Norris Lake

[75TowerOfPower]

I am heading down there next weekend to stay at a buddies floating house in the Whittman Hollow Marina area. So the problem is we have 4-5 guys and only a pontoon boat down there. Renting a "ski" boat from the marina is a cool $300 a day and thats crazy. So I was wondering how big the waves can get down there, I live in Ohio. I know its a long lake and a lot of private coves and what not. So my problem is my boat, 16' trihull and a 115 HP Merc doesn't like waves. So unless we find a better deal on a rental I think we are taking mine down there and park it next to the house.

They say its "Riders Paradise" down there and I hope its smooth. Also, the stripers are supposed to be nice and big. Anyone have some hints and leads on catching a couple while I am down there. I know lie bait is key on them.

Anyone have some info on the area and do's and don'ts down there?

 

[maharg]

Re: Norris Lake

let me know how it is down there, we are going down at the end of august and I was wondering the same thing with the boat size.

 

[tcgobucks]

Re: Norris Lake

just spent 5 days at Watts Bar Lake, just south of Norris Lake. You'll have no problems with your boat. If it gets a little choppy on the main lake just stay in a cove. The cover our rental house was in was glass smooth all 5 days we were there, even when the lake got a little chop (though still nothing that your boat couldn't handle). Have fun....and save the $300/day for some cold ones...lol

 

[JasonB]

Re: Norris Lake

I haven't been to Norris yet, but have seen many others in the area. One of my boat sis a 16' tri-hull. Your boat will be fine.

 

[RAT Attack]

Re: Norris Lake

Here is a little more information on a thread I started a while back...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=405947

It is my favorite lake to go to. I live right next to ya in Monroe, Ohio, and the drive was pretty decent too. We liked it sooooo much, we are going back down there for Labor Day weekend. The lake can get somewhat choppy in some of the main areas on busy days, but I never had a problem staying away froim that & finding some nice smooth wakeboarding water. The water is so clear & clean, your going to love it. We stayed in the campground on the south side of the lake, but next trip we are going to just camp on one of the many islands. We didn't do any fishing, so I can't help you with that one.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

Thanks for the info Rat, we usually go to Eat Fork or Brookville, still waiting to try out Ceasers Creek.

We won't be on the main lake and probably won't go too far from the house. My buddy has two jet skis down there as well so plenty of toys for 5 guys.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

Well off to the floating hosue now. Checked the bearings last night and I am glad I did. Both were rusted out and there was water in there. So ran to Tractor Supply this morning and picked up two sets of beairngs and greased her up. So now just need the ran to hold off down there for us and we can have a good time.

I will have a report for ya guys when I get back.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

So my buddy towed the boat down behind his Hemi Ram and went about 80 mph most of the time which didn't work out so well for one of the tires. That sucked because I didn't have a spare, so trip to wal-mart and back to the highway was a fun start to the weekend. So get to the dock put the baot in at 2AM, idle over and commence drinking because of all the extra effort.

Its gorgeous down there, I would definitely recommend it to any one. Plenty of coves to find smooth water and about 25 marinas for anything you need.

Water was smooth and warm, 83-86 degrees when we were there. WE went to another marina for breakfast one day that was about 7 miles away. So dumped 10 gallons doing that. We will be eating breakfast at the house from now on.

We got out a 3 person sit in tube and towed that thing around beat my buddies up kind of bad. We could get about 5' to 6' of air under them when we hit a wake boat's wake.

It was a great place of any type of water sport and the people are pretty nice down there.

 

[RAT Attack]

Re: Norris Lake

Glad you liked it!
I can't wait for Labor Day weekend to get back down there. My mother, step=dad, brother & his fiance' that live in Tampa are also meeting us there. Can't Wait!

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

We will have to go down soon with a newer larger boat. It's a whole new world there. One thing that sucked was drive off 75 to the launch. It was a good 20 mins of twisting turns. I wish we could own something down there, it would be awesome to just bust out of work and ge tthere boat in the water ready to be played with.

 

[specialk]

Re: Norris Lake

Just got back from a week at Norris lake. We stayed at Copper Cove cabins. They are behind the Indian River Marina. Each cabin had it's own assigned dock for the boat. All I can say is everything all of you said about Norris is true. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is easily our new favorite place. So much lake to explore you can't cover it all in 1 week. The water is clear, the marinas are great, (Sequoyah marina has a great restaurant at reasonable prices), and the people are super friendly. We can't wait to get back down there next year.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

Yeah it is nice. If you don't mind SpecialK what did the cabin w/ dock run you for the week or weekend?

