Norfork Lake fishing report: Nov. 15, 2017

Stripers on Norfork Lake are now feeding during the day on flats in the 30-foot range. Large schools of shad are roaming the flats, and the stripers are cruising within the shad. I pre-fished Thursday and Friday near Reynolds Island in Big Creek and found stripers feeding mid-morning. The first day I fished in waters that were 40 to 50 feet deep and caught multiple stripers and hybrids. The next day I went back and could not find any fish there. I fished the area until 10:30 and then decided to move up on the flat near 1C and found lots of bait. We started catching stripers after 11 a.m. and had two limits in 45 minutes.

I thought I had it figured out, so on Saturday I started out at 7 a.m. on the flat and did not have a bite until noon, and then we only caught three stripers by 1:30 p.m. What I learned was the stripers were feeding later in the day, and each day the bite started about an hour later. 

Saturday we started fishing at 10 a.m. and broke off one right away then had to wait until almost noon to catch another. The bite picked up, and we caught our limit by 2 p.m. and broke off another and lost one at the boat.

The 1C area in Big Creek is good, but wait until the sun is up and start fishing there after lunch. 

The other hot spots are the Cranfield Island flat, the flat by Blue Lady and the Fouts area. In those areas the bite is during the morning. Stripers. whites and a few walleye are being caught on spoons and shad. Two other areas to look are the Twin Coves, and Red Bank flats.

Ozark County Times

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