Well, the 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series Trokar Quest was held here on Bull Shoals Lake from April 19-22…  and WOW!  What a tournament!  Youngster Brandon Palaniuk walked away $100,000 richer at the end of the 4 days with a 78 lb., 6 ounce stringer.

Many of you fish both the rivers and the lakes while you’re here, so you probably already know the nearly limitless fishing opportunities that exist in the Twin Lakes area.

Pros are referring to all the 16-inch bass as being from the 2008 “super spawn” that came when the lake was in flood stage throughout the spring. The “little bitty ones” were spawned last year, when the lake was even higher than it was in the spring of 2008.

The website at http://www.bassmaster.com had excellent coverage of the entire 4-day event, but I wanted to share some of the comments made, and some of the specific blogs/articles posted below.

• …“I’m blown away. I really am,” said Jeff Kriet. “I had no idea. Honest to goodness, it’s absolutely amazing. Unbelievable.”…

• …Britt Myers, a 37-year-old B.A.S.S. veteran from Lake Wylie, S.C., was similarly impressed.  “I probably had the best fishing day of my life,” Myers said of his 20-4 day, which put him in fourth place with a total of 35-3. “I might have caught more than a hundred. I don’t know.  “When I heard we were going to Bull Shoals, ‘I was like Bull Shoals?’ “You look at previous tournaments and it took like 14 pounds a day to win it. Then I come out here and catch them like I did today. It’s insane. I would rate this lake up with Pickwick.”…

• …Greg Hackney, a 38-year-old B.A.S.S. veteran from Gonzales, La., who has qualified for 10 consecutive Bassmaster Classics, was similarly impressed.  “You can pull up on a ledge at Kentucky Lake and catch them like that, but not just on the bank, like you can here,” said Hackney, who finished just an ounce out of the cut with a two-day total of 27-1. “And they were keepers.  I don’t know that I’ve ever fished a place where you could just wind down the bank and catch keepers like this place.” …

• …”We go to a lot of places,” said Kevin VanDam, who has won four Bassmaster Classic titles and seven Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year crowns. “But the number of smallmouth, largemouth and spots here, it’s unbelievable. This lake is on fire right now. It’s really special.”…

If you want to read some of the short, informative articles about the tournament, here are some of my favorites:

No One Saw This Coming

Bull Shoals Full Of Bass

Defining Palaniuk

Notes & Quotes From Day 2

Bull Shoals – A Lesson Learned

It’s been busy in the Ozark Mountain Region over the last couple of weeks.  From November 13 – 23, the Ozark Mountain Region helped host the “Arkansas, The State of Fishing” Media Event.  Top sports writers, pro-staff, and major tackle suppliers all converged on the area to get a little taste of all the wonderful fishing opportunities in the area.  His Place Resort was fortunate enough to be able to provide guided trout fishing trips on the White River, and one of our guests was Darl Black, who wrote the following review about The Land of Oz, his view of the Ozarks.

story below by Darl Black -

Early in November I spent several days in the Missouri Ozarks. This past week found me a little further south in the Arkansas Ozarks for more fishing adventures in the Land of Oz.

White River Brown Trout

I was taking part in Arkansas State of Fishing sponsored by Frabill, Northland Fishing Tackle, MarCum Technologies, Arkansas Tourism, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, and area resorts.  Over 20 outdoor writers participated in this extended photo shoot, staying two to three days to experience the variety of fishing adventures.  Even though it was a massive undertaking with complicated scheduling, Arkansas hospitality was clearly demonstrated by area resort owners and staff who made everyone feel right at home.

My base of operation was Gaston’s Resort, from which I had the opportunity to fish the White River for trout, Norfork Lake for bass and Bull Shoals for crappie.

On day one I joined forces with Eric Naig and local trout guide Curtis Redburn to discover why the White River is recognized as a world class trout fishery.  Small rainbows came on almost every cast with a live red worm.  But it took my bold change up to a pink suspending jerkbait to draw strikes from big browns in the river.

