Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The Norfork Lake spring fishing bite is in full swing. It is very hard to say what is the current best bite on the lake, but I guess I would have to say it is smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass. Coming in a very close second would be hybrid bass and striped bass. The walleye and crappie bites are picking up and the catfish are hitting trotlines and jugs. Oh yeh, throw some white bass into the mix and you have the full spectrum of fish on Norfork Lake. Pick your species and go out and have fun. I guess I am making it sound easy, every day has its ups and downs, but I believe this is a great time of year for fishing. Norfork Lake is a very dynamic place right now, the fish are continually moving, the lake is dropping rapidly, the water is trying to clear-up and Mother Nature has thrown in a few cold fronts on occasion to make sure we get fishing changes. After our 11foot rise in water a few weeks back the bite stalled for about 4 days after the rise, but boy has the bite come back with a vengeance.

The smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass bite for this spring is the best I have ever seen. You can find fish on shallow points as well as on deep bluff lines. Crank baits that dive about 10 feet are catching nice fish. Spinner baits on windy days are working great. Probably the most productive baits are the tube jig, jig and pig, and Texas rigged worms worked slowly along the bottom. Start your baits in around 5 feet of water and work it through 25 feet depths before you bring it up. Crawdad colors of the green to the deep reds are working well. Of course, swimming minnows / grubs worked close to the bottom are also effective. I am finding bass up very shallow early in the morning with some top water activity. If you see the top water action throw a Zara Spook. I have caught many smallmouth this way early in the morning. As the sun comes up I have found the fish dropping back to 10 - 20 feet depthsr. The largemouth and spots are typically in the 10 - 15 range and the smallmouth seems to be in the 15 - 20 range. You can find bass all over the lake. Live bait is working exceptionally well.

The striper and hybrid bass bite are improving by leaps and bounds. Just today one of my guide friends, Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters, caught a limit for 2 clients in 50 minutes and continued to catch and release thereafter. Tom was fishing the dam area with live shad. I have been catching hybrids and stripers up close to the banks early in the morning with Zara spooks, Flukes and free swimming live shad. After the sun rises fishing with swimming minnows should also work. Live bait is still one of your best options. Drop a couple baits down about 20 feet and also have a few free swimming baits thrown towards the shore. The fish are continually moving and if they are in the area they will find your bait. The dam area has been one of the better bites lately, but the fish are starting to bite in the Bennetts area, Float and Panther creeks as the water in these areas are starting to clear. I am going to concentrate my striper fishing to these areas next week. I will let you know.

Walleye fishing has improved. Several of our bass fishermen have been catching some nice fish off the ends of deep bluff lines with crawdad colored crankbaits. The walleye seem to be in about 10 feet of water. I caught a nice 22 inch 3.5 pound walleye the other morning before daylight throwing a suspending rogue at the ends of docks with lights.

Channel cats are coming into shallow water to feed and spawn. A couple of our Bass Cat guest set a couple of trotlines and were baiting them up with live shiners. They ended up catching a bakers dozen. the best part of their catch was that they ended up catch 4 nice cats on bare hooks. Yes I did say no bait. They had set their lines one evening then a storm rolled in and they didn't get a chance to bait them up. The next evening they went out to bait up the lines and ended up finding 4 cats with no bait. These fish must really be hungry.

The lake level is currently falling about 8 inches per day and sits at 555.84. The Corps has forecast to be at normal pool of 552 by April 22, 2012,  The quick drop in water level will slowly diminish over the next week until the level stabilizes. This will also enhance the clearing process. The surface water temperature yesterday morning was from the mid to upper 60s. This should help spur on some top water action. The lake is still stained, but is having color changes showing the clearing process has started.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

 

Norfork Lake is bustling with fishing activity. The fishing and catching has been great and our guests are landing nice size fish. The Cystic Fibrosis fishing tournament was held yesterday and the winners weighed-in over 16 pounds. They had 224 boats participating for this great benefit and many of the fisher people brought in limits of fish. Bass fishing is good! Next Friday and Saturday the BassCat Owners Invitational is being held on Norfork Lake. We have many Basscat boat owners staying with us that are pre-fishing the lake in hopes of winning the grand prize. But I really think most are here to have a good time, relax and experience some great Arkansas hospitality from Mountain Home and all of its residents.

