Fishing Report 4/9/12

[Mike Worley]

Lake level is 656 (2 foot above power pool) and dropping fast with 8 units running 24/7 at the dam. Water temp is mid 60's. The water is muddy on the upper end of the lake but much clearer from point 11 to the dam. The bite has picked up in the clearer water with walleyes, bass, catfish & large bluegills biting on nightcrawlers fished in 10'-20' on bottom bouncers or split shot rigs durring the daylight hours. Stickbaits are catching walleyes & bass in the evenings and at night. White bass are schooling and blowing up in the larger bays and creek arms mostly in the evenings. Bass can be caught on top water baits in the morning and on carolina rigged lizzards & other soft plastics in bedding areas.

[Bill Jr.]

Mike,

Have you been up towards point 25 lately? I'm going down this weekend and wondering if this was in the "upper end" portion that was muddy or maybe something like above tucker holler? I'm really getting the itch and trying to set a gameplan before i get down there.

[Fishin Hodge]

There was definately some color in the water on Saturday in that neck of the woods. Almost ran back up in Shoal Creek to see if the water has started clearing in the backs of the creeks. Know that to be the case on some of the creeks on Table Rock, but didn't get back into any of them on Bull. I am going to guess visibility was somewhere around 18 inches on the main lake. Keep us posted Bill.

[Mike Worley]

The C.O,E. has started cutting back some on the generation at BS dam so things should be getting back to normal soon. I've talked to several friends who have catching walleyes and other fish up the lake as far as Tucker Hollow. The water is pretty dirty in some areas and clearing in others. The areas that are clearing have been producing some nice fish on B/B crawler rigs as well as on carolina rigged plastics. If you have 18" of visibilty you are probally in the right area, Most of the fish seem to be fairly shallow <20'.

[mixermarkb]

I was down Monday and Tuesday. The lake still had a lot of color, and fishing was slow. High skies didn't help me any. I found a few smallies on pea gravel in 15-20 FOW, and got one beautiful 19" in the boat. I lost 3 in the same class tho. My lack of lake time this year is hurting my skill set lol!

The big suprise for me was a total lack of a topwater bite. I lost the only strike I had on top, but it was a 4 or 5 pound largemouth. Bluff end, with timber, on a fin, early on Tuesday. The other largemouths we caught were in the backs of coves, sinko, and 2" crappie jig.

I got the feeling that most of the fish want to spawn, but the crazy lake level yo-yo has them scattered and confused.

God knows I was scattered and confused both!

[Mike Worley]

The lake has been stable now @ 654'+ for several days with generation at the dam cut back to about 5,000 cfs. Fishing has improved and walleyes are biting on several types of baits and lures. Bottom bouncers with half of a night crawler fished on a slow death spinner rig has been catching a mixed bag of fish. Split shotting a whole crawler on points & bluff ends is working well also. Soft pastics such as grubs, lizards & centipedes are catching bass in the back of coves & creek arms. Suspending stickbaits like Rogues & Lucky craft are working well in the early morning and late afternoon......................Mike Worley (www.bullshoalsfishing.com)