Bass on Lake Norfork

On day two I explored the coves of Norfork Lake with bass angler Larry Olson.  Larry guided me to the lake’s triple bass trophy: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass.  All bass were caught on a Northland Jungle Bug with a crawdad trailer.

Crappie fishing on Bull Shoals Lake

My final day in the Land of Oz, I fished Bull Shoals with Curt Niedermire and guide Frank Saksa as we probed brushpiles in 25 feet of water for big black crappies.  We scored crappies up to 2 pounds by following Frank’s detailed instructions on counting down a 1/16-ounce jig to the top of the brush.

If you would like to arrange a magical visit to this land of enchantment, check out the following websites: http://www.visitmyarkansas.com/ and http://www.ozarkmountainregion.com/.

to view Darl’s story on his blog, visit http://darlblack.blogspot.com/2010/11/oz-2.html

Our thanks to Darl for help getting out the word about our wonderful area!

Here’s more articles about some of the great fishing opportunities in the Ozark Mountain Region.  I met Brian McClintock at the November, 2010 “Arkansas, The State of Fishing” media event.  Although there wasn’t time for Brian to fish on the White River this time, he had a blast fishing on nearby Lake Norfork!

story below by Brian McClintock, GoFishn.com

Tags: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Kentucky Bass, Walleye, Crappie, Brim, Jig, Soft Lure, Spinnerbait, Spoon, Clothing, Underwater Camera, Casting, Catch-and-release, Jigging

We don’t have big water in central Pennsylvania. We have a few small lakes that anyone who has real lakes would call a pond, and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River is our only fishery that really supports the open-water species like bass, muskie, and walleye.

When I received an invitation to head to Arkansas‘s famed Mountain Home area, sandwiched between two of The Natural State’s most well-known reservoirs: Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork Lake, I was anxious to get on some big water and find some of those fish that are hard to find in my homeland, and that’s just what we did.

The iconic Gaston’s White River Resort was my headquarters for the weekend, thanks to the generous people at Arkansas State Tourism and Gaston’s itself. With 50s-esque person pink cottages, a peacock pen, and all the hospitality that the South is known for, Gaston’s has been home to anglers fishing the area for decades. And their formidable owner, Jim Gaston, is a living Arkansas legend, but enjoys patrolling his grounds with his dogs in toe, making sure everyone has what they need for a good time and a comfortable stay.

Thanks to Northland Fishing Tackle, Frabill, and Marcum, not only was I going to be doing some fishing, I also was able to test out some of their new gear, including the much-lauded Frabill StormSuit. The StormSuit won Best of Show at ICAST this year, and after wearing it all weekend, I know why. (Click here for my gear reviews of the StormSuit, Northland Fishing Tackle’s Reed-Runner spinnerbait, and the Marcum Underwater Camera).

And thanks to two guides and the Blue Lady Resort, I was able to get out on Norfork Lake two days in a row targeting the burgeoning bass populations in the lake. While Norfork is perhaps best known as a landlocked striper fishery, recent years of great spawning conditions has lead to a nice brood of largemouth, Kentucky, and smallmouth bass.

My guides on Norfork couldn’t have been more different. Day one was a Norfork icon, Darrell “Bink” Binkley. Bink’s been guiding on the lake for more than 20 years and knows the water like a postal worker knows his route. Bink and I targeted suspended bass all day with a green-pumpkin grub on a jig. As only a green-pumpkin grub can do, we ended up catching just about every species in the lake on day one: largemouth, smallmouth, Kentucky, crappie, walleye, brim, the works. Bink then broke out his secret weapon, his self-designed spoon which worked wonders in brush piles. Nothing was very big and we didn’t catch a lot, but it was a true showcase of what Norfork has to offer.

Day two was with a guide who used to hire Bink when he’d come down to Norfork on vacation. Steve Olomon retired to the shores of Norfork and has been guiding on the lake for only the past few years but fishing it for much longer. Also going after bass, we were throwing a topwater Heddon Zara Spook, a Storm Wiggle Wart crankbait, and a Northland Reed-Runner spinnerbait. Again, the fishing wasn’t blistering. We started with a couple smaller largemouth then I caught the fish of the weekend: the 4.25-pound bucketmouth on the Reed-Runner. We were fishing some man-made brush piles when the big fella hit the lure. That was really the last fish of note. Everything else brought in were either this year’s or last year’s fish, a great sign of a healthy fishery.

