Norfork Lake fishing and lake conditions by Scuba Steve from Blackburns Resort and Boat rental (click here for comments)

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The lake level is 555.21 and has dropped 1/2 inch in the last 24-hours.  They are running one generator 1/2 speed part of the time and holding Newport at 11+ feet. We received about 0.8 inches of rain and more is on the way. It is cloudy and in the 50's today after a beautiful day yesterday. I went out at about 3:PM and fished until dark. I caught fish from the time I went out until I came in. Fish were on steep river channel banks with the wind blowing into them on the main lake. Warmouth were right on the bank and the bass were out in front of them in 6-8 feet of water and the crappie were in front of them in 13-feet of water. Some very nice fish were caught and all released. It was very nice to be out in the warm sun with fish biting. Tom Kelly came in with some good bass caught in Float creek and released them under my dock. He keeps his boat in Panther Bay Marina and fishes Float a lot.  It is a good place. He was using a 3-inch plastic worm and a spoon and I was using the grub and minnow. I tried spooning brush in 25-ft. of water but only got small fish and bluegill. The red meat fish I am catching are small and the White Bass that are being caught are quite small and not worthy of a picture. I do not keep them anyway.  The shad that I am seeing are very small.  There was a brown scum on the lake but it went away. I do not know what it was. The lake is not very clear now except for near the shore. Crappie are on shallow brush piles but I can only catch one or two in each place. The very big ones are not biting very well yet. Most are about 11-inches but an occassional monster shows up but he is usually with other big fish and not schooled with his own. Surface temperature was 64 degrees. Come on down to Blackburns where we will not charge you too much and your first boat stall is free. No duplexes here and all cabins have covered porches. Our 18-stall dock has several different sized stalls to fit different sized boats.  No one size fits all here and the walkways are wide and on both sides of your boat.