Missouri Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Bull Shoals 07/05/06:

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/

We just completed our first week of summer and it started out with a cool front pushing through, which dropped the hot 90’s into the 80’s and the night time temperatures dropped into the 60’s, which was real nice. By mid-week we were back into the upper 90’s and hot again. Lake temperature is up to 82 to 84 degrees and the bite on the lake has slowed down some. This week’s thermocline still starts at 26 feet but it has grown to 35 feet making the thermocline 9 feet wide. Most of the shad and game fish are staging in this zone. Lake level dropped again this week with the lack of rain. We are now at 652.70, 1 1/2 feet below normal pool and we are coming into the two heavy generation months. Hopefully we will get some summer rain.

Crappie are turning into night feeders. Although you can catch some in the mornings the night bite under floating lights is the most productive. Crappie minnows and crappie nibblets are the best baits along with bright colored crappie tubes or grubs.

Largemouth bass normally like warmer water except for here on Bull Shoals Lake . When the lake water reaches the mid-80’s the largemouth start to disappear into deeper water, ledges and tree tops or brush piles. So it is time to switch over to Texas rigged worms, Caroline rigs and football jigs and don’t overlook dropping a spoon. Work the thermocline or secondary points and main lake points throughout the summer months. Largemouth also school up during the hot part of the summer so if you catch one normally there are more in the same area.

Smallmouth bass remain scattered, one here, one there is the norm. Fish pea rock banks, the end of bluffs, flats and chunk rock drop offs throughout the summer with Mojo rigs, grubs, football jigs and drop shots. Best colors are watermelon, watermelon/purple and cinnamon/purple in plastics and crawdad green or peanut butter and jelly color in jigs. Kentuckys are still under schools of shad but they are starting to become active striking drop shot 4” worms and spoons in 30 to 36 feet of water, sometimes 30 to 36 feet of water over 50 to 60 feet of water. Now that they are suspended the Kentuckys are not holding in one area very long so if you find a school today they might not be there tomorrow.

Walleye were active this last week but for some reason they changed their feeding time table to the middle of the day. The best bite has been from 10 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. They are definitely in the thermocline as most of the walleye have come from 30 feet of water or 30 feet down over deeper water. Long liners are having their best success with Glass Shad, Reef Runners, and Hot’N Tots pulled on lead core line off flats or over open water. The crawler and leech harness anglers are pulling bottom bouncers targeting walleye that are around points or off pea rock banks in 28 to 34 feet of water. Best blade colors have been gold, red and Turquoise blue.

NIGHT TIME: The bite isn’t as aggressive as it should be and you really have to hunt for the active bass but sometime after dark they will start feeding. Main lake points, brush piles and bluff ends continue to be night time holding areas. Best baits and colors are 8 to 10 inch worms (red/gold flake, junebug and black neon), jig and pigs (black/blue, brown/purple, and brown/orange) and tubes (junebug, green/red and brown/orange)

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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