Norfork Lake Arkansas near Mountain Home in the Ozarks Mountains region fishing report and lake condition by Scuba Steve from Blackburns Resort and Boat Rental

The lake level is 557.64 and has risen 4-feet since the last rain of 3.2 inches total for two days and is still rising 1/3rd inch per hour when they are not generating and that is over 1/2 the time. At least the creeks have quit running but a lot of runoff is still coming from the hillsides. The White River at Newport is 25.74 feet so they are letting out as much as they can without going over the minor flood stage of 26-feet. It is not going to drop much in the next several days and more rain is coming on Wednesday and Thursday with another cold front on it's way with very cool temperatures. Today and tomorrow are going to be very nice and the sun is shining now. That will help. The high water starts to cause problems for launching and parking at 560. The surface water temperature is all over the place depending on where you are but is in the low 50's on the main lake with much warmer back in the shallow creeks. The brown water is settling out already and is now a brownish green but with very little visibility. There is heavy fog out there in the mornings and I could be like everyone else and say be carefull but that is obvious. I used to say going out and running on GPS in the fog is not only dangerous to yourself but others already out there but neither one has a very bright light shining either on their boat on on top of their shoulders. The ones out there must really need meat bad and hate the fish to the point of stupidity. Just wait until it goes away. The White Bass and Walleye are in various stages of spawn with some being finished and the bass bite is the best at this time. Stripers are moving on their spawning banks in the late evenings in their normal places. Try on the north side of Thumb Point  and on the points next to the walleye rearing pond. During the day they are in deeper water west of Cranfield Island. I am catching a few crappie in the evenings just at sunset but not a lot casting a small grub tipped with a live minnow.  I opened up four more cabins yesterday and Debbie and Amy are working hard to get them ready for you. I am not sure if it is time yet but we were turning away business every week and I was getting a lot of pressure to do so. It gets a lot cooler at night down in this valley next to the lake than it does up on a hillside and the cold air settles in especially when there is no wind. Blackburns is still the home of the $59/day 1-bedroom cabins and $77/day two bedrooms. They fill up fast and we have no price increases again this year.  If you are staying at a place where you are nearly the only customer you are either paying too much or are in the wrong place or both. Check us out before you leave. I think you will like what you see. I graded the road to the dock again yesterday and the heavy rains are washing out a lot of roads. It looks pretty good. I am getting reports of some roads being rough to get to other docks with cars being almost impossible. I will do the best to not let that happen here at Blackburns. Blackburns Dock is technically on a county road but they do not maintain it and leave that to the resort owner to buy gravel and grade but that does not stop them from raising taxes. The same goes for the boat launch but I will take care of it also. The trees and flowers are blooming and it looks nice here. Come on down. We will not charge you too much and your first boat stall is free.