Caught fishing with Bink's Guide Service yesterday. 
The lake level is 563.67 and has droped 3-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with the same generation as yesterday. They are holding the White River at Newport at below 12-ft but the lake is dropping fast enough. It would have been nice to do this Four months ago. We have dropped almost 10-ft. from our high of 573+ earlier in May and have had below average rainfall since then. We are very dry and may get some rain later this week and the hot spell may break. We could take a couple of inches of slow rain and not hurt anything. November is our wettest month. Trollers are dragging umbrella rigs from 30-40 ft. down no matter the depth of the water around Thumb point and catching some small stripers in the 6-7 pound range and a few hybrids about as big. These fish are only 3-5 years old and are babies. They are killing as many small fish as possible to keep them from growing and replacing the big ones that are gone. A lot of people want stripers gone from the lake and this is a good way to do it. I am not one of them. I liked it when I used to catch 20-pounders almost at will and several 30-pounders but those days are gone. Bass sizes are getting bigger in Norfork lake and a six pound largemouth and four pound smallmouth are getting more and more common. I do not know if the demise of the big stripers has anything to do with it but walleye are now replacing stripers as the go to fish but crappie are not far behind. There has always been a large number of cat fishermen here and I am one of them. Walleye, crappie, catfish and Kentucky bass are what I fish for most of the time. I release all largemouth and smallmouth bass. Most bass fishermen do this. The lake looks to be at a good level for Labor Day so far with most facilities back close to normal. Clean up will not be completed at most campgrounds but more of them will be open. Holding the water level high for long periods of time does not do anybody any good. Try spooning in and around brush in 30-ft. of water in the morning for walleye and crappie and pound the banks in the evening for feeding bass. Catfish are showing up everywhere. Come on down to Blackburns. We will not charge you too much.
