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

January has brought our normal significant weather pattern changes. About 12 days ago we went from the 50's to single digits for about 6 days and even had several inches of snow. Over the last several days we were back in the mid 60's but here we go again with a slight cool down. All of these changes in the weather affect what the bait and fish do. On the 10th of January large schools of fish were feeding in about 60 feet of water, but after the cold snap the hybrids and stripers disappeared, even though the bait was still hanging around. Normal winter time striped bass fishing would have the fish out in the deep water channels feeding on suspended bait in 40 - 60 feet down. The bait is there, but only scattered fish are showing up. With the cold weather and snow, the water temperature dropped about 3 - 4 degrees, but over the last several days the surface water temperature has risen 2 to 3 degrees. All of the changes confuse the fish as well as the fishermen, including me.

We had several fisherman staying with us over the weekend all fishing for stripers, a few were caught, but it was tough going. The areas where I found fish were in the Henderson area close to the bluffs. Big balls of shad were being pushed into the bluffs by the west wind and there were a few stripers hanging around 30 feet down. Both spoons and live shiners caught fish. Yesterday, I was out fishing from the 62 bridge area all the way down to Fouts Marina and only marked a few lone fish. I did more looking than fishing. I heard from a friend that he found  stripers in very shallow water a few days ago, so I guess I am going to need to think outside the box and look at areas that I would typically avoid this time of year. The last two days the wind was howling so I elected to stay at the resort today instead of fish. I will be back at it in the morning and start the hunt again.

I ended my fishing excursion yesterday by doing a little bass fishing. I headed into a cove that the wind was blowing very strongly into. I stopped on a secondary point and found large balls of shad next to the the shore and a few shad  floating on the surface. I tied on a Rogue (a shallow running suspending jerk bait) and started casting to the shore. I gave the bait a couple of hard jerks to get it down, then let it rest for a few seconds, then start twitching the bait softly, then stopped. I did this back to the boat. On the second cast the bass started to get active and I landed 3 largemouth bass in a very short period of time. No monsters, but fun. The wind was blowing so hard that the waves were starting to splash over the boat so I called it a day. The other location where my guests were finding bass was along deep bluff lines. The fish were about 30 feet deep. Live bait was catching these suspended largemouth and spotted bass.

A few small shad are starting to die from the cold water, which is very normal for this time of year. If you can find a school of shad that are distressed, on the surface and close to the shoreline, there will more than likely be bass in the area feeding away. I started to see a little of this yesterday, but I really could not tell if the shad were distressed or just being blown into shore from the strong wind.

Norfork Lake is currently stable and sits at 546.46 feet above sea level. The lake surface temperature yesterday was around 45 degree (+/- one degree). The main lake if finally starting to show some sign of clearing as well as the creeks and coves. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is to be around normal, 40's to 50's in the days and high 20's to low 30's at night.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

Happy New Year to all of my followers - Wishing you many fun and exciting fishing trips!

Norfork Lake's fish have moved to their winter time pattern. The lake water temperature this morning has dropped to 44.5 - 45.5 degrees in the main lake (near our resort) and cooler back in the shallower creeks and coves. With the drop in lake water temperature, shad tend to move to deep water.  I have been marking a lot of bait in the main river channel predominantly 30 - 40 ft deep in 70 - 100+ feet of water. I also checked out some flats and the bait typically started to show up when I got to 40 - 45 feet of water and was suspended from 30 feet to the bottom.

