ozarkstripers.com

Bull shoals has the potential to be a world class striper lake. I have cleaned hundreds if not thousands of stripers over the years and always check the contents. I have very rarely found anything besides shad, crawdads and trout in the stomach of the fish I have cleaned, and I have never found a bass, crappie or walleye. Not saying they dont chew on one from time to time but I have never found one even though the waters I fish are loaded with with them. Bring em

That's what they look like!! Been awhile. Nice eyes

Definitely been there done that. Usually jacking the truck up and putting wood and rocks under the tires. But they have recently graveled it. Couldn't believe it. Long time coming. As far as the shallow flats that is all I hit at night. I've never done well in deeper water at night. Most my biggest eyes have come two foot from bank. I toss the rogue as close too the bank as possible twitch then slowley bring it back twitching the whole way. I also throw my live bait with no weight and let it swim or wiggle right next to the bank, especially if there is an Eddie present.

Lot of that going on down there. We got roosted out Fri went to barker but no luck there. Tried to bring up ypur site but couldn't get it to come up.. Let me know when your going to be down there

There is a road sign there called barker hole road. Most the guys i have seen are using live bait, but in the past i have used rogues and purple swimming minnows at the head of the hole after dark. Trolling rogues on a long line probably the best way to find them this time of year...Just go slow no more that=n a mile an hour. If your in a boat put in at the bridge and head down stream. youll see the access and where people have been on the banks. There is also a bluff just below.

If your going for walleye try purple swimming minnows or clown, purple back, or shad colored stickbaits after dark. Should be getting good anytime now....

Fished pothole from 8 pm til midnight Fri had one bight and caught one keeper...Went to barker hole after that and fished for two hours and had no luck. Went to swan creek area and caught another keeper around 2;30 am. Left shortly after. Saw numerous others fishing and only seen two other walleyes caught, both of those were short. Decided to go to udhall sat afternoon and fished til 10;30 p and only caught one 9 inch walleye. Seen a couple other small walleye caught along with some very small whites. How did everyone else do????

most consistant on norfork and bullshoals has been storm swim bait. Trout colored on bullshoals and shad colored on Norfork. Use 4-6 inchers in spring and early summer and 8-10 inchers in late summer and early fall. But if you can catch shad it is the best all around. If you can not catch shad, large shiners work well. Either free line the live baits or balloon them. I know a lot of people also use long bombers and jerk baits after dark thrown towards main lake points after dark.

how undetectable does it need to be????? Is anyone going to be doing tissue samples??? Yes we actually send trees in for testing when a neighbor believes someone has murdered their tree. If there is no worries of tissue samples then the above methods will work, however, if enough fuss has been made that someone may suspect you killed their tree and make problems for you then you need to be a little sneakier about it. Depending on the species, and location you could infect it with a biological parasite easily found in the area ie, bagworms, scale, etc...or next time there is a severe thunderstorm in your neck of the woods break it just above the ground like it was wind damaged or drop a large limb on it, or if it is in a location where no one else is going to notice it for awhile like in the set back area take a piece of galvanized wire and twist it around the base of the trunk close to the ground. It may take over a year for the tree to die but the bark will grow over the tree hiding the wire and the wire will eventually choke the tree off. Also depending on the species most trees will die from being buried too deep, add 8 inches of top soil around the trunk and the bark will rot off. If the tree is a pine or other "dry" tree just over water it.

All my days run together but I do believe that was the night me and a buddy had the boat up there and fished with no luck then finally banked it and ended with a few short fish. Were you also there? DID YOU HAVE ANY LUCK?

They are a little late this year. Have not done very good either as of late. Mostly all small males. Shouldn't be long. Hopefully we get this heavy rain tomorrow and that may send it full swing. Keep our fingers crossed.

You got that right....ended up at udhall and still could not find much water. Saw some eyes in there looking back at my light but couldnt get a hit. Definetely with ya on the rain.

They are on demand only and are affected by tablerock or power demand. I have a link for generation on my website ozarkstripers.com that i check before i go down there but find that if tbr is generating then usually but not always powersite will generate.. And it usually does start about 3 hours later as mentioned above. Also quite commonly powersite is generating even though tbr is not. It is frustrating, I don't know how many times i got down there just as they turned it off. Wouldn't be bad if I lived closer. What I have noticed is that if it is real cold or if it is real hot then powersite usually gets on a pretty regular schedule to meet the power needs. Pray for enough rain to force the water over the dam its the only time you can rely on a current...

