Martin

Dayhem PD....You're getting crumpy in yer old age......lol. The corp will do whatever they want, no matter what we say, or think, or do. (For the most part anyway).

I'll have to agree with Whack'emGood and motoman. Great site !

Now that was funny !! We've caught several Rainbows on the flats between points 5 & 6 while trolling for whites. Usually in the springtime though. They like that roostertail behind the big Hellbender.

Hunter91......!! You rascal. I went to upper BS and only caught one fish.......(Nice going Mark) !!

I launched at Beaver Creek campground this morning at about 7:15........I finally found enough slope to launch my fairly large deep vee the 3rd road near a dock tied up to shore. What's amazing is that I ran up towards Barker Hole and trolled leadcore for walleye, with a variety of lures, all the way to Powersite dam. No takers but LOTS of shad and small fish on the sonar. Ran back to just above Barker and whacked a fat 22 incher after I changed to big deep divers on Fireline. That was about 11:30 a.m. so I stayed another hour and a half and had zero action....... Not a great report for sure, but at least I got to see a walleye again...... lol.....I think thingsd should get going real soon.

Forsythian, even when BS was at it's highest, they had good roads to launch off of at Buck Creek. The one I saw everybody (from my boat) was sloped pretty good. I'd think Buck Creek launching would be no problem. Give them a call.

Wow CMAC.... Before your photo generated on my screen,I was going to post a sunrise photo from lower Bull Shoals I got on May 31st. Hey mon, I can't compete with that. Excellent pic !

Dad's new Suburban.... !! Oh no. lol.

Lonkm, I have the Navionic's "south" chip. It has Bull Shoals and LOTS more lakes in several states. It covers Bull Shoals entirely and I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. The same chip has most every lake in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas. I believe it has like 11 states on it. The contour lines are pretty close together, but really accurate. The bigger screen you have on your sonar, the better.

RPS, We were at 20 to 25 feet. Pretty shallow for this time of year and all the boat traffic. We were running two long lines (Fireline) with planer boards and two leadcore lines. Keeps you pretty busy but every rod caught a walleye I believe. We strayed into 25 to 28 feet a few times to go around people and such but the biters were a touch shallower. Scattered is the main word. Bill, sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

I'll add a little to the Big M report. I launched early in that area also yesterday. That might have been Bill that pulled away from the courtesy dock just as I was arriving. I was going to troll for walleyes until the skiing crowd got too bad. Picked up a buddy that lives up that way and we ended up with 6 walleyes in the boat. 3 were keepers. Two of them were real nice fish. A 24 incher and a 24 1/2 incher. Caught a couple of large whites and, amazingly, only one small kentucky. We trolled flats from Big M all the way up past Fletchers. Then it got H O T. The pleasure boating crowd is sure getting bold, passing close enough for them to talk to you. "Having any luck" ?? lol. "Well, we WERE until you came by" !

Where is Dan Langley based now ?

Well, my guess was wrong. All of the co-angler (amateur) spots have been filled for this event.

Guys, the PWT will be holding it's "Outdoor Channel Pro-Am" tournament next week on Wed, Thurs, & Friday, out of the town of Bull Shoals, Arkansas. I'm not sure if there are co-angler spots still available, but I'm guessing there is. If interested, you can register at the Bel Arco Resort in Bull Shoals on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. The tournament hours each day are 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 P.M. and the weigh-in's will be in the Lion's Club Park in downtown Bull Shoals. PWT headquarters phone number is: 870-445-3166 Bel Arco Resort phone number is: 870-445-4242 It's a great way to learn alot about catching walleyes crammed into three days. Go get em !

Coyote, I haven't been yet but I am really going to make an effort this year to do some night fishing. The lake was a zoo, as usual this weekend. Daytime fishing is the pits when the funny farm gates are opened. lol.

Nicely done Bill......VERY nicely done. !!