It has been a while since I last reported, and has actually been a couple weeks since I have been on the lake. My wife and I visited our grandkids in Texas over the holidays, but I am finally back fishing Norfork Lake. Over the last two days I spent a lot of time looking and graphing to see what the bait and fish have been doing. I mainly have been searching for striped and hybrid bass. Yesterday (Monday 1/8) I headed east out of our resort to the bridges. This is typically a great winter time place to catch striped bass. I marked some bait, but very few fish. I then checked north of the bridges and found bait in the mouth of the cove near 101 boat dock, but was not marking many fish. With the amount of bait in this area there will be fish there very soon. Of course I checked out several areas between our resort and the 101 Boat Dock area, but nothing I saw was very exciting at this time. A friend told me he had been trolling and catching stripers north of Cranfield, so I headed back towards our resort and went up river. Again I found bait, but this time I also marked fish. No schools, but a lot of 2 to 3 fish swimming together fairly consistently. I started fishing in about 50 feet of water in the mouths of several coves. I was vertical jigging with a 1 ounce spoon and found fish suspended 30 feet down. I spooned up a nice hybrid and a striped bass. I then headed over to the river channel and started to head up river a little farther. I found bait 40 feet down in 80 feet of water and started marking fish on top of the bait so I started spooning again. I got 4 big pull downs, but missed them all. I guess I need to practice more on my hook setting technique for these deep water fish. :-) The fish were actually inside of the bait. I had some guests fishing the same area, but slightly farther north in the channel and they landed 3 nice stripers with one over 20 pounds. My guests were using live shiners set at about 30 feet down. This morning I headed back towards Cranfield and checked out several other areas, but ended up in the river channel and again found fish buried inside of the bait 40 feet down, but I had the same results as yesterday, 5 great hits, but missed them all. Guess I will get them next time.

There are 3 very good methods of winter time fishing for striped bass. Vertical jigging with a spoon is one fun method and a big thrill. You will be jigging the spoon up and down and all of sudden the rod decides it does not want to jig up and gets buried. Make sure you are holding on tight. One important tip for winter time jigging is to slow down your presentation. Small twitches of your rod tip typically works better than the fast and large pull ups. Live bait fishing is another good method to catch stripers. All you need is live brooder shiners, a 2 ounce weight tied to your line with a 3 - 4 foot leader, and a number 4 to a number 1 size hook. I try to match my hook size to the size of bait I am using. Set your bait right at the top of the bait you are marking, fish will come up for the bait, but typically will not go down after it. The third method that is currently working really well for some is trolling an umbrella or alabama rig. When I troll I like to use 5 inch swim baits (Reaction Innovation's Skinny Dippers are one of my favorites). You will need to get your bait down to a 20 - 35 feet depth. Down riggers are the easiest method to get your bait down deep, but you can also use weighted umbrella rigs or you can use in-line weights.

I have not fished for bass or crappie yet, but will shortly. I did notice yesterday morning, as I was heading out about 7:30AM, that there were a few fish coming up next to the bank. They looked small, but sometimes it is hard to tell. Might want to check out a jerk bait. Typically the bass that I catch this time of year are in deeper water 30 - 50 feet down on the bottom close or near brush.

The Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and currently sits at 547.86. The surface water temperature this morning was 44.5 - 45.5 degrees. The lake is stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report by Lou of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort

I hope everyone had great holidays and I wish all a fabulous New Year.

I have finally been able to get out on Norfork Lake. A holiday vacation and then cold weather kept me off the lake for a couple weeks, but I'm glad to be back!  Fishing on Norfork Lake has entered the winter phase of the fishing cycle, meaning the shad are going into deep water and the fish are following. In mid December I was catching fish on large flats in 40 - 60 feet of water. Over the last week I have found large schools of striped bass, hybrid bass and white bass out closer to the main river channel or main creek channels. I have been catching stripers in 60 to 100 feet of water and the fish are suspended 30 - 60 feet deep. My favorite winter time bait is a spoon. I find the fish and drop a spoon down to their depth and start jigging the spoon up and down. With cold water the jigging method should be slowed down. The fish are still active, but are starting to slow down and don't necessarily want to chase it. You can also troll with swim baits or Alabama rigs. The hardest part about trolling is getting your bait down to the correct depth. Down riggers, lead core line or in-line weights are different ways to get your bait down while trolling. Live bait is also working very well. During the cold months I use big shiners. The stripers seem to like them just fine. Over the last week I have found stripers in the major creeks such as Float and Panther. You will also find stripers from the 62 bridge area down to the Howard Cove area. The best part of winter fishing you do not necessarily need to be fishing at the crack of dawn. Monday afternoon I found large schools of feeding fish a 1 pm and it lasted all afternoon.

I will have a report on bass and crappie fishing on my next report as I have been concentrating on striped bass over the last week. I did pick up a nice crappie 70 feet deep while striper fishing. They can be anywhere in the cold water.

