Dewayne French

Great picture of what you need to look for. We don't have those on Norfork 👍

My big wally came on a big spoon around some trees with LS. Saw big marks tossed the spoon close and they came running had 2 buddies with him close to same size marks and he was a toad walleye

Had a good couple days on the Rock, not what I needed to win, but hooked enough quality to have done way better. Fished the Oak Outdoors tournament and those hammers flat caught the good'uns. I got look around Friday afternoon a little and found both shallow and deep fish, fairly easily to my surprise. Opted to fish deep brush were I thought I could get bigger fish (I believe that along with LS is how it was won). I couldn't get a good reaction bite (deep or shallow) so I used the ol big worm and went to the middle of the piles and you don't get all of those fish to the boat. Water temp 81ish +, Water color a great fish catching color with still good clarity depending on the boat waves. Fished 5:30am-1 Sat and 5:30-1:30 Sun to beat the heat and the pleasure boats (they where out in force). I concentrated in the 14'-20' zone and had the quality bites to have done better. I only managed to get in 4 keepers sat and only managed to get 2 in the boat Sunday with several still left in the piles, not many short fish caught. Did manage to get a 5lb wally on the spoon and a couple whites to jump on it, but the bass just either swiped on ran. Great group of guys and they had a good feed for us Friday night at Extreme Outdoors. The fish seem to be heading towards the deeper wood. I had 10-12 piles with some standing trees mixed in and around them between the James and Cow and just rotated through them. If you can bounce through the boat wakes the fish are there to catch.

SAT----Water Temp was flat on 80 everywhere I checked. Clear main lake some stain in the bigger coves/creeks. I didn't venture to far from the main channel, never run up the creeks arms. Sat I fished solo and was just looking around for a pattern for my boys (NYFA) high school championship for Sunday. Lake was very busy as the PTA (NYFA) was going on and other tournaments. After the showers went though I got out with my looking baits, topwaters, and moving baits to look for active fish. I also checked some brush piles with the normal baits. Not much activity for me on anything at any depth or time. Finally did find some fish on a frog, they was chasing balls of shallow shad in the back of pockets around stick ups, also several on a wacky rig. My biggest fish of the day was a 3.5 lb fat LMB that hit a wobble head off a point everything else was skinny and thin looking. SUN-- Same 80 degree temp with rain just passing though before our 6:30 start time. 1st stop was going to be a point with some brush on it to toss a top water over and take advantage of the low light and wind, but it all ready had 2 boats on it. So we went to our 2nd option a clear water deeper smallmouth point to try top water and look for schoolers. With nothing on top we tossed a wobble head and got the first keeper. Left that area and ran to the frog fish area, no bites no fish in that spot and nothing happening at that area. We made a move to a channel swing with several points in close proximity and I had the boys change to a weighted wacky rig, that was a good call they had 9 keepers in a about a 3 hour period. Our 4 fish limit had a really good SMB and 3 LMB and we culled a couple of times, then it just flat quit, not another bite after the 12:30-1 time frame. We hoped around here and there after that and even fished some old history places all in all a great day for the boys. Weigh-in started at 2:15 our check in time was 2:30 and we had our 4-fish limit, but after our decent day I figured some team would have a 12 lb bag. The winning weight was 10.80 and BB at 5.73. My boys came in 15th at 8.09, not bad for the 4 fish limit. I enjoyed the year with the boys and our school team had a great showing. Thanks JP for the help really a great bunch of people who enjoy helping the next group that will take over for us.

After church only fished from 2:30-Dark-30ish WT: 75ish 1C. to Elizbeth Ramp stained good greenish crank color Woods Pt to Quarry clear and good tint. Had some good Largemouth on the steeper banks with shade...They were feeding so it was topwater-worm. Caught largemouth, smallmouth, and Spots. Tried for Striped bass late in the normal haunts with only some white bass showing up. Caught several on top and on some deeper on a thin fish, (15-20 over 85-95) but had more fun watching a young kid in a boat catch them his on a topwater. Great afternoon to be out sure was a pretty sunset. Did livescope some gills in 20-25 around some big rocks, but not as big as the Table Rock gills Mr. Bill speaks of.

Yes they won't hold back tomorrow unless they are way ahead early and no one else is on their area.

I need to get in on the white bass action esp if I can get them on top or to hit the SS or spook. I just love catching them and cleaned right and iced they make good table fair. Plus the wife loves the non-stop action when when get into those. Thanks

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.