Norfork Lake Arkansas near Mountain Home in the Ozarks Mountains Region Fishing Report, Fall Foliage Report and Lake Condition by Scuba Steve from Blackburns Resort and Boat Rental

18-stall dock with security system. Launch is nearby. Image title

One of the two- bedroom cabins.Image title

Some of the 1-bedroom cabins.Image title

Dave Titus with a good one. Welcome back. Image title

The lake level is 552.87 and has dropped 1-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with about 5-hours of running 3/4 of a generator in the morning and a couple more hours in the late afternoon. The bowl is getting smaller and the same amount of generation results in a faster level drop. The White River at Newport is 3.36 ft. and has risen since yesterday but is still very low. It warmed a little yesterday with highs in the higer 50's and is to get to over 70 today, higher tomorrow and 80 for the weekend. It is very dry but we did get a little rain last week. I had hoped the rain and freezing temperature would help the fall foliage but it did not do very much so far. There is still a chance but the wind is to blow again with another low pressure moving in next week. Everytime we get some color the wind blows it off. The road sides have the most color with more reds than the hillsides. On the lake the east facing banks have the best nearest the water. The hillsides are mostly bland with different shades of brown unless the sun is shining right on them. The weather is to be nice this weekend and it will be a good time to take a cruise on the lake and check things out. Our normal daily high temperature is 70 degrees and it will be higher than that. The lake is in excellent condition. Fishing has been hit and miss and nothing to get excited about but some nice fish are being caught including walleye, crappie and bass. The oxygen level is good down to about 55-ft. and the fish are still scattered in the open water. Trollers have to drag stuff through a lot of shad to find feeding fish but are catching some Hybirds in the 2-3 pound range, stripers 3-4 pounds and some White Bass. Bass fishermen beating the bank are catching some decent black bass on spinner baits, crank baits and creature baits on jig heads. I am catching some nice crappie but they are spooky and feed only for a few minutes at a time and then take several hours off. The best time had been from about 4-5:30 PM on shadowy brush piles after the wind drops. Out of the sun is the best. If you are using live minnows set your slip float about 5-6 feet lower than you can see yourbait. I am mostly casting a jig past the brush and letting it sink into it. They hit on the drop after sinking 10-15 feet. Spoons right in the brush also work but if you hover right over the brush it spooks the fish after carching one or two. Some nice walleye have moved on main lake points around brush in 20-25 ft. of water just off the bottom and others are again on the shadowy banks late in the afternoon and biting small spinner baits and soft plastics. There are a lot of bait fish near the shore in the evenings and the fish that are not in open water on shad are feeding there. Early mornings it is cold but the shad are shallower and move deeper with the sun.   Blackburns is the home of the $59/day one bedroom cabins and $77/day two bedroom cabins. These are very nice and come with a free stall for your boat on stays of two nights or more. Three bedrooms and four bedrooms are priced accordingly. Why pay more?  We are open all year.