Fishing report 5/9. - 5/11

[Bill Babler]

Fish pattern seasonally so any thing you say today has a very good chance of being old news next month.  Sorry I stirred up such a frenzy just wanting to hear more about Rich's trip.  No Old Plug, I could care less about getting information for guide reasons.  I have been guiding on Table Rock, Taneycomo and Upper Bull for 26 yrs. and I'm not trying to scratch up money on someone's private fishing locations.  I did 286 trips last year and gave away about 1/2 again that many.  Already this year I'm up to well over 100 trips, so I'm not looking to make money off anyone.

For cripes sakes you would think I have made enough post on this forum for everyone to know I'm not after someone's most secrete of locations they have found after 30 yrs. of fishing a pond.

Now here is a quick Bull Shoals report.  I launched at Tucker yesterday morning in the rain at 6:30 AM, there was one rig in the lot.  Fished until 4:30 between Tucker and Diamond.  Did not see a boat on the water in 10 Hrs. other than mine. I thought I might have heard one somewhere.  Just fished for fun by myself on my day off.  We usually go down there starting the 2nd. week of May and catch walleye.

Usually fish the H. Shoe bend to Elbow area cause there is just no one there.  I have fished it in middle June and saw no more than a dozen boats in a day.  Yesterday was a real fishing day, cold, wind and rain and the lake was empty of anglers.

Could not resist trying top water to start the day.  Worked the Whopper Plopper of both sizes off the main lake buck brush flats with very little action.  I did have one boil on it and decided to switch to a Spro Rat.  I threw the Rat back almost to the bank on any clear path.   This is a very slow moving bait but looks identical to a live mouse or rat.  It clicks as you reel it in and it should also eat cheese for the $28.00 price tag.  Putting it very bluntly they ate it up.

I also fished a middle size 3.8 inch Keitech swim bait on a 1/4 to 3/8th. head and caught some pre-spawn LM off some of the deep stuff.  I mean deep.   These LM and also some of the K's are just ready to pop with there baby business extended and red.  They are just like that on the Rock, and will have at it in the next week.

 You could see these fish suspended out there waiting to move in on this weekends full moon.  30' was the magic number for this deal, suspended over depth I now had two things going.  Top Water Rat and Deep Swim bait.  I only fished the deep bait on 2 locations, and caught 3 solid keeps on one and 2 on the other.  I did lose 2 other fish.  At times In May and June and then again in the Fall, you can catch big walleye suspended like this off the ends.  

 My goal however was to see if the walleye were there  and ready.  Yes they were.  Again the walleye are where they should be right now. I caught 18 with 2 really nice keepers.  I kept one. Had at least a dozen between 14" and 17"  Look for them on the flat roll-offs where you get a sudden drop to the channel, they are on the edge in 16' to 20' pretty steady off the flats.  Trouble is the blue gills are really out there.  If you are dropping crawlers or using a harness they will eat you alive.  I used 5 dozen worms.  If these were Table Rock BG we would be in business, but for some reason the gills on Bull are not the dinner plate size they are on the Rock most of the time.  They are just bait stealers.

I believe this is another reason the walleye really like it out there, cause they feed heavy on these 3 to 6 inch gills along with both the gizzard and the threadfin shad that were also out there.  I had at least 3 walleye and a couple of SM on the bottom bouncer cough up small BG.

I also caught a couple of very nice K's out there on the crawlers, but it usually happed when I turned or let my boat get over the channel.  I'm guessing the K's were in the 25' to 30' range.

I constructed my 1/2 oz. bottom bouncer with 3 ft. of 15 pound leader I first threaded on a no. 3 pink or bright green teardrop spinner, followed by a bead,  2 small floats, 3 beads and then a size 1 Owner hook.  I used my MotorGuide Xi5 with pinpoint thru my Lowrance Gen 3 to slowly bounce these roll offs keeping in contact with the bottom at all times at..5 to .7 mph.  and maintaining the edge of the channel.  You can do the same with the Hummingbird and the ipilot   Learn how to use these combinations and your walleye catch will just jump thru the roof.  You can set speed an path and just fish all over the boat without even looking at your units.  Just unbelievable.I

I even caught a nice crappie on a crawler while walleye hunting.

