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It was a gorgeous day on Norfork Lake, partially overcast with the temperature up in the low 40’s. Although when I went out it was still 26 degrees. If the forecast is correct, I may not be on the lake for several days, since another deep freeze is predicted to head our way. Hopefully they are wrong. I was on the lake a little after 9AM and checked out the area where I found fish yesterday. There was less bait than yesterday and fewer fish. I tried to find them, with no success in this area. I headed to a normal winter spot when the lake temps get to the mid 40″s. and found lots of bait in 90 to 100 feet of water with fish feeding. I was fishing at the edge of the old river channel/creek channel. The bait was suspended 60 to 70 feet down. I saw fish in small schools 30 feet down. These guys were whites and smaller hybrids. The bigger boys came through at 50 to 60 feet down and were feeding fairly good. I ended up landing 2 nice hybrids and 2 good sized stripers, along with a couple of whites and small hybrids. All the fish today were caught dead sticking using a white trash Tater Baits – Fishing Lures and Umbrella Rigs, then released on sight. At noon something happened. The bait was still at 60 feet, but the fish seemed to move below the bait and stopped biting. I would see 5 to 10 fish swim though at about 75 feet down but they would not feed any more. I got a couple of bumps from the deep fish, but they were probably just nipping at the tail or just running into my fishing line. A couple of our guests, Jim & Steve, fished with Chad Bleeker of Norfork Bayou Fishing and had success in a different part of the lake. The surface water temp ranged from 44 – 46 degrees. The lake is slowly lowering and currently sits at 554.47 ft msl. I love wintertime fishing as long as the air temp is close to 30 degrees or higher. I am getting too old to handle fridged temps below that anymore. 🥶

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