Lake Norfork- Mountain Home, Arkansas
Surface Water Temp 78°
Lake Level 560.5 (normal)
Ever since moving to Missouri I’ve heard about the striped bass fishing in Lake Norfork. I finally decided to make the trip over to Mountain Home, Arkansas to give it a try, I wouldn’t be disappointed. Joining me on this Striper fishing adventure were my buddies Rick Powell and Mark Dragon.
One thing about these fish is that this time of year they bite early so we left Southeast Missouri at 2:30 in the morning headed towards Mountain Home. We met up with Sean Reynolds of STR Outfitters at Tracy Ferry Marina on Lake Norfork shortly after 5:00 am. Sean is the top rated guide for Stripers on Lake Norfork. He provides all the tackle and bait you will need. Sean idled us out in the predawn darkness and pointed us toward the dam area of the lake. We pulled up on a long point where Sean had been having success and started doing a little graphing, largemouth were busting shad along the point and Sean offered a topwater bait if we wanted to give it a try, we declined as we wanted to focus on Stripers. We dropped our baits down to 40’ as we set in 60-70 feet of water. It wasn’t long before we got our first fish in the boat. A nice Hybrid Striper slammed Rick’s setup and the fight was on.
Note: Hybrid Striped Bass is a hybrid between a Striper and a White Bass. They are called Wiper in parts of the country. They are known as aggressive feeders and hard fighters.
After Rick brought his hard fighter in, it was Mark’s turn, he had a drag screaming Striper on.
The action continued for the next couple of hours with us reeling in fish and Sean baiting up hooks. He does a really good job showing you what he’s looking for as far as where the fish are in the water column and how they are reacting to the baits, often calling a bite before it comes. All of us were frequent fishermen and it’s always a bonus when your guide freely shares his knowledge.
Lake Norfork has excellent Striper Fishing and it seems to be completely overlooked, we basically had the lake to ourselves only seeing a couple of other boats on an impoundment covering 22,000 acres with over 500 miles of shoreline. It was a trip we are all ready to do again, with limits for all and as a bonus, our guide Sean Reynolds even filleted our catch for us.
If you are looking to get in on some of the action, I can recommend the following
Guide Service :
Sean Reynolds
STR Outfitters
Stroutfitters.com
(870) 421-1667
Mountain Home is a resort type town with tons of lodging available but the following resorts cater to fishermen
Hummingbird Hideaway Resort – hummingbirdhideaway.com
1034 County Road 989
Mountain Home, Arkansas 72653
(870) 492-5113
Blackburn’s Resort – blackburnsresort.com
734 County Road 989
Mountain Home, Arkansas. 72653
(870) 492-5115
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/?from=rbbass
