Lake Norfork, Arkansas gills and fins

[James and Kathy Acerra]

Hi Y’all

I’m James Acerra and my wife Kathy fish Lake Norfork shorelines where they are accessible to walk to.

We’ve been lucky with great gill catches varying from peckerfish (those lil bait stealers) to Kathy’s 12” 1 ¼ lb female Bluegill.

We average with 6” ½ lb to 8” ¾ lb gill and Redear with a few greens and Longear with the hybrids mixed in for flavor.

Depths range from 2’ to 8’ deep with sand and gravel to shore breaks with drop offs mixed with rocks and deadfalls.

We’ve had a few crappies, blue cat, channel cats and flatheads hit us with the odd baby largemouth on worms and bobbers.

I’ve even used a few peckerfish as bait to try and lure in a cat or bass no dice yet.

We’ve had good luck thru all hours of the day as well as better luck early and late in the day with fair luck night fishing with bobber lights.

So far the sex mix is mainly male with a 4 to 1 average.

I’ll keep the updates coming and hope to add photos.

We’ve used earthworms cut in sections with a #12 snap hook #8 short shank Eagle Claw hooks

with a sinker 3/16 oz below on a 4” line tied off to the swivel and either a bobber or slip float set for depth.

Closed Spin casting reels Shakespeare Mantis and Zebco 33’s medium poles 6’ and 5’ 6”.

Both of us use 10 lb line for that odd cat before we went to 10 lb we lost 4 large cats in the 8 to 10 lb range due to line breaks as soon as they got to shore water and tailed off the bottom to pop the lite line.

I’m sure we lose a few from line scare but the main hook ups have been solid top lip or side of the mouths and no problems reeling them thru weeds or small brush.

 Any one else fishing Lake Norfork in Northern Arkansas or Southern Missouri please feel free to join and comment on this lake.

  I’ll not hold it against you if you use a boat.

 

Yours in fishing

James and Kathy Acerra

[10.5" RES Sharon]

I was wondering if u ever fished the buffalo and if u did is it still a good fishing spot?

[James and Kathy Acerra]

Not so far we're real close to norfork lake so so far thats where we've fished.
A few years back we fished the White rive but were after trout.
Back in the day we fised Cherokee village lakes and caught crappie and bg as well as bass. haven't done that in years though.
I'm disabled and she's retired so we do whats easy to access.
We'll post more picks and blog some now that we found this site.
Come join us at Arkansasfishers group and we'll all talk about Arkansas waters and rivers.
See y'all on the lake

[John Sheehan]

Hi James and Kathy-Enjoyed your heartfelt and unselfishly informative post here!.Look forward to more of your input and photos!
Yes I use a small electric motor controlled boat but love to wade rivers,shorelines fish for multi species any way and every way. It's a great passion .

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Welcome James and Kathy, It's good to have other Ozark Americans , "Hillbillies" on this sight, I'll be counting on you for fishing reports from Norfork. Next month I'll be on Thunderbird at Cherokee and I'll wave at you as I'm headed for Bull Shoals, this weekend I'll be on the Strawberry River in Sharp Co.

[James and Kathy Acerra]

How LoFR
We both grew up in Cherokee Village and fished all her lakes back in the days of it's resort status.
Caught tons of greenies and BG's off the rocks by the dam across from TBird marina.
Crappie and catfish in Sequoyah in the coves and along the dam.
Bass and BG's and crappie in Omaha along the shores.
BG's in most of the other lakes.
We have kin folk on Lake Sequoyah, and both sides of the family live in the Village and kin live in agnes and Ash Flat.
Cuz's on Bull Shoals.
We've both fised both forks of the Spring River from Mammoth Springs for Trout to Hardy for Bass, Cats, and Bg's.
We had friends living along the Strawberry River I've hunted that area and fised the river.
I Worked for the State and fished the White River at Calico as well as the Norfork River from the dam to the White.
This is our stomping grounds and we love the Hills.
The wife went to collage in JB and we've had a daughter go to collage at Williams in WR so we are famiure with that zone too.
Hope you enjoy the area as much as we do.
Consider the wave returned as you go by.
Yours in service
James and Kathy Acerra