John Bornhop with a couple of pretty good ones on Blackburns Brush Piles. Yes we will show you where they are when you get here. 
The lake level is 553.61 and continues to creep up towards the top of the power pool of 553.75 feet and there is no discharge from the dam except minimum flow. The White River at Newport is 2.91 feet and very low. The surface water temperature is 52-degrees and dropping. It is another cold cloudy day here on Norfork but it is to warm up to the 50's tomorrow. It has been a very mild winter so far. Last year on this date the lake level was 553.35 and the surface water temperature was 49-degrees and they flooded us out in the spring. 560 is where the level starts to cause trouble flooding roads and launches. Fishing is improving a bit with black bass and crappie getting better and a few walleye starting to show up on the brush piles. A few temperate bass are being caught in open water trolling with some bloodlines starting to show up on the White Bass eggs. January is not usually a good time for striper fishing when they move to the deep water just off the river channel by the bridges and get lethargic. When they do this you have to drop a spoon right on their heads to get a reaction strike. The days are getting longer and the evening bite lasts a few minutes more now. It is typical winter fishing but more fish of different species are in open water on shad than normal. We put up another Purple Martin house here at Blackburns yesterday and are now the Purple Martin Capital of Arkansas. Come on Down in June and check them out. Also Blackburns will have no price increases again this year as we want to have all of our repeat customers be able to have an affordable vacation. It is about time to have to watch for others raising prices. Loyalty is great until they put their hands in your pocket so they can go on vacation. Blackburns is the first to fill up so now is a good time to make your spring and summer reservations before you are forced to pay way too much elsewhere for less. Also people that have reservations for 2024 January 15th is time time to get in your deposits to hold the cabin and boat of your choice and keep your seniority. Everything looks good around here so far.
