Walleye Jenkins

Any spoon will work for deep walleye. I have used Bink spoons with success. Don't care for the cheap advertisement though.

Save your money from all of the name brand expensive layers. For your base layer get on ebay and get some Polypros military issue. Used them for years for hunting and fishing and in the military. Put these on first then any other clothing. Wash on delicate and dry on low heat or you will ruin them. They are a fraction of the price and no short supply of them. The prices for some of these brands mentioned is ridiculous. Stay warm!

I think there is two sides. Usually they ask who wants to work the holidays and or split shifts to accommodate the holiday. Also not everybody has family or chooses to eat with them for whatever reason. Or maybe they want to pay off a school loan or work to buy presents for Christmas. Many reasons. I don't think veterans should have to work on veterans day while state employees have it off. This bothers me 10x more than people working a few hours on thanksgiving.

From my experience most of the resort owners do not give accurate fishing advice. Two of the resorts that I use to stay at the owners didn't even fish. What I can tell you I've been to Bull Shoals for the last 10 years and some of my best days were with high water. When the water comes up many fish hang out inside of the buck brush. You will get snags if not careful. Unless the water is way murky you should be fine. Its a misconception down there about high water. I've caught some nice flatheads trolling for walleye along the buck brush.

All fish have have a certain level of mercury. Some fish have more. The larger the fish the more contaminates. Page 42 in MDC list the guidelines. Almost every state puts out the same guidelines for women and children. To think the waters in Table Rock are polluted to the extent you cant eat the bass is ridiculous. The trout out of Taneycomo are drinking the same water. If you want to see some polluted waters that you shouldn't eat fish go to the Mississippi river or Ohio river. And plenty of people continue to eat catfish and walleye from these waters. The guys eating the large catfish have the best possible chance of contaminants. Flathead can live a long time. Some fish like your white bass have a relatively short life span. I'm a walleye guy so I don't prefer to see a stringer full of 6 pound walleye hanging. I have no problem with a stringer of 18 inch eyes. I get the impression if someone has a stringer and likes to eat fish that's a bad thing. But guys slamming fish in the boat and throwing hooks into their jaw is a great thing.

I think your gonna have that more so at some of these amateur tournaments. Never have a problem with any fisherman on Bull Shoals. If anything met more nice guys pointing me in the right direction if the fish are not biting than anything. Bull Shoals is a very challenging lake but I've managed pretty good results when I arrive there. A great multi species lake. Table rock is another story. Nightmare on that lake in the summer.

The white bass on Bull Shoals are some of the largest around. The life span of a white bass is not that long compared to most fish. But it would be nice to know the actual weight and measurement just for documentation. Nice fish.

They are just opinions. But I have influenced other fisherman in my boat in a positive way. At the end of the day how you feel when you have a nice stringer full of eaters and you released a few is priceless to me. I'm pretty sure most guides will practice this also. I've seen the same thing in the hunting world. Illinois deer populations has diminished dramatically. Your allowed two bucks and as many does as you like. Problem is some guys are slaughtering the population in their area. Then when ts to late they wonder why the population dwindled. Usually there is a lag time from when the DNR catches this and when the regulations are changed, in the mean time your favorite hunting grounds are washed up. At one time Lake of the woods almost had no walleye from over fishing. I know these are extreme examples but it does happen. I apologize for the rant. Good luck out there.

Most die hard walleye guys do not keep the large walleyes. A would have to disagree with the 15-20 inch walleye being the best spawners. Or maybe that's a Bull Shoals thing. On the Mississippi river the best spawners are above the 20 inch mark. The slot limit is 15-20 inches. The attitude of keeping everything you catch or filleting a 10 pound walleye is very unimpressive to me, meaning not impressed. Yes you can do it and are allowed but not impressed with a mans ego. Intelligent fisherman know the hazards of eating larger fish compared to the smaller ones, yes the larger the fish the more mercury. So go ahead and eat as many big fish as you like. As far as why the Bass guys don't like walleye not sure why. Walleye fishing has always been more technical for me as they are creatures of the night for the most part. Bass fishing not nearly the challenge even know still plenty of fun.

Nice fish! Hopefully the large ones are being released. You wont find a better eating fish in the lake. Once they get above a certain size usually the quality of taste tapers off as with most fish. The large ones are far more valuable to the fisheries than the frying pan.

Been fishing for walleye for years in this fashion. If you fish in rivers for walleye this is one of the most productive ways to troll. A three way rig is even better, many guys will run a heavy jig on the bottom for the weight and floating rapala for the leader. Its usually a three to one ratio. The dropper being a foot and the leader being three feet. Upper Bull acts like a river more than a lake. The floating rapala or any floating stick bait will usually eliminate most snags. In a river environment with some current the walleye will almost always be hugging the bottom. Downstream they tend to suspend more but not always. Jig bodies are easy to change out. Nice fish!

Was down there two weeks ago. A few things we noted were all the bass had crawfish in there stomach. Most of the largemouth and smallmouth that were keepers were on a Model A bombers. We did catch a few on wiggle warts also. We caught more smallmouth than anything but many were at the 14 inch size. We did catch plenty of white bass also. While fishing for white bass we did catch a few walleye and spotted bass. Black was the most productive color for the crankbaits and jigs. A couple bass also came on the flukes. As far as depths go the fish are all over the place. Caught some on bluff drop offs, some on smaller chunk rocks and the most on the flats. Ned rig didn't produce anything for me nor did the alabama rig. The water temp was 57 at the time. The best day was on Saturday when it rained all day.

Some say Bull Shoals is a difficult lake to fish. Which I use to agree. Now that I've fished it for several years it gets better and better for me. There's no substitute for time on the lake. I don't usually pay to much attention to the fishing reports because I document when I catch the fish and how. The main thing is water temp and forage and cold fronts. I've had a few friends that have been totally skunked on the Bull. Fish will have patterns and every lake is a tad different. I rarely go more than a mile or two from the launch. I see guys burning gas up all of the time when there are plenty of fish just a short distance. Makes me laugh a little. Do you really think the walleye are only in a certain part of the lake because one guy caught some there?