For yesterday that was what was going on down there.  There are several of us that usually spend time on TR but will fish the BS flats pretty heavy for the next month or two.

I've had some friends fishing Bull catching some chasers from Diamond down stream, but it is a super early morning deal and then they suspend. 

Good Luck on all your fishing and I hope if you venture to Bull in the next month this will help you just catch a few.

 

[Champ188]

Great report, Bill. Nothing like a good multi-species trip on upper Bull this time of year.

This is also the tiime on those buckbrush flats to throw a Spook. As Bill was doing with the rat, you want to find open paths where you can sling it all the way to the bank. Very early in the day and on cloudy days, black is your color. You can also get your arm broke with a big Chug Bug. I'm talking about the really big one they sell at Walmart in the striper stuff. You'll have to send one off to your favorite lure painter to make it black or do it yourself, but Tenn shad will also work.

There's plenty of main-lake stuff like this in the Tucker Hollow area, but farther east, the back halves of both Sugarloaf Creeks are excellent this time of year.o Elbow Creek is another good one, and just about any of the creeks from there down to the 125 Ferry will produce throughout the spawning cycle.

Not giving specific areas, of course. Just some decent places to try.

[dtrs5kprs]

Rat on, rat on!

Is that the full size one?

[Bill Babler]

7 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Rat on, rat on!

Is that the full size one?

Nope, that is the small one.  I believe it is about 5 inches, not including the tail, which is another 5 inches.  On that point, 2 tails come in the box.  One white and one brown.  I don't think it makes a hoot, but having two is great.  Here is a big tip, put a drop of super glue jell on the outside of the pick that holds the tail.  It is a wood tooth pick going thru a plastic body and thru a rubber tail.  When it gets wet if will lose the tooth pick and the tail will fall off.  I had a couple on the Rock the other day eat it without a tail, but the tail looks cool.

Another good tip, when fishing on Bull is to use the Ned or any bottom bait with the lightest head as possible.  I caught several on the 1/16th. head and 5 pound Maxi.  Reason for this is the bait seems to skim over the Z. Mussels.  If you use something heavy where they are especially a heavy jig it digs in and will really be abrasive on your line.  I swam the Keitech in 3.3 some also with the 5 pound Maxi and I did break off one time.  Lighter is for sure better down there, keeping it with less drag on the bottom.  Really you catch so many that the Keitech is a pretty big expense.  I think I will try a swimming minnow in paddle tail or any of the 4 inch less expensive grubs or small swim baits the next several weeks.  I'll stick with the bigger KT for swimming off the ends as it does not come into contact with to much at 30' over infinity.

Good Luck

[Bill Babler]

James, by golly, you just taught me something and I thank you.  I was fishing the white, I believe they call it Powder small WP and not getting action.  I also threw the Monkey Butt.  I switched to that dark  Rat and bam.  You knew the best bait and I got lucky and stumbled onto it.

I won't forget that tip.

[dtrs5kprs]

27 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

Nope, that is the small one.  I believe it is about 5 inches, not including the tail, which is another 5 inches.  On that point, 2 tails come in the box.  One white and one brown.  I don't think it makes a hoot, but having two is great.  Here is a big tip, put a drop of super glue jell on the outside of the pick that holds the tail.  It is a wood tooth pick going thru a plastic body and thru a rubber tail.  When it gets wet if will lose the tooth pick and the tail will fall off.  I had a couple on the Rock the other day eat it without a tail, but the tail looks cool.

