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.

Caught yesterday on the Spoon and swim bait. Image title

The lake level is 556.60 and has dropped 4-1/2 inches in the last 24-hours with one generator runniing about 1/2 the time and spillway gates open and there is a total of about 2-1/2 generators equavalent. When they quit generating they open the spillway gates more to keep the total release about the same. The level has dropped a little over 3-ft. since the last big rain but is still 3-ft. higher than the top of the power pool which is 553.75. They are trying to manage to that level. The White River is 23.26 feet and they are keeping it very stable even though it is high. The minor flood stage there is 26-feet. People ask if it rains an inch how much does the lake raise? The answer is where the rain is located. If it is local it may not raise any more than an inch but if it is in the floodplain of the Norfork River in Missouri it can rise a foot in the lake. If it comes down fast and the ground is saturated with most of it running off, it can come up more than that. It all depends on where, how fast, ground conditions and if they are generating or not. They typically quit generating when it starts to rain until they can tell what and where it is happening. They seem to have better weather forecasting than we do from TV and do not over forecast and error on the side of caution. Springfield and Little Rock forecasts do not work in this area and the best one comes from KTLO Radio. I wish we were not getting the rain tonight and tomorrow but it does look like most of the severe weather will go south of us and continue into Mississippi. I have many friends there and do not wish it on them but also do not want it here. The weather on the west coast just keeps coming in and spreading across the country and it does not look like this is the last one. Fishing was pretty good yesterday and all of our customers caught fish. Bass, White Bass and other temperate bass were all caught along with a few crappie. The surface water tmeperature was 51-degrees when I came in last eveing and it was a beautiful warm day and the wind was not too bad. The lake wants to clear but is slow doing so. The rains and heavy generation are not helping that any but I am glad they are generating and have gates open and hope they keep it up. It looks like the ambient highs will be about normal next week and the average high is 62. I will keep you informed on what is happening here on Norfork Lake and will not raise prices on you again this year while continuing Blackburns policy of making things better without raising prices as long as I can. We do not want to charge our friends too much.