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

The lake level is 552.22 and has dropped a little over 2-inches in the last 24-hours. There was less generation than the day before with more hours of nothing and more of 1/2 generator and less of both. They must not need the power. We have not had a rolling blackout as warned yet but if we did and the generators were shut off it would not make me happy but not surprise me any with the government running both the power administration and dam management.  I had about 33 degrees on my porch out of the sun and there was some melting compacting the snow to about 1/2 of what it was. The warmer weather and bright sunshine resulted in the ice not jetting out towards the main lake from Blackburns Creek as far as it was but the dock is still iced in and the creek is mostly snow covered. Today will help things even more. I would like to move the dock out a little but it is impossible to do so now. When the wind shifts to the south and it warms up the ice will go away quickly like last time this happened. The longer days are helping also.  I cannot get a boat out but people are reporting that threadfin shad are dying on the main lake. When this happened the last time stickbaits were the lure of choice and around the bluffs near deep water is the place to look for them. They will try to stay in the warmest water but will be at the mercy of the wind when they get stressed which is now. The game fish will be feeding on them like crazy and probably are as we speak. The reduced shad population in the spring will also make it much easier for open water fishermen to catch fish with gamefish on most schools of shad that are left. We have not had a shad kill on Norfork for several years and the population was very high with many schools void of gamefish making it harder to find them. The big stripers that are left will be easily caught. I would like to see the lake level drop about 4-feet but it does not look like that will happen. If they will not generate fully when there is an energy crises they probably will not after it is over. There is not much that is predictable anymore you just have to be out there and report what is actually happening and go from there. One big rain in Missouri in the Norfork Lake watershed could change everything. Remember the spring of 2017. The removal of the Dawt Mill dam is not helping the water conditions any either and things are continually changing.