Welcome To Bull Shoals Lake
Arkansas
We are proud to call this part of the Arkansas Ozark Mountains, home.
Here, we have something for everyone.We invite you to visit our Resort ,
located right on the shoreline of Bull Shoals Lake, and experience the
fishing that has made us famous.
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HOT LINKS
ACCOMMODATIONS
Chit Chat Chaw Resort
FISHING REPORTS
Chit Chat Chaw
Fishing Report
Bull Shoals Lake
Boat Dock
Fishing Report
LAKE INFORMATION
Bull Shoals Lake
Lake Levels
Bull Shoals Dam Generation
Bull Shoals Lake
Information
U.S.A.C.E
WEATHER
Mountain Home,
Arkansas
Weather
LAKE MAP
Bull Shoals Lake
Map(pdf)
AREA INFORMATION
Ozark Mountain
Region
Arkansas Parks
and Tourism
Arkansas Game
& Fish
GOOD FISHING LINKS
bassresource.com
fishresource.com
walleyecentral.com
Mo. walleye.com
Walleye fishing on Bull Shoals Lake has enjoyed a great surge in popularity over the last few years due to the excellent fishing available. Fish in the 20 inch range are quite normal with 25 to 29 inch fish very common. Walleye in the lake will reach limit size of 18 inches in during there third year after hatching. With very good natural spawns and both Arkansas Game & Fish and Missouri Dept. Natural Resources stocking to supplement the natural reproduction, there are always plenty of fish to be caught.
Good Walleye fishing for us normally starts for us in the first part of April when the water temperatures reach into the lower 50's. We will start trolling the banks and points during this time starting with shallower water in the 12 to 15 foot range progressively moving out to the 25 foot depths. Good baits for us this time of year are your shadr
aps, deep diving rouges,and Rapala glass shads in your shad, blue or black back / silver color patterns. Casting stick baits in these same areas can also produce very well at this time of year. Once again we use either light (10 Lb) line or 4 or 6 Lb. diameter fireline . Low visibility line as possible cannot be stressed enough here on Bull Shoals. Low light hours are always better producers and after dark is the best.
Starting around the first part of May, as the water continues to warm and the fish continue to move to there summer haunts is when fishing really starts to pick up for us here at the Resort. We find that we catch most of our walleye on or near main lake, even though some of the deeper creek arms still hold large volumes of fish at all times of the year and are some what like there own mini lakes. We will fish points, drop offs, ledges close to deep water still trolling the same baits as earlier in the season. Also during this time of the year is when fishing a crawler harness and nightcrawler or a plain hook or split shot and night crawler also works well.
Your daytime fish will be out a little deeper than before and can be found as deep as 30 foot. Come night time the fish will move up onto the points and drop offs and can be found in the 14 to 18 foot range. Troll your bait far enough back from the boat that they will be just barley ticking bottom at your desired target depth. Many times this time of year if your not on the bottom, your not catching fish. A very good bait to try out in the deeper waters up to about 30 foot would be the Rapala Deep Tail Dancers in the # 11 size. They have been known to catch many quality fish and are a consistent producer.
aps, deep diving rouges,and Rapala glass shads in your shad, blue or black back / silver color patterns. Casting stick baits in these same areas can also produce very well at this time of year. Once again we use either light (10 Lb) line or 4 or 6 Lb. diameter fireline . Low visibility line as possible cannot be stressed enough here on Bull Shoals. Low light hours are always better producers and after dark is the best. Starting around the first part of May, as the water continues to warm and the fish continue to move to there summer haunts is when fishing really starts to pick up for us here at the Resort. We find that we catch most of our walleye on or near main lake, even though some of the deeper creek arms still hold large volumes of fish at all times of the year and are some what like there own mini lakes. We will fish points, drop offs, ledges close to deep water still trolling the same baits as earlier in the season. Also during this time of the year is when fishing a crawler harness and nightcrawler or a plain hook or split shot and night crawler also works well.
Your daytime fish will be out a little deeper than before and can be found as deep as 30 foot. Come night time the fish will move up onto the points and drop offs and can be found in the 14 to 18 foot range. Troll your bait far enough back from the boat that they will be just barley ticking bottom at your desired target depth. Many times this time of year if your not on the bottom, your not catching fish. A very good bait to try out in the deeper waters up to about 30 foot would be the Rapala Deep Tail Dancers in the # 11 size. They have been known to catch many quality fish and are a consistent producer.
Come the end of May when the Walleye find there summer haunts and the thermocline starts to set up, I will concentrate on the main lake points and the deep open water of the main lake itself. There again I will troll cranklbaits on the points down in the depths of the thermocline which will vary around 25 to 30 foot deep. Using lead core line or snap weights will help you get your smaller baits that only run in the 10 to 15 foot range down to were the fish are. Also pulling night crawler harness around these point and drop offs will put fish in the boat. My very favorite way to catch walleye would be deep open water trolling. These fish will be located under schools of shad over the deep water or off points and flats. I will look for shad in or bellow the thermocline which is normally around 30 feet and looking for walleye bellow the shad. I will have the boat over 100 to 150 foot of water. I will then set out 4 rods, 2 with leadcore and 2 on downriggers. The 2 with lead core will be my deeper rods starting down around 40 and 45 ft with deeper running baits like Rapala Deep Husky Jerks, Reef Runners or Tail Dancers. These 2 rods are my outside rods. I then will take the inner 2 downriggers and put on 2 shallower crankbaits such as Rapala Glass Shads or or a similar shad imitating bait. I will then calculate how deep the bait will run with 120 foot of line out which is normally around 12 to 13 feet. Subtract that from my target depth for that rod and set my down rigger depth accordingly. ie. target depth 35 foot. less bait 13 ft.equals down rigger line down 22 ft. This has proving a very productive and accurate way of getting your baits to a exact depth time after time where boat speed does 
not affect it as I am when using lead core. My trolling speed will be anywhere between 1.7 to 2.1 mph. I never run baits in line with the downrigger balls, keeping the balls up above the fish , shad and thermocline. This rod set up will have 2 baits set back at 120 ft and 2 baits back anywhere from 225 to 350 foot back on the lead core line .Making sure to have well tuned baits that run straight is critical to get maximum depth from your baits but also to prevent cross overs and tangles. Once you locate fish on your locater or start catching fish in a particular depth range you can fine tune your depths of the other rods accordingly. Fishing out over the deep open water and tree tops will consistently produce the larger walleye of normally 23 to 30 inch , were as the fish on the banks (15 to 30 ft) close in will be 18 to 23 inch fish. This a great way to produce a nice bag of fish all the way through the end of July. Have fun and catch some fish.
not affect it as I am when using lead core. My trolling speed will be anywhere between 1.7 to 2.1 mph. I never run baits in line with the downrigger balls, keeping the balls up above the fish , shad and thermocline. This rod set up will have 2 baits set back at 120 ft and 2 baits back anywhere from 225 to 350 foot back on the lead core line .Making sure to have well tuned baits that run straight is critical to get maximum depth from your baits but also to prevent cross overs and tangles. Once you locate fish on your locater or start catching fish in a particular depth range you can fine tune your depths of the other rods accordingly. Fishing out over the deep open water and tree tops will consistently produce the larger walleye of normally 23 to 30 inch , were as the fish on the banks (15 to 30 ft) close in will be 18 to 23 inch fish. This a great way to produce a nice bag of fish all the way through the end of July. Have fun and catch some fish.