Norfork Lake Condition and Fishing Report by Scuba Steve from Blackburns Resort and Boat Rental (click here for comment)

One very nice crappie caught on the Bink's spoon yesterday in the 65+degree weather. Caught bass and Hybrids also.Image title

The lake level is 553.53 and is still rising slowly with one hour of generation. It does not look like the level gauge on the White River at Newport is working properly but there is not much water there. Why they are keeping all of the area lakes up this high in the winter is anybodies' guess. Most likely a lack of foresight. It most certainly is not because of rainfall. The lake is at a good level for fishing now though with brushpiles at perfect depth. There are still some people out there targeting the big stripers that are left and catching and killing very small ones less than 10-lbs. I guess they will not quit until they are all gone. I sure hope covid does not inhibit stocking this year. If we have high water and low oxygen again this year striper guides had better take up crappie and bass fishing  I had to make a quick trip up north and visited a friend in Kansas City and he took me fishing. The lake was very near and was called Hillsdale Reservoir. It was not great big but nice sized. It was just a little over 50-ft. deep and the surface water temperature was in the mid 30's. We caught walleye, crappie and white bass but no largemouth. It was the first time that I had fished anything but Arkansas area lakes in several years and was fun. Nice lake and was not crowded but I would not drive that far to fish it.  I do miss the fly in trips to Northwest Ontario for walleye that I used to take almost every year before i moved here but do not miss the black flies and mosquitoes. Having none here was a major reason for me relocating 25 years ago.  It is great to be outside at dark and not have a cloud of mosquitoes and black flies on you in the summer. We here on Norfork Lake are very fortunate where you cannot walk on our water or drill holes in it. The surface temperature was 50 on the main lake when I went out yesterday afternoon. I caught crappie and bass and even caught one keeper walleye. All of Blackburns cabins are full now but we will have one opening starting tomorrow. Several fishermen are in but also construction people and others visiting family. The weather has been beautiful with above average highs most of the time with a few cool days mixed in. The water is stained a little but a good color for fishing. Fishing overall is just fair with bass fishing being the best. A few hybrid stripers are being caught in the 5-lb. range and some crappie. Every once in a while a walleye is being caught but not nearly as many as earlier. There were a few trollers chugging around yesterday but I did not talk to them to see if they caught any. I am not into trolling. Most people were bass fishing. Bink caught some nice ones.