The lake level is 554.54 and is the same as at this time yesterday. They quit generating at 7-PM last evening and just started back up again. The White River at Newport 21.62 feet and dropping with the less generation. The surface water temperature is 47.8 degrees and both the creeks and main lake are stained and I could see my lure down only a couple of feet when I came in. The predicted heavy rain and high winds did not materialize yesterday but we did get 1/4 of an inch of rain. I fished two main lake brush piles for about 1-hour each and caught some nice fish but not very many. Fishing overall is about as bad as it gets but has not stopped. We can expect these conditions until the middle of March or until the cold fronts quit coming through so often or not so drastic. We are only having about one good fishing day a week and it is not the best. The White Bass are back in the creeks spawning and a few of the larger ones are finished. Use a 3-inch soft plastic on a jig head or anything with a small spinner to catch them like a rooster tail. Other temperate bass are still in open water on shad but the stripers will move shallow at dark to simulate a spawn soon. Try around the walleye rearing pond north of Cranfield and around Thumb Point on the flat the next full moon which is the 7th of March. It will happen, it is just a matter of time. Get your 5-inch suspended stick bait ready and check it out to make shure it runs true before it gets dark. This is a good time to catch the biggest ones in shallow water and release them. Cast you lure to the bank staying as far from it as you can cast, crank it down about 3-4 feet and keeping your rod tip down, slowly reel in just fast enough to have the lure steady action. I am crappie and bass fishing and working for everyone that I am catching. This is a time when years of experience of fishing Norfork comes in handy and not just dragging stuff through shad or beating the bank with a crankbait. We are working hard to get more cabins ready to be opened up but I will not do so until the middle of March for some and a little earlier for others. I did that once and got burned and will not do it again. We can get some cold, windy, clear nights in early March and it freezes hard down here in this low valley near the lake. We are making a lot of improvements with out having any price increases on anything again this year and remain the best value in the Ozarks. You can still get a 1-bedroom cabin for two people for $59/day here at Blackburns. Two, three and four bedrooms are priced accordingly. Try that anywhere else. If you are not staying at Blackburns you are paying too much. We want our customers to have an affordable vacation and especially welcome Veterans and Police.
