LAKE NORFORK STRIPER CLUB
NEWSLETTER www.norforkstripers.org
DECEMBER 2016
Merry Christmas to All! The LNSC Christmas Dinner and Awards Banquet was a great event this year as usual. President Rick and VP John presented awards for the year’s Angling accomplishments. The food was superb this year, with thanks to all who brought the wonderful dishes. More pictures and details on the following pages.
Rob Turk - LNSC Angler of the Year
Larry Devors - Runner up Angler of the Year
FishNFred Gordon - Third Place
Gene Moreno - Largest Tournament fish of the year
lNSC AWARDS PRESENTED
Board Of Directors PRESIDENT Rick Willoughby - 706-0054
[email protected] VICE PRESIDENT John Gerard - 321-1031
[email protected] SECRETARY Penny West - 847-7007
[email protected] SERGEANT AT ARMS Jim Shaffer - 491-5693
[email protected]
The 2016 LNSC Awards presented at this year’s Awards Banquet are as follows: 1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
NEWSLETTER EDITOR/ TREASURER Vern Berry - 421-0720
[email protected] MESSAGE BOARD MASTER John Evers
[email protected] om WATER QUALITY REP. Bob North - 491-5498
[email protected]
7.
Angler of the year: Rob Turk with1123 Points 2nd Place Angler of the year: Larry Devors with 1043 Points Third Place Angler of the year: Fred Gordon with 968 Points Largest Tournament fish of the year: Gene Moreno, 27 lb. 10 oz. Striper. Largest Tournament fish of the year caught on a Binks Spoon: Larry Devors. Jim Shaffer, acknowledgement of Jim’s service to the club since starting as a LNSC Charter Member. Jim served for many years as our Tournament Director and now serves as our Sargent-at-Arms and Liaison with the East Side Baptist Church. Iim continues as a most valued member of the LNSC Board of Directors. Sheryl Shaffer: Acknowledged for her ongoing tireless efforts in providing refreshments for our monthly meetings, as well as coordinating our annual Christmas and Awards Banquet food. Sheryl is affectionately known to all as the “Cookie Lady”. Many thanks always to Sheryl.
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Moose West -847-4088
[email protected] SENIOR ADVISOR Jim Wencker - 421-6379
[email protected]
Don’t forget to post news of your outings on the message board. It’s important for all club members to help others know what’s happening out there, good and bad. Please participate.
Director Jim Shaffer receiving his certificate for dedicated service to the club from President Rick
Sheryl Shaffer receiving her certificate of appreciation from President Rick
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM VICE PRESIDENT JOHN GERARD! What a fantastic meal at the awards banquet. Pot luck food is my favorite. Many thanks for our board members and all our members that helped put this event together and brought food. So, now it is time again to be thinking about fishing. I expect there will be many fair weather days this winter. Dress warm and go fishing. Trolling is always to finding fish. Stripers can be at just about any depth for winter fishing. As always where the bait fish are is where you will probably find stripers. Do not forget live bait for winter fishing. Shiners are available at Gerry's Qwik Stop on Hwy. 62 East & Cranfield Rd or 101 groceries on Hwy 101 about 1 1/2 miles North of the 101 bridge. Do not forget spooning also catches. Send down a Binks spoon and tease them a bit. It is hard for them to resist. Our next membership meeting will be on Monday January 23, 2017 Wishing for all safe travels, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. John Gerard
LNSC CLUB T-Shirts We currently have t-shirts available to order with our Striper Club logo on the back and LNSC as pocket writing on front. I am including the ordering information including sizes available, and price. If you are interested in ordering some, please email me at
[email protected] with size, quantity, color. If shirt is to be shipped to your home, price for shipping is $6.80, which will need to be sent in with your payment. Payment can be mailed to the club with a note as to what it is for, or I can take PayPal. It takes a few weeks to order and receive, I will email you when shirts are in and when they are mailed. I like to order as many as I can at one time. I will be taking orders for a new shipment now and look forward to helping you get your Striper shirt promptly. Current colors being order are: Black, Sport Grey (light grey), Charcoal (dark grey), Pink, White, Carolina Blue (light blue), Sapphire Blue. Most primary colors available and also, Neon Green, Safety Orange and Safety Yellow. I will need to check though if you order any primary color other than those listed above. SHIPPING IN US: $6.80 for up to 2 shirts
Identification of
Striper, Wiper, White Bass, and White Perch Similar appearances, varying length and creel limits, and the recent appearance of the aquatic nuisance species, the white perch, make proper identification of the striped bass, striped bass hybrid (or wiper), white bass, and white perch very important for Kansas anglers. White perch have become established in Cheney and Wilson reservoir and Kingman State Fishing Lake. White perch are capable of out competing native fish for food and space. Therefore, anglers are prohibited from moving white perch from one body of water to another. The following information will aid in the identification by providing distinguishing characteristics of each species. Individuals in a species and differing water conditions may impact the ease of identification and close examination may be needed. There is no daily creel limit on white bass or white perch. Creel limits on wipers and striped bass is 2/day statewide, check your regs for combined/aggregate limits at some lakes.