We catch a lot of blue cats this time of year on norfork right above the bridges useing shiners and fishing in 60 -80 foot of water with 11 foot crappie rods and 6 lb test. It is a blast. biggest was 42 pounds last year. Beauty of it you will usually get some stripers and hybrids while your at it. Light line is a must because of the clarity of the water and the long rods is the only way to get them in plus it is a lot of fun....Check my website and youll see some pics of the blues and the stripers from last year ozarkstripers.com

you can get up to the dam but if they are not generating or they turn it off when you are up there it gets real shallow. Was up there this weekend and got boat hung on a log in 1 1/2 foot of water. took awhile to get it off. Over all water was very shallow and we did not locate any fish on the graph. They did turn on the water after dark and we parked the boat and bank fished some eddies and caught some short eyes. water temp was 47 while they were generating channel was between 5 and 7 feet deep

remember the small males are usually the easiest to catch but if after fishing an area really good and that is all your catching then pack up and head down about a mile to look for the bigger females.. repeat til you find them. They are very hungry right now and if you find them you will catch them.

One of my favorite tactics when they are running water is to take some large minnows (slicks work best if you can trap them) and go hunt the eddies. Size of eddie doesnt matter but pull up from downstream side and toss the minnow into the eddie with nothing but a hook or a small split shot. Stay as far away from the eddie as you can cast. treat it as you would fishing a good top water bight. Let the minnow swim freely as long as he stays in the eddie. Works great. If it happens to be after a big rain then I will also try the same with a big nightcrawler. Have had some awesome trips doing this and you never know what you have til its in the boat.....

water is good enough to put in at shadow park but was real shallow up to the dam when they were not generating. I have shared the same results as sam mentioned above but i usually fish after dark and throw or slow troll rogues. The walleye should be on the move this time of year and slow trolling rogues is the best way to find them if you are patient enough the bite will come. I would put in at the bridge then go down stream for a mile till you find deeper water (the deepest we found up to the darn was 9 feet and that was right at the dam when they were not generating). Once you do then begin trolling the rogues on a long line behind the boat at the edge of the deeper water. Weave back and forth from shallower to deeper until you find the fish. once you hook up then go back to the place and cast the rogues towards the bank and work real slow. This time of year we see some good schools and usually pick up another fish or two from the same area. If you dont or they quit hitting in that area head back down stream trolling until you find another group.. patient is the key. I usually troll this time of year the same speed as the current then speed up a little as the water warms up. Another tip...use 20 pound test fire line. It is thin enough not to bother fish but will hold up to the snags you will get plus it will handle the big eyes. Do not ignore any eddies you find..... hit them hard....Good luck let us know how you do.

fished forseyth twice this week. Caught two small males last night..caught three small males and one keeper three nights ago not much going on yet. water temp was 47.5 last night. Talked to a guy at ramp and he had caught white bass down towards sandflats...

Depends on the bight... All my keepers this year have been taken on super rogues, either the purple back or clown, but that is what I throw most often. I have seen a few others this past week using chubs and slicks and catching some very nice walleyes. They are more patient than I am. Seems they set up in an area and wait for the walleye to come to them. This time of the year I like moving around more cause there are not as many walleye up as there will be in the next few weeks.

It has been off and on but we have been catching walleye. Would really help if we could get some rain. I have taken five keepers this week from 19 inches to 24 inches. Been fishing from dark till 1 am. Been told the bight has been better in the am till dawn. Heres a photo of last nights catch. I caught three and missed a couple and my buddy caught two all between two and four pounds. I fish almost exclusively for walleyes from now till the stripers come on. These were from swanny up to the dam

Thanks for the all advise.....Did manage to catch a couple last night in-between walleye bights.one 24 incher, beautiful fish... One on rogue and one on inline spinner. Tried the night crawlers and kept coming back with half a crawler...will be using some stingers tonight. Did manage to find a few eyes overall very good night on the water.

Also, while feeding, will the trout be located along the current breaks and eddies or should i look for them in the faster water right below the tailrace? Any help would be appreciated

Most of the places i fish for walleyes have good populations of browns. I have caught several on accident while walleye fishing using rogues, swimbaits and jigs. I would like to start intentionally fishing for browns while the walleye action is slow but I do not know much about actually fishing for them. If I could have a tray full of brown trout baits what would ya'all recommend... I fish mainly tailraces or small clear water rivers and i assume the same set up I have for walleye (9 foot med/lt spinning with light line) would work for big browns as well but what do i need to tie on?