Another Huge Striper.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Stripers do occupy an area of the lake few other fish use!!!

That was the idea behind putting them in Texoma about 30 years ago and it turned out to be true. They spent most of the time in open water feeding on shad that were too large for the natives.

I'm not against the walleye, but it does seem to me that its time to scale back and see what the reward is going to be. There simply doesn't seem to be that many caught, or even fished for to warrant the expense. Maybe it just me, but the catch below Powersite isn't huge and its short lived. It seems that most of the catch we hear about is incidental to some other fish target.

I say switch the hatchery to Stripers and/or Wipers.

[taxidermist]

Last spring we had a hay day with short walleye and so did a lot of other people.. I know Bull holds some large walleye. But you are right about the stripers.. I think its the MH Chamber of Commerce keeping them from being stocked in Bull. Reason I think so is Norfork is closer to Mt Home and this means some additional cash flow into the city from out of state. Bull onbce had a super striper fishery and its been allowed to die, a little bit of money scattered the length of Bull about 125 miles from dam to dam, verse the whole lof lake Norfork right there at Mt Home.

[taxidermist]

rangerman, Kins river empties into Table Rock. and no the AGFC does not care as much about Table Rock as they do Bull Shoals. AGFC built a new fish rearing pond on Westr Suger Loaf just out of Leadhill a few years back, specificlly for rearing walleye. That along with the pond on East Sugar Loaf again just north of Leadhill provides a lot of walleye.

I do know that MO does tag some walleye, a tagged waleye that was caught and tagged near Theodosia was caught and kept last year, caught near Tucker hollow, weighed about 7 lbs. has a tag for $75.00 near the dorsal fin.

Yeah teh illegal stocking of yellow perch has been a success. They seem to not hurt anything and will take beetle spins pretty easily. So far so good.

[rangerman]

Wayne there is actually alot of eyes in BS, there are a select group of guys that primarily fish them there. Earlier this summer, I had a couple of 40 and 50 fish days with all fish being caught walleye. It great and saves me a trip to South Dakota.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Rangerman I'm not questioning their presences, they've been here since before I was born as Jack Salmon. The state has had populations in Bull, LOZ and the southeast rivers long enough to create a large following, but they haven't. The problem, as I see it, is that they aren't needed in the ecology of the White river lakes, so the only reason to stock heavily is for economic reasons. I don't believe they are causing that much money to be spent. Will the Walleye tournament trail return to BS, I don't think thier first trip was a big success, especially on virgin waters. I just don't think they qualify for the extensive stocking program going on because it isn't paying back any dividends.

I've been advocating the stocking of Stripers/Wipers for a long time. From an economic standpoint Bull Shoals could use the push and given the fact that it is more accessible to western Missouri and Kansas, it would probably not compete that much with Norfolk. It should be noted that the last two state record Stripers have come from the Rock and BS, if I'm not mistaken.

[cmcclu]

I have been saying this exact thing if the AGFC would introduce lake trout on BS and/or Greers Ferry even in limited numbers it could create anglers a potential for another species of hopefully trophy size. I can remember some of the lake trout catches on Greers back in the late 80's-early 90's of some nice fish and really seemed unique. The AGFC themselves has stated that there may have be some natural reproduction of lake trout in Greers Ferry. I understand that low DO levels were the main limiting factor. I have emailed AGFC about this same thing but have not had a response. I also agree that Bull Shoals would be a tremendous striper fishery giving any consistent stocking effort.

[taxidermist]

A fellow just down the road took a nice 46 lb striper yesterday. 10 lb test and a twopiece wal mart spinning rod. He said he lost a second one, had a lot of white bass in a second cooler. Also a man in Harrison took a 48 last week. samething jigging for white bass.

Email Mark Oliver at the AGFC about the stripers and lakers.

[Ham]

Wayne, I think there are tremendous numbers of walleye in BSL. I think MOST of them live in the lower lake and spend their lives undisturbed getting long and fat. I don't catch more of them because I don't know what I am doing, but lots of folks do target them and CATCH them. Lots and with size. Not everyone tells on themselves online.

The reason that the stripers get so large on BSL is BECAUSE their numbers are limited. If agencies plant millions of them, the stripers would be successful, but would be smaller fish on average. Still be a lot of fun, but overall top end size would diminish. Infisherman had an article about that phenomena awhile back. I can't footnote it for you, but it brought up Arkansas walleye as an example.

I'd like a limited number of stripers to be releassed on an annual basis. I'd like them to quit feeding the walleye with the rainbow trout stockings in BSL UNLESS they will tell me when and where the stocking will occur so I can go catch some walleye during the feeding frenzy.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I realize there is a walleye fishery in the lake, but again I think there is a point where it needs to sustain itself. I suspect it not only isn't, but it never will if they continue to run the hatchery setup they presently run. I just believe its time to move on.

Bull Shoals was the darling of the bass crowd in the early 50's and produced the state record largemouth. It wasn't long however until the lake moved into its present day purpose as a flood water holding area. The uncertain lake levels combined with the closing of Table Rock, which was more assessable and stable, diminished its overall worth. It has had some outstanding White bass fishing over the years and only spring spawning conditions seem to diminish it. I believe it would be a perfect lake for the true bass family because they are an open water fish, big, and can be reasonably easy to catch.

As far as size goes I have to rely on my experience in watching the fishery evolve on Texoma lake in Oklahoma. It took a surprisingly short period of time to start seeing fish in the 20 lb range, and while there weren't any large numbers of huge fish, the fish that were there in numbers were big by this areas standards. It was also a surprise in the numbers of big largemouth that came out from under the striper schools. One of the cons put forth in regard to this family is its tendency to wander, but that isn't being proven in the relationship between Beaver and Table Rock. There's no doubt some have gone down river, but so do the trout in Taney. Any fear that they would end up in the White and disrupt the trout fishery didn't stop them from putting them in Norfolk, a lake even more remote than BS. I believe a good population or Stripers/Wipers in BS would mean millions to a town like Forsyth, and they could sure use it.

It might be noted that after the pros hit BS last year they discontinued the tournaments.

[taxidermist]

We have had very good luck up the lake from Tucker Hollow (about 30 minutes at 45 mph)for walleye. A good stiff fishing rod 8lb flouracarbon line and a HotNtot or wiggle wart you can get the lure down in some very deep water trolling the flats. Blue or black back chrome sides works well Just allow the boat to idle along. there are some flats in a hard bend in the lake that hold lots of eyes. The por walleye touryguys used their shallow lake techniques on Bull and they just dont work. Anyway you can prduce some good strings of eyes doing this early April and may at power pool is best try to hold the boat in 20 feet of water, wehn you find fish use bouys to mark them.