Bull Shoals Lake

[rangoo]

Anyone else here fish the bull ?

[Scott F]

I was there several years ago. I live near Chicago and every few years, I take a trip South in April before things get warm up North. One year, I decided to try Bull Shoals. I could not get over how many boats were on the lake. There was a boat every 200 yards ALL the way around the lake every day. The marked, sunken brush piles each had 2 or 3 boats parked on them at all times. I'm used to fishing in Northern Minnesota or Wisconsin where I might go 2 or 3 days and not see another bass fisherman. That kind of pressure might be normal on Bull Shoals but I won't drive 8 or 10 hours again to get in line to fish. I was there in the spring, Is it always so crowded?

[rangoo]

Spring and summer is always heavy boat traffic mostly tourists. Lol. Lake is empty now. I need to get out there and fish the bluffs

[Bluebasser86]

Been there several times, always a fun lake. I haven't been in a few years but it was pretty good to us last time I was there. 

[rangerjockey]

Love Bull Shoals. Even the holiday weekends aren't as crowded as Table rock..I've never seen it like was described above..

To me, it can fish pretty tough.

 

[rangoo]

24 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

Love Bull Shoals. Even the holiday weekends aren't as crowded as Table rock..I've never seen it like was described above..

To me, it can fish pretty tough.

 

It is a tough lake to fish and i live here fish it all the time. Still haven't figured it out though. Lol

[rangerjockey]

Could be worse.. To me, Beaver is tougher still.

[Bluebasser86]

Any time I've been on Bull, it's rare to see another boat, but I usually go when it's really early and cold when it fishes the best IMO. It is kind of a strange lake and can be tough to figure them out, but there's a ton of fish to be caught once you do figure them out. 

[Yakalong]

I fished it about 6 years ago, I would like to make it back out there but I always end up at table rock or Taneycomo when I am in that area.

[eyedabassman]

On 12/10/2016 at 6:07 AM, rangerjockey said:

Love Bull Shoals. Even the holiday weekends aren't as crowded as Table rock..I've never seen it like was described above..

To me, it can fish pretty tough.

 

 

On 12/10/2016 at 6:51 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Any time I've been on Bull, it's rare to see another boat, but I usually go when it's really early and cold when it fishes the best IMO. It is kind of a strange lake and can be tough to figure them out, but there's a ton of fish to be caught once you do figure them out. 

I agree Table Rock gets hammered way more than Bull Shoals! When I have been on the Bull I was lucky to see a boat or two! And the fishing can be better than the Rock at times!

[roadwarrior]

In the spring of 2008, Bull Shoals reached its highest water level since 1957. The lake crested at 695.02 feet above sea level, prompting the Army Corps of Engineers to open the floodgates to relieve the lake from further flooding.

 

I was there for 3 days around June 5.  We fished Big and Little Sister for the most part. We never went 15 minutes without "Fish On!" all three days. The majority of the fish were smallmouth, but we did have a mix of largemouth, spots and white bass. All of the fish were caught on a Gitzit, Baby Diaper Yellow.

 

[rangerjockey]

As I remember Table Rock was over 930 in 2008. All the flood gates were open , was really something to see

Table Rock dumps into Taneycomo which in turn dumps into bull shoals.

 It was a little scary running with all the debris in the water but the picnic table bite was great.

 

 

[scaleface]

I also fished it once and it was flooded so bad the ramps  were not accessible  . We launched on the road . Got on  a real good smallmouth bite 30 foot deep with tubes , up near Theodosia .

[rangerjockey]

Yep, If I ever left Table Rock it would be for the Theodosia/Pontiac area.