Norfork Lake surface water temperature Monday afternoon was 48.5 degrees. I do expect a slight rise in water temperature over the next several days due to the warmer than normal days and nights. Norfork Lake level is falling slowing and currently sits at 548.53. Periodic power generation is occurring during a large portion of the day. The main lake is clear, but the creeks and coves are stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Winter fishing on Norfork Lake near Hummingbird Hideaway Resort is in full swing. Fishing is good for most species. My favorite, striper fishing, has been good.  To find the stripers find the bait. Bait and stripers are both suspended 40 – 70 feet down in 80 – 120 feet of water. The stripers will be on top of the bait, buried in the middle of it and sometimes on the bottom of the bait stream. Electronics are very helpful this time of year in finding the bait and marking the fish. My favorite winter spot for striped bass is anywhere from the 62 bridge columns down to the Howard Cove area. The fish and bait are moving to different spots throughout this area. Four days ago, I was marking bait and catching stripers in front of Howard Cove and for the last several days they were located between the two bridges. On January 15^th I landed a monster 25 pound striper in front of Howard Cove. Yesterday a friend landed another 25 pound fish by the 62 Bridge. I don’t know why, but the bait moves and the fish follow. Vertical jigging with a spoon is working very well as is live bait.

The big 3 pound white bass bite is also very good. You will find them in the same location as the stripers. The whites will typically be buried in the bait down 60 feet. Vertical jigging with a spoon or live bait is working. When jigging with a spoon only light twitches are needed and you need to be ready to set the hook, the bite is very light. The same slow presentation for striped bass is working.

The bite for largemouth and spotted bass is good. Look for these fish at points on the deep water bluff lines. I have found the bigger fish in 40 – 50 feet of water and the smaller ones up in 20 feet of water. I like to vertical jig with a spoon, but jig & pigs as well as grubs are working well. ¼ ounce or a little larger jig heads should be used. Cast your bait out and let it fall to the bottom then work it back slowly. Watch your line as the bait falls since the fish may pick it up at any time.

Crappie fishing has also been OK. I have not been crappie fishing myself, but crappie are being caught on the deeper brush piles in 40 + feet of water. Crappie are suspended on the tops of the brush. Small spoons, grubs or live minnows are all good baits this time of year. Same as the other species work the bait slowly.

The Norfork Lake level is currently at 550.65. The surface water temperature is in the mid 40’s. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are still stained.

 

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.



 

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Norfork Lake's winter fishing pattern is slowly arriving. What I consider a winter pattern is when the bait starts moving into the deep water channels. Electronics are very helpful this time of year, as you start looking for bait in deep water and are watching for the fish (striped and hybrid bass) inside of the bait. One of my friends was fishing yesterday afternoon and found lots of bait and big schools of stripers. He ended up landing 8 stripers, the big one was 14 pounds. The view on his depth finder is attached on the right and he crossed over many schools of fish. Not to contradict myself, but during winter months the fish will also go very shallow to feed, typically early in the morning and after dark. In the winter you  have plenty of options, but the easiest fish to find are the deep water fish.You will also find fish on the deeper flats in 40 - 60 feet of water early mornings and late in the afternoon, but typically in mid day you should concentrate on the deep channels. Areas to start looking for stripers are from the US62 bridge area down towards the 101Boat Dock area; back in the major creeks such as Float, Fall, Panther and Bennetts; and deep flats to check out are the Robinson flats, Cranfield, Mallard, AR101 Bridge and Big Sandy. I have mainly been vertical jigging with a spoon, but live shiners and shad are a great bait to use especially when you can not find schools of fish, but are just finding loners.

The largemouth, spotted and smallmouth bass bite is picking up. I am finding big fish off of bluff lines in 40 - 50 feet of water. This is very typical for this time of year. The fish will be on the bottom and on occasion you will find schooling bass. It is also the time of year you will need to start slowing down your presentation. As the water continues to cool the fish will slow down.

I am starting to find crappie back on the sunken brush piles. A couple of days ago I fished a brush pile outside of our cove and caught 5 crappie in about 30 minutes. They were not the huge slabs, but all keeper size. I am sure the big slabs are also in the brush, so if you are a crappie fisherman it is becoming time for the winter bite. I was fishing brush in 35 - 40 feet of water and the fish were towards the top of the brush.

The Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and currently sits at 549.9. The lake surface water temperature is hanging around 53 degrees. The main lake is relatively clear and the creeks and coves are still stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The Norfork Lake Fishing Report is written by Lou Gabric, owner operator of Hummingbird Hideaway Resort on Norfork Lake. Open year round, Hummingbird Hideaway Resort has a cabin to fit your needs, whether it be for your vacation or a place for family and friends visiting you in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Call for more info. 870-492-5113

Fall fishing season is here on Norfork Lake with the winter fishing season just around the corner With fall comes cooler air temperatures which in turns lowers the lake water temperature. With the cool off, the fish start feeding heavily for the winter months and move to shallower water. And yes, it has been frigid for the last week, but I still braved the cold the last 3 days and fishing was good. This is a great time to stock up your freezers with some Norfork Lake fish for the winter.

The best bite on the lake is for striped bass, hybrid bass and white bass. If you get out at day break start looking on large flats in 25 feet of water and as the morning progresses keep going deeper. I have been catching a lot of fish from 25 - 45 ft of water. As the water continues cooling the bait will move to deeper water and the fish will follow.The bite this morning was good, but not as good as the last two days. I caught over dozen fish by 8AM, then decided to check out different areas to find the big stripers. Over the last week I have caught good fish on several flat areas. I have fished the 101 bridge and marina areas, Fouts area, Mallard, Cranfield, Steward Point and others. You can also find good fish going up river to the Calamity area and above into MO or head the other direction into the Bennetts area. Friday afternoon I headed into Float Creek and got into some huge schools of stripers in the 10 + pound range in 45 ft of water. My bait of choice has been a white 3/4 ounce spoon vertical jigging off the bottom. If you decide to cast for these species you might want to try a large Kastmaster or a Rooster Tail, but you will need to let if fall to the bottom and retrieve it slowly working it off the bottom. Swim baits will also work, but again work the bait off the bottom. When the evenings get warm enough for me to be out, I will start casting a suspending jerk bait for stripers after dark. I do believe the night bite has started.

Black bass have started their move to the banks to feed early and late in the day. Jerk baits are starting to work as well as crank baits. Jig and pigs are always a good choice especially once the fish go a little deeper during the mid day hours. The bass are feeding on crawdads so choose your colors appropriately.

Crappie are moving back to the brush. I have caught several nice fish on the tops of brush piles that are in 20 - 30 ft of water. Early in the morning they will be deep in the brush and as the water warms they will move up. Minnows are the best bait, but I like small spoons or a paddle tail grub tipped with a minnow. Remember as the lake continues to clear you may need to back off the brush and cast into it so you don't spook the fish.

Walleye have eluded me, but I really have not targeted them. You should be able to find them on the same brush piles as the crappie, but work your bait off the bottom. They will also be off both sides of main lake points.

Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and currently sits at 549.72. The surface water temperature has also fallen to 58 degrees with all the cool weather we have been having. The main lake is clear and the coves and creeks are still stained.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

If you want to catch a striped bass, now is a great time to fish Norfork Lake. For me, the best bite on the lake has been for striped and hybrid bass with black bass and white bass not far behind. I have caught 24 stripers and hybrid in the last 4 days and only fished 3 of those 4 days. All but 3 fish, were returned to the lake to be caught again someday. I have used live shiners, but vertical jigging with a spoon has by far been the better bait. I have been using a 3/4 and a 1 ounce spoon in all white, and white with a green back. To be honest, I don't think color matters much when you are dropping the spoon into a school of feeding fish. The biggest secret for this time of year is to work the spoon very, very slowly. No big jerks or fast movements. It is cold water and the fish are moving slower this time of year, even though a few bites today almost jerked the rod out of my hands. Today's bite started out really slow. I looked and looked for stripers in the early morning with little success. I finally found schooling fish around noon and caught 9 stripers/hybrids in the next 1 1/2 hours. It was a great end to a beautiful day on the lake. I have been finding stripers and hybrids in the Cranfield area, 101 area and the Henderson area. The fish are feeding on small 1 inch shad. Find the shad and you will find the fish. The schools that I have found this week are anywhere from 30 ft. down to 90 ft. down in 100 ft of water. I have actually spooned up a striper from the bottom at 100 ft deep. Look in the old deep river channel or just off the edge of the channel, these are the types of areas where I have been have had the most luck.

