March 2015 - Lake Norfork Striper Club

LAKE NORFORK STRIPER CLUB
NEWSLETTER
www.norforkstripers.org!
MARCH 2015!
MARCH 21 TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Twenty five members fished the March tournament.
No one had a tournament fish to weigh but several had fishing stories to
share and fish, not stripers, to fillet. Penny WEST did not prepare her gar
for table fare for her partner, Moose WEST, but he was the proud winner of
the Okuma trolling rod and Okuma DX20 line counter reel.
Fishing has been good for Crappie, Largemouth and Kentucky Bass,
White Bass and Hybrid Bass which are chasing small shad in the main
lake creek channels. Rain over the last two weeks has swelled the
shoreline with a 5-6 foot rise in the lake level over the last two weeks.
The Stripers are preparing for a spawning run up the main lake channels in the very near future so
keep track on the Fishing Message Board. See you on the lake, soon!
Tight lines, Jim W., Tournament Director
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!
Jeremy Risely!
FEBRUARY GUEST SPEAKER !
Arkansas Game & Fish!
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Club members where pleased to once again have an update
from our new District Director of Arkansas Game & Fish,
Jeremy Risely. !
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His team has been very active over this past year and are
continuing with more active fish counting, using netting
techniques to better determine fish and shad counts in various
areas of the lake. There is also a future plan to tag stripers in
an effort to see both seasonal movement and catch and
release survival rates.!
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The 2015 stocking plan for Lake Norfork is again 155,000
stripers and 44,000 hybrids.!
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Board Of Directors!
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PRESIDENT!
John Gerard - 321-1031!
[email protected]!
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VICE PRESIDENT!
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR!
Jim Wencker - 492-4141!
[email protected]!
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SECRETARY!
Roy Rush - 425-3364!
[email protected]!
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SERGEANT AT ARMS!
Jim Shaffer - 491-5693!
[email protected]!
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NEWSLETTER EDITOR/
TREASURER!
Vern Berry - 421-0720!
[email protected]!
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MESSAGE BOARD MASTER!
Ron Teter - lnsc.striper.!
[email protected]!
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WATER QUALITY REP.!
Bob North - 491-5498!
[email protected]!
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TOURNAMENT REMINDERS!
1. Register Early!
2. Pay with Cash!
3. Always watch the message
board for any changes in
weigh-in times or location!
4. Read the tournament rules
(page 3 and on the web site)!
5. Watch the weather and think
safety first!
6. Have fun and enjoy the day
on our great lake Norfork!
2015 LNSC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
!April 25 - SATURDAY ! - 6 am to11:00 am. Weigh-in at Panther Bay
Launch Ramp with weigh-in at 10:45 – 11:00 am. Live bait or Artificial
baits are both allowable for this tournament.
!May 15 and 16 – Friday and Saturday – 5:30 am Friday until 10:00 am
Saturday at Panther Bay Launch Ramp. Live bait or Artificial baits are
both allowable for this tournament. Entry fee is $10 per contestant for
the tournament and an additional $5 each for the OPTIONAL biggest
fish weighed for the tournament. The single biggest fish pays 100% of
all big fish entry fees. Each contestant in any boat that has a big fish
contestant must also pay the big fish entry fee. Three weigh-ins at
Panther Bay Launch Ramp: FRIDAY – 10:00 to 10:30 am AND 6:00 to
6:15 pm, then on SATURDAY – 9:30 to 10:00 am. Contestants may
weigh up to 3 fish at any weigh-in time but no more that a total of three
fish for the tournament. When the three fish limit is reached, there will
be no culling allowed. Total weight for up to three fish weighed will
determine the winners.
!JUNE 18 – THURSDAY - 5:30 am until 10:00 am at Quarry Park Launch
Ramp. Artificial baits ONLY allowable for this tournament. Weigh-in
time is 9:45 – 10:00 am.
!JULY 16 – THURSDAY - 5:30 am until 9:30 am at Quarry Park Launch
Ramp. Artificial baits ONLY allowable for this tournament. Weigh-in
time is 9:15 –9:30 am.
AUGUST 13 – THURSDAY - 5:30 am until 9:30 am at Quarry Park
Launch Ramp. Artificial baits ONLY allowable for this tournament.
Weigh-in time is 9:45 – 10:00 am.
!SEPTEMBER 18 and 19 – Friday and Saturday – 6: am Friday until 9:30
am Saturday at Quarry Park Launch Ramp. Live bait or Artificial baits
are both allowable for this tournament. Entry fee is $10 per contestant
for the tournament and an additional $5 each for the OPTIONAL biggest
fish weighed for the tournament. The single biggest fish pays 100% of
all big fish entry fees. Each contestant in any boat that has a big fish
contestant must also pay the big fish entry fee. Three weigh-ins at
Panther Bay Launch Ramp: FRIDAY – 10:00 to 10:30 am AND 6:00 to
6:15 pm, then on SATURDAY – 9:30 to 10:00 am. Contestants may
weigh up to 3 fish at any weigh-in time but no more that a total of three
fish for the tournament. When the three fish limit is reached, there will
be no culling allowed. Total weight for up to three fish weighed will
determine the winners.
