Norfork Lake Arkansas Fishing Reports

09/14/06:

Report compiled by John Richeson, guide, Cranfield Junction 870 492 5141

BASS: Picking up very nicely now. All species of bass are starting to move a little shallower now. Look for migrating bass to move from the 40's into the 20's now that the water temp has gone down to about 80. Find the bait fish and you'll find the bass all around them! Above, beside and below the bait fish are the bass!! Nice top water action in the am's and pm's. Spooks, Sammys, Pop-r's ,etc...

Stripers: Doing very nicely now on Norfork. Spoons and soft plastic swim baits have been the most productive. Binks spoons in the 3/4 to 1oz range have worked very well!! Some 20 to 35 lbers being caught! Just about every day we're getting stripers in the 15 to 20lb range. lots of hybrids and whites too! On trolling with the soft plastic swim baits, use the Storm 4" wildeye swim shad or the Berkley 4" pogie. You'll find the stripers in about 35 to 50 foot of water. Once again, find the bait fish and you'll find the big guys...

Walleye: Very good now. We're getting Walleyes in the 25 to 45 foot deep water...we've have nice walleyes up to 8lbs being caught. The average size walleye now has been about 22 inches. Nice keepers.

The best baits
have been Binks Spoons in the 3/4 or 1oz range. The trollers have been using Tail Dancers, Hot-n-Tots, Shad Raps and Reef Runners. Doing well in the 35 foot dept range. Nite crawlers on crawler harnesses have also been very productive the past week!!

Crappies: starting to pick up now that the weather has cooled off a bit. Still fairly deep though. Look for them in the 20 to 30 foot range. Best bait has been minnows.

Bream: still receiving nice reports on the bream fishing. Crickets have been working the best. Look for them in about 18 to 22 foot of water