He knows where the fish are!
A two hour's catch is what you see in the photos below of Blackburn's owner Steve Street. He caught these fish in the middle of a hot August afternoon, when fishing is supposed to be slow! Steve fishes Norfork almost every day of the year. He also scuba dives each day. Either way, he knows where the fish are! Steve also writes the Norfork lake fishing report keeping thousands of fishermen informed. If you want to catch fish, stay at Blackburn's!
Numbers of largemouth, smallmouth, and Kentucky bass vary from year to year according to spawn numbers. Right now the most plentiful species are the Kentucky followed by smallmouth, then largemouth. For an Arkansas Fishing license call 800-364-4263.
Crawfish are the favorite food for all three, so crank baits work very well here. Use spinner baits when it is windy, and flukes when it is not. Night fishing with blacklights and florescent line works well in mid summer. Use green grubs in winter. Superflukes are a good all around bait.Walleye - Walleye are fast becoming Lake Norfork's top game fish, and if their size and numbers keep increasing as quickly as they have the last few years, they will overtake stripers as the lake's most popular game fish. I have won the annual walleye spear fishing tournament for four years in a row. My largest walleye to date is a 9 pounder. I spoon for them in the summer. The rest of the year I use jerk baits and troll night crawler harnesses. Walleyes in Norfork like high rocky banks with sharp drop-offs most of the year. In the spring they travel onto flats.
Crappie - Crappie usually spawn in April then stay in shallow water. Prior to April Crappie are deeper and very large ones can be caught. After spawn look for any structure or submerged brush. Tube jigs and jigs tipped with minnows are the preferred Norfork bait. Occasionally during the summer the largest fish are on high banks with sharp drop-offs. The Game and Fish mark brush piles with blue signs with white fish on them to indicate location of structure and submerged brush piles. I catch some large crappie on the bottom while spooning in the summer, some as large as 2 1/2 lbs.
Stripers & Hybrids - Striper and hybrids tend to run in the same areas with hybrids a few feet shallower. Several fishermen still use live bait, mainly threadfin shad trolled on balloon rigs. I prefer artificial baits. I use green stingray grubs in the winter, top water lures and bass assassins in the spring, Bink's Jigging spoons in the summer and stick baits after dark in the fall. The starting and ending dates for the season vary with water temperature and moon phase. Trophy striper and hybrid catches in Norfork Lake are not uncommon. Early spring and late fall are the best time of year to fish for the large stripers.
Catfish - Lake Norfork catfish species are flathead, blue and channel catfish. Flathead spawn last and get very large. Blue cat are greater in numbers and also get very large. I have seen many over 30 lbs. A big channel is 10 lbs. In the spring when the water is usually highest I bait limb lines with live shiners and sun fish. In the summer I set trot lines and set out jugs. Crawdads work well on jugs and jug fishing can be the best in August and September. I run trot lines all year. There are few things I enjoy eating more than fresh Lake Norfork catfish!
