Wonderful Fishery

[Bill Babler]

Don't get to Bull as much as I would like, and really don't know why. For the most part this time of the year, you can pretty much have it to yourself.

Not today. Launched at K-dock, at 7 AM and there were about 3 rigs ahead of us. At Noon, 47 rigs in the K-dock lot. Did not matter, the fish didn't care.

We had one of those good ole goodin's.

Beck, Tetrick and Yours truely had a wonderful day, fishing on upper Bull, ahead of this weather front. What I really like about the lake, is when you cast, you have no idea, what you will catch. Walleye, Stripper, Catfish, White Bass, Yellow Perch, Crappie, Blue Gill, trout or for gosh sakes who knows what. The only constant, is for the most part, you will catch something.

48 degree water temps greeted us and we fished everything from stickbaits to swimming minnows to jigs, to small swimbaits. All were successful.

The crappie and whites are running very large this year, and I can only take it to be a product of the high water last year. While fishing for panfish, we had a really hard time keeping the LM bass off our junk. Probably easily caught 40 plus bass, trying to avoid them.

Spoke to Tim Fleetwood at the resturant before the start of the day and he said the last 10 years it would take 14 pounds a day to win most events, and it is now taking 18 to 19 pounds, to win a derby. Quite a jump.

Area's targeted in the upper end were channel swing rolloffs, between K-dock and Beaver Creek. Position your boat in 20 to 30 ft. on the swings and make your presentations, to the top of the flats.

Half the fun is finding these locations. Use your electronics to find the rolloffs. If you can't find rolloffs on upper bull, you had just as well pull your boat on the trailer, and go home, they are that easy to find. With your boat sitting in the channel, cast to the tops, and allow the bait to sink to the bottom. Slow roll the presentation back to the boat, following the bottom contour. Pause the bait several time and allow it to sink to the bottom and you will catch fish.

Won't give you numbers, on the day, but will say that the three of us have enough very quality panfish to share. Cleaned 5 species, and that is cleaning none of the big three bass species K's, LM, SMJ's.

Now on one of the brighter notes, of an already sunshinny day, was the new folks at K-dock. What a pleasure to meet Scott and Julie,owners since last April. The dock was in the best shape I have ever seen it and the store chocked full of merchandise. The bubbly personalities of the new owners, guarantees my return along with every client I take to upper bull. They are going to offer breakfast buffets starting in March on the weekends and always have sandwich's and drinks available. This is type of place that we need, and it takes all our support for the great folks to keep her going. Stop in for either a howdy or a candy bar, and you will return. Truly something the area has needed for years. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them being there.

I know, for the most part we all keep our yapps shut about Bull Shoals, but I believe this may be a breakthrough year for the lake. We may see some of that old 60's type of stuff, and it has been a long time coming. Us old hardback locals should not be bitter, and share this wonderful old fishery with some new blood. Help our local marina's and bring BS, back to the prominence it once held, as one of the best fisheries in the US.

I'm exicited about the lake, and I hope you all are too. Let's go a fishin!!

[cofobasser]

I have to agree about the new K Dock. I went out with a few guys that are fishing the FLW college series with me and we took out of K Dock. It was a high of 32 without the gusty wind and they were open and the guy who runs it was out when I pulled in and helped tie up the boat and welcomed us inside to warm up by the fire. What a great family and wonderfull people. Will definatley be doing business there in the future.

On a bad day we had great fishing. It still took 5 fish to win and we had some guys just learning catch a few and now they have caught the bug. Love that upper end and water temps at 44 to 46 in Jan. That is crazy. Great time with great people. Just cant wait till May on Kentucky Lake, first FLW college fishing stop.

[CaptainJoe]

Robert,

It sounds like your day on Bull Shoals worked out.....glad the team caught the bug.

Congrats,

Joe

[Ham]

I'm not sure I know what you mean by channel swing rolloffs or maybe I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I think I could find them IF I knew what you mean.

Also I wanted to make sure of what you meant by "yellow perch". Are you talking about a panfish that is hugely popular up north? It is NOT native so I guess they stocked it when they stocked walleye. Or is " yellow perch" a generic local term for some type of sunfish?

Sounds like ya'll really caught em, and I hope to fish that area in March or April.

[Jeremy Rasnick]

I'm not sure I know what you mean by channel swing rolloffs or maybe I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I think I could find them IF I knew what you mean.

Also I wanted to make sure of what you meant by "yellow perch". Are you talking about a panfish that is hugely popular up north? It is native so I guess they stocked it when they stocked walleye. Or is " yellow perch" a generic local term for some type of sunfish?

Sounds like ya'll really caught em, and I hope to fish that area in March or April.

I've been fishing a lot of the same banks as Bill. If you're familiar the K-Dock area of Bull Shoals you can see that on one side of the Lake you have Steep Rocky Bank which is the channel, on the other side of the lake you have mud/gravel Flats. The Channel bank changes sides from one to the other as you meander up the lake. From the minute you launch your boat at K-dock you are basically on a Flat. Its typical to be in 7-8 feet of water when you are on the outside of the flat and if you move the boat 5 feet towards the channel you will be in 20+. I've had my luck on many of these flats keeping the boat in about 25 and casting towards the flat. If you get hung up a time or to or drag in a stick, fish that area hard, you're likely to get bit. If you have good electronics don't be fooled by all of the fish you see on your graph on the edge of these drop offs, im assuming these aren't game fish or atleast i haven't talked any of them into biting. Then again, these may be gamefish that are just moving on and off of these flats to soak up some sun or feed. Im sure Bill has his ideas of what the fish are and maybe he's been successful at catching them.