!October 10 - SATURDAY ! - 6 am to 11:00 am. Weigh-in at Panther Bay
Launch Ramp with weigh-in at 10:45 – 11:00 am. Live bait or Artificial
baits are both allowable for this tournament.
DON’T MISS THE MARCH MEETING PRESENTATION BY
HUMMINBIRD COMPANY - MONDAY!!
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE !
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There's very few people around who could
honestly say they used to live at the bottom of
a lake.
Photo courtesy of
www.ozarkhistory.com Blasting work
and construction on the dam began in
the spring of 1941. About 4,000 people
turned out for the spectacle of the first
blast.
The eerie sound of the water and bubbles
swishing past old forgotten buildings, and
catfish and bass making their homes amongst
once occupied grave sites in flooded
cemeteries and in the rafters and foundations
of decaying schoolhouses. These are the
buildings and ruins of what is left of the towns
under the water of what is now Norfork Lake.
The towns were once known as part of Henderson and Elizabeth, Custer, Hand, Jordan
and Herron. Of course, these forgotten towns weren't always underneath the water of
the Norfork River that ran next to them.
According to Baxter County and Mountain Home documents, during the Depression
Era, the town of Mountain Home was struggling, and many farmers were leaving their
lands around the area for better jobs up north. For many of us, it's hard to imagine this
now bustling town as being in a dire situation with hardly any businesses to attract
customers and only one or two paved roads. However, in the 1930s, the town and the
area was just trying to make ends meet.
The residents knew something had to be done. It was decided a dam had to be built,
not only to control flood waters that threatened farming property, but also to bring in
jobs. The Norfork Dam was to be one of eight dams in the White River basin.
Reble Comstock, 90, of Viola, was once a resident of one of the towns that is now
partially covered by Norfork Lake. Comstock used to live in Elizabeth near Big Creek.
She said, though her father's farm wasn't affected much by the rising lake water, many
of her neighbor's farms were. "The worst thing was that we lost our neighbors,"
Comstock said. "They couldn't go out and do anything, so they had to move.”
"The dam was the biggest change in my life," Comstock said.
Comstock remembers what the towns were like before the dam was built. She said
there was a church in Hand that is now covered by water around Keller's Cove near to
Hand Cove. The Hand Cove area that straddles the Fulton-Baxter County line is named
after the town that was covered by the water when the dam went in.
"In Herron (and Henderson), there was a schoolhouse that was also a church,"
Comstock said. "It's now under water. "Not only did the living have to be relocated, but
the dead had to be moved as well. Cemeteries in the towns of Custer and Herron had to
be moved to higher ground. The cemetery is now known as the Custer-Herron Cemetery
on Highway 62-412 just beyond the Fulton-Baxter County line.
According to the Scuba Doo Dive Shop in Mountain Home, which does some diving to the
bottom of Norfork Lake, there is very little left of the towns except foundations and an old
bridge. "It's a great dive down to the bridge," Elizabeth Kenyon of Scuba Doo Dive Shop
said. She said there are still some rafters of the bridge left and there is an old motorcycle
sitting on top of it.
!
Points of interest under the water.
) The 1A Wrecks - 200 ft. North of 1A sign, flat gravel bottom, contains several small boats
and one pontoon boat deck, normal depth is 25 ft.
(2) Rickety Wreck - Stepping stone type wall. Here sits a 28 ft wooden cruiser.
(3) School Bus -School bus attached to a steel barge. Once was unique houseboat.
(4) Cave Dive-This cave goes back 100 ft. into a large room, then narrows.
(5) Blankenship Point -Bottom strewn with giant square stones that create alley-ways that draw
every species of fish in the lake.
(6) Playground -Junior divers of all ages can play on the equipment found here.
(7) Sunken Ridge -Sudden rise of underwater mountain top is in 15 ft. of water. Great place
to see large schools of bass.
(8)Farm Site -There is the foundation and cistern of three buildings located in 40 ft. of
water. Hard to locate exactly, but can yield nice artifacts.
(9) Indian Island -Was once an Indian campsite where arrow heads can still be found, ledges
and overhangs hold lots of fish, favorite nite dive spot. Depths of 5 - 50 ft.
(10) Moody Homesite -Cistern and stone foundation of old farm house. Located in 30 ft.
