Dewayne French

As the water gets hotter yes they will move to deep holding areas for the year. The "Niles" and Brier crk (first big crk to south of Red Bank ramp on the west bank) are good spots in the spring along with the Flats above the Stateline on the west. There still should be some topwater action in the early mornings around those areas. I know during the Basscat tournament several guys were talking about surfacing activity along those deeper swings up there. Also Canfield area has some surface activity and med depth drop baits the last few days.

The worst part of this is we all have to answer to this, the general public who have no idea about tournament fishing. It puts a bad light on us all even the good guys have to pay the price.

If the fishing activity was in the highlighted yellow of the the pdf then yes it looks to be. But if you read the article along with the photos is says no fishing even by dock patrons and I see that a lot. Recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and diving are prohibited from public use including marina customers and patrons. No fishing tackle may be cast into this area. Just read the article and use the pdf photos for the best use of your fishing time. Didn't mean to go down the rabbit hole that's why I put the PDF file attachment up. People can put up any sign they want to on there dock. I would just use the corp PDF's and go from there. As others have said many different tournaments have different regs per this issue, but the Corp site is the main place to go. Ultimately is up to the person fishing to make the best informed decision they can. Enjoy tossing the SS and Red fin around and use a split also for the deeper fish. Fishing is good early until the sun gets high and then you got to go after different type of fish and if you have a hot no wind day the dock bite in the shade is good also. 😜

We seen a new fawn Sunday also!

This is how I understand the rule on fishing around commercial docks. JP does a great job with making sure all the rules are out there for boat captain's or coaches to view on the website and on the FB page. Also any particular rules that are lake specific he puts it out there for us. I know Jp had some stuff he was dealing with (that's why I hate being a TD) but the rules are for everybody that is going to fish a tournament, just because you didn't read it don't make it okay. But yes a commercial dock is off limits, actually with in the 50' of any dock of it. Just as with all the other white river chain of lakes. You can find the commercial dock off limits at Corps of Engineers Commercial zone off-limits areas it is a pdf file that I downloaded to my phone. It has picture's with the off limits area highlighted in yellow. I will try and load it to the reply. I don't care for the law, but I will abide by it. There is a lot of water that got cut off from tax paying citizens and we already pay just to launch at a corp ramp that we pay for any way. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole so I fish mostly away from marina docks to avoid the confusion. When the Elite and Pro solo series was around the file photos of the "off limits areas" was on that site. But hopefully you can pull it up from my attachment. TableRockOff-Limits.pdf

We caught all three species Sunday on the lower end in 10-18 fow had a good Lmb to go with a kpr Smb and 2 Kpr Spots. With in 2 miles of the dam either side. But I have not been on Table Rock in a couple months so thats just were I can usually get a few to start the process. May not help much but we did catch several short spots also.

Had the boys out for the High School NYFA Sunday tournament. We launched out of the state park and made our way to first spot with a 7:20 lines in start to their fishing time and a 2:20 checking time. It was a good weather start for the boys and with the forecast of warm-rain-wind I was hoping for a good catching day, not just fishing. We didn't want to get out to early and watch fish eating and not be able to cast, so we idled around and watched the morning happen with a pretty sunrise and planned our day out. Started close with the SS and Red Fin on the first stop, with no love after about 30/45 mins we headed across the lake to a couple deeper channel swing points with spawning coves in close proximity. We had immediate hook ups on the split shot rig in 12-16ish feet keeping the boat in 25-30. Several blow ups on the SS and had kprs follow a fluke, but no takers. Stayed in that area all day and didn't leave fish to find fish. Our biggest fish come from under a dock in the shade line 15-18 feet (3 lb even) on my scale around noonish. We did brake off 3 kprs in the trees (happens on 8 lb line) but the boys had a great day and are learning each time out. We ended up with 8.45 for 4 fish, I seen lots of 10 lb weights in the line so who knows were we ended up, find out after Jp gets rested up 🤣😂. I think we had 252 boats. water temp 61-64 ish---some slime---good clarity 10ish---fish seemed to be on the sides of points not on them---fish caught all day way more shorts than kprs---we didn't look for beds but I'm sure some were around the area---We seen several boats staying in same spot and not moving

I got some but the Tab Shad was all out imagine that..... It works on Norfork also 😁

Don't try to reason with the fish, they make us look like idiots everyday. They live by instinct us by reason and those 2 methods don't go together. I have been on Norfork a little lately and have some spawned out fish, not all. But not many decent fish on beds either, they look to mostly small males. I have a high school tournament Sunday on Table Rock with my boys. Hopefully they can find some fish that are hungry and not very smart (the fish not the boys) .😃😁😆. As with what Bill said I would hedge a bet that most fish spawn deeper than we think. I do think that they won't spawn shallow in clear water that is being pulled, just a thought.

