The lake level is 561.81 and has dropped 2-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with the same generation. They are keeping the White River at Newport below 12-feet to keep the lakes up as high as they can for as long as they can. They must like to do that so there is no surge capacity for when it rains. The surface temperature is about 80 degrees and the lake is still stained green and you can see your lure down just a few feet. The temperature will drop quickly in the shallow creeks as the nightime lows reach near 50. The stained water has not hurt fishing though and a lot of big fish were brought in yesterday and this morning. I went out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and and it was about 70-degrees with a light wind. There were still several boats out there dragging stuff around and jet skis seeing how close they could come to docks and fishermen. I caught all of my fish on a Bobby Garland jig casting it over brush and letting it sink slowly with a little twitch. I was catching crappie when a nice walleye hit it and just about knocked the rod out of my hand. Some smaller stripers and hybrids are starting to show up but not nearly as many as there used to be. Too many in the 6-10 lbs have been killed by fishermen and the low oxygen is not helping anything either. Holding the water up so high and for so long in the vegetation depletes the oxygen. I am seeing some color on the hillsides indicating the fall foliage is beginning. It has not changed much in the last several days though. Our normal peak is the very last of October but nothing is normal around here anymore. Our normal high is 80 now. Carl Scott, Mike Eakle, Jack Bucknell, Tom Kelly, Binks and Scuba Steve all caught some good ones yesterday. I have some very good fishermen helping me with this report. Carl and Tom are worm fishermen, Binks, Mike and Jack are spoon fishermen and I use both the spoon and the jig. All are working. Bass, crappie, bluegill and walleye are the best but a few catfish and red meat fish are being caught. The people that cannot catch any stripers are turning into walleye and crappie fishermen. That is the beauty of Norfork. It has so many varieties. People come from other states to catch crappie when they cannot get stripers.
