Norfork Lake fishing report

Striper fishing continues to be the hot bite on Norfork Lake. Right now everybody who live-bait fishes, trolls or spoons is catching stripers. This year, with the normal water levels, the lake has an excellent level of oxygen from 35 to 100 feet of water. This means the stripers have plenty of areas to roam and feed. 

August should be a great time for striper fishing. The crowds will be gone, the weather will be good and we should see lots of stripers caught. In years past, when the water levels and oxygen are good, a great afternoon bite will start at Robinson Point from the island south to above 80 feet of water. I have fished Robinson Point both in the morning and evening in August and have produced lots of limits and some trophy fish. It’s worth checking it out. You will see me out there some evenings. 

The best bite right now is from Georges Cove to the dam and from Thumb Point to Hand Cove. The areas I have targeted are secondary points with a channel swing in waters starting at 50 to 130 feet. The shallow fish will be feeding on crawdads while the deeper fish will be feeding on this year’s shad hatch. 

The small white bass and largemouth bass are feeding both early and late on the young shad. Any topwater bait will produce a strike. These fish are small, but you will have lots of action. The topwater bite starts early, and sometimes you will see feeding fish all day long. The evening bite looks like it will be great. We fished several evenings this past week and caught multiple limits and several good size fish. Look for stripers in water starting at 40 feet and move out until you find them. The bite will last up until dark. 

The stripers are on the points with sloping flats near the dam. Stripers are still being caught from Diamond Bay off point 2 in the channel, Georges Cove, Koso Point, Hudson, Hand Cove, Dam Cove and Thumb Point.

Ozark County Times

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