Mike Worley

Walleye fishing this past week has been pretty good on most days and a little tougher on some. The walleyes are moving deeper out to about 25' - 30'. There are still some nice size walleyes suspended about 15'-20' down over this same depth range so it's a good idea to have some baits running shallow. We have been mostly fishing spinner rigs on bottom bouncers near main lake points and humps. Some days the jigging spoon bite is good on brush piles and drop offs all day fishing the points & drop offs early in the morning and late afternoon with the brush piles producing during the middle of the day. Bottom bouncers with spinners baited with half on a night crawler about 26'-30' is catching most of the walleyes.

Walleye fishing has been really good the past week. I have fished from Diamond City to Noe Creek and found plenty of walleyes biting of several baits & lures. We caught them on bottom bouncers with crawler rigs in 15'-28' with many of the better fish being suspended in 25'-50'fow. We have been catching them on jigging spoons in 20'-30'fow with brush piles and drop offs being the best bite. On cloudy cooler days trolling Shad Raps & Flicker Shads are also working well.

I am truly sorry that my comments offended. I have deleted my post after reading comments that were generated by it on the forum. You are right, I should lighten up and not say things that might be taken the wrong way. I would never steal anything from anyone. But I do pick up litter on the lakes when I see it floating like plastic bags & cans. I should have put more time in to thinking about what I wanted to say and I do retract my comments.

Dear Fins & feathers, I'm sorry you took offense at my post.. I did not say I'm aganist using marker bouys to map out a fishing spot, I'm sure that you would be with your bouys while doing this. I did not say anything about jug fishing, I would not pick up a jug or a bouy my comment was a retortical statement about leaving marker bouys spread out at different spots to reserve them for a later time. After rereading my post and considering your comments I have edited my post to not offend anyone with my post.

On the Table Rock forum there is a thread about how close is too close which morfted into a discussion about the use of marker bouys that I think needs to be noted on all the area lakes since we are nearing Memorial Day and the offical start of the tourist season. After reading the comments I posted this response that I think are views of many of the anglers who use the area lakes. I would like to comment on the use of marker bouys for anything other than fishing stucture close to your boat while you are fishing it. Placing several bouys out on different spots to "reserve" the location IMHO shows a lack of respect for other anglers. As for the law asking about the marker bouy and doing a dounut, how far away were you from the bouy? if you were more than 50 yards from the bouy thats too far away unless you are landing a fish.. I also realize that not everybody has GPS but if you are trolling DON'T put out a marker bouy to mark the end of a point. If you are a troller buy the equipment to do the job (GPS) because you are going to be way too far away from the bouy to be considerate to other anglers.

I've fished that area three times in the past week. The bass are biting on crankbaits & spoons and it looked like top water baits in the morning. We only fished for bass on 1 day and walleyes on 2 days. All 3 days resulted in good catches of both. Most of both species were in shallow water with the bass biting well on crankbaits fished in about the 10'-20' range casting to points and trolling out in 50'-70' FOW. Walleyes, bluegills, catfish, smb & white bass were biting crawler rigs fished on bottom bouncers. Jigging spoons were catching a mixed bag on points in 25'-35' FOW.

To feed the walleyes & stripers. I have caught a lot of both species on trout colored and trout shaped stick baits mostly in the fall & winter months when the water temps are below 60 degrees. Years ago AGFC stocked fingerling (4"-6") rainbow trout by the thousands in the lake but stopped doing that after a creel censusses & tagging program failed to show that the trout were being caught by many anglers. I guess the walleyes didn't know where to send the tags.

This year the water level is right about normal @ 654 +/-. The walleye & bass fishing has been good on most days & nights. Walleye are being caught on bottom bouncer & crawler rigs in about 10'-30'. Trolling or casting crank baits in this same depth range is also working. there is also a deep water trolling bite out in 100' of water trolling down 30'-50' with leadcore. Jigging spoons are also working in 20'-40' under schools of shad and on drop offs.

