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

Caught yesterday on the Bink's Spoon.Image title

The lake level is 578.10 and has dropped 2-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with continuous generation. The surface water temperature is 82 in the early mornings and 84 in the afternoons. Visibility is about 5-feet and the lake is clearing the further we get from the weekend. The higher than normal boat traffic on Friday afternoons, Saturday and Sunday really churn up the lake and create large launching and parking problems. The lake clears a lot from Sunday night to Friday  Watch for the guard rails across the launch at Panther Bay. There is really room for only two boats at a time for launching and that is if you stay close to the courtesy dock. Take off boat covers, load the boat, Put in plug , take off transon savers, put key in boat before blocking the launch and things go pretty smooth. I took a boat trip from Blackburns to Cranfield Island and then to the 101 bridge and back and the lake was in good condition. The debris is starting to stick to the shore with the little bit of drop in level. A few more feet drop would really do some good but they show no willingness to do so. Get that level down at Newport to 14-feet at all costs for no reason. Fishing has been about normal for the end of June and people are catching bass, walleye, catfish, bluegill, stripers and hybrids. If there is a top water bite it will be early before and just at sunrise. After that look for stripers off steep banks about 30-40 foot down and drop a Bink's Many Shad Spoon on them. Others are trolling umbrellas and still others are using live bait. Crickets off docks for big bluegill are catching some nice ones. Check out main lake and secondary points in 18-20 feet for walleye. Many fish and bait fish are still in the brush and it extends out to about 27 feet.