Arkansas Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Bull Shoals 05/15/06

Dam area to Lead Hill: Shaky heads and mojo rigs continue to be your best bet, look for most of the fish to be on main lake and secondary points from 15’ – 25’ deep, work the bait as slow as possible and maintain bottom contact through out the retrieve. The top water bite continues to be amazing; spooks, sammys and red-fins are still producing big fish during low light hours and on cloudy days.

Lead Hill to Power site: Your best bet is still an Eakins jig in Missouri craw, look for the fish to be on rock and wood cover near channel swing and ledge rock banks in both major creek arms and on the main lake. A few fish are being taken on shallow crank baits as well, look for laydowns and other cover toward the backs of creeks to be your best bet, if there are shad in the creek the bite is much better.

Report #2

Fishing report for BULL SHOALS LAKE home of the record Largemouth Bass.
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/

Rain, rain, rain. This last week we had over 6 inches of rain and cool temperatures in the upper 60’s. The lake level came up almost 4 feet and is still rising and the lake level as of Sunday night is 651.57, only 2 ¾ feet below normal pool. Lake temperature on the other hand dropped 4 degrees and is now at 65.4 throughout most of the lake. There is some warmer water in the back of a few creeks but only a degree or two. With the rains the lake has also stained up and visibility is now at 6 feet. The changes have affected the game fish some.

The bass (Largemouth, Smallmouth and Kentuckys ) are still trying to finish their spawn, which they will not do as long as the lake continues to rise and the lake temperature is unstable. Walleye on the other hand do not mind the lake rising because that means more food for them. Crappie don’t care either way, as the lake rises they just go back into the coves and cuts further and they are spawning at this time. Best baits for crappie at this time are crappie tubes, Swimming Minnows and crappie grubs.

Largemouth bass are in the same pattern as last week, a few in post spawn and a few that are spawning but the rest are still in pre-spawn. The bite can be spotty because pre-spawn largemouth are cruising instead of holding in ambush areas. Reaction baits are your best bet at this time. Zara Spooks, Chug Bugs, trick worms fished wacky style or spinnerbaits. Slow moving baits will also work such as Flukes, Spider Jigs, tubes and Carolina rigged brush hogs or lizards. Smallmouth bass are on banks that have ledges and some are spawning with more to go on beds this week.

Some top water is present in the mornings on Zara Spooks, Lucky Craft Sammy’s and Spit’N Images. Mojo or split shot rigs are probably the best technique at this time. Fish 3 foot leaders on your rigs with centipedes, lizards, finesse worms or baby brush hogs. Color is very important; green pumpkin or watermelon candy on cloudy days and watermelon purple, watermelon or cinnamon purple on sunny days. Kentucky bass are also close to spawn spending time around chunk rock points and banks. Post spawners are out in deeper water under shad. Best baits are Pop R’s or Zara Spook Jrs on the surface and Mojo rigged centipedes, finesse worms and Fish Doctors along the banks. The Kentuckys that are out with the shad can be caught on grubs or a drop shot with a 4” finesse worm.

Walleye are feeding at night around points in the creeks and on the main lake. Suspending Rogues, X-raps and Shad Raps are working well. The day bite is starting to pick up over feeding flats and along “do nothing” banks. Crawler harnesses with Smile blades or regular blades in chartreuse, orange or gold colors have been catching some nice walleye in 18 to 25 feet of water. Shad raps, Glass Shad and Max heads with Munchie Grubs are working casting the points and banks and watersheds in the creeks. So far long liners have been catching a few on Deep Little Rippers and Glass Shad.

For stories and info in the our Ozark area and data on recreational activities in the midwest log on to one of the nations largest and most complete Internet magazines Don and Judy Schnable 417 273 4859 schnabs@webound.com

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