Lake Norfork Fishing Boat Rental?

[tobeyfox]

Hello folks! I was looking into taking a first time trip down to Lake Norfork sometime in August to try and hook into a striper, and to do so I'd need to rent a fishing boat down there with a working fishfinder. So I started doing some research and I can't find a marina or rental place that will let me take out a boat before 8am, and their "full day" rentals are something like 8am-6pm when I don't even see a point in getting a rental if I can't launch by about 6:30am or so.

So my question is does anyone know a place to rent a fishing boat down at Norfork that will let me take it out either at first light or sunrise? Just looking for a one day rental that doesn't require needing to get some room at a resort or cabin. Anyone know of anywhere I can do that? Thanks.

[Brand]

Unfortunately the only way to get a rental boat out at dawn is to do a multi-day rental which is not good for you. If you have another person to split the cost you could hire a guide for a little more money. The extra money would be the downside, but the upside would be that since you only have 1 day a guide would know where the stripers are and exactly what they are hitting on.

[tobeyfox]

I've been with several guides/charters various places like catfishing on the Mississippi and fishing goliath grouper off of Florida and they're very fun, but I'm less looking for fun and more looking for the sense of accomplishment I get from doing something on my own.

Any idea WHY the places rent boats out on Norfork so late? Literally every other place I've rented a fishing boat will let you take it out sometime around sunrise because duh, that's when fisherman want to go fishing. It seems so obvious that if you rent fishing boats and want business, you should rent them out when the fishing is best? This completely baffles me, any idea what's going on down there?

One of the marinas I talked to told me that even though they open at 7, I can't take it out until 8 because they need to come in and "get it ready" and 8 is the earliest they can do that by, which I really don't understand what that means or what needs to be done for an hour to get a fishing boat ready. All the places I've checked down there seem to be the same, are the marina owners and their buddies taking out the boats at night/early morning then bringing them in to clean up and rent to suckers like me or what gives?

Thanks for the info either way. If that's just the way it is I guess I'll have to give up on Norfork for now.

[Zack Lokey]

Check out 101 boat docks. I think their "bass boats" have rental periods of 24 hours so you can take out the boat whenever.