"You should have been here last weekend", I guess you all have heard that before. But last Sunday and Monday were very good fishing days. The crappie were up in 10 or less feet of water along with the spotted and largemouth bass. One of our guests was trolling a crawdad colored #7 shad rap at about 1 to 1.5 mph speed. The photo above shows some of the fish they caught. Look at the size of thoses crappie! I caught several crappie on a 5 inch rogue, while I was night fishing for stripers. This was also in 10 or less feet of water. The nite bite for stripers was in full swing. The bass were attacking rogues, swim baits and spinner baits. The fish were starting to break the surface and feed on shad. The spring bite was here. The quick rise in the lake level Wednesday and Thursday changed things up a little. The lake is still slowly rising, but is beginning to stabilize. The spring bite will be put on hold for a few days until the lake settles and the fish find their new feeding grounds. The fish are going to love all the new cover generated by the rise in water. I finally got to fish this morning or I guess I should say I graphed a lot of new territory. I did get several good strikes but missed all of them. Currently my suggestions are to find where the clear (or green) water meets the muddy water. Fish the clear water, the fish seem to stay in this area. During a rise in water the fish also tend to migrate back in the creeks. The muddy water should start to fall out over the next couple of days. Here is what you should expect to happen over the next few days. (1) Crappie will go back on the banks so cast grubs, road runners or small crank baits. Tip the grubs and road runners with a crappie minnow to enhance your bait. A minnow on a slip float will also work, keep trying different depths, but stay in shallow water. A few of the crappie had started to spawn, but I don't think many. They will be shallow as the lake warms again. (2) Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass will move in the brush to feed. Spinner baits seemed to be working really well today, from what I am being told by several of the bass fishermen and women staying with us. They are prefishing for a tournament being held tomorrow. Another thing to look for is flooded grass land. Over the next week or so the nightcrawlers will be crawling out of the ground and the bass with be in there feeding heavily. (3) White bass will move back into the creeks and top water action will start to erupt again. The water will need to warm up again (to the low 60's) for this to start up. (4)Stripers and hybrids will also start feeding in shallow water on mainlake and creek points that have a lot of sunken brush. Pitching live bait works great, but casting a fluke or a rogue has worked for me in the past. Find gaps in the brush and try to cast as close to the shoreline as possible. Work the artificial baits back to the boat as a jerk bait, but be erratic with your speeds, slow and fast. The night bite should take off again so get your rogues ready. (5) Catfish will start to move into shallow water to feed. If you like to jug or trotline this should be an excellent time to get out and catch some really good fish.
The Norfork Lake level currently sits at 562.12 and rising slowly. This is 10 feet above normal pool. Some generation, but minimal. The surface water temperature has fallen to 57 - 58 degrees. A drop of over 3 degrees. The mainlake is muddy from the Diamond Bay area up though the Cranfield area, I haven't heard about the dam area or farther up river. I did a lot of traveling this morning. The creeks and coves are also muddy, but the mud line is falling out of the coves and creeks. The muddy water has actually fallen out of our cove already. The whole lake should be a great green fishing color for a few weeks, then get back to the crystal clear water, which I am accustomed to.
Happy fishing and see you on the lake.
