Every Body Quit Fishing?

[Quillback]

Hate to hear that, probably just a matter of time before they are in TR and Beaver.

[powerdive]

Hate to hear that, probably just a matter of time before they are in TR and Beaver.

I'd imagine they're there already, Quill. We've pulled up bunches of them on Bull this past year, so the colonies are well established and probably starting to affect the water clarity down below. Would be interesting to hear what your diver friends have to say about clarity and fish movement, Ham. Also, maybe Mojorig will have some info.

[Ham]

It's a odd situation. They soear fish walleye and they're paranoid about giving up locations. They won't tell me where they've seen the zebra mussels (Lol) just that they've seen them and that there are a lot more this year than last year.

I'm hoping AGFC will stock a crap tonne of Redear Sunfish to try to stem the tide.

[Quillback]

Might as well bring in some gobies, turn BSL into a miniature lake Erie.

[Quillback]

I'm hoping AGFC will stock a crap tonne of Redear Sunfish to try to stem the tide.

Yeah I wonder if the redears will eat zebras?

[Wayne SW/MO]

There was at least one patch of zebras in the Pothole, or at least it had to be a prime suspect for razor like in cuttings at one spot. Carp will eat zebras, but apparently they are high on their menus.

Powerdive have you considered the new water depths. Could this have changed some of the attractive environment and moved your fish to other locations? The depth change was listed as 3' then 5', but it appears that 6' or 7' is the reality.

[Fish24/7]

I'm done fishing Bull Shoals until I can come up with a new strategy or two. My stuff (trolling cranks, bottom bouncing, jig/crawler) has not been working. The usual depths/locations that I fish are NOT loaded with show on sonar like they have been in the past. I fear there are changes underway. Possible factors:

Hard winter

Late spring

Cool summer (water temps are lagging)

Winter shad kill (shouldn't that make fishing better?)

Zebra mussels (there are tons of 'em down there)

Stuff I haven't thought of yet

As the old walleye fisherman said, "They don't have wings and they ain't got shovels. They're out there somewhere." Anybody got any ideas?

I don't know what area of the lake your fishing but on the Arkansas side I hear the walleye fishing has been good for quality but not quantity this summer. Long line trolling deep cranks has been the "go to" this year. Water is clear and fish are spooky so getting the baits away from the boat(200ft+) on a long line has worked better than lead core or bottom bouncing. Fish are being caught in and around 30' suspended above trees or on/near bottom. Walleye are always on the go and that makes it even harder to get on em. I've seen days where you make a few trolling passes across a point and you see no fish on the screen. Come back 2 hrs. later ,see and catch walleye...

About those mussels, from what I gathered they are on the upper end from Forsyth down to the ferry. I have not seen any anywhere else .

[powerdive]

Thanks for the good intel, 24/7. I'm afraid we're gonna have to go to more finesse-ful approaches much of the time. We've been fishing around Diamond City, which has given up plenty of fish for us over the years. What little activity we've found lately has been at 25'-30' but it's all scattered stuff.

SWMO, they've definitely cleared out from the old spots, but they've always been there during higher water in the past. ???

[bfishn]

Yeah I wonder if the redears will eat zebras?

They eat the heck out of native mussels, so I don't know why not. You don't have to go much farther south before they're called shellcrackers, for good reason. Back when they (over)fertilized BV lakes regularly, you could find a floating adult mussel, bait with the cut meat, and catch the fire out of them.

[bfishn]

...As the old walleye fisherman said, "They don't have wings and they ain't got shovels. They're out there somewhere." Anybody got any ideas?

One summer (in the '90s?) I zeroed a few times in a row on the regular mainlake DC spots. On a tip from a local, I found them about halfway back in both Sugarloafs. Threadfin fry was super thick so you had competition, but it was definitely where they were. More of a swim-n-swallow bite than deliberate hits, you just had to have a bait in their way.