Bull Shoals Beatdown 5/29 and 5/30

[bferg]

Some friends and I fished Bull Shoals for the first time ever last weekend... and we were the ones getting beat down!   It wasn't pretty.

Friday we put in at dam site at 5:30 AM.  We had never been on the lake before, only going off of youtube videos and past reports we set out to find some fish.  It would prove to be more difficult than we imagined.  They had started letting water though the dam spillway (which we would hear from a couple of locals later has a negative impact on fishing).  We fished for 14 hours with only 10-12 fish to show for it and nothing to brag about.  And we fished HARD.  The Dam areas is STEEP and DEEP.  We tried topwater, flipping bushes, fishing offshore on points, docks, back in creek arms, on the main lake.  It was brutal everywhere we went.  The few fish we did find were 12-14 inch SM,  on ned rig and neko rigs.  Went back to the house with our tail between our legs.  Post spawn with +30 feet of extra water is a tough way to figure out a new lake.  

Saturday we drove more to the mid-lake area around Peel and did much better in a shorter morning of fishing.  Fished from 6 to noon with more success.  Caught lots of SM on Neko and Ned- better fish came in deeper water (20+ feet) and around some docks.  Still only a couple 15+ inch fish, but lots of action.  My brother caught one very nice LM pushing 4 lbs.  Saturday there was NO wind, NO clouds, and when the sun got high it got predictably tough so we called it a little after noon.  But, after the butt kicking on Friday, Saturday felt like a really good morning.

Best part of Bull, especially the mid-lake area, was the complete lack of development or people.  Very few boats on the lake, not much development in that area and it was beautiful.  On the way home I drove across the 86 bridge on Table Rock and you could have walked across that lake on all the boats that were our there.  Complete opposite of Bull.  

I would say Bull got the best of us this time, but showed a few things that made me want to go back for sure.  

[Fish24/7]

Thanks for the report! 

This time of year is kinda hit or miss with post spawn bass, but be thankful you got into some. I know some people who have gone there first time and stayed a few days and never catch a keeper bass. You did good!

Even if the fishing gets slow, the scenery makes up for it 1000%

I was out Saturday. Fishing in the woods is strange , 5' snakes everywhere, dozens of turtles, herons, ducks. Absolutely loved it! Caught so many bluegill could have filled a bathtub. It was just nuts. Hook one ,and there would be 15+ followers. I sat anchored in one spot for two hours before it stopped producing. I saw dozens of schools of gills cruising by the boat. They would come right up to the boat and grab bait dangling over the side with 2' of line out. Had so many doubles I lost count. Cast out hook one and then the other rod would start bouncing around 😁