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted Bass fishing is by far the best bite on the lake. Over the past week or so I have seen more 3 - 5 pound bass caught than ever before. I believe this shows that the previous high water years was a benefit to the Norfork Lake fishery with the increase in numbers of fish as well as the size. My guests and I have been bringing in limits of bass on a consistent basis. A lot of the fish are released after photos, but some find there way into the frying pan. Nothing better than eating fresh caught fish. The fish are hitting top water lures early in the mornings and late in the day. Cast a spook, fluke, rogue or your favorite top water bait into the sunken buck brush, let it sit for 10 seconds or so then walk-the-dog back to the boat.You may get hammered immediately in very shallow water or they may follow it back and hit part way back to the boat. It is really exciting to see any fish erupt on that spook and then take off running. Once the sun comes up the fish are falling back into 12 - 20 feet of water. You can then cast crank baits, swimming minnows, jig and pigs. If it is windy try a spinner bait. I have found that the closer to the bottom you are the more strikes you will get. For those live bait fisher-people cast your bait right up into the buck brush with no weights. Let the minnow do its job and attract the fish. I have been getting as many if not more bites on live bait as artificial. Once the sun comes up add some weight to the line and fish in 12 - 20 ft of water right on the bottom.










April has always been a great month for smallmouth bass fishing, but this year it seems even better. I have been catching limits of smallmouth on a daily basis with the  above mentioned methods. Each time you cast your artificial bait or live bait you are not really sure what you might catch. The stripers and hybrids are in the same areas and hitting the same baits. If you want to consistently catch smallmouth bass April is a great time to come to Norfork Lake.

The Striper and hybrid bite is starting to happen, but is still a little inconsistent. At least it has been for me. One day I find them and just have a field day and the next they are gone somewhere else and I can't seem to find them. They should be in the same locations as the bass, and you fish for them in the same way as you do for bass.

I forgot to mention that the walleye are feeding in the same areas as the bass and stripers, I haven't landed any yet, but I know of quite a few nice size walleye are being caught.

Catfish are coming up shallow to feed so if you like to run trotlines or jugs this is a good time to do it. I find that live bait works better than cut bait. Also night crawlers are working on pole fishing. Find some flowing water from a creek or spring and fish the bottom with your crawlers the cats should be in the area.

Crappie are starting to bite, but I haven't had the chance to do any crappie fishing. Not enough time in the day. I guess I should cut down on the sleep! I will try and get some info soon.

Norfork Lake level is falling about 7 inches per day and currently sits at 559.3. Two generators are being run with some partially opened flood gates. This will continue to mid month. The lake is forecast to be back to normal pool by May 1, 2012. The surface water temperature has fallen to the upper 60's. The lake is still very stained with some clearing starting to happen in parts of the lake.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The Norfork Lake spring fishing bite is back better than ever. I have been out the last two mornings and the bite is fantastic for smallmouth bass, white bass, and hybrid bass. Ater the heavy rains last week that made the lake rise 11 feet the bite all but disappeared for a few days. That part of our life is over and the fishing is stronger than ever.

This morning I fished the Diamond Bay area and had a great day. I caught 12 fish and missed as many or more. I was using live bait as well as throwing a Zara spook (white with a chartreuse head). The bite started about 6:45AM and I quit fishing at 9 after having 3 fish on at the same time. I landed two smallmouth bass and lost the third. Literally I lost the third, if anyone catches a big fish with a Falcon rod and a Shimano reel attached, it is mine!! I was fighting a large smallmouth hearing the drag zinging out of this other rod. I looked back and it was gone.

My morning started out with the white bass erupting all around me. My live bait poles were dipping to the water and the fish were also attacking my spook. No way I could handle 5 rods by myself. Then the hybrids started breaking the surface. Again they were hitting both live bait as well as my spook. The the smallmouth started to bite. I caught a couple on my spook and the rest on live bait. I was sitting on the side of a point in 15 - 20 feet of water. I had two down poles set at about 12 feet and one pole that I was pitching into the buck brush. When I say into the buck brush that is what I mean. The fish are feeding inside of the brush and cruising in out. You will be retying hooks, but that is what it takes at this time. The stripers will be doing the same very shortly. I was using thread fin shad as my live bait, but shiners should work as well. Yesterday morning was very similar to this morning, but the eruptions yesterday were mainly smallmouth bass. I have had a limit of smallmouth each day, a limit of hybrids today and many white bass. It is time to fish Norfork Lake!!! The night bite for me is still slow, it should start to pick up though very soon.

