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

The lake level is 569.07 and is rising about 1/2 inch per hour with no generation since yesterday evening. We received 1.5 inches of rain total here at Blackburns. It started just before 5:PM and rained hard for about 45-minutes and then again last night to get the total. The creeks are running but not hard. They are still running Table Rock hard to keep it near normal and even have some flood gates open filling Bull Shoals very rapidly. They have now got them selves in a bind with the hold and hope policy and will have to juggle not only generation but spillway gates to keep any lake from going over the dam in the future. We are not near there yet except Beaver.  Dam management 101: DO NOT LET THE WATER GO OVER THE DAM. They seem to only know that rule but push it hard. Back in 2008 the level was 580, lapping over the spillway, and 582 was headed to the dam when they opened all of Norfork gates and flooded everything downstream. They found some of the river docks and boats at Calico Rock. Keeping the area lakes too high in the winter and severely restricting river levels when they do not need to are problems that should not be ignored any longer.  The continual rise in level has not hurt fishing since late April and the clarity and water color is still good. Dock access, parking, beaches, camping and day users are the ones affected the most. Public launches and parking will be a cluster bomb this weekend with most people taking their boats out for the first time with out a shakedown and clogging the launches. Some marinas will have to shuttle people to their boats. Do not look for relief any time soon and we just have to make the best of it. Expect below normal ambient temperatures all weekend and campers should take an extra blanket but it should not rain.  Blackburns has no diminished services so far.