STRIPED BASS
Spiny and soft dorsal fins not connected, both fins do not pop-up when spiny dorsal manually erected
Common to reach and exceed 20 pounds
Back of tongue has TWO tooth patches Stripes distinct
Slender bodied, less than one-third length
May exceed 10 pounds
WIPER
Spiny and soft dorsal fins not connected, both fins do not pop-up when spiny dorsal manually erected
Back of tongue has TWO tooth patches
Deep bodied, more than one-third length
Stripes distinct
WHITE BASS Seldom exceeds 3 pounds
Spiny and soft dorsal fins not connected, both fins do not pop-up when spiny dorsal manually erected
Back of tongue has ONE tooth patch Deep bodied, more than one-third length
Stripes not distinct
WHITE PERCH Seldom exceeds 1 pound
Deep bodied, deepest part just in front of or at the beginning of the spiny dorsal fin Artwork by Joseph R. Tomelleri
Spiny and soft dorsal fins connected, both fins pop-up when spiny dorsal manually erected
No distinct stripes
FISHING REPORT FROM LOU GABRIC AT HUMMINGBIRD HIDEAWAY RESORT It has been a fun week fishing Norfork Lake. We have had several fishing guests at the resort this week and we all were catching fish. The bite for striped bass, hybrid bass and white bass is good. Vertical jigging with a spoon is a good method to catch these species this time of year. Big schools of fish are roaming large flats in 44 - 55 feet of water. Once you find the fish all you need to do is drop your spoon and jig it up and down bouncing it off of the bottom. If it is a school of feeding fish it won't take long until your spoon has been taken, then you need to make sure you give your rod a good jerk to set the hook. Electronic fish finders are very helpful this time of year as you are looking out in the middle of the lake for these fish. Sometimes mother nature helps you out and you find a flock of seagulls diving into the water feeding on shad. More than likely there is a school of feeding fish under the feeding birds. This only happens during the late fall and winter months as the seagulls are a migratory bird. Live bait is also working using either gizzard or thread fin shad. If you don't want to go out and net your own shad you can purchase brooder shiners. They will work very well in the cold water months. If you are live bait fishing you need to set your baits from 30 - 40 feet deep. Trolling is another method of striper fishing, but you need to get your baits down to the same depths as the live bait. Best places to look for stripers/hybrids and white bass are the big flats near the 101 bridge area, Big Sandy back in the 101 Marina area and back past Fouts Boat Dock. My bite really hasn't started until around 8AM and it can last till noon or later, as it did today. Later in the day the fish start to move to mouths of creeks and coves as well as out to the river channel in 60 plus feet of water. Largemouth and spotted bass are also schooling. I have found large schools of fish in similar areas as the stripers, as well as, part way back into creeks out in the middle. Look in 40 - 50 feet of water for these fish. When I can find a slight drop off on a flat that is near or on an old creek channel I have typically found a lot of fish and they don't move off this area as fast. One morning I caught over a dozen largemouth in the 2.5 3.5 pound range. Some bigger largemouth are starting to move in shallow to feed early and late in the day. This is a good time to break out your jerk baits and give it a try. On windy days a spinner bait is working great, but the old standby, a jig and pig, will always pick up some nice fish. Norfork Lake level is falling slowly and currently sits at 552.44. The lake surface water temperature is also falling and currently is in the 54 - 55 degree range. The lake is still stained, but is a great fishing color. Happy fishing and see you on the lake. Lou
Lake Norfork Striper Club Membership Application Applicant’s Name ____________________________Email ____________________________ Mailing Address ______________________________________________________________ Home Ph. ________________________ Cell Ph. ___________________________________ New Membership $15 - $20 Family - Include with Application. * Annual Renewals are $10 per member and $15 per family. Membership includes full access to the LNSC website and message board. Members also receive our monthly newsletter via e-mail. The message board and newsletters bring tournament results, club news and continual updates on fishing and water conditions.
LAKE NORFORK STRIPER CLUB 115 Excaliber Pl. Mountain Home, AR 72653
DECEMBER 2016 NEWSLETTER www.norforkstripers.org
Next Meeting Monday JAN 23rd - 7pm at the Eastside Baptist Church
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