My current fishing suggestion is to find the clearer water. Some of the major creeks I have been in are starting to clear and the water looks much better than the main lake. Over the last several days I have traveled most of the lake from Pigeon creek, up to Bennett's and down to the dam. Fish a point that has a lot of buck brush in the water.  Cast in live bait with no weight, or use artificial (flukes, spooks or rogues.) Of course there are many others to choose from. Continually watch out for top water action especially early in the morning. Even if you don't see top action the fish will come up for your bait.

I don't currently have any info on crappie, but will get the scoop soon.

The Norfork Lake level is falling about 2 inches per day and currently sits at 562.59.  The Corps is running one generator and is releasing the equivalent of a second generator to help bring the lake down. They are releasing water 24 hours per day. The Norfork Lake surface water temperature was in the upper 60's to low 70's this morning. The main lake is still very stained, but some of the major creeks are starting to clearing.

To all my fishing followers- if you have information that will be helpful to others, please feel free to comment on these blogs or on Hummingbird Hideaway Resort's facebook page.

Happy fishing, be safe and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The weather at Hummingbird Hideaway Resort on Norfork Lake is finally back to normal. Sunny warm days and very pleasant evenings. The forecast is for great spring type weather for the next week and so far there is no rain in the forecast. We had about 6 inches of rain earlier in the week which has brought the lake up about 10 feet. This level works out just fine, all launch ramps on the lake and boat docks are in normal operating mode. You just don't need to walk down any stairs from our parking lot to the boat dock. We have a large parking lot next to our dock to make it easy-on and easy-off. Our concrete launching ramp next to our dock is in good shape.

"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.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

The Norfork Lake "night bite" is in full swing from what I experienced this evening. I ended up landing 2 stripers, 4 hybrids and a handful of largemouth and spotted bass. The photos are a sampling of what I was catching, but all fish were released.The big striper in the photo weighed in at 19.8 pounds. I fished a different part of the lake this evening and had a great time. I could hear fish breaking the surface all around me. The fish started to bite around 8PM and it didn't stop until I had to quit, I noticed it was already 10:30PM which is later than I normally fish. I didn't want to turn into a pumpkin!! The surface water temperature was in the upper 50's. I was throwing a bone/orange rogue.

This is a quick update to those that love to fish in the dark and also love catching big fish. It is time to plan your fishing trip on Norfork Lake. I caught myself smiling after landing the 20 pounder. This fish destroyed the lure, one hook was totally gone, a second hook was in the fish, but not attached to the lure and third hook was starting to bend out. This fish gave a really good fight. On another note, the whites have started their run and are being found back in the creeks.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

Early spring fishing on Norfork Lake is starting to take off. Striped bass are hitting during the morning hours and the after dark "night bite" is getting exciting. Largemouth bass and walleye are in shallow water and the crappie should be staging for their spawn. What more can you ask for?

I have been fishing the "night bite" for the last 3 evenings and am catching walleye, largemouth bass, spotted bass, striped bass and the occasional gar. All fish except for the walleye have been released, some at the dock after their photo op, some at the fishing location. We had stuffed fresh Norfork Lake walleye last evening and it was really really good! Some of you may ask what is the "night bite"? The striped bass and walleye are on the shoreline feeding after dark. I have been casting Smithwick Suspending Rogues to the shoreline. I get the bait as close to the shore as possible. Then let the bait sit for about 15 - 30 seconds before I start to reel it back to the boat very very slowly. If you think you are going slow try to go even slower. I have even stopped reeling half way back to the boat to let the bait sit for a couple seconds. I typically go out around 7PM and return around 10PM to the resort. I'm sure the fish will still bite later if you want to fish though out the night. 10 PM is late enough for me. I use a 6.75 ft medium light action rod with a spinning reel which has 8 pound Ande green monofilament line. So far this year, I have been fishing main lake points that the wind is blowing into. Typically you find the wind will lay down after dark. This wasn't the case last night. I fish points in the Cranfield area, Benetts/Fout area, Bidwell area, Float Creek, and have gone as far as the Diamond Bay area. I like to venture out and try different areas of the lake. Last evening was very windy which made it very difficult to control both the boat and the cast. I did manage to land one nice 14.75 pound striper which had a belly on it bigger than mine! I also caught a 4 foot gar, no fight until it was sitting next to the boat then it decided it had enough, it flipped, cut the line and swam off with my lure! You never know what is going to hit your bait. The morning bite for stripers is also starting to take off. Jeff in the above photo landed this nice 28 pound striper yesterday morning fishing in 20 feet of water. I fully expect the topwater bite for stripers to start very soon. Have your topwater baits ready. We carry a good supply of rogues and topwater baits in our resort store at reasonable rates.

