Lake Springfield Bullheads??

[Moose21]

I’ve seen on several old posts that people have caught bullhead catfish out of Lake Springfield. I am new to Springfield and have never caught a bullhead in Missouri before, how would I go about doing that here? I’ve tried off the piers by the dam and haven’t caught any (or any channels either). Any advice would be appreciated. 

[river angler man]

It was a number of years ago. But one year, I kept catching bullheads in the lake accessible area in lake Springfield park. Not by the boathouse but at the bottom of the huge hill under the hilltop pavilion. It only happened one year, and I fished there for years. It was odd. I would have used chicken liver to catch them. I found this pic that's dated in 2011 if you want to know how long ago that was. Looks like I ate him, can't imagine I got much meat, lol. I also would fish in the James river at Creighton access, which is the body of water they come from since they're not stocked in Lake Springfield, but I've never caught one there.

[fishinwrench]

33 minutes ago, river angler man said:

Looks like I ate him

Were you filming an episode of Survivor? 

I've never known anyone to intentionally target Bullheads......only cuss them. 

[tjm]

44 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

I've never known anyone to intentionally target Bullheads......only cuss them. 

I used to take a lot of them back east, called them "hornpout", so not what would be in Lake Springfield, but they were good tasting white flesh and while I never weighed them, I'd guess the ones we ate between 1.5 and 3 pounds. With generous limits it's easy to make meal.  The best bait was nightcrawlers threaded on monofilament with no hook as they would hold onto that ball of worm until touched against boat or bucket and then spit it out. If using hooks it was best to us a #10 snelled hook with a snap swivel and replace the hook with each catch, recovering the snell and hook when cleaning the fish.  On fly rod the best fly would likely be a black or brown leech, I took some on an all black woolly bugger twitched slowly on the pond bottom in about 3' of water. 50 years ago they fairly popular in that area. 

In one small trout lake the hornpout hatch in a particular cove would draw trout from the entire lake. 

The only Mo.  population that I've fished is in Big Sugar Creek where I spent a few hours casting weighted flies into their nests and practicing C&R, I discovered that during their spawn they apparently don't eat, as they would only pick up fly to remove it from a nest. Those were Black Bullheads native to most of Mo. and in that creek averaged <1lb. But, there were locals there that feasted on them. On average I think that any bullhead will have more meat than a trout or bass of equal length, but, that's just my thoughts about how thick the ones  I caught were in comparison. 

In a pond situation, I'd rig multiple rod/reels with bobbers and snap swivels with snelled hooks and worm baits, setting the baits near the bottom. 

You do want to be very careful of those very sharp spines, they are painful and seem to cause lingering soreness.

[Flysmallie]

On 7/6/2025 at 8:40 PM, Moose21 said:

I’ve seen on several old posts that people have caught bullhead catfish out of Lake Springfield. I am new to Springfield and have never caught a bullhead in Missouri before, how would I go about doing that here? I’ve tried off the piers by the dam and haven’t caught any (or any channels either). Any advice would be appreciated. 

Park right across from the old power plant and follow the old rail tracks up the southeast side. Going to run into better water there. 

[Quillback]

When I was a kid living in Massachusetts the local ponds were swarming with bullhead.  People claimed they were good to eat, but I never kept one.  

[jdmidwest]

I have caught many as a kid, the flesh is slightly mushier than catfish but good eating.  Skin them and fry them whole like fiddlers.

[Moose21]

Thanks for all the replies, I went out the other night and caught some little channels unfortunately no bullhead. Going to try some different areas and bait this week and see if I have any better luck. Haven’t made it out to crighton access yet but it’s definitely on my list of places to go. 

[Terrierman]

On 7/10/2025 at 5:37 PM, fishinwrench said:

Were you filming an episode of Survivor? 

I've never known anyone to intentionally target Bullheads......only cuss them. 

When I was a kid we'd go to a farm pond with bullheads deluxe.  Skinned and fried whole they're as good as any other small fish.  Except maybe bluegill.

[fishinwrench]

6 hours ago, Terrierman said:

When I was a kid we'd go to a farm pond with bullheads deluxe.  Skinned and fried whole they're as good as any other small fish.  Except maybe bluegill.

The bullhead where I grew up had yellow meat.    Just didn't seem like anything I wanted to cook & eat when there were other choices.  

 

Caught a flathead from the Missouri River once that had yellow meat, it also had a 8" piece of auto door weatherstripping in its belly, and the meat smelled a hint of diesel fuel...... It never made it to the grease either.