Actually, not very deep. Whatever a # 5 Shad Rap dives to on 10 lb Fireline. Maybe 5 to 8 feet depending on how long of a cast you make. Don't hesitate to throw out a ways from the treeline. There are lots of cottonwoods and sycamore's out there underwater. I found out that walleyes like cottonwood tree's. lol.

Slipknot, you would have to ask me a question (hook size) that I can't answer for sure. I'm not near any of my tackle (wah) but I'd say the replacement hooks are #4 or possibly even #2's. The main thing is that they should be bigger then the hook that came on the 1/4 oz. roostertail. I think you can still get them at WallyWorld. The ones I grabbed last time were made by Arkie. Better grab some split rings too. You'll see why when you start the hook replacement. Good Luck !

Massers Bill Babler, Don House, SKMO, and all the other great fisherman and guides are the real backbone of this great forum. (Sure didn't mean to leave anybody out - There are so many). These guys are on the water most everyday and have been fishing for many, many years. It's a rare forum to get that much REAL input.

Oops, didn't mean to forget Coyote. I've seen those trolling weights at Sniders. Great idea. I need to try that also..... There are other companies that make trolling divers. I'll have to look around for the info. I have used a plastic diver called a "Jet Diver". They come in a few different sizes and basically, they do the part of the hellbender. The will pull a smallish lure, such as the roostertail, down to specific depths. And they float if you stop the boat. Believe it or not, a 1/4 oz roostertail will sink a magnum hellbender so beware if you have to stop the boat. Dang, my fever is up !

Slipknot, no, I have never removed the front hook but you just have to experiment and see how the hellbender rides. Afterall, it is the main part in the whole equation. If you attach a 1/4 oz roostertail to the rear eyelet on a hellbender, you have little or no luck getting the HB to dive. If you use the 3-way rig as described so well by SKMO, the front hook could go. It kind of also depends on where you troll this monster. lol...... If you are going to be in the tree's, you'd better rig with a 3-way. If you are going to stay mainly on the flats (with few tree's), you can leave more hooks on. We're talkin' fishing now. I think the more hooks the better. lol. That's just me though. You guys get out there and fine tune this stuff. One more tip. We usually remove the factory hook from the roostertail and put on a slightly bigger and feathered hook. Those big ole whites like that white and red feathered hook and you'll loose less fish with the bigger hook. Man, where can you go and get better info than ozarkanglers.com ?

Hey and another way to shorten up your "line out length" is to use 10 lb Fireline. It is approx the dia. of 4 lb test mono, so it really gets a crankbait down good. Stay with a mono or floro leader though. You need some stretch somewhere as the Fireline has none.

Another option on the trolling rig is to take a magnum hellbender and tie right to your main line. Now, take about a 2 1/2 foot to 3 ft piece of mono and tie the roostertail to one end. (1/4 oz roostertails work real well). Now tie a large ball bearing snap swivel to the other end of the short line. Now open the snap and put it around the shank of the FRONT hook on the hellbender. The weight and resistance from the roostertail helps pull the bill of the hellbender down. Some guys remove the entire rear treble hook to avoid getting your leader caught on it when you are letting out. I don't remove the whole hook but I sometimes clip the one hook on the treble that points down. SKMO's rigging works great too. I'm just throwing in another possibility. If you keep a magic marker handy, you can mark your line in front of the reel when you catch a fish. Then you can let out to the mark on the line and know you're in the ballpark. 120 feet of line out is a good starting point. Have fun !!

Are you related to that feller RPS ? lol......

Fished the midlake area Saturday morning, Saturday evening, & Sunday morning. Caught many smallmouth's and small to medium whites on every outting, throwing small crankbaits at the treeline. We hit the walleyes pretty good Sat evening doing the same thing. Needed some wind (which we had). No walleyes on either morning outting. Points were best but fish were caught all along the "shore" between points also. The submerged tree's still have their foilage on them, so you're going to hang up some.