Walleye are also hitting at night. I caught this nice 20 inch fish Monday evening fishing the Cranfield area. Walleye fishing should just get better in this area soon. The fish have been spawning. The spawn should be complete soon if it isn't finished already. Walleye will start to move down river to feed heavily at night. Dragging a crawler harness works great or casting rogues up to the banks works for me. There are plenty of walleye fishing methods, use your favorite and it will work on Norfork Lake.

Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass are all up in shallow water early and late in the day. Casting rogues, working the bait as a jerk bait is working. Any jerk bait lure, soft or hard will work. Casting the Alabama rig is also catching fish. It is more difficult to cast and work with, but it will catch fish once you find them.

I don't have much news on crappie as I have been targeting stripers lately, but they should be staging for their spawn. The water temperature is getting right and the dogwoods should start to bloom very shortly. Find brush and fish shallow.

The Norfork Lake water level is falling slowly and currently sits at 552.13 feet above sea level. This is only slightly above normal pool of 552. The Corps is generating heavily to bring the lake back to normal pool. The lake temperature is in the mid 50's. In fact, I found the water temperature would change by 3 degrees depending where I was last evening. The main lake is clear and the creeks and coves are starting to clear, but still a nice stained color exists.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.

Norfork Lake Fishing Report

It seems like forever since I have been able to sit down and write up a Norfork Lake Fishing Report. I was starting to go though fishing withdrawal, but I am finally back on the lake. Fishing has really changed from my last report. The main change being that fish are starting to go into shallow water. I have been able to fish 3 days this week. The first day I spent traveling around the lake and doing a lot of graphing and looking with very little fishing. Day 2, I started out bass fishing just before sunrise. I started to throw a rogue on main lake points just outside of our cove. Largemouth and Kentucky bass were lying in wait. I began casting next to the bank and worked the bait as a jerk bait back to the boat. Most of my fish hit the bait half way back to the boat. I also started to see a lot of top water fish throughout the cove. I tried a little vertical jigging in 30 feet of water around brush with no success. I then headed back to the Bennett's area to see what the stripers were up to. I started fishing with live shiners about 30 feet deep, moved along a bluff line going between 30 and 60 feet of water and was marking plenty of fish. I ended up getting 4 hard bites, but as soon as I would get to the pole they released the bait. Today was day 3 and I decided to strictly fish for striped bass. It was a slow bite, but I finally landed this nice 15 pound Norfork Lake striped bass. I marked plenty of feeding fish, but they just seemed to ignore my bait most of the day. I was using live shiners. I did clean the striper and when I checked out what it had been eating I found it was just crammed full of small 1 inch fresh shad. I do know of several other nice sized stripers that were caught in the same general area that I was fishing. Fish have also been caught in Float and Panther creeks in the last several days. The night bite for striped bass should be taking off very shortly. I would like to see the water warm up a few degrees. This should happen very soon with the warm weather forecast.

Walleye fishing has also been really good up river. A couple of friends had a great fishing trip yesterday using with live chubs. Shiners and nightcrawlers should work as well. The walleye are in the middle of their spawn and should start moving down river very soon. The after dark rogue bite is starting to happen.

Crappie are over brush in shallow water. You will find them 5 - 20 feet down so try different depths until you locate them. Live bait has been working the best from reports that I have been getting. I was netting many nice size crappie back in the bayou in 10 feet of water while trying to find shad.

Start looking for several upcoming fishing events that will happen over the next couple of weeks. The white bass run and spawn should start to happen any time if not already. You will be able to find these fish on very shallow flats and in the backs of creeks, the smaller hybrids will also be hanging with them. The after dark bite for stripers and walleye with a slow rolling a jerk bait has already started, but will get much better once the water temperature gets closer to the mid 50's. Crappie will start to stage for their spawn. You will start to find the crappie in very shallow water along banks in coves and creeks. Look for fallen timber that is lying in the water.

This 6 pound 20 inch long trophy was born on Feb. 23, 2012. Jillian is my newest granddaughter. She is another reason for my delay in doing a fishing report. I spent several days in Texas after her birth. I had a blast playing with all 3 of my granddaughters. Jillian is definitely a keeper.

More fishing info next week as things change.

The Norfork Lake level is being held fairly stable at 551.88. The surface water temperature this morning before light was 49 in the main lake around the main lake bridges and was 51 - 52 degrees back around the 6A marker. The main lake is clear to slightly stained with the creeks and coves very stained. We have more rain in the forecast for tomorrow and several warm days to follow.

Happy fishing and see you on the lake.