 

White bass fishing has also been really good over the last couple of weeks. These are the big 2.5 plus pound whites. The great thing about the white bass is that they are hanging in very similar areas as the stripers and hybrids. When you find one you typically find the other, but maybe not at the same time of day. They are also schooling in huge schools feeding on shad. Vertical jigging with a spoon is working great for me at this time. A few times I have found the whites in a little shallower water 55 feet and deeper. I have marked them at all depths in the water column. A very good tool this time of year to finding whites is to find the feeding seagulls. If you see the birds diving in the water, go that direction and there will be fish under them. Some people think this is a silly tool to use, but why not use what nature is providing. If I am looking for a place to fish and I see birds feeding, guess what, I'm  heading that way to check out what is under the birds. I have used this method in ocean fishing for years, so why not use it here. The birds typically stick around through the winter and early spring, then they are gone. If they are not diving in the water and are just flying around, more than likely there are no fish under them.



Black bass fishing has also been very good. Today I was back in Float Creek and noticed a lot of birds feeding in a shallow cove. I headed that way and found a ton of bait. I was only in 20 feet of water and started casting a bone and orange colored suspending rougue. I worked it as a jerk bait for a while with no success then I started to just slowly roll the bait back to the boat. I landed 3 nice 17 inch largemouth. They were out in the middle of the cove not on the bank. I also landed 3 spotted bass vertical jigging in 30 - 40 ft of water off of some bluff lines.

I still have not been crappie or walleye fishing lately. I am having way too much fun striper, white and black bass fishing. I guess if the striper bite slows, I will start checking out these other species. Winter has typically been a really good bite for me for the big black and white crappies. Walleye are staging for their upcoming spawn. The spawn should happen at anytime if not already.

 

The Norfork Lake level is rising slowly and currently sits at 542.52. The lake has risen about 2.5 ft over the last week. No power generation has occur for the last week. The surface water temperature this morning was 47 - 48 degrees. A slight warming trend is going on, but I would guess we will still get some cold weather. The main lake is clear with a slight green tint and the creeks and coves are still a little stained.

 

Keep an eye on this blog, I'll be writing about the upcoming Norfork Lake Chamber of Commerce Fishing Derby. Hummingbird Hideaway Resort will be participating and we hope to have many of our guests enter. This is a first derby for the Chamber. We think it will be a fun way to welcome spring and hope to make it an annual event.

 

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Happy New Year to all.

I have been out of town a good portion of the time since my last report. But I had fun playing with my grand kids over the holidays and already miss them. I have also missed fishing Norfork Lake and I am finally back at it. I went out several times over the last week, but today was an all around great day. First off it was 58 degrees, can't ask for anything better for a winter fishing trip, and secondly the fish were very active.

I landed a nice 20+ pound striped bass on a live shiner. I was fishing in 85 feet of water and the fish were in a line of shad 60 ft down. I had my shiners set at 44 feet and 55 feet and was able to watch the fish come out of the shad to go after my bait. I missed two other good bites and had several other light pull downs. What I did find is that I needed to set the hook as soon as I saw the rod tip start to bend toward the water. I usually wait until the rod tip almost touches the water, but today if I waited too long the fish released the bait. The stripers are in their typical winter pattern and I am finding the fish in the typical winter locations. This fish that I landed was a very strong fish, it did not run a long way, but took a dive down, then did not want to budge from its deep water depth. It was a real tug a war, but I won. Places to look for stripers are part way back in creeks such as Float Creek, in the deep river channel in the Hendersen, Bidwell, 101 and 6A areas. They should be in the Cranfield area, but I have not checked this area out yet.

I fished for stripers for a couple of hours then I decided to switch to bass. My first location was a deep water bluff line close to a point on the main lake. The spotted bass bite was non-stop. I was vertical jigging with a small 1/4 ounce spoon in 28 - 40 feet of water. I ended up culling a few fish as they kept getting bigger. The spots all ranged from 13 - 15 inches. I caught a few largemouth bass while striper fishing. They were suspended at 30 - 40 feet in 85 feet of water. I also caught 2 in the same location that I was catching all the spotted bass, but the best location that I found was near brush in 30 - 40 feet of water.

The Norfork Lake water level is currently at 540.63 and rising slowly. The lake has remain stable for the last couple of days with no power generation. The main lake is clear with the creeks and coves somewhat stained. The surface water temperature was 49 degrees.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

PS. I can't seem to get this google blog to upload photos. If you would like to see pictures of today's catch go to Hummingbird Hideaway Resort's Facebook page.