Arkansas Lakes Fishing Report

Lake - Bull Shoals 07/25/06

On Bull Shoals Crappie action inside brush piles at 15’ to 20’ . Best baits are live minnows, Garland Swimming Minnows, or tube baits.

Largemouth are hitting jigs, tube baits, or plastic worms fished shallow in creeks, coves, around docks, and near brush piles.

Smallmouth can be found on points in 20’ to 40’ of water, and are hitting Spider Jigs, tube baits, or trick worms.

Kentucky Bass are still under Shad schools off deeper points and coves. Spoons or drop shot rigs are working for them.

Walleye action has been best in the morning in 30’ to 40’ of water near points and pea rock banks. Trollers are scoring using lead core line with Wally Divers, Hot-N-Tots, or Reef Runners. Crawler or Leech rigs on bottom bouncers are working well also.

Report #2

Lake - Bull Shoals 07/25/06

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/

Water temperature has reached a high for the year with temperatures ranging from the low 80's on the main lake to 85+ degrees in the shallows. Water clarity varies from less than five feet in the Theodosia area to visibility
of ten feet around Pontiac.

Crappie have been the most active this past week. There's action at night using minnows or shad under lights along timbered bluff banks and main lake points or early in the morning drift jigs tipped with minnows or cast swimming minnows for crappie suspended 12-22ft. off gravel flats and slow tapering points. There's still a few crappie in the backs of the creeks but With the water temp. rising they are moving out to the mouth of the creek and suspending.

Largemouth bass for some reason are following the white bass. They are schooled together 38-45ft. deep around shad. Find the shad in 50-80ft. of water and jig spoons or blade baits around these fish. Spotted bass are suspended a little shallower in the 15-25ft. zone. Troll the end of long points with crankbaits that dive 12-16ft. deep. This will also catch a few nice crappie.

Catfish are done spawning and feeding at night. Put out a few jugs baited with bluegill or set a trotline and bait it with crawfish, hotdogs, or shiners. Set your trotline in the 20-30ft. zone in deep coves and put your jugs along the channel in the Theodosia area.

Report compiled by Bryan Bochert,guide, and the gang at Theodosia Marina 417 273 4444

Report #3

July 24, 2006

Another week of dog days has come and gone with the heat index in the 100’s and no wind. We had a cool front blow through at the end of the week, which brought some nice relief from the heat with temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s.

Lake temperature is like bath water, up to 87.6 degrees. The few pop up storms that we have had have kept the lake level up at 653.04, about 1 1/4 feet below normal pool, which is great for the amount of generation that we have seen this week. The thermocline moved up this week. It now starts at 28 feet and runs to 35 feet.

The game fish have started to move into the lower part of the thermocline, so spend your fishing time in the 30 to 40 foot range. Crappie have become active in the mornings around brush piles. They are suspended between 15 to 18 feet down inside the brush, so fish vertically with crappie minnows, tubes and Bobby Garland Swimming Minnows for best results.

Largemouth bass adapt to the warm water faster than the Smallmouth and Kentuckys , therefore fishing shallower water for largemouth can produce some nice fish. Ledges, blow downs, brush piles and docks that are located in the back of the creeks and pockets are good areas to check during the heat of the summer.

Texas rigged worms (red shad and watermelon red), jigs (green pumpkin and peanut butter and jelly) and tubes (appleseed and watermelon purple) are your best baits and colors at this time. Smallmouth bass are playing hide and seek, one day you can find them up on rock points feeding on crawdad and the next day they are out over 40 feet of water feeding on shad.

When the smallies are in the crawdad mood fish Spider Jigs, tubes or Zoom Trick worms on a Mojo rig around main lake and second pea rock and chunk rock points from dawn until 10 a.m. If the smallies are not up feeding on crawdads, move out to 40 feet of water and cast in toward the bank or points with shaker head and finesse or shaker worms.Also try a drop shot rig with 4” do nothing worm.

Kentucky bass have not changed from last week. They are still in 40 to 55 feet of water foraging on shad. Graphing is still very important in finding schools of shad with Kentuckys under them. Check bluff ends, deep water points, over the tops of the flooded timber and in the middle of main lake cuts and coves. Best baits continue to be spoons or drop shot rigs.

Walleye, this week, have been on a small feed in the mornings in the 30 foot range. Crawler harnesses and leech harnesses on bottom bouncers have been catching a few around points and out in front of pea rock banks. Long liners are triggering a few on Reef Runners and Bandit Walleye baits.

Trollers using lead core are catching some nice quality walleye on Hot’N Tots, Deep Little Ripper Reef Runners and Wally Divers. With the extreme heat we should see the walleye move below the thermocline and set up on the deep flats. When this happens spoons will be the key lure for the rest of the summer.

NIGHT TIME: Some top water is present before sundown but it is one of those “in the right place at the right time” things. Texas rigged 8 to 10” worms along the bluffs or in the brush piles are working well along with pig and jigs or tubes. The best bite starts around 10 p.m. and goes until about 2 a.m.

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 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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