[porter57]

"Also I wanted to make sure of what you meant by "yellow perch". Are you talking about a panfish that is hugely popular up north? It is native so I guess they stocked it when they stocked walleye. Or is " yellow perch" a generic local term for some type of sunfish?" Quote from Ham.

there are indeed yellow perch in the bull,the ones from up north. to the best of my knowledge,no one knows how they got in bull shoals,ive heard they werent stocked by any state dept,but i can say that they are there. ive caught them

when crappie fishing.

[ozark trout fisher]

Don't get to Bull as much as I would like, and really don't know why. For the most part this time of the year, you can pretty much have it to yourself.

Not today. Launched at K-dock, at 7 AM and there were about 3 rigs ahead of us. At Noon, 47 rigs in the K-dock lot. Did not matter, the fish didn't care.

We had one of those good ole goodin's.

Beck, Tetrick and Yours truely had a wonderful day, fishing on upper Bull, ahead of this weather front. What I really like about the lake, is when you cast, you have no idea, what you will catch. Walleye, Stripper, Catfish, White Bass, Yellow Perch, Crappie, Blue Gill, trout or for gosh sakes who knows what. The only constant, is for the most part, you will catch something.

48 degree water temps greeted us and we fished everything from stickbaits to swimming minnows to jigs, to small swimbaits. All were successful.

The crappie and whites are running very large this year, and I can only take it to be a product of the high water last year. While fishing for panfish, we had a really hard time keeping the LM bass off our junk. Probably easily caught 40 plus bass, trying to avoid them.

Spoke to Tim Fleetwood at the resturant before the start of the day and he said the last 10 years it would take 14 pounds a day to win most events, and it is now taking 18 to 19 pounds, to win a derby. Quite a jump.

Area's targeted in the upper end were channel swing rolloffs, between K-dock and Beaver Creek. Position your boat in 20 to 30 ft. on the swings and make your presentations, to the top of the flats.

Half the fun is finding these locations. Use your electronics to find the rolloffs. If you can't find rolloffs on upper bull, you had just as well pull your boat on the trailer, and go home, they are that easy to find. With your boat sitting in the channel, cast to the tops, and allow the bait to sink to the bottom. Slow roll the presentation back to the boat, following the bottom contour. Pause the bait several time and allow it to sink to the bottom and you will catch fish.

Won't give you numbers, on the day, but will say that the three of us have enough very quality panfish to share. Cleaned 5 species, and that is cleaning none of the big three bass species K's, LM, SMJ's.

Now on one of the brighter notes, of an already sunshinny day, was the new folks at K-dock. What a pleasure to meet Scott and Julie,owners since last April. The dock was in the best shape I have ever seen it and the store chocked full of merchandise. The bubbly personalities of the new owners, guarantees my return along with every client I take to upper bull. They are going to offer breakfast buffets starting in March on the weekends and always have sandwich's and drinks available. This is type of place that we need, and it takes all our support for the great folks to keep her going. Stop in for either a howdy or a candy bar, and you will return. Truly something the area has needed for years. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them being there.

I know, for the most part we all keep our yapps shut about Bull Shoals, but I believe this may be a breakthrough year for the lake. We may see some of that old 60's type of stuff, and it has been a long time coming. Us old hardback locals should not be bitter, and share this wonderful old fishery with some new blood. Help our local marina's and bring BS, back to the prominence it once held, as one of the best fisheries in the US.

I'm exicited about the lake, and I hope you all are too. Let's go a fishin!!

Just a question. You mentioned trout. Do they live there year-round, or is it just a wintertime fishery. I thought I had heard something before about some trout being in the pool below Powersite.

[Bill Babler]

Roll-offs are usually from a flat to the main channel. These locations can occur anywhere on the upper lake. As Jeremy said you can be riding a sand,gravel, or mud flat, with your boat in anywhere from 4 to 10 ft. and then have that "Table Top" Roll-off to 30 ft. These locations, may be in the middle of the lake, or anywhere on the upper end. Also lots of channels and humps present.

IF you look for staging areas, and I'm probably going to get the business for being so defined on Bull, but if you look for these locations ajacent to major coves or cuts, they can be loaded with fish. IF you are adept with your electronics, or better yet, have fished the lake a while as most of us have, you can either see, or know about ditches that cut these flats. Maybe only a foot or two, is all you need. Follow the ditch to the main channel and where the ditch "roll-off" to the main channel, is a fantastic location. These areas can hold everything that swims in the lake. They are natural hiways to shallower feeding and spawning grounds.

During cold fronts, they are also staging grounds for bait fish. Bait fish feeding up on these windy flats will migrate to the roll-offs and ditches when the temp drops, reguardless on how deep they are.

On Bull, again as Jeremy said, don't let your electronics fool ya, into thinkiing everything you see is a fish. "OH Contrare". I'm for the most part fishing structure, ie ditches, roll-offs. What you see and what you can catch are two way different things. Buster says all he looks at is the depth on Bull, if you look at anything between the top and the bottom it will simply drive you crazy A flasher is everybit as good as a picture graph on that big pond.

Yes the Yellow Perch is the northern version. Very gold or yellow body, with Horizonal brown or green stripes. Trout are always present from K-dock to the Dam, always have been. You can see them midging on the flats and I have caught them year around from K-dock up.

Good Luck, Next week on warming temps, will start this all over again. I plan on spending a very large part of my Spring on Upper Bull

[Ham]

Thank You for the tips. I think I better understand what you are talking about at this point.

My electronics aren't great, but I think I can find what you talking about with them.

As far as the Yellow Perch. If AGFC did noty stock them, then there is likely not any regulation on them as for as size or creel limits.

I hear they are good eating. It's been 20 years since I have caught any of those (Ontario).

Come on Springtime.

[Jason Essary]

Ya, what is the regs on the yellow perch. Ive caught them while crappie and white fishin. Always let them go, just never caught the fat ones. But might venture out that way next week.