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.

Luke Bornhop is catching several bass this week here at Blackburns and releasing all of them. Image title

The lake level is 553.67 and has been the same for 4-days with no dam discharge except minimum flow. The White River at Newport is 2.86 feet and remains very low. The surface water tmeperature is just under 50-degrees and dropping. The water clarity is stained in the Blackburns Creek area but clears as you go south around Robinson Island. I mostly fish from Cranfield Island to Robinson Island and seldom have any reason to go any farther unless I go fishing with Bink. If Float Creek were closer I would go there more often especially in the winter. Crappie and Bass fishing is the best right now on brush in 18-26 feet of water near the bottom. Either use a jig, jig tipped with a minnow, small spoon or live minnow on a slip float right in or just around the brush. They go for several hours without biting and then bite heavily for a few minutes mostly just a sunset until dark. More and more largemouth are starting to mix in with the Kentuckies. Trollers dragging umbrellas are catching some White Bass and a few small stripers in the 5-8 pound range but are looking more than catching. If a Sea Gull migrated to Mexico they would follow it. I am starting to catch a few stripers by accident just outside brush piles in 30-35 feet of water off main lake points for some reason but they are very small. There are a lot of bait fish out there and nothing should be starving but some stripers are long and skinny for some reason. A few keeper walleye are showing up but not many. It was cold yesterday and struggled to get to 40 but is better today and tomorrow. At least the wind has been light. I thought about going for the Polar Plunge briefly but decided against it and put another log on the fire. You can get a Norfork Lake Condition Report by Scuba Steve on KTLO radio FM at 97.9 at 8:20 A.M. and 1:20PM on Tuesdays and Fridays and "Live in the Boat Fishing Report" by Darrel Binkley from Bink's Guide Service on Thursdays at 8:40 AM and be the first to know what is happening on Norfork Lake. Blackburns Resort and Boat Rental is open all year and has the best prices on both cabins and boat rentals in the Ozarks. A free stall for your boat comes with the cabin at our dock. Come on down and check us out. No we are not for sale.