Lake level is 653.5 water temp is 74 degrees. Bass & walleye are biting on crank baits cast along rocky points in the early morning & evening as well as at night. The thermocline has set up at about 18' and walleyes are biting around that depth on bottom bouncer crawler rigs during the day. Bass are also biting on jigs & soft plastics like tube baits and lizards in 5'-15'. Night fishing is very good on crankbaits and jigs for both bass & walleyes. There is also a deep water walleye bite on crank baits in the 30'-40' range out in 100' foot of water. Jigging spoons are catching a good mixed bag of fish on points in 25'-35' of water..........................Mike Worley(www.bullshoalsfishing.com)

The lake has been stable now @ 654'+ for several days with generation at the dam cut back to about 5,000 cfs. Fishing has improved and walleyes are biting on several types of baits and lures. Bottom bouncers with half of a night crawler fished on a slow death spinner rig has been catching a mixed bag of fish. Split shotting a whole crawler on points & bluff ends is working well also. Soft pastics such as grubs, lizards & centipedes are catching bass in the back of coves & creek arms. Suspending stickbaits like Rogues & Lucky craft are working well in the early morning and late afternoon......................Mike Worley (www.bullshoalsfishing.com)

The C.O,E. has started cutting back some on the generation at BS dam so things should be getting back to normal soon. I've talked to several friends who have catching walleyes and other fish up the lake as far as Tucker Hollow. The water is pretty dirty in some areas and clearing in others. The areas that are clearing have been producing some nice fish on B/B crawler rigs as well as on carolina rigged plastics. If you have 18" of visibilty you are probally in the right area, Most of the fish seem to be fairly shallow <20'.

Lake level is 656 (2 foot above power pool) and dropping fast with 8 units running 24/7 at the dam. Water temp is mid 60's. The water is muddy on the upper end of the lake but much clearer from point 11 to the dam. The bite has picked up in the clearer water with walleyes, bass, catfish & large bluegills biting on nightcrawlers fished in 10'-20' on bottom bouncers or split shot rigs durring the daylight hours. Stickbaits are catching walleyes & bass in the evenings and at night. White bass are schooling and blowing up in the larger bays and creek arms mostly in the evenings. Bass can be caught on top water baits in the morning and on carolina rigged lizzards & other soft plastics in bedding areas.

I think that a small percemtage of the walleyes have spawned but most are still in the prespawn. Most of the females are still full of eggs that are not ripe yet. The whites are starting to show up in numbers as well as the crappies.

Scott, give me a call when you get here. I've been hearing reports of the whites starting to bite. The water temp was about 58 yesterday but we were after walleyes & bass so we didn't go to far back into the creeks.

Walleyes & bass are still biting well in <20 Fow. I have stayed pretty busy all winter and the walleyes haven't really shut down or moved deep. Best bait has still been the "A-Rig" with 3"-4" boot tail type swim baits. The water temps never really dropped much this winter with about mid to upper 40's being as low as it got from Diamond City to Oakland. I had a trip last Friday with a couple of guys pre fishing for a big bass tourney later in March, they didn't want to fish for walleyes but we still managed to catch 3 good keeper walleyes along with 8 or 10 keeper bass (all fish were released) with the best walleye going around 5 pounds. If any of you spoon & jig fishermen get over to Mountain Home a couple of the tackle shops are selling my handmade jigs & jigging spoons, you can find them at Rock Springs tackle & Gerry's Qwik Stop. Some day soon I will have them for sale on my website also.

I'm looking for a used outboard motor to put on a Jon boat. I'm not real picky about the make & model but it needs to be in good condition. 870-321-3705.

I'm interested, call me 870-321-3705

I've been fishing the point 16-20 area mostly and Mountain Creek the last couple of weeks before that the Diamond City area and we have seeing small shad surfacing and floating in all those areas. It's not a big shad kill just a few here and there and the birds are picking most of the floaters up. As of Tuesday we were still seeing them and some coves had a couple of dozen seagulls working on them.

