Caught fishing with Bink yesterday.
The lake level is 573.06 and is the same as this time yesterday with very little generation. It is dry here and not much inflow coming in from the Norfork River. They are dropping all of the other area lakes but still refuse to drop the stepchild Norfork while holding the White River at Newport to right at 12-feet for absolutely no reason. The lake remains clear with a surface water temperature in of 86-87 degrees. We are to get some badly needed rain tomorrow and cooler weather after that. The normal high is 85. The boat traffic is increasing as we approach the next holiday and a busy one is expected. We are getting about 100 calls a day for people wanting boat rentals and cabins for the weekend. Even the resorts with no swimming pool or boat dock are going to be busy. Blackburns is the first resort to fill up so if you are looking to come to Norfork for Labor Day now is the time to reserve so you can get the cabin and boat of your choice and not be disappointed and have to pay much more elsewhere and take left overs. Not much is changing as far as fishing goes except the fish are going deeper and the top-water bite is getting shorter. A lot of fish are under docks and on the old shoreline with the bass fry in cover and the rest are on shad in open water. Some bass are around the bridge piers in the shade but that has always been the case and has been for years. It is the place where the guides that fish this area go to last before they come in. I do not fish them much but they do hold fish. I put brush around the first one from the west as you come under the 62 bridge by boat from the north. It holds big bluegill and walleye. I put a place to tie off but someone broke it off. There is a hole around the bottom of the pier where the dirt has washed away and fish like it there. The walleye are not big but the bluegill are. They are killing a lot of stripers and they are getting smaller and smaller and it is sad to see that but the other fish are all doing well and the white bass are making a comeback. There are a lot of fish in Norfork but the boaters dragging stuff and jet skis are taking over for the summer. Watch out for dive flags and give them a wide berth. (Especialy mine) and do not use them as targets as some jet skiers do. There is room for everybody out there.
