5/50/20 Fishing Report

 I made a little trip to Norfork yesterday. I fished from 0730 to 1830. Water is stained in the backs of the active creeks. Clear main lake, but is as to be expected from a recent hard rise, there is quite a bit of floating debris in the main lake area. Boaters would be wise to run on plane, but give themselves enough time to dodge wood, etc. lake is stupid high at 578.2 when I was there.

Water temps were 64-68 degrees. Wind was light and variable, but present. Heavy clouds eventually gave way to partly cloudy late. 

Most fish are post spawn. LARGE groups of bass fry were seen multiple times. way off shore around floating debris. They seemed to be left alone at this point. I never saw any males guarding them.

I also saw large groups of shad working in the creeks. Main lake I saw fish actively busting shad, but it always seemed to be one fish busting small amounts of shad. Hard to pull them off to your bait in that situation, but I was successful a couple of times.

 Faster stuff was not working for me shallow. I did eventually catch some fish with weightless soft plastics allowed to settle around the outside brush. Big green leafy brush tops seemed better. Topwater plugs and buzzbaits never got a single look. 

Main lake I had some success on flooded flat clean areas. That's a pattern you can run, but it is a bit of a grind. 15-25 FOW worked best for me. I caught all three species of Black Bass doing that. 

I think I had around 15 bass. About half keeps. I lost a couple of toads. Sucked. 

Pics to follow.