 

[ufm82]

Re: Norris Lake

Just got back from a weekend @ Norris as well. We rented a house near Springs Dock and loved it. We've been to Norris many times and the lake is always clean and fun. Busy but not so bad- the water can get choppy but if you've ever boated on Brookville Lake it's not even that bad.
The nicest thing about Norris is the boat traffic. If you go to Cumberland or even Laurel River, you get the big cruisers or the go-fasts everywhere. The cruisers make huge wakes and the go-fasts just make me nervous if I'm pulling a tube- 80 mph is just too fast around other traffic and there seem to be too many "over- compensators" on Cumberland if you know what I mean. Norris is more laid back and family oriented IMHO.
If you are looking for the best deals for Norris, go to VRBO and look for houses on the lake. We rented a 3br place with it's own 2 slip covered dock ( it could have handled 4 boats), a carpeted swim platform attached to the dock and everything needed for a family for the weekend and for the long weekend it was only $600. Split between my family and my parents that's only $300 apiece and that's a deal. 1 time launching and 1 time loading and the rest is boating all the time. I'll never go for a hotel/condo when I can get an entire house for that cost. Some are nicer and more expensive but this place was as nice or nicer than my own home and I was instantly comfortable.
Norris has clean water, tons of marinas and places to eat, lots to see and great water to play/tube/ski/kneeboard in. The only drawback is the width- tends to be narrow some places and when 5 boats are all coming at you at the same time it can be interesting to see who knows what to do and who doesn't. I had a few "non-compliant" boaters come directly at me with no apparent intent to steer away until the last second and that irks me to no end.
One final bonus to our house- it's in the back of the marina area and directly across the cove from the ramp. It was like having a ringside seat at the ramp all the time and it was oh so fun to watch the boats load and unload. Nothing like watching the wife try 5 times to load the pontoon boat while the husband slips and falls over and over on the ramp. LOL

UFM82

 

[specialk]

Re: Norris Lake

Yeah it is nice. If you don't mind SpecialK what did the cabin w/ dock run you for the week or weekend?

No problem. The cabins are 2 bedroom, 1 bath, full kitchen and living room with front porch. You can see them at norrislakerentalcabins.com. They are typically 200.00 a night or 1000.00 a week. When we called them, end of July, the calendar was completely open. They gave us a cabin for 125.00 a night which is the off season price. We stayed there from Tuesday - Saturday.

PS: They do allow pets. So, either that is a bonus cause you have a pet you want to take or you don't want to stay in a place that allows pets.

It was so nice getting up eating breakfast, walking down to the boat dock, getting in and going out on the lake. Kind of gets you spoiled when the boat is right there ready to go at all times.

 

[specialk]

Re: Norris Lake

ufm82,

That is one great deal for a 3br house, covered dock on a long holiday weekend. I will take the advice and check out VRBO for next time. We probably will try different places around the lake. Mainly to explore the entire lake. This week vacation I think we only covered about a 3rd of the lake, it is big.

 

[RAT Attack]

Re: Norris Lake

I was down there last weekend as well. We had an absolute blast. My parents drove up from Tampa, Fl. and stayed at a kick-azz condo at Twin Cove Marina ( just north of marker #4 ), and we camped about 3 miles away at a camp-site. It got pretty cold a couple of those nights, but all was well. We had docks thrown into their condo rental, so that part worked out well. We are already planning our trip to go down there next spring. It is our favorite lake for sure.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Norris Lake

Rat Attack, what was the camping like down there. I think that may be the best bet for price and we are relatively young, 24 so a cabin or cottage is extra and not needed yet.

We would like to have a place we can keep the boat on the water for the week/weekend and not have to have a cabin. So a camp site with dock access. Hopefully nothing too expensive.

The water down there is awesome and it is nice to just jump in the boat in the morning go for a spin.

 

[ufm82]

Re: Norris Lake

Watch the camping. Many of the marinas advertise camping but unless you like pitching a tent on a 45 degree hill it can be ugly. We found that Norris State Park near the dam had nice sites but you're way up from the water. The marina at the Dam is close by but you need to drive there. I've tried to camp there before and gave up after seeing most of the locations. If you have a camper with leveling jacks you may be OK but tent camping down there is tough. Like I said, the Park grounds were nice.

UFM82