Darrel from Bink's Guide Service with some Nice Norfork Lake Crappie Yesterday. 
The lake level is 557.90 and has dropped 3-3/4 inches in the last 24-hours. The new news is that they just lowered the spillway gates significantly and the total discharge is now equivalent to two generators total. The White River at Newport is 24,85 feet and rising. They closed the spillway gates on Table Rock yesterday and I suspect Norfork will not be far behind. They are predicting Norfork to be 556.9 by Sunday. Beaver Lake still has spillway gates open but no generation. Bull Shoals has heavy generation but no spillway gates open and is dropping very slowly. The surface water temperature was 53 degrees when I came in last evening but that will not rise any in the next several days with below freezing temperatures for lows the next three days with Sunday night being the coldest. It is time to drip water again to keep lines from freezing. Our normal high is 61 but we are not going to get anywhere near that for a few days. Some stripers are in the bay across from Cranfield Campground and some White Bass and Hybrids are with them. Cast a swim bait and let it sink and reel slowly back to the boat. Some largemouth are with them. Trollers are dragging stuff outside brush piles in 45-50 feet of water and catching a few crappie and bass. Live bait fishermen are still trolling through shad at various depths until they find feeding fish and catching stripers in the 5-8 pound range. That must have been a good year for them as there are several of that size being caught. It is too bad they do not let them grow but meat hunters need meat and are not concerned with the future of the lake. Eat White Bass. They are not the best but at least they reproduce in the lake themselves. Once a troller always a troller. Next it will be Kastmasters and Flicker Shad. I have not seen a Kastmaster since they were called a Thune 30-years ago. I have an antique tackle box with some in it but most of my stuff is antique anyway. I still like hair jigs sometimes. When stripers are feeding it does not matter much what you drag through the shad but White Bass will bite anything with a spinner on it and a Rooster Tail works well. I have not caught much on Norfork with a Rooster Tail except for White Bass but they work on the river for the rainbow trout but so does corn. I am catching a few big crappie but not very many and that is in the evening on cloudy days. They go deeper in the sunshine. I saw some Purple Martins and do not know what they are going to eat. Not many bugs out there in this cold weather but I am glad to see them. I have six houses ready for them. All of Blackburns Cabins are now open but I am not sure it was the best move yet. You can get a 1-bedroom for $59/day and a two Bedroom for $77. Fishing may pick up a bit with less current in the river but high pressure following a cold front and dropping lake levels do not help anything any. I will give it a try later as I know where some big crappie are located but getting them to bite in high pressure may be a different story but it is my story and what I like to do. Since I wrote this earlier,they have closed the spillway gates down to just one foot which is equal to 1/3 of a generator. The one generator is still on. Expcect a much slower drop now. Much slower.
