Just wondering if anyone fishes or has fished Lake Bull Shoals and has any hints or suggestions.
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Just wondering if anyone fishes or has fished Lake Bull Shoals and has any hints or suggestions.
Hey flyflinger, for the past couple of years at least, there hasn't been much talk of Bull Shoals. I'm not sure why we don't have many AR members that fish up north.
Be sure to check out the fishing report every Wednesday, published by the AGFC. The reports may not be very accurate, but at least they can give you a starting point.... http://www.agfc.com/fishing/fishing-reports.aspx
I have heard a few reports of nice strings of crappie out of Bull Shoals. But, maybe they are keeping quiet to keep it to themselves. Have to snoop a little, Arkansas Sportsman says the crappie fishing on the Bull is good, and I knnow they are fine to eat.
We have fished Bull Shoals Lake several times but it was a while back. We fished in the Theodosia area one time and did not do well at all. The week was very cold and it was early March. We did fish below the Dam (Power Site)a couple of times and did very well drifting with white and yellow maribou jigs for white bass. Lots of snags but lots of fish. Don't know if that has changed, but I know a lot of walleye are caught.
Another year we stayed at Edgewater Resort on Bull Shoals. It is kinda remote in that you have to drive a ways from the town of Bull Shoals or Lakeview. That was another cold March and rainbow trout are stocked in late winter there. My 8 or 9 year old son and I caught over 40 trout that probably averaged over 2 pounds using blue and silver little cleos. Lots of fun as each fish would make several jumps and really fought hard on light tackle in the cold water.
We did have a bad experience there. My son and I went across the lake from the resort one early morning (about 3 miles or so) to fish a cove. We were protected from the wind and the wind came up and later heard that it was a sustained wind of 25 mph and gusts up to 45 mph. Not fun in a 14 foot rental boat with a small motor. Don't remember if it was a 10 or 15 horse motor, but it took us a long time to get back to the resort and I had my son lay down flat on the bottom of the boat. We took on a lot of water! Was never so glad to get back to shore!--except maybe on Lake Michigan or Lake Erie for a dfferent (queasy) reason!
We spent some time fishing for crappie on that trip and only caught 3 or 4 the whole week as we had cold front after cold front move in. The few we caught were very nice---1 1/2 to 2 pounds. From what I understand, walleyes have really taken off at Bull Shoals. Great structure and water for them and they do have some national walleye tournaments there! If I were to fish Bull Shoals walleye would be what I would fish for.
Good luck if you decide to go there!
Been there done that. Had the same harrowing experience on Reelfoot one year. Likely bailed out 20 gallons of water before making land fall on the other side. The wind comes up there fast and it lasts and lasts. I am going to try to talk to some others about crappie on the Bull, because I am sure they are there. May have to sink some condo's of my own to get a reliable place to fish. Not too sure how the COE would take to putting condo's in the lake, but they put in Christmas trees all the time. I also have to get me a GPS so I can do some marking, the dang crayon on the side of the boat keeps washng off, and when it does stay on, I always get a different boat.