Lower Bull Shoals White Bass And Walleye

[crappiefisherman]

OMG BBIAB

[raise the motor]

Sounds like you are doing very well ar walleye. We fished evenings on Saturday and Sunday. I caught one 16 inch eye but lost a much larger one when he went under the boat. I made the mistake of using my rod with 4 lb line so I could not control him very well. I was using road runner with curly tail on the bottom in around 8 ft of water. I tried a spinner/bead crawler rig with no success. It that the type B/B rig you suggested?

We will be back in two weeks. I understand a the moon makes night eye fishing better (no moon on Sunday). We fished until around 9:30 after dark on Sunday but did not get any bites. All of our bites were from before and at dusk. We gave up thinking it was too dark and they had stopped feeding. Perhaps we should have switched to stick baits for the suspended fish as you reported.

Catching 4 walleye (no keepers) was a thrill. I did not think of it until you posted, but all of our fish were on a south bank near deep water. Sunday we fished the south side of the island on the Gulley Spring branch.

Will this spring pattern continue, or will fishing drop off or bait and presentation change?

Thanks for the help, there is something special about walleye fishing. I am learning at a slow pace and appreciate any help.

[Mike Worley]

R.T.M. 4 pound test is way too light for night fishing IMHO. I use mostly 10-12. The walleyes are very aggressive this year and trying to land or boat a larger walleye after dark on 4 pound line is more challenge than I want. I have better luck with a 5" suspending stickbait and it takes heavier line just to get a good hookset. As for the B/B spinner setup, I use 15/4 braid or 14# main line and 10# fluorocarbon leader with a 1 1/2- 2 OZ sinker @ .8-1.2 mph. I have been catching lots of walleyes in 15-30 fow on crawlers. So far this year floaters / smile blades have been catching more fish for me than metal blades & beads but that may change after the thermocline sets up in a month or so. I have been having good results with clear water natural colors (ie: silver, gold and blue) seem to be working best for me right now with chartreuse working on real cloudy days or late evening. Main problem with the B/B fish is I have to catch quite a few to get keepers on most days. Bull Shoals is full of 17.5" walleyes while the majority of the night time stickbait fish are keepers. The B/B bite will only get better as the water warms up while the night time stickbait bite is a spring & fall bite.

[raise the motor]

Thanks for the information. I assume the sinker plus speed produce the depth you want. What are your thoughts about downriggers or planer boards for BS walleyes?

We will try some night trolling on the weekend of May 15 with B/B set up you suggested. It will be fun to catch the fish even if they are not keepers.

Could you suggest a guide we could use to learn more about walleye in the Gulley Spring Branch (north of Oakland) area where we camp. We spend way too much time using the wrong approach in the wrong areas.

Thanks for sharing from your experience with walleyes. I assume they are your favorite and you have studied their BS routines over many hours of fishing. Keep hauling them in.

Joe

[WeekendWarrior]

You can catch the Walleye on rogues during the daylight hours if you have some good wind as well. Caught 5 or 6 fishing for bass last Thurs/Friday fishing for bass. Also caught some on grubs as well.

[Mike Worley]

RTM, the B/B spinner & crawler is a daytime trolling technique. IF you want a good walleye guide call Hotdawgs guide service. I think you can contact him on this forum.

[Ham]

a guide might be a pretty decent idea. Make sure that you want to learn some seasonal patterns since you'll be moving to this area. With any luck, you'll catch some fish AND put yourself much fuirther along on the learning curve.

IF you can communicate with the guide well, you might want to hire him again for a lesson on summer or fall fishing also.

[raise the motor]

W.W. were you fishing the shoreline? I understand the bass are tight to brush in shallow water. I though the walleye would be farther out.

Thanks, Joe

[Ron Burgundy]

W.W. were you fishing the shoreline? I understand the bass are tight to brush in shallow water. I though the walleye would be farther out.

Thanks, Joe

You should be able to find the eye's in 15-20FOW now.

[Mike Worley]

The daytime walleye bite on Bull Shoals is really starting to pick up. We did a little crankbait trolling yesterday morning and caught 1 - 26"er then switched over to B/B & crawler to finish out our 2 limits with walleyes up to 25 inchs. The best bite seemed to be about 30 foot, but we caught keepers anywhere from 17' to 37'. The middle of the day on a blue bird sunny day.