Another good tip, when fishing on Bull is to use the Ned or any bottom bait with the lightest head as possible.  I caught several on the 1/16th. head and 5 pound Maxi.  Reason for this is the bait seems to skim over the Z. Mussels.  If you use something heavy where they are especially a heavy jig it digs in and will really be abrasive on your line.  I swam the Keitech in 3.3 some also with the 5 pound Maxi and I did break off one time.  Lighter is for sure better down there, keeping it with less drag on the bottom.  Really you catch so many that the Keitech is a pretty big expense.  I think I will try a swimming minnow in paddle tail or any of the 4 inch less expensive grubs or small swim baits the next several weeks.  I'll stick with the bigger KT for swimming off the ends as it does not come into contact with to much at 30' over infinity.

Good Luck

You need some Zman swimbaits. That 5" diesel minnowz is like the energizer bunny. Fish after fish.

Good tip on the tails. I've wondered about that part. Some of the small production rats use trick worms and such for tails.

Spot on with the lighter heads for the Ned in that situation. We do the same on riprap up here. Only way to keep it out of harm's way.

[Smalliebigs]

On Monday, May 16, 2016 at 3:33 AM, Old plug said:

I go along with Mitch on this. I understand peole like Babler are in bussiness down there. That is really the underlying reason this forum functions. I will not tell you anything about LOZ as for as specifics go. I rarely even discuss technique. 

Yep I agree with Mitch and honestly if you think there isn't meat hunters sitting in the shadows here you are very naive 

[Bill Babler]

Bull Shoals is a huge impoundment with perhaps the poorest access in the country.  It is located in an area with virtually no super structure, and is a logistic nightmare to not only understand but pattern.  It is at most times of the year completely devoid of fishermen.

K-Dock up will receive some late Winter, crappie and walleye fishermen, and Beaver up thru Forsyth will entertain guests during the Spring White Bass bonanza.  Other than that the access points of Diamond, Tucker, 125, and then lower Bull will have some attention, but by and large it is a very wild and pristine area.

You all know it I'm sure way better than I do, I have only fished it since the mid-70's, and then again seasonally since 1988,  I fish in the Winter out of K-Dock and I fish this time of the year thru June out of Tucker.  In the Fall I will fish suspended walleye out of 125.  In all that time I never once have had to say man," there is someone fishing where I want to fish."  Never, I have been able to fish any location that I wanted without ever evening having a boat approach me.

None of us own this as our private fishing hole.  We are also so blessed to have both TR and Bull in this area.  The hate and the secrecy of some of the people that fish Bull really amazes me.  I guess I just don't understand it.

My goal with this forum is to help educate and welcome anyone to our area and provide the limited knowledge that I can pass on about how to have a successful outing while you are here.  It's really my only understanding of this forum including the comradery.  There has never been any underlying agenda and never will be. 

Good Luck and Great Fishing where ever your travels take you

[Ham]

Thanks for all the help Bill. Everyone could use some help every now and then. BSL is very large and the different parts of the lake fish differently in the Spring and Fall as water temps are widely disparate. I try to tell where I fished (general area). Water temp and water conditions. What worked and what didn't for me.

I'm not as dialed in as some are. I've only been up here 8 years or so and I work my 40 hours a week. If I fished 40 hours a week for 20 years, I might start to come close to the Yoda status Bill has.

i share what I am comfortable sharing. I'll tell lots and lots on the White River. It's a put and take fishery. Let's go bang out a 100 trout in an afternoon. It's hoot.

Bull Shoals and Norfork I'll be a little less specific because I might be spending a friend out to the exact spot or I might dream of getting back on them.

Creeks and smallie rivers. I keep on the down low. The fishing is too good and the resource is too fragile. Anyone can go and catch River smallies. Pay attention and you will learn how to catch more and larger ones pretty quickly.

i will disagree with one thing Bill said about Bull Shoals. It has plenty of access points. They just require a lot of driving to get to. It is the nature of the lake and not human failing. It isn't a bowl. Look at the aerial maps. so get ready to burn some gas and go get you some fish. 

 

 

 

[Champ188]

Bull is the "holding pond" for the White River chain of lakes, which are intended primarily for flood control. Its level varies by 30-40 feet at times, which is certainly a factor in providing access points.