Mountain Home resident and BassCat Boats president Rick Pierce has some Norfork Lake insight. He’s a life-long tournament angler, who is competing on the Bassmaster Bass Pro Shops Southern Open series this season, and he’s got a son who’s on Bull Shoals or Norfork almost every day.
“Norfork is a lot better lake than most people realize,” Pierce said Saturday. “There’s not much public information about it. There was a nine-pounder caught at Norfork last Sunday. There’s probably a higher quality fish overall in Norfork right now than there is in Bull Shoals. It’s been fishing better in the local tournaments than Bull has all year.
“It’s very possible to catch 20 to 23 pounds on Norfork (Sunday). It all depends on the wind. The wind is going to play a real factor.”
Wind and clouds improve the bite considerably on these clear Ozark lakes. The forecast is for a south wind to get into double digits by 11 a.m. today, varying between 10 and 15 mph through the afternoon. Some clouds are predicted to move in between 1 and 2 p.m.
There’s one other factor Pierce mentioned that might be a key today. The schooling, topwater action is considerably better at Norfork than Bull Shoals. Norfork is a noted striper fishery. When the stripers push schools of threadfin shad to the surface, the largemouth bass are usually right there with them.