NORFORK LAKE FISHING REPORT

The striper fishing on Norfork Lake is still very good for the first two hours each morning. The stripers have moved off the banks and are roaming the deep channels in water depths ranging from 50 to 150 feet. Each day we are seeing that the stripers are now feeding on crawdads early and moving off the bottom and starting to chase shad once light appears. Later in the morning you should move to the flats and catch them feeding on the bottom on crawdads.
The lake is warming and is now around 84 degrees with a thermocline around 30 feet. Top-water striper action is mostly over. We continue to catch stripers on weighted floats set at 30 and 38 feet, long lines with split shots set back 100 feet from the boat and planner boards with the bait 20 feet behind the board. The hot spot is Crystal Cove. Anglers are catching stripers trolling, on live bait and spoons. The stripers are moving down the lake as the water warms up. Some stripers are being caught on Robinson Point in the 40- to 50-foot range near the bottom and in the deeper areas of Big Creek. The stripers are feeding on crawdads. Start very shallow then continue to move out till you find them, This pattern will occur all over the lake as the water continues to warm.
Now we are in the summer period of striper fishing; it’s time to stop releasing legal stripers caught on live bait. Studies have shown that between 16 and 20 percent of stripers caught on live bait will die within five days of being released. The percentage increases as the summer continues, and by August it will be around 40 percent. Catch your limit and quit for the day, save some fish. To see the findings on this, visit https://www.arkansasstripers.com/catch_and_release_kills_stripers.htm.