Seth Clarkson

Was a little slow on the bass front but the catfish made up for it! It was a blast on spinning gear with 8lb test.

Sunrise was well worth getting up early even without catching any fish.

Wasn't able to post pics initially and forgot about it. Pretty neat looking fish whatever it was, and a nice cmallmouth or hybrid one.

Put in at Fine Addition at sunrise and got off the water around 4. Didn't have much bass after a keeper spot on our first point with a tube. Others we caught were small and either on a jig or tube mainly up shallow around chunk Rock. No breeze so made things a little uncomfortable and maybe that coupled with the rain that came through couple days prior shut the fishing down. However I did catch my first flathead that weighed 6lbs. I was hoping it was a giant smallmouth but realized it wasn't when it tried to just lay flat on the bottom rather than fighting. Also hooked a near 3 ft spotted gar on a puke tube as well. Fought it for awhile. On 8 lb flouroclear and when attempting to net it from the tail end (so it didn't get its teeth or hook in the net) it jumped out and broke the line.

Did you get a picture!? Would love to see more big smallies on Bull.

I just wanted to second what Mike said previously on how appreciative we are for you guys that have more experience and are willing to share the knowledge as well as have open discussions about how it can still be challenging. I have mainly fished Bull Shoals this year, but most all of this info is still relevant to me, at least for attempting to pattern fish on a trip during this time frame.

Put in at the park at around 5:30 am to a much cooler temperature than previous weeks. Very little fog since the dam wasn't generating, so we ran down the lake but slowed up when we saw some surface activity on a flat. Wasn't sure if it was just shad or what to start, but decided to get a closer look. Ended up being wads of small white bass chasing shad that were less than a couple inches long. We caught about 7 small males on small spooks, but really should have caught a lot more. They weren't hitting it very good since they were still bigger than the bait, tried a little cleo and happened to catch one by landing it within the rings a bass just created, otherwise I guess they had a hard time seeing it. Didn't find any other topwater action so struggled compared to weeks prior. Ended up catching around a dozen total with 2 keepers, 1 looked to be hybrid black bass and 1 largemouth. Both came on a green pumpkin tender tube. Only fish we found besides the whites were on main lake, either chunk rock/bluffs or dragging on near a mud drop off. Did mark a ton of fish from time to time, but most were suspended and couldn't get them to bite. Dad had a couple of short hits on a coleslaw spinnerbait around a point with brush on it. Ended up hooking into a massive gar near the boat that cleared 4 ft in length easily. It peeled drag and cut his braid rather quickly, but did make for some excitement on a rather slow but more comfortable weather day.

I do not fish for Catfish, but I have always ran into people fishing for Catfish either just below the Lake Springfield dam, or on the long peninsula across from the power plant over there. I see pictures on an app called Fishbrain quite a bit, so I know they catch some Catfish and Carp in that area. The one Catfish I have caught at Lake Springfield was on a chatterbait out in the middle of the main lake where it has basically a mud island, just luck while fishing for bass in my kayak.

We have a 40hp Merc and it takes us about 10 mins from the park to get to Beaver.

I launched out of the park on Saturday, no issues. Water is still going down though I think. But I would think you should be fine for awhile still.

I could be wrong, but if you are meaning Lakeview in Arkansas, the lower Bull Shoals thread may have more knowledge. I have never put in below the state line.

The only reason we have got top water our last 2 outings is because we saw them up busting shad. If we haven't seen them up we never catch anything on top. Was the jig bite in deeper water out on points? Most anything we have caughtt recently has been mainly around mud, I assume because its not as hot as the rock.

Right place for now anyway. The river run side across the lake has better parking and the ramp isn't as steep. It doesn't have a courtesy dock and is closed right now due to the bridge construction. How did you do out of KDock?

Put in at Shadowrock around 6:15. Dam was running water so we got past the fog and cold water line only to find someone on the point we planned to start. Sure glad there was because Dad and I went to the next point and saw fish busting shad and started slaying them on Sexy Dawgs. Had something like 7 fish in our first 10 casts, with a limit. That lasted from 6:30 to 7:30 then eventually we found another spot of fish busting shad and caught more from 10:30 to 11:30. When the flurries started to slow down I tried a flutter spoon but they weren't interested, and it seemed to be best with a little wind blowing up onto the point. Caught around 40 bass with 90% on topwater, all largemouth except for 1 spotted bass, 1 white bass, and a smallmouth on a jig by the dam. Had close to 20 keepers but nothing over 16 1/2 inches. Dad hooked a beast of a fish but we only got to see the splash and a huge tail before it opened up a heavy duty clip and stole his Sexy Dawg. We hoped the lure might float back up but we never saw it. Also saw a ton of huge carp up around the pothole at the dam. This post has been promoted to an article

I've been curious about the notched kayak paddles as well. I have seen them help get lures out of trees, but haven't seen or heard much about a lure hung on the bottom. Also, Yaknar what do you catch the sucker/redhorses on? I saw a ton of them on my last float but just assumed it would take a fly, or a live worm to get a bite.

Had a good day on Bull. Put in at Shadowrock Park and fished from 6am until about 2. Dam was running water so water temp was 60 near the park. No bites until we got past the cold water line. Had around a dozen fish, 2 white bass and the rest largemouth. All largemouth were 13 inches or bigger, had a few other smaller ones come off before getting to the boat. Biggest one was 17 inches. Caught about half on a 3 1/2 inch 360 gt search bait and the other on a walking topwater. Found bass busting shad in the middle of the day on a mud flat leading into a cove. Couple others were caught flipping shade around wood.

No boats allowed at McDaniels. If you are going to be in Nixa, you might just head over to Cape Fair on Table Rock.

T

Also had one with a couple of what looked to be tiny leeches in its mouth. Had a couple more nice bass, but even after screenshotting the pics are too large.

I missed getting a post about my trip from 6/16 so I'll combine it with Saturday's. Fished different places between Hayworth cove and Swan both days. 6/16 caught around 15 with just a couple of keepers in a mix of spots and largemouth. Main baits were a smoke pepper type color of a tender tube and a hula grub in a bright green. Didn't really find a pattern, caught some off a mud point, a bluff with water dripping in, around the bridge and some in a cove off of either rock or brush. All were less than probably 15 ft. Saturday we caught around 20 with the a mix of spots and largemouth, but more largemouth than the week before and around 5 keepers as well as a giant Crappie on a spinnerbait. Wind or current on mud points seemed to be the main pattern, but caught a few flipping around wood just off the main lake. Puke colored tube, green hula grub, green pumpkin brush hog and a Okeechobee rage bug all caught fish. Had a couple of short bites on spooks first thing Saturday, but no topwater to speak of otherwise. Pics to follow.

We didn't try K-dock. Put in off mission lane, little southeast of K dock, but it was down probably a couple feet from 2 weeks prior when we launched off the road by k-dock. I think there was a post a month or so back about the K dock ramp where someone posted the lake level that it had to be at for full usability of the ramp.

The water is dropping like crazy. It's just a little over the edge in most of the area around river run and swan. Especially in river run you can see all the mud where the water has came down.