How to catch walleye on Bull Shoals

[duckydoty]

Started off early this morning with a buddy, launching the boat at 5 am.  Headed down the lake for a sit in the woods. On the walk in, we jumped 8 deer, so I did not think we would have a chance of seeing another. That was ok with me, because I was hoping for a chance at turkeys. Just after shooting time, I could hear a turkey behind me about 75-100 yards up in the roost.  After that I heard one to my left fly down. About that time a giant murder of crows flew in raising all kinds of ruckus, flushing the still roosted turkey off in another direction.  I could see my buddy's ground blind from where I was at and apperrently he had deer skirting the limits of his shooting range all morning.  About 10:30 we gave up on the hunt and changed gears to chasing walleye.  Good move on out part!  We had rigs in the water about 10 minutes when we caught the first keeper. We kept trolling the flats from just below K Dock to almost Snapp.  Had 3 different areas we picked up walleye in 20-27 feet of water. Tried one long run back down the lake and again picked up walleye in the same 3 areas. Decided to concentrate on the 2 most productive of the 3 and that was w the flat just above K Dock and the one just across and below K Dock. Trolled 1.9-2.3 mph depending on if we were in 20 feet of water (1.9) or 27 feet(2.3). Had enough line out with 3 ounce bottom bouncers to hit the bottom ever few seconds.  We averaged 1 short for ever keeper we caught and had a welcomed bonus of a 13 inch crappie. Did not catch any of the stinking bass which was awesome!  Only target species today. Ended up with 2 limits of keeper walleye and 8 shorts in 5 hours of fishing. Great day filled with adventure and good company!

Oh, and got to meet Paco while taking out.  Lots of fun chatting with you!

View full article

[JestersHK]

Nice Buddy!  Whens the fish fry!  

[Royal Blue]

You had a much better day than we did.  Broke the one walleye bite off, and boated a few short bass.  3 keeper largemouth that barely made 15 inches.  We did see a couple of guys boat what looked like a big walleye almost as far upstream as beaver creek.  Spent the day hitting some new to us spots upstream rather than downstream from K-dock.  Probably the wrong decision.

[duckydoty]

25 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

Nice Buddy!  Whens the fish fry!  

Come on down to jigfest in December. Those walleye are dedicated to that fish fry.

[terryj1024]

Great day on the Water Guys way to get them.

[Terrierman]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 8:58 AM, duckydoty said:

Come on down to jigfest in December. Those walleye are dedicated to that fish fry.

Prayers answered. 

[westbranchfly]

Definitely a good day.  I’m learning that being a deckhand on a busy walleye boat is quite the challenge.  First lesson- keep the leaders shorter than two thirds the length of the boat.