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

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Caught fishing with Bink's Guide Service.Image title

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The lake level is 569.26 and is dropping a little over 2-inches every day with generation about 2/3s the time. The lake became stained a few days ago and remains so. You can see your lure down about three feet. The lake surface temperature has dropped to about 85 degrees with the cooler weather but should go back up with the hot ambient temperature starting tomorrow and continuing into next week. We have passed what is normally our hottest time which is the last of July and the first week in August. We seem to get a rain right when we need it to keep things green but no extra. The lake is in excellent condition for boating and swimming but still too high for beaches. Some more boat launches are opening up and more parking for day users but it is still crowded on the weekends. 560 level is about optimal for the lake level but at this rate we will not get to that until a couple of weeks after Labor day. It does not leave much surge capacity for a big rain though. Trollers are getting some stripers on live bait deep but have to work for them and most are not very big.   Some are in 70+ feet of water and are lethargic. Some walleye are with them but most of them and the bass are just outside of the old shoreline in about 23-25 feet of water near the bottom and around the thermocline. The best bite right now is the bluegill and some of them are very large. They are fun and good eating. The children love to catch them. A few crappie are under docks but the bite is slow at best. Fishing will now get better and better until the lake turns in October and then get good again. I catch a lot of big fish around Thanksgiving and throughout the winter when the lake is lower and my brush piles come back into play.I hope they draw the lake down this winter and not hold it up into the mid 550's going into the spring. That is proven not to work but you cannot let the government run anything.We will be ok no matter what they do it just makes it more difficult. I have not seen the lake so busy after the first week in August in years and they are still coming.  The county sales tax revenues are at record levels with the town crowded with visitors. Come on down to Blackburns Resort and Boat Rental and we will nor charge you too much.