The lake level is 552.71 and is the same as it was at this time yesterday with 3/4 of a generator running for about 4-hours. The White River at Newport is 3.9 feet so they are not letting out much water anywhere. At least the fog is gone for now but the wind is back and we are to get some weather late today and tonight with quite a bit of rain possible. It looks like anything severe will go south and west of us so far. The lake surface water temperature is 66-degrees and the weather has been beautiful until tonight and is to return on Sunday with highs back into the 70's. The water seems to get more clear as you go south but I do not go past Robinson Island and do not need to. I sometimes go to Float Creek but am too cheap to spend the money on gas when fishing is the best close to home. Fishing has not been the best but I am catching a few everyday spooning main lake points near and around brush in about 20-ft. of water. Crappie fishing is getting better but not anything to write home about. We have some striper fishermen and they are having a hard time and are covering a lot of water trolling to find some. It is either feast or famine with mostly famine. They bite fast for a few minutes and then are gone. When you see pictures of fish about every three days that is about how often they are finding any feeding fish. There are some decent sized White Bass and the Hybrids are about the same size as the stripers. There are many small ones indicating a good future if people do not keep killing them. It is just hard for me to give up on the times when 20-lb. ones were common and 30-lb. ones caught regularly. Some are now trying to sell a 5-7 pound striper as big. Next year the Game and fish are changing the regulations on Bass. The limit will still be a total of 6 for largemouth, smallmouth and Kentucky Bass combined but the size limit has been reduced to 13-inches for black bass and no size limit for Kentuckies. This is an effort to increase the numbers of larger bass and reduce the competion for food. They know what they are doing and have the best interest for anglers at heart. There are a lot of bait fish out there but that could change with a cold winter and a big shad kill. I do not keep black bass anyway or red meat fish as far as that is concerned. Walleye, crappie, flathead catfish, bluegill and Kentucky Bass are my favorites and the others do not compare. We did not have a striper kill this fall and the numbers of bigger ones should start a come back but the fishing pressure is very heavy and there are a lot of guides out there hunting them. There are definitely more varieties of fish out in open water on shad now that the big stripers are gone and it has changed fishing. Only stripers and Hybrids are being stocked this year. I wish more walleyes were but their numbers are getting better every year and there are a lot of fish in Norfork Lake. That is for sure. Come on down to Blackburns and we will not charge you too much. Out one bedroom cabins are still 59/day for two people and our two bedrooms are $77/four people and they come with a free stall for your boat. You can save a minimum of $30/day here and not have to give up any quality and maybe add some. Come check us out. We are open all year.
