John Bornhop with a nice Norfork Lake crappie. 
The lake level is 566.88 and has risen 1.2 inches in the last 24-hours with no discharge for three days. We have received over 5-inches of rain in the last week but it has not raised the lake much. The thermocline is still at 23-feet and the surface water temperature is 87-degrees. The White River at Newport is 5.28 feet and remains very low.The water remains fairly clear down to 16-feet but the mud line from there down to the thermocline is getting more cloudy and there is no visibility until you get further down into the cold water. If you can find brush in 23-25 ft. of water there with be fish on it ot just around it including crappie, bass and walleye with bluegill being shallower. The lake level was 563 and the surface water temperature was 90-degrees on this date last year. We have had storms at night or evening on four separate occassions in the last week with severe weather all around us but not here at Blackburns. The one last eveining at 5:30PM did damage and washed out roads west of us with power outages. We have been very fortunate. Early July is always prime time for severe weather in this area and this year has been no exception. We received 1-1/2 inches or rain from 5:30PM to 6:30 PM and it rained hard. The good thing is that we needed the rain badly but not anymore. It is as green as I have seen it in the middle of July. Bink is still on the stripers and walleye deep and the night fishermen with black lights and saltcraws are doing well on Bass. Scuba Divers are finding things more difficult with the low visibility in the fishing zone but some are being caught. Overall things are in good shape around here and everyone seems to be having a good time. The boat traffic is not bad during the week but increases on the weekend with the locals. Your first boat stall is free here at Blackburns and we will not charge you too much for cabins and boat rentals. We are to get a couple of days of very warm weather. Give Debbie a call at 870-492-5115 for a reservation before school starts.