About 5-1/2" here in Mammoth/Thayer area but hard really measure heavy wet and it was melting early. And as mentioned at work today, but thinking of fishing 😁

A truck load of information in those words especially that last sentence NAIL ON THE HEAD

Getting back to a little chilling and fishing time on the pond. The chilling is easy with the cold temps we have had lately and the fishing has been good. It has been better, but also a lot worse for me so I count my blessings each day out. I don't get to go as often as most on here and I'm not a crappie guru, but I have caught decent sized fish. The days I go if you can find them they turn on or off quick. So I go prepared with several rods rigged. Mostly I'm catching Crappie, but Whites, Bluegill, and Bass are all playing right now, not many boats out. Been twice once before new years then on the 2nd, didn't catch my limit but was only out for about 4 hours each time. WT 49-51 FOW 15ish depending on the day. Good water clarity each time out and caught fish both in the wind and cold then the next time out it was slick calm and sun was out. Crappie Jigs, small spoons, small jerkbaits. Find the bait then start looking for bigger marks. If you can find a bigger tree that seems to be the best starting point, Yes there is a few on Norfork, but not many.

I have used Wigwam before it is a great ramp the last mile or so is dirt. I usually use it in the early spring so it isn't to dusty. But I would say it is a dusty mess this summer.

Not much to report but did catch several and mostly keepers with a couple shorts tossed in. I have only been a few times since 2022 started nothing major to report either way and not a full day light to dark trip yet. But I fished the upper end from Red bank to Udall and had success with a few each walleye, crappie, and bass. Caught some with the graph and some on some wind blown points (not rocket science). But water temp was 44-46ish, color stained by red bank then clearer up, bite zone was 15-18', besides the windy fish. Cranks, A rig, small grubs was the deal

HAPPY FISHING.....May every one have a great end to this year and better start to the new with all the fishing stuff you got for Christmas. Hope all is well champ188 tell Donna I say hey. Hope everyone gets their fishing line starched tight sooner than later. We never know or length of our days or years on this earth so fish as much as you can.

Is that the one down close to the dam in the back of the pocket. If so I know it is really difficult to unload at when they draw the lake down for winter, but I don't know if they have done that yet.

Just a quick question to yall who use it? I have 2-helix 10's DI at the bow, SI at the console. I use the stand by mode some times, but does it really save power, mostly the console? Just one of those random thoughts I have from time to time. Thanks for the info that everyone put out on this site and the help.

I went last sat the 21st for a few hours on the lower end looking for whites and crappie but could only find small large mouth and small male whites. I to was way up a creek I run an Eyra but have run it many times in the past 20 years, didn't have a lot of floaters, but that was last week I will be back out this weekend if we don't have a monsoon hit again. Seems like we are getting them pretty regular . My water temp was 58 later in the afternoon with stained/muddy/clear all in about a 2 mile section. My best bait for numbers was a small keitech or a 1/16th head I did catch a decent striper or the A rig late in the day on a flooded island due to the high water.

I was up there for the open and even though my placement was low it is a good fishery. Our timing was way off we had high water to low water in our event. It was 3 feet high on Friday before the tournament started to about normal and still falling the Thursday it stated. Frogs, swimbaits, tube baits, 4" worms. Main river had better concentrations of fish and the back waters had better size. Top water should have been a big player, but i just think with so much current and fluctuations that was a factor. Braid to 6 lb floro you can fish about what you want. If your in the current a lot it will drain those batteries , just a word of experience .

I was out for most of the day yesterday Lower end. Wasn't to bad but the good weather wasn't the best for catching.... I had a decent white and LMB from big flat roll off in 52 fow relating to a drop into 70ish on a spoon, several decent shad schools in that area just no activity from feeding fish. Surface water 52 good color for tossing a crank bait so.... On to the next area we tried crankbaiting some swing areas (good water color of it) and it wasn't to hard to find them after a few stops and fine tuning adjustments, just no big keepers. We did catch 3-4 at each area after we dialed it in. Rockcrawler, WW, Norman just about what we tried we caught some on. Next ran to the back of a creek searching for whites/hybirds/stb that we heard was there from a tip we got. Nada nothing and the water temp was 47. All in all a good day to catch up with a good friend and not be to frozen. The weather was nice for that, but the nastier weather that makes the fish bite would have been welcomed too. Looking back I would stay with the deeper fish and keep dropping on-em till we found the right mix.

I got to get out for a few hours Monday before the rain hit. Only got 3 all on a crank bait; the trifecta though Lmb, Smb, & a spot. Water was a brownish color mid-lake area and 58 degrees . Had to get the boat put back up before it got to wet 😁😀🚫. Be out again Saturday if all goes to plan..

That sounds about like my last outing I have been trying to type one up, but this work thing keeps popping up. We put in at Red bank on the 30th to a stiff south wind about 10-15 mph all day and caught the whites fairly easy on a small crank or a trap, and even caught the quad-fecita of bass species. The water was clear up past Udall and stained from Red Bank up to Udall area, If we stayed in the wind and stain you could almost call your shot, we fished from 8 am - 2 pm Good job

One of those good areas there you found

Hey this is really a cool tid bit of info THANKS Phil for putting it up used it and it did work

Yeah I saw that picture on the website and wondered who's boat he was in today.... It does look to be a tad wet not to add to your thoughts anymore ha ha Have a good dry day over there watching them zoom back and forth..