Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Bull Shoals 05/01/06:

BULL SHOALS LAKE REPORT,northern sector. Submitted as a community service by SPRING CREEK ENTERPRISES. Don and Judy Schnable 417 273 4859 schnabs@webound.com

SPRING CREEK ENTERPRISES http://www.maout.com/springcreek is sponsored by HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS Mountain Home Arkansas http://www.hiexpress.com , SCHOCKEYS BOAT and MOTOR http://www.bullshoals.com/schockey/

April ended with a strange weather pattern. The week started off with a storm that dropped 5.2 inches of rain in two hours. Then a cold front followed with daytime temperatures in the 50’s and lows at night into the upper 30’s to lower 40’s. The end of the week saw temperatures in the 60’s with rain and high winds over the weekend. Lake level has come up to 649.53, which puts us about 4 ½ feet below normal pool.

The big change for the week is the lake clarity. The hard rain mixed the pollen in the lake and now the visibility is at 7 feet, which is quite a change from 16 feet. You can now put away the 4 pound line and fish with 6, 8 or 10 pound. The lake temperature dropped a few degrees, which will hold up spawning. Main lake is at 64 degrees and the creeks are at 65 to 66 degrees surface temperature.

White Bass may not spawn if the weather patterns don’t settle down. They are still in the back of the creeks and pockets and we will check them over the next week. Crappie are in spawn and post spawn. They are in 1 to 4 feet of water along the banks and in the back of the pockets. Best baits are Swimming Minnows and Crappie tubes.

Largemouth bass have spawned out up above Tucker Hollow and the upper end of the Theodosia arm but throughout the rest of the lake they are still in pre-spawn with a few starting to bed up. A number of baits and techniques are working at this time. Trick worm fished “wacky” style, Flukes, Spider jigs, tubes and Mojo rigs with Sinko’s, centipedes, brush hogs or YUM Wooly Hawgtail. Smallmouth bass are all mixed up – some are spawned out, some are on beds and some are still in pre-spawn. Key on banks that have ledges to find the nicer smallies.

Best baits have been tubes, Spider jigs and Mojo rigged Sinko’s, brush hogs, finesse worms and centipedes. Another technique that is triggering some nice smallies is the “Flirt” worm by Reaction Innovations, fished on a shaker head bounced along the bottom. Kentucky bass should be spawned out and we thought they were, but there were a number of Kentuckys caught this weekend in the Tyson Bass Tournament that were still full of eggs, so I guess they are not done. Chunk rock points, watersheds and the inside of the channel swings are the areas to check for spawn or post spawn Kentuckys . Best baits are tubes, Spider jigs, Sinko’s and Mojo rigged Zoom Fish Doctors.

Walleye are finally coming around. The day bite is around points and along chunk rock banks with Shad Raps (gold in color), Glass Shad (white in color), Wiggle Warts (shad color or V37) and nightcrawlers on a split shot rig. There is some crawler harness action with bottom bouncers in 25 to 27 feet of water along pea rock banks and points. This bite is just picking up and gold blades or chartreuse/orange blades are working the best. The night bite is still okay around points. Best baits continue to be Shad Raps, Glass Shad, X-raps and suspending rogues.

Remember to keep only what you can eat and release the rest for another day. Rick Culver of Wilderness Trail does the research for this report and the writing of this report. For more information call Rick or Sue Culver at Wilderness Trail at 870-445-2703, e-mail us at wtrail@bullshoals.net or check out our web site at www.wildernesstrail.com

For all other outdoor data ,including Tournament standings and updates log on to the finest Web magazines found anywhere. Don and Judy Schnable 417 273 4859 schnabs@webound.com

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