As Good As It Gets

[Ham]

Lower Bull Shoals is fishing EXTREMELY well right now for all species of fish. You have to look at the weather and make some good choices AND you have to have a little fishing knowledge, but the fish are basically biting all over the lower lake.

Seriously, if you can't go catch some fish right now at BSL, quit fishing and try your hand at golf.

Everything they are saying is working at Table Rock is working at Bull Shoals. Top end fish are bigger at Table Rock, but numbers are higher at BSL.

[Phil Lilley]

You're talking about the lower lake... not the upper, right? Over all the lake or ... where are you fishing out of?

[Ham]

Lower lake. From the dam all the way to west of Buck Creek. I can not fully imagine how many smallmouth swim in Bull Shoals, but I've seen quite a few first hand. a fair number of accidental walleyes as well.

Topwaters, jerkbaits, jigs, soft plastics, spinnerbaits and crankbaits are all working.

Throw what you like to fish in the appropriate places and you will catch fish on it.

[Mike Worley]

10-4 on lower Bull shoals being red hot right now!!! Everybody is catchin'em on just about anything you want to throw, drag, troll or just let sit on the bottom. The smallmouth bass are every where and are biting gitiz. The LM bass are attacking lizards. The crappie are biting jigs & minnows. The white bass are biting during the middle of most sunny days with any kind of wind. And the walleyes are biting on all of the bass baits plus stickbaits at night. If you can't get a bite on Bull Shoals right now you better check your line cause it didn't hit the water.

[Mike Worley]

I fished early Saturday morning till about 2:30PM when the jet skis, tubers and just plain old sightseers got to be too much. Pretty much had a walleye on each rod all the time once I found them. Didn't have anything over 20" but caught about 30 walleyes (4 keepers) & a couple of nice fat KY's. I caught walleyes on bluff ends (spoons) main lake points (lizards) and creek channel coves on slow death spinner rigs & crawlers. I caught smalleys on gitizs & lizards also. Decided that I would wait for the 3 day weekend crazies to depart b4 I fish again (tomorrow) which will be my official first day of retirement. OH YEAH - LIFE IS GOOD AT 60.

[Predator1]

Congrats and enjoy. How deep were your fish when you caught them?

[Mike Worley]

Congrats and enjoy. How deep were your fish when you caught them?

Saturday most of the fish I caught were in 28-38 fow on the B/B & crawler and spoons, with the lizard & gitiz fish being much shallower near the brush. I fished Tuesday and found the walleyes to be shallower in 20-30 fow in main lake coves. My boat was very low on fuel Tuesday so I didn't get to spend a lot of time looking for a good school b4 I fished but I did pick up serveral keepers.

[Mike Worley]

Point12 & fished this afternoon with 2 limits of walleyes up to 23" + catfish & a 19" LM. When you mark'em get something down there with'em. Main lake points are a good place to look.

[rangerman]

Keep em chummed Mike I'll be down the week after! I am thinking the thermocline may be set by then.

[Mike Worley]

I fished this afternoon (no real reason to get up early , and the walleye seem to biting pretty much all day long) once again found the keeper to short ratio to be about 3/1 caught about 12 walleyes with 4 keepers plus about 6 large white bass and 1 short smallmouth and about a 2 pound rainbow trout. Left the house at about 2:30PM and was home before dark. I'm really starting to get into this retired thing. Every morning I sing this little ditty " He-He-He I'm a retiree Haw-Haw- Haw just me and Ma!!! Oh yes life is good at 60.