We have been catching some pretty decent fish on jigs lately. We have been casting 3/16 - 5/16 jigs and working them real slow in about 10'-20' fow. White jigheads or bucktails tipped with button or twister tailed 3" swimbaits or grubs seem to work pretty well and hooking a small shad on the hook is another option that will catch fish. The shad kill has been going on here on Bull Shoals for a week or so and if you pick up a few of the small dying shad to tip the jig & trailer you might catch just about anything. If you find lots of shad in the area you are fishing pick some up but try to move to a cove or creek arm that doesn't have many floating shad. I think that jigs are the best option when you mark fish are on or very near the bottom and not real active. A small jigging spoon will also work if you cast it and work it real slowly along the bottom just like a jig. The fish are picking up small dying shad and will bite a dead sticked jig or spoon. Using small diamiter braid like 6/1 will really help detect when a fish picks up the jig or spoon as the bite can be very light and hard to feel.

Bill Struthers & I fished in the point 11- point 17 area Thursday afternoon and found the walleyes biting in 10'-15' fow. We fished from about noon till sunset and caught 5 keeper walleyes & 1 keeper smallmouth bass on white swimbaits. The walleyes were nice size with a couple of them in the 24"-25" range which we released. Most were caught on the "A" rig but one of the big girls came on a jig dragged across the bottom. Water temp in the areas we fished was 47-49 degrees. We found the fish to be holding on gravel points that have some chunk rock & ledges.

On the run chargers are a great addition to any boat, Just keep in mind that if you have a Minn Kota trolling motor on the boat that has a US2 transducer in it anything other than a Minn Kota on the run charger will fry the US2.

Water temperature is still holding at 47-50 degrees and bass & walleyes are biting in shallow water on chunk rock main lake points. Best baits are grubs or swimbaits fished on "A-rigs" or suspending stick baits. There is a deep water bite for bass suspended under schools of shad in 80'-100' FOW with most of the fish in the 40'-60' range with grubs, drop shot rigs or jigging spoons. Crappie are still holding over brush piles and submerged timber at 15'-30'. I fished yesterday in the point 16-20 area and caught several walleyes in the 19"-22" range. The walleyes were all on main lake spawning type banks in less than 15' fow.

The thrid week in April last year Bull Shoals had a 30' rise in 3 days. Trying to learn & fish 3 lakes in 1 week is a awfully tough schedule. I have fished all 3 of the lakes you mentioned and they are all 3 different types of lakes not to mention the required travel time to get to each one. I would suggest you watch for the weather trends in the days before your trip and plan to cut back to 1 or 2 of the lakes and try to relax and have some fun rather than stress yourselves out on your vaction. If we don't get a huge rise in water level on Bull Shoals this April the lower end of the lake should have great bass & walleye fishing and you could fish every day and not see it all. If the White river drainage is hit by heavy rainfall & flooding I would opt for Stockton. BTW White River campground is below the Bull Shoals Dam and if you want to fish the upper or middle sections of Bull Shoals you might want to check out the campgrounds at HWY 125 park (Peel) or Leadhill Park (Diamond City) or Buck Creek Park or Tucker Hollow Park (Lead Hill) all have great accomadations for campers.

I think the slot limit thing has some merit. Gerry's Ferry has had a slot limit for some time now. It would have to be enactted in both Missouri & Arkansas which might be a problem. The slot limit on Gerry's Ferry is "Walleye from 20 inches to 28 inches long must be released immediately to the water. Walleye daily limit is six, only one of which may exceed 28 inches". This would take most of the pressure off the spawnning size females and put more males in the livewell. I think that due to the increased walleye fishing pressure and fairly high success rate of those fishermen targeting walleyes this may be something to consider. As for seeing enforcement on the lake I have been checked a few times in the past year. The officers were always carefull to check for safety equipment & fish in the livewell. But it seems that you really only see them on Holiday weekends and when spearfishing season opens in Arkansas.

Walleye & bass are still biting in shallow water <20' on grubs & swimmin' Flukes mainly fished on "A-rigs" . Suspending stick baits and jigs are also catching walleyes & bass, best bite seems to be on steeper chunk rock points and bluff ends. Crappie fishing is still good over brush piles with crappies suspended from 10'-20' deep. Water temps are in the mid-40's to lower 50's so slow down your presentation of stick baits & jigs. Striped bass are active also and will be near areas with shad.