This Lake is Insane!!!!!

[David Goddard]

I was lucky enough to be able to fish the College Bass Tour stop #3 on Bull Shoals last week/weekend. Only got one day of practice due to one of my professors not letting me make up an exam. @Justin92297 practiced Tuesday as well and had about 15 lbs up around buck creek. He was flipping dirty water bushes, throwing a Carolina rig off of long points leading into spawning pockets, and throwing a 3.8 inch keitech on windy banks.

Wednesday we fished till about 10 a.m. looking for bigger fish on beds then got on plane in the middle of the lake and the lower unit blew up. We didn't hit anything the gear case just exploded. So our teammates sacrificed their last day of practice to go help us. Long story short I was left with the boat and waited for them to get the trailer to buck creek ramp. I fished a neko rig almost all day Wednesday and caught some really nice ones casting at bushes. I caught like 15 keepers in about 2 hours within trolling distance of buck creek.

Thursday, the first day of the tournament, we fished off the trolling motor and caught 14 lbs of all smallmouth off a 3.3 and 3.8 inch keitech and the neko rig. Obviously we were within trolling distance of Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock Marina. Fish were stacked on the sides of points.

Friday we rented a prototype BassCat which went 87 mph. Very scary but nice of Rick the Marina to loan me his personal boat. Some of the nicest people I have ever met down there. Ran up to some of the places that we caught them in practice and played bumper boats. People fishing everywhere most looked like college kids. Caught a limit of largemouth but did not have the quality bites which we had in practice. 

All on all bull shoals is an amazing lake and I cannot wait to go back. We fished bushes pretty much all week casting in front of them with swimbaits and into them with everything else. Tight lines everyone

[Jerry Rapp]

great they loaned you a boat for day 2, and you did what I would have done, gone back to where you did good in practice.  But if you had duplicated your day 1 weight by staying close with the trolling motor, would have finished higher?  Just curious.  Enjoy your reports.

[Fish24/7]

Plenty more bushes to fish now! Weather was great imo when you were here and the bite was great too! It aint always that easy 😉 thanks for reporting!

[David Goddard]

On 5/1/2019 at 3:29 PM, Jerry Rapp said:

great they loaned you a boat for day 2, and you did what I would have done, gone back to where you did good in practice.  But if you had duplicated your day 1 weight by staying close with the trolling motor, would have finished higher?  Just curious.  Enjoy your reports.

Yes if we had 28 lbs we would've probably moved up around 50 places. Those smallmouth in bull shoals are awesome! I dont know if they would've have bit as well as they did the day before but I did have a buddy from another school that fished the areas near launch and caught 15 lbs 7 oz...we definitely wish we would've stayed close