This morning’s bite and the bite yesterday afternoon was very good for some of our guests. Last evening Wayne found some nice crappie by trolling flicker minnows. Mike and Jimmie had a great time catching well over 40 white bass back in a creek. The fish started surface feeding and they had a blast for a long period of time. They were catching fish by casting out various different lures and rigs. Brian had lot of fun this morning casting out a Kastmaster to sunken buck brush and caught fish after fish. Lots of largemouth and whites. There were hybrids and stripers in the area, but they were eluding Brian & Brittany. I started out in the dark and dropped my green light. Within 30 minutes my boat was surrounded by bait fish, and I started to see whites darting though the bait. I caught a live well full of whites and released most. I started to see some bigger fish come under the bait 30 to 60 feet down but were stubborn. They looked and followed my bait but refused to eat. I changed colors, but the fish acted the same. Finally, I got one nice striper to take my bait and had a good battle on my hands. As it got light out, I moved to a creek that I have not fished lately. I found some hybrids and stripers that were cruising in 60 to 70 feet of water, suspended 30 to 60 feet down. On my first drop I had my bait down towards the bottom and 4 fish came though at about 45 five feet. I slowly reeled up past them and a large hybrid hammered the bait. After that I continued to see 2 to 3 fish at a time, but I could not get any more fish to commit. I saw no bait in the area, so I guess the fish had no reason to stick around. At about 7AM they disappeared. It was getting time to head back to the resort, so I slowly (LOL) made my way back and looked at a few other areas on the way.
The surface water temperature was at 71 degrees in the main lake this morning. The lake level is on a slow rise due to the rain we have been having. The lake level currently sits at 556.96 ft msl, which is just slightly over normal seasonal pool.
Enjoy Norfork Lake in the Arkansas Ozarks!
