January can be a great time to fish Norris Lake. In the heart of the winter the average weight of your catch can be larger. Plus, fish often form large schools in deep water and you may catch a lot of big fish in a small area.
Another advantage of January fishing is that all the pleasure boaters are gone and fishermen will have the lake all to themselves. If it is extremely cold or nasty weather, there may not be many other fishermen on the lake either.
A few notes of caution if fishing in extremely cold weather: Never fish alone, because your partner may be the only other person on the lake. Make sure to tell a family member the area you will be fishing. Always wear a lifejacket. Take an extra set of clothes in case you fall in, because hypothermia sets in extremely fast when a person is wet. Enough of that—let’s get back to the fishing.
The best winter fishing is often in the larger creeks and near the headwaters of the lake.
Crappie can be caught using various trolling techniques in creeks such as Big Sycamore on the Clinch River side or Davis Creek on the Powell River side.
Walleye are already preparing for the river spawn and will be staging in the backwaters. The larger Walleyes spawn much sooner than most people realize, especially if we get a good warm spell in mid to late January in conjunction with a full moon.
If targeting stripers, look for large schools of small shad in the larger creeks, main channel river bends or deep hollows. Finding the right type of bait in winter can sometimes be difficult but the new sidescan sonar has made it much easier than it used to be.
Of course gulls can be a dead giveaway, but if you simply follow the gulls, you are missing some good striper fishing. If you are searching for bass, many will be in the same areas as the stripers. Try vertical fishing around the shad bait balls with a Damiki Armour Shad.
Good fishing.