shad. The fish are on points all over the lake. The bite is starting to heat up. Hopefully I will be able to talk about stripers first hand tomorrow.

See you all on the lake and happy fishing.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Doug and his wife Mary Ann, from the St. Louis area, had a nice stringer of walleye and crappie to take home. They fished in the evenings for the walleye and in the mornings for crappie. Doug preferred a black back with silver sides and orange belly rogue for their walleye fishing and was using minnows with a slip bobber for the crappie. The crappie were suspended over brush in about 10 feet of water not far from our resort and the walleye were on points in the Cranfield area. While they were fishing for crappie they caught many bass and released all. The biggest crappie that he had ever seen got away just before being netted. I think Doug didn't want to give Mary Ann bragging rights. (Only joking Doug)

Striper fishing at night has still been slow, but the morning bite is starting to pick up. I have talked with several guides over the last two days and they are catching fish in the Cranfield to Red Bank area as well as down at the dam. They still aren't getting the bites they are used to this time of year, but I really think that will change soon with the warm weather being forecast. I talked with several others that had been striper fishing and they had caught stripers in the Float Creek area right before dark. Minimal top water action, but I think it is going to erupt at any time. I am always optimistic.

Bass are still hitting very good. I am still seeing very large bass under my dock. I have a feeling they are staging to spawn, even though I have been told by some fishermen that they had marked fish already on beds. I guess the big ones, might be the males waiting their turn.

The Norfork Lake temperature is in the mid 50's and rising. The Norfork Lake level is 553.3 and rising. Virtually no generation over the last 24 hrs. Today is sunny to partly cloudy and warm, but windy at 10 - 20 mph. The wind is suppose to keep up for the next day or so. If the forecast holds the wind should slow down a little by Wednesday. I guess I will wait till then before I get out on the lake. I have plenty to keep me busy around the resort.

Until next time happy fishing and see you on the lake.