This man is a happy Blackburns Customer. He paid $59/day for a nice one bedroom cabin with a big covered porch and a free stall for his boat came with the cabin. 
The lake level is 564.36 and has risen 4-inches in the last 24-hours with 1/2 of a generator running less than 1/3rd the time. The White River at Newport is 26.53 feet and dropping. When the White River gets to 26-feet at Newport it is the minor flood or what they call action stage and at 28-it is in flood stage. That is the gauge from where the generation schedule for Norfork and Bull Shoals lake is determined. Right now Table Rock is generating as fast as they can with flood gates open and filling Bull Shoals very quickly. Tabble Rock is 5-ft. above top of power pool, Bull Shoals is 14-ft. above top of Power pool and Norfork is 11-ft. The last few months they have been managing generation to keep all lakes right at power pool when they should have been lowering them for a winter draw-down in anticipation of the spring rains. The Corps of Engineers manage the generation schedule above the top of power pool and Southwestern Power below but both are government agencies. The lake clarity is still almost zero in Blackburns area but it is worse near Cranfield Island and in Pigeon Creek. At least most of the debris is gone. I could see down a couple of feet in Blackburns Creek yesterday and more near the shore. People ask why do you call it Blackburns Creek? The Blackburn family moved here from the Kansas City area in 1944 before the Norfork Dam was finished and started up the Resort during the war when there was no electricity and Highway 62-was a gravel road. They built the all inclusive resort for Norfork River fishing customers for smallmouth bass and catfish and then built the dock after the dam was finished and the basin was flooded. There were no other resorts or docks on the lake. Norfork was the first lake to be finished and basically Blackburns was the only resort in the whole area. They had their choices of anywhere to build and picked this one. It was a great choice. A couple of years later they built another resort and dock called it Blue Paradise Resort. It had a restaurant and was the most popular meeting place for locals in the area. They later sold both places and started a very successful real estate company in Mountain Home. That is why it is called Blackburns Cove and Blackburns Creek and County Road 989 is called Blackburns Road. There is a lot of history here. The surface water temperature was 54-degrees when I came in last evening and the color is dropping out more now with the reduced generation and is more clear as you go downstream but is still not good by any means. Bink reports it is also muddy in the Big Creek area and fishing has slowed for him in the last few days. When it is slow for him you can bet that it is slow for a lot of people. I am catching a few fish but not very many that is for sure. I am not an advocate of March weather but sometimes the fishing can be better in March than it is now. March looks like it will go out with a bang with heavy rain and strong storms predicted for Friday. The weekend looks to be good starting on Saturday with very nice warm weather. A few fish are being caught but you have to work for them. April 15th usually starts the top-water bite season but I have not been around here long enough to predict anything.
