John Bornhop with his best one on the spoon. He was fishing for walleye.
Tom Kelly with one of yesterday's catch on the spoon. He said he is switching back to the plastic worm.
The lake level is 554.50 and has risen 1-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with one generator running continuously. The White River at Newport is 15+feet. The lake rises just a bit when they run the one generator and rises faster when they shut it down so the slug from the last rain has about went on through. At least we have had drying days since the last rain before the next ones that are coming in soon. The ground is still saturated. These are still winter patterns and the spring rains have not started yet. We should be at about 547 now but they absolutely refuse to drop the lake levels in the winter like they used to do a few years ago. All area lakes are affected not just Norfork and we are all in about the same situation. The new management rules for Beaver Lake will sure not help Bull Shoals any as we all know all efforts will be extended to protect the Branson Landing no matter what, leaving Norfork as the step-child to keep holding water since we are not on the chain of the White River Lakes but do empty into it. It almost takes a drought to make their plan of hold and hope work. We have learned to adapt here but it makes it rough on public campgrounds, launching, parking and beaches for day users. You can always get to Blackburns Dock by vehicle no matter what and park. Launching is available here unless it gets very high and then Panther Bay is available about two miles away. Several resorts do not have launching on site anyway. If you rent a boat it is already in the stall at the dock and you do not have to worry about anything just drive to the dock and get on. It was very nice yesterday and we got a lot of work done and then went fishing in the afternoon. Fishing was not the best with just a few fish being caught and mostly small ones but it was beautiful and we had fun. Surface water temperature was 46 degrees and the water was fairly clear and you could see your lure down about 5-feet and very clear near the bank. We caught bass and crappie on brush piles. The wind is up again today and it is getting very warm for a couple of days and then the fronts. We will let you know of any big changes and continue to work outside while we can. A lot of projects are getting completed and we will be ready for your visit. The lake is in excellent condition so far and fishing changes from day to day. I would like the wind to go away but it was not bad yesterday. Cold weekend coming.