Welcome to our Bull Shoals Lake Fishing Home Page
Bull Shoals Lake is located on the border of Missouri and Arkansas. You can enjoy fishing, boating, hiking or just relaxing around the lake. This region has plenty of places to stay, boat rentals and restaurants so you can plan a trip here, but don’t expect to find bigger towns with tons of stores. This is an uncrowded destination, making it a wonderful place to get away from it all. Just plan accordingly with the things you will need for a week on the lake. Bull Shoals Lake is an awesome multi-species fishing lake. Many different species of bass are available to go along with walleye, catfish, trout and panfish.
Primary Species of Fish
Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass & Spotted Bass
The primary species of fish in this lake are largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass. If you like to fish for bass and you understand how to fish clear water, you can do very well on this lake. Try using lures that are sized for all 3 species of fish and you should run into all 3 species of fish here.
Secondary Species of Fish
Striped Bass, Walleye, Catfish, Crappie, Bluegill, Rainbow Trout & Brown Trout
There are a lot of other species of fish in this lake. Anglers do report some nice catches of striped bass, walleye and catfish. Trout are here in limited numbers, but nearby, there is some awesome trout fishing available. Panfish can be caught here too.
Bull Shoals Lake is Huge
Bull Shoals Lake is a gigantic lake. Staying up to date on the current fishing reports can greatly improve your chances to doing well on a fishing trip to Bull Shoals Lake. In the spring, you have a variety of bass and other fish that move into the creek arms to get ready to spawn, but lake levels and water clarity can change quickly here in the spring. Whether it is big rains or the amount of water they are running through the dam, the lake level can drastically affect where the fish are and how well they are feeding. Some of the creeks will have murkier water while others will be really clear, so there are a lot of variables that come into play on a trip here early in the year. In the summer and fall, it is a little more predictable as the better bite will usually be in deeper water out on the main lake as well in some of the creek arms too. Keeping up with the current fishing reports and being able to adapt and find new spots is key to having success here. Once you find a pattern though, you have a good chance to catch a lot of fish since this lake is so big and full of fish.
Bull Shoals Lake Tailwater
The Bull Shoals Tailwater was created as a result of the Bull Shoals Dam. The dam was built in 1952 for flood control and hydroelectric power generation, but this tailwater fishery has become one of the best trout fishing rivers in the midwest. This section of the river is what most people are talking about when they are talking about their white river fishing trips. This area is very popular and we have our own White River section, so take a look if you want to learn more about the trout fishery here.
White River Fishing Guides & Outfitters
Clear Water Fishing – Use Lighter Line
Bull Shoals Lake is known for its clear, deep waters. While this lake’s water can stain quite a bit during heavy rains, the lake clears up with underwater visibility 20 to 30 feet. Using lighter line is key to getting more bites in clear water, especially in the middle of the day when the sun is out. Use 6 to 8 pound test line and you’ll get a lot more bites and still have enough strength to get some of the bigger fish into the boat. Fluorocarbon line or at the very least, a fluorocarbon leader will help get more bites too.
Bull Shoals Lake offers anglers some good fishing for largemouth bass. There are good numbers of them in the lake as well as some big fish too. With its deep and clear water, most anglers do better on this lake by fishing deeper and with lighter line than they would on most other lakes that they fish.
Deep Water Fishing
Bull Shoals Lake is deep, so plan on fishing deeper water to consistently catch fish here. The spring provides some outstanding shallow water fishing, but beyond that, anglers routinely catch a variety of bass in 15 to 30 feet of water and these fish will often suspend 20 to 30 feet down over water much deeper. For many anglers, fishing for suspended bass and panfish 20 feet down over 50 feet of water may seem like a waste of time. At times, finding schooling fish over deep water is the only way to consistently catch a lot of fish with quality fish too. Make sure you use your electronics and look for baitfish when fishing deeper water. The areas that have large schools of shad will usually be the spots that hold good numbers of bass and other fish too.
Fish at Night
From late spring through summer, anglers report good fishing at night on Bull Shoals Lake. It gets so hot down here in the summer that for many anglers, fishing at night is more enjoyable for the lower air temperatures. However, it can also be a great time to find more fish willing to bite. The darkness makes it easier to get bites as well since the water is so clear.
Fish the Creeks
If you take a look at a map of this lake, you will see how many creek arms there are off of the main lake. These creek arms hold fish year round. Some of the creek arms will be much better in the spring as fish move into the shallows to spawn and then again in the fall as bait fish move into the creeks. However, Bull Shoals Lake is so deep that most of these creek arms will have plenty of deep water which will also hold fish in the summer and winter months too. When searching the creek arms to find fish, you may have to search for certain water temperatures, shoreline cover or schooling baitfish to find the better bite on each particular day. There are a lot of arms to fish, so once you can figure out a pattern, there will be other places where you can go to replicate the pattern to find more active fish.
Fish the Main Lake
The main lake points and shorelines are good spots to target a variety of bass and other fish too. The spring is the best time to find fish shallower along the shorelines and off the points. When fishing the rocky shorelines, some wind blowing into the shore tends to provide better fishing. The points can be great places to fish in the spring and fall as fish use these points to transition from the main lake into the creeks to spawn. As many of the fish transition back out to the main lake once the spawn is completed, these points can also be very productive. In the summer and fall, you can usually have some success by fishing the main lake points that jump out to deeper water fairly quickly. The fish attractors located on the main lake are great spots to find fish too. For anglers that are good with their electronics, schooling fish can be found following baitfish from the summer months all the way through winter.
Fish the Points
This lake has a lot of main lake points. These points can always hold some fish, but spring and fall tend to be the best times to target bass and other fish off the points. The points that lead to deep water quickly are great spots to fish in the summer. Many anglers will fish the bottom when targeting rocky points, however, in the summer and fall months, you can find a lot of fish suspended just off the points in deeper water just away from the points. If you are running from point to point, don’t rule out these areas. You can usually find fish quickly or rule a spot out with good electronics when searching for these suspended fish.
Fish the Rocks
Bull Shoals Lake has a bedrock bottom, so plan on fishing plenty of hard bottom while fishing here. Anglers target a variety of fish along the rocky shorelines throughout the lake.
Fish the Shorelines
Because this lake is so deep, most anglers just choose to stay right along the shoreline and they do just fine for a variety of different fish. Many of the shorelines drop off quick, so you don’t have to be far from shore to be fishing water deep enough to hold a variety of fish and quality fish. Whether you fish the main lake shorelines or the creeks, there are a lot of fish that relate to the shorelines here.
Fish the Wood
Bull Shoals Lake has a ton of fish attractors and there is even a map of them, so you can find them easier. These fish attractors hold bass, crappie and other fish too. You can also find plenty of shorelines in the creeks with shoreline wood as cover to fish as well. The shoreline wood cover usually holds a variety of bass and panfish, especially during the spring.
Bull Shoals Lake Fishing Regulations
Arkansas
Arkansas General Fishing Regulations
Specific Trout Water Regulations
Missouri
Missouri Department of Conservation
