Ken Lane

Just returned from a visit to Norfork Lake and found I'd have to swim 200 feet out to climb on our dock. This was on April 28th. Didn't want to disturb the owners relaxed day by too many requests, if you've been there you know what I mean------ Totally contrary to the fishing reports the lake has not been usable since the week before when it got over 12 inches of rain in the basin in four days. Muddy as can be and up in the trees. Tons and tons of timber floating in the lake. Should make for some great driftwood finds once it goes back down-----------forecast as of today May 1 is for 5 to 8 more inches of rain in the next few. Lake will not be fish-able for weeks at least perhaps months! Not to take anything away from those who post reports on the Norfork fishing just wanted those who have reservations or are planning to visit soon-------go north young man, go north!

I'll try to be less "snarky" in future. Didn't mean to ruffle. A thanks to Taxi for the post report and apologies.

Fished later in day from 3-31 through 4-3 too cold for one of our party to go out early, high 30's at night. We did not have one hit. Tried points with usual walleye rigs and trolled with down riggers aimed at sonar hits at 25 feet down to 35 feet. Ran large Lazy Ike's and Walleye Runners 50 to 75 feet behind cannon balls. Saw no bait fish on banks or evening surface swarms. Locals all said the early morning bite was good but shuts down at 7:30am. Most of lake had upper 50's surface temp. We ran from just up lake at Red Bank (one mile up ) and around 101 Boat Dock both of which had good clouding. Panther Bay and main lake is gin clear. Sundays's 40 mph winds will change things--80 plus temps.

Back yesterday and lake is rising fast. Up about four to five feet at Panther Bay since mid March visit. Fishing wasn't good during day. Locals say morning only bite lately. Saw no catches in four days of fishing, us nor anyone else. Did see two guys cleaning catch on Saturday at P bay marina, didn't ask where or when of them. Lake is clouding up well about two miles down lake from Red Bank area. Still clear at P bay. Went up near 101 Boat Dock and found good clouding. Nothing running banks later in day though. Tried deep trolling with down riggers for three hours near 101 Boat Dock. Saw good numbers on sonar at 25 feet but no takers. Ran large Lazy Ike's and Walleye runners. Tough lake to figure out. Water temps still cold at 56* F surface. We could not get out early due to cold nights--in thirties and low forties. Wind came up strong Sunday 4-3 to about 40 mph. This should warm up the lake fast.

Give the north end of the lake a try next trip. The striper's, eyes and crappie run up to Dawt Mill dam on their false spawning run every spring. It has started, bout two weeks ago. Friend has family there and they reported limits of walleyes and 15 plus inch crappies two weeks ago. They fished evenings and nights. Some stripes being caught but smaller sized. Lake is on the rise after being very low most of winter. Strippers are found at the 'cline by sonar. Trolling is good method for them. Also drift fishing with the wind at night with shiners of very large size. Udall Missouri is the last dock on the north end. Boat needs to be fairly shallow draft if you want to venture very far up the Northfork of the White River. Best to use a guide first time up there. Good luck!

Missouri has a long history of silly and inane permit materials and most require some sort of Origami (sure it's spelled wrong) function to store the silly thing----------

Very illuminating but somehow I missed the point could you possibly go into more details?

I'll try to contact you next time I'm down alone. Harbor at Panther Bay. Take care, Ken Lane

Just got back, lake is on the rise, came up two feet in three days. Left there last Friday 3-25. Still lots of bank showing. Water went from totally gin clear--seeing down over 35' to still clear but starting to cloud up a bit at Panther Bay area. The water color Tuesday was the most beautiful indigo I have ever seen, including the ocean!

Hi, we're the Lanes from up near St. Louis, Mo. WE keep our Raptor Toy Hauler on The Cloud Nine Resort near Caulfield. We store our boat on a lift at Panther Bay Marine (big mistake) and fish Norfork Lake most of the time. We also fish at Cloud 9 as they have good stream fishing on the ranch. I'm Ken, a 65 year old semi-retired refrigeration tech/owner manager. We like walleye fishing most but will go for anything that bites. Our rig is a 1998 Lowe Roughneck 175 TC-looks like a Lund multispecies rig. Boat has a 150 Evinrude and a Minnkota 70 lb. autopilot. We sometimes rig our 9.9 Mercury 4 stroke kicker for long days of trolling. We have three down riggers and lots of trolling gear as well as casting equipment. We use 10', line thru rod (no eyelets) rods for trolling and Diawa line counter reels. Our current find has been the wonderful US reel companies "Effortless" reels--magic! Looking forward to sharing information and gleaning some from the group!