Norfork was a very interesting lake to fish for me. Before damming the river, the Army Corps of Engineers clear cut the area, so there are no natural structure submerged. It’s extremely deep and wild. There were waterfowl flying everywhere, making me wish I had my black lab and shotgun with me. I saw bald eagles both days, one carting off a duck it had picked off. It also doesn’t have the toothy fish like pike and muskie that many lakes have, with the bass and walleye serving as the lakes main predators. Next time I head to the area, though, I am definitely going after the lakes big striped bass and hitting either the White River for some of their famed trout or Bull Shoals, which was teaming with big crappie.

From delicious food at Gaston’s and at DeVito’s Restaurant and trout farm (with freshly caught trout prepared about 5 ways and family-style Italian to boot), to great wine from the California-native Roelands family who now own the Blue Lady Resort, to fun fishing with new friends, it was a weekend that I’ll be thinking about for a long time, and that bass is one I’ll remember forever.

(to see the photo gallery that went with this story, read Brian’s actual post on the web at http://www.gofishn.com/eby1dfs3/photos/7745-fishing-in-the-ozarks-norfork-lake-bass-brim-crappie-and-walleye.)

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Thanks, Brian, for helping us get the word out, and and I hope to see you again soon!

Of course, Steve and I have been fishing on the White River since we bought the resort 8 years ago.  And we can never get enough of it!  Over the years, quite a number of our guests have taken the opportunity to fish some of the nearby waters in addition to the White River.  And since we’re in the middle of 3 rivers and 2 lakes…  well, what’s a girl (or guy) to do???  (Here are a couple of photos of a nice smallmouth and a striper off Lake Norfork this week.)

You probably already know that we’re 15 miles down from the Bull Shoals Dam on the White River, in the city of Cotter, Arkansas — Trout Capital USA.  (On the main website at http://www.HisPlaceResort.net we have pages of trout fishing info, video and literally hundreds of trout pictures for you to look at.)

What you may not know is about the great fishing diversity available within minutes from the resort.

For example; the Buffalo River, an un-dammed, warm water tributary whose confluence is 17 miles down from our dock, is well-known for its excellent smallmouth bass fishing, and is about 25 minutes from here.  Crooked Creek doesn’t categorize as a river, just a smaller warm water tributary, but also can have some great smallmouth fishing, too – 20 minutes from His Place Resort.

Then, there’s the North Fork River (fed by Lake Norfork) whose confluence is 29 miles down river, taking about 22 minutes by car to the dam.  Like the White River, the North Fork is a cold water trout fishery that has the same species of trout that the White River does; Rainbow, Brown, Cutthroat and even some Brook.

Then, you have the lakes; Lake Norfork has several kinds of bass; large mouth, small mouth, Stripers, Hybrids (white bass cross with Stripers), Walleye, Crappie and Catfish, but is probably most well-known for its massive Stripers.  2 different accesses, both about 20 minutes away.

Bull Shoals Lake has Largemouth, White, Spotted and Smallmouth bass, Walleye, several species of catfish, black and white crappie and bluegill, although sometimes Striper and Hybrids are caught there as well.  Several different accesses within 15 – 25 minutes from the resort.

The current record hybrid was out of Bull Shoals, even though they’ve never been stocked there…  everyone’s still trying to figure out if that hybrid was an “escapee” from a net pen experiment in 1984, or if it actually came through 3 dams to get from Beaver Lake into Bull Shoals.

So, I feel it’s my obligation, no…  my responsibility…   to let you know as much as possible about the multiple fishing opportunities in the area.  So much fishin’…  so little time.   There’s about a 15 lb. Brown trout hangin’ out by the dock this week…  and it’s got Trout Diva stamped all over it…  After all, somebody’s gotta do it.  It might as well be me.  I’ll letcha know…

Your White River Trout Diva

Princess Leia & Hybrid Bass

Well, you folks already know about Monday night, where my wonderful husband, Steve, just totally blew me out of the water fishing…  Yes, your Diva’s ego was pummelled as 4 hours of fishing left Steve with 7 really nice fish — 3 Stripers, 3 Hybrids and 1 walleye…  Do you think he was gloating a little bit???  Yes, he certainly was…  That’s why I called my last blog “The Empire Strikes Back”.

But, if you remember Star Wars, there was hope for the Galaxy even after Darth Vader’s return to power…  and the next part of the Star Wars story was “Return of the Jedi”.  Well, guess what?

The White River Trout Diva made her comeback on Wednesday night, taking her Light Saber and puttin’ Lord Vader in his place!

(OK, it was actually a 7′ medium wt Falcon rod with Shimano Spirex reel with a rear fighting drag, not a light saber…  But this IS a fishin’ story, after all!)

Lord Vader and Trout Diva took along friend and river guide, Dale, who we’ll refer to as Han Solo in this blog, for some fine company…  We set out of the public ramp around 5:30 pm on April 15th.  It was a little warmer today, probably 65 degrees when we left the ramp.  There was almost no breeze at all, and the sky was only partly overcast.  We headed toward the same couple of coves where Lord Vader had stomped Trout Diva Monday night, and set up to fish there…

However, unbeknownst to the Dark Lord, the White River Trout Diva had been practicing summoning the Light Side of the Force!

Diva started out with her 6′ 6″ Falcon medium-heavy rod with an orange/brown crayfish colored Shad rap crankbait.  They don’t swim particularly deep, but deeper than your average stickbait, and you use a medium-slow retrieve.  Dale was using a Mighty Minnow, and Lord Vader was using a soft plastic jerk bait, shad colored on his bait casting rig.

And the battle for domination of the Galaxy was back on…

Han Solo successfully channelled the Force, as he took the first fish of the evening, a nice smallmouth, with his Mighty Minnow.  We continued down the bank and the next fish belonged to Lord Vader, a smaller hybrid.  Your Trout Diva was getting nervous again…  Where was the Force when she needed it???  Before dark, Diva had missed 3 fish.  It looked as though Lord Vader’s reign of fishing terror would continue…

We switched to our “after dark” setups…  We all were using stickbaits now, in Fire Tiger or similar patterns.  Had my 7′ medium Falcon rod with the Shimano spirex reel and that oh-so-handy rear fighting drag.

(Ever wonder what the difference is between a stickbait and a crankbait?  All stickbaits are crankbaits, but not vice-versa…  To be specific, an artificial minnow or crawfish imitating bait with a large, diving lip that causes the bait to dive deep when you reel it in is a crankbait.  A stickbait usually refers to to a skinnier minnow-looking lure with a smaller diving lip that goes to 3 to 4 feet deep on retrieve.)

The next fish on was Han Solo’s…  It hit close to the boat, so I said without even being able to see it, “It’s a walleye!”  (I’d learned from our guide Monday night that if you get  something that close to the boat, that 9 out of 10 times it will be…)  Lord Vader and Han were impressed with my use of the Force.  But still, no fish for the Trout Diva…

Lord Vader caught a nice Striper, and a Hybrid.  Nothing as big as Monday night, but still respectable fish…  The count at this time???  Han Solo had 1 smallmouth and 1 walleye, and Lord Vader had 2 Hybrids and 1 Striper.

And your Diva???  ZIP…  NADA…  ZILCH…  Even Han Solo mentioned that he was beginning to lose faith in the Light Side of the Force, and wondered where Diva’s fish where…  Diva was having some of the same thoughts…

Feeling the Force trying to work with me, I kept telling Lord Vader to take the boat up toward the point, as the Force was leading me there…  after some “discussion”, Lord Vader DID go in that general direction.  Points on the edges of the coves are often a good place to begin your search for big fish, and I was sure if we headed that way, we’d get into something…  We were almost to the point when Steve caught the his 4th fish of the evening, another Striper, I might add…

This might be a good place to mention the difference between a Striper and a Hybrid…  A Hybrid is a cross between a male White Bass and a female Striper.  Genetically engineered for our fishing pleasure and stocked by the mad scientists at AGFC, they’re more agressive than Stripers, and great fighters!  The Hybrid is in between the size of the White Bass and the Striper, and interestingly enough, can tolerate warmer water temperatures than either species.  Great sport fish!

(Sometimes you hear these interchangeable terms:  Striper = Striped Bass, and Hybrid = Hybrid Bass = Wiper = Palmetto Bass; just different terms for the same fish.)

The world record Hybrid Bass was caught in Arkansas, of course, and weighed 27 lb.  Folks were so sure there couldn’t possibly be a Hybrid so large, AGFC did genetic testing before declaring it the record fish!  The AGFC had a great article in the March/April 2008 Edition of Arkansas Wildlife Magazine, and I’m quoting some of the information I’m giving you from this article.

Anyway, back to the fishin’ story…

I was in about 20′ of water, with water temp 53 degrees, comin’ up on that point I was tellin’ you about.  I could feel the Force as I slung that Fire Tiger as far as I could cast — straight across the edge of the point and started my retrieve.  SLAM!  No mistaking THAT disturbance in the Force!  It didn’t take long to figure out that it was a good one, too…  This fish put up one great fight!  My drag was set fairly tight, and that fish smoked it out at least 5 or 6 times before I could finally get it to the boat.  Of course, it was the largest fish of the night, bigger than even Lord Vader’s Striper.  Han Solo was my net man…

(You know, I have to mention that Han would have caught a lot more fish if he hadn’t been stuck in the middle of the boat…  You know why?  The one in the middle always gets “net duty”.  He was a great sport about it, though!  Next time, Diva will take the middle seat…  really…  What did you say?  Oh, yes, I will!  Seriously…  I mean it…  really!)

White River Trout Diva was BACK!  Lord Vader was hoping it was a Striper, so it wouldn’t be as big, relatively speaking, but soon realized he’d been outdone…  Diva tries not to gloat too obnoxiously with her 9 lb Hybrid — don’t know if that attempt was successful or not…  OK, I do know…  I was gloating pretty bad!

Between the several fish we’d caught in the vicinity, and a boat that came through, whatever may have been left was probably spooked, so Lord Vader fired up the Death Star and warped down to the end of the cove, near a small waterfall that fed into the lake.  (Yes, it was pitch black, but the Death Star has a Humminbird, so we were relatively sure not to run up on asteroids — or the bank, for that matter.)

Your Diva had another strike relatively close — it swam straight at the boat after I horsed on it for a second…  Diva knew this one had to be a walleye.  It was a nice one, too!  But man, do they ever have the nastiest, evil teeth!  I think that thing wanted to eat my face!!!  Biggest walleye of the night, too.  Did I mention Lord Vader had no walleye?

Trout Diva with Walleye

What’s that fish count NOW, Lord Vader?  Doesn’t much matter, since both the biggest ones of the evening belong to the Trout Diva!  Movin’ on…

And speaking of big ones…  We all missed fish that night — not sure how many…  But, shortly after that walleye…  I’m not kidding…  I had something hit my lure so hard as it came to the surface that it sounded like a huge bear doing a cannonball off the bank into the water, and almost yanked the rod out of my hand — it was THAT loud!  So loud in fact, and so close (maybe 30-35 ft away) I almost fell off my chair and out of the boat — Han Solo nearly did, too!  In that same split-second, Han and Diva both sputtered out the same colorful adjective!  I believe we both said, “WOW”…  yeah, that was the adjective…

Diva, however, was simultaneously doing several things as she was being scared out of her mind.  Shouting an adjective, falling out of her chair from the sheer terror, and yes, still trying to set the hook!  I had that monster on for about 10 seconds, but didn’t get a hookset into it…  (difficult to do when one’s heart has stopped, and one is falling out of the chair, thank you very much!)

And it got off…  Trout Diva whimpered…  but then remembered she