(11) Slo-Poke Cruiser -Wreck of a 30 ft. cruiser in 40 ft. water. Also a nice flat 15 ft.
bottom of shale rock.
(12) Campground Bluff- One of the few shore dives. Good walls and steep slopes. Treasure
hunting favorite.
(13) Bulldozer - In 25 ft. of water sits a 1939 Caterpillar used in lake construction.
(14) Rock of Gibraltar -Stone slab rising from 50 ft. depth to just 15 ft. below surface.
(15) Underwater Bluff -A wall starts at 35 ft. and can go straight down 70 - 150 ft.
(16) White Bluff & Arch -Tall limestone bluffs contain natural arch big enough to swim
through. Also some very clear water. Ledges at 15, 30, and 60 ft.
(17) Tool Truck - Panel truck that went down in 1955, loaded with tools. Rests on ledge in 70
ft. depth out from a mark on shore.
(18) Fruit Cellar - Concrete bunker-like structure built in the early 1900's. Also homesite
artifacts in 15 ft.
(19) Fireplace - Intact fireplace with chimney and foundation of large home. Out from center of
island in 80 ft. depth.
(20) Gypsy Boat Wreck -24 ft. wood cabin cruiser sits on flat gravel bottom at 25 ft. Nearby
an abrupt drop of 150 ft. Tall pinnacle rocks, view large fish here.
(21) Fish Market - Flat shale rock point has a large area of flat bottom at 15 ft. depth with
nearby slope to deeper water. Good concentration of fish found here.
(22) Walleye Wall -Short run of rock bluff with a steep incline. Wall type dive. Home of the
lake's walleye population.
(23) Bunch 'O Boulders -Very large, rounded rock formations in 20 ft. depth with gravel bottom.
(24) Don's Dynamite Shack -This site once stored explosives during dam construction. There is an
underground building made of railroad ties and covered with gravel. It has an air vent that looks like
a dog house. Found in 40 ft. of water.
(25) Dam Corner -This is usually the clearest dive on the lake. Nice cut stone rocks, steps. Has parts
of wooden light towers lying on the bottom.
(26) Devil's Backbone -This site has long, shallow reef-like point formations. It looks like the giant
skeletal vertebrae of some ungodly creature. 20 ft. depth.
(27) Thumb Print Homesite -This site if in 60 ft depth out from mark on the shore. Very large
foundation with inlaid intricate tile floor. Lots of artifacts.
(28) Hank's Bluff -Long wall dive. Straight drops good for deep dives and exploration into the unknown.
(29) Jerry's Place -A special collection of secrets.
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Most of the information in this article comes from Emily McIntosh, Staff Writer – The News, Salem Arkansas
CAPTAIN RON’S FISHING REPORT
This is a tough +me of year for daylight striper fishing Not only that, figh+ng the fog and logs is a real challenge. The rising lake has floated debris from the shore out on to the lake. Some places are worse than others but there is debris everywhere. In the lower por+on of the lake the water is so clear that there is prac+cally no chance of geAng a striper under blue skies. The last stripers I caught were in stained water near the Missouri line. The water temps are rising into the low 50s and the shore line night bite will soon be in full swing, some are already being caught. If you fish at night you should look for shallow points near deeper water and listen for the fish. Usually the first hour or two of complete darkness is the best +me. Cast a suspending s+ck bait right up to the shore line and retrieve in a very slow steady fashion. The night bite can move around from one night to the next as the stripers con+nuously prowl the shorelines. They will probably be back in the creeks right now and as the nights go by they will work their way out to the main lake points. The night bite will con+nue well into the summer but they will move out to the mid lake and also go down. When the shore line night bite is over, that is when the early morning striper bite will pick up. They will be in the same areas only farther off shore and a liJle deeper, that is what makes them catchable but s+ll when the sun hits the water the bite will stop. However, if you can find surface feeding stripers you can s+ll catch them with a good top water lure. This is the +me of year when you really have to keep your eyes and ears open and if you are on the water enough you will eventually run into a school of surface feeding stripers and have the blast of a life+me. Please note, as long as the lake con+nues to rise, debris will increase. You might not always see it because of the wind and boat wave ac+on. Some of the debris is heavy but only a small amount may be visible on top. Replacing lower units can be expensive not to men+on possible more severe consequences. Slow down and wear your life vest. When the lake stops rising the debris will work its way to shore and stay there un+l the lake rises again. See you on the water, Ron
FISH ON !! ....
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FISH ON !!! …. FISH
ON !!!!!
BY JIM WENCKER
I can’t tell you how SURPRISED I was, and then how EXCITED I was to
hear my fishing partner, Doug, yelling at ME!
I was facing forward from behind the lone windshield of my boat and he was
facing to the rear from the front of the boat. That position allowed him
protection from the cold, damp air while affording an unobscured view of
both rods which were in use as we moved away from the somewhat busy
boat traffic at the Cranfield launching area. I was also trying to concentrate
on trying to dodge the floating debris coming down the main channel of
Pigeon Creek and watching the graph on the console for bait fish and
feeding fish activity.
I had not prepared my mind to catch any fish today, and that was fine with
me. After all, March is a transition time and I have not been very successful
at this time of year, especially in tournaments. It is a time to prepare boats, tackle, and equipment
for the upcoming fish catching season.
Well, it was my fish on an outfit that Doug had time to prepare the day before while I was preparing
the boat, etc. What a surprise! It turned out to be nice two pound Hybrid but just short of the
required 20” minimum to qualify for entry at the weigh in. We had just passed the Mountain Home
Water Plant intake, less than 200 yards from our launch point.
It was straight up 8 o’clock by the time we got to this point because of heavy fog. I don’t know
which of us first suggested waiting for the sun to burn off enough of the fog to be safe but neither
of us resisted the other’s suggestion.
We were flat line trolling deep diving Rogues and were discussing how we used to do so much
more of this type fishing back in the late 90’s with some success.
As we proceeded to bear to the right toward the Hwy 201 bridge the sea gulls stayed busy, as did
many of the other boats. Many were obviously crappie fishing over cedar tops with some success.
Bass fishermen were doing well casting crank baits to active fish under the shad that the gulls
were feeding on.
We caught a nice 18” Largemouth and a 15” Kentucky Bass by the time we passed the last of the
boat docks on our left side as we approached the 201 bridge.
Had we not wimped out for so long and then had to wait a bit on the launch ramp due to the
Saturday morning rush, I am sure that we would have had more success. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
March Featured Sponsor
Teal Point Resort, Lake Norfork
Quality Lodging Options
Teal Point Resort cabins, houses, and condos range in size from one room cabins great for couples to full
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refrigerators, and a range with an oven. All units are heated and cooled, come with towels and linens, and
have color cable TV. All units except one have views of Norfork Lake. Outside each is a picnic table and a
BBQ grill or kettle. Groceries are available 24/7 10 minutes away in Mountain Home, Arkansas.
A Truly Beautiful Lake Resort - Inside and Out!
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22 Modern Kitchen Cabins!
Two Illuminated Covered Docks!
Free Wireless Internet!
Playgrounds & Sandboxes!
Game Room!
Fishing guide Referrals
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Panoramic Lake Views!
Bass, Pontoon, Ski Boat Rentals !
Outside Games!
Central Area Location!
Guest Laundry!
Pets by Permission
Teal Point Resort has been a favorite with business people, vacationers, and fishers for over 25
years. Our unmatched lake views, the quality of our lodging, and our convenient location just
minutes from Mountain Home, Arkansas are what make us popular. Family reunions, corporate
retreats, couples, and friends fishing together are our guests. We have a diverse range of 22
different cabins, condos and vacation houses overlooking Norfork Lake, all of which have
modern furnishings and appliances. Our rental boats are top quality late model watercraft.
Teal Point is the only AAA 3 Diamond rated resort in the Twin Lakes area. We've held this rating
for many years. To earn, and keep it, our lodging and equipment must be modern and
spotlessly clean!
715 Teal Point Rd, Mountain Home, AR 72653
Hwy. 62 approx. 3.0 miles east of Walmart, go North on Teal Point Road
www.tealpointresort.com
(870) 492-5145
Karl and Regina
FISH ON…CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
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There were many fish on the graph until we got past the first five boat docks.
At the weigh in site at Panther Bay Launch Ramp, there was considerable activity as we
parked the boat and trailer and I assumed that there might have actually been fish to
weigh in. No such luck this time but there was considerable catching of other fish so that
the smiles on the collected contestants were good to see. Everyone was enjoying the
almost party like atmosphere. A good time was had by all, especially Moose WEST who
won the rod and reel drawing!
P.S. Be sure to sign up for the April 25 tournament at our regular monthly meeting this
Monday where the Factory Rep. from HUMMINGBIRD will explain the sonar that we rely
on to assist in finding our Stripers. I can hardly wait to hear what he has to say about
sonar and how I can take better advantage in the next tournament.
Hope to see you at the meeting this Monday and on our beautiful LAKE NORFORK.
Tight lines!! …Jim W.
THE LNSC THANKS ALL SPONSORS FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
LAKE NORFORK
STRIPER CLUB!
!
115 Excaliber Pl.!
Mountain Home, AR 72653
!
TO:
March 2015!
NEWSLETTER!
!
Next Meeting !
Monday - MARCH 23rd!
7pm !
Eastside Baptist Church!
!
www.norforkstripers.org
***** SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS *****