Fishing
Bull Shoals Lake is well known for white, largemouth, and spotted bass, as well as channel catfish, bream, walleyed, bluegill, and crappie. With the exception of Toledo Bend Reservoir, it is doubtful that any lake in the United States has created as many bass fishing legends as has Bull Shoals Lake in northwestern Arkansas and Southwestern Missouri. The number of bass fishermen who learned their trade here and went on to become prominent in the sport or industry is staggering, legends such as Virgil Ward, Charlie Campbell, and Forrest Wood just to name a few. There is a good reason why Bull Shoals has generated some of the greatest fishermen. Shortly after creating in 1951, Bull Shoals began producing truly awesome catches and anglers from far and wide traveled here to take part in the action. Those were the halcyon days of American Bass fishing, of course, but today nearly half a century later this 45,400 acre lake on the White River continues to produce excellent fishing. The Lake can be extremely challenging due to the generally clear water, but largemouth’s weighing more than 13 pounds have been caught here, as have small mouth’s topping 7 pounds.
Among the favorite fishing areas are Howard, Jimmie, sister and Gulley Spring Creeks, all located on the lower half of the lake. Each features shallow flats and gravel points where the bottom does not fall away quite so quickly. These are also very large tributaries where fishermen could literally spend days fishing all the points and coves available to them.
-The daily aggregate limit for bass on Bull Shoals lake is six, with a minimum length requirement of 15 inches (12 inches for spotted bass)
-The daily limit for crappie is 15 with a minimum length requirement of 10 inches.
-When fishing in Bull Shoals it is important to note that the lake sites in both Arkansas and Missouri making both state permits required to fish the lake if you plan on fishing in both parts (a hybrid permit is available as well that allows for fishing on both lakes)
-A nonresident annual fishing license is 32$
Fishing techniques:
A number of different fishing techniques work well on Bull Shoals depending upon the season of the year. Since the Lake is located in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri he water of the lake experiences a water “turn-over” in late may and again in November. By far the most popular time on the lake is between March and May when bass move shallow to spawn. During this time, top water lures attract a lot of largemouth bass, while small plastic tube jigs and crank baits cat small mouth and spotted bass.
Top water fishing is what most visiting anglers tend to remember about Bull Shoals. The very idea of tossing a Zara Spook, Chug Bug, or some other surface lure out over water 50 feet deep seems preposterous, but at Bull Shoals big largemouth rocket up and out of the depths and clobber the lures with a vengeance. This is how the aforementioned Charlie Campbell became legendary as a top water angler, his years of experience on this lake basically rewrote the book on top water bass fishing.
Summer fishing is generally slow on Bull Shoals, leading many anglers to do their fishing at night. Plastic worms or jigs are favorite lures then because the fish are often holding off the edges of the points and bluffs at depths of 20 feet or more.
The extremely clear water in Bull Shoals generally dictates the use of light lines when fishing plastic tube jigs and spider grubs. Underwater visibility is generally 10 feet or more. The lake level does fluctuate due to rainfall and the visibilities goes along with it, but for the most part Bull Shoals is a very clear lake.
Typically the small mouth at Bull Shoals inhabit slightly deeper water than largemouth’s, although both species normally can be found in the same tributary creeks and even on the same rocky points. Small plastic tube jigs are among the most productive small mouth lures, although the bornzebacks will also hit both top waters and crank baits.
-Most successful lures on Bull Shoals: Plastic tube jigs, worms, crainkbaits, top waters. For an up to date fishing report on Bull Shoals lake click the previous link
