Mike Eakle from O'fallon and Bob Musser from Antioch, Illinois caught a nice variety this morning and released them under Blackburn's dock.
The lake level is 572.65 and has risen almost 11-inches in the last 24-hours with no current generation. We received 1/2 inch of rain last night and the creeks are running but not hard. The lake level continues to rise. They are frantically trying to stop Beaver lake from going over the spillway with flood gates open. It is just a few inches from doing so. Dam management 101, do not let the water go over the dam. Maybe the governement needs to realize it rains in the spring here. Duh. This is even causing Table Rock to rise which is taboo. Bull Shoals is taking the brunt of the mismanagement on the chain of Lakes with Norfork being the neglected stepchild, not hooked up with them, and being the victim of the hold and hope philosophy of water management. With all of this crises they have been able to keep the White River level at Newport to below 17.5 feet when the minor flood stage is 26-feet. It is even below the 18-foot level which is mandated. It is almost like the whole place is run by idiots and nobody wants to do anything about it. Draw the lake down to the 540's in the fall and winter, let as much out to keep it there without downstream flooding for as long as they can should do the trick. Do not quit generating everytime it rains would help too. There needs to be accountability or nothing will be done. My Dog Toby could do better. The lake surface temperature is about 67 degrees depending on where you are. The rain should stop Sunday sometime and be sunny for several days with little chance of rain. Top water fishing is still the best for small stripers (less than 10-lbs) with hybrids and bass being the best bite. The stripers are getting smaller and smaller with way too many being killed. Many bass are spawning but many are also coming up in the early morning. Bass spawn way up into summer on Norfork. There is more debris showing up being washed from the bank with the water rise so be carefull. The lake is still clear and in overall good condition just bigger. As of today we are no longer able to launch here and are sending people to Panther Bay. You can still park your trailers at the resort and drive to the dock and park. Please do not clog the dock area up with trailers. I am still catching several nice crappie and catfish with a few top water bass thrown in. There are no diminished services here at Blackburns except for launching. Many places do not have that ever anyway. Day use areas will be very crowded with very little camping and launch parking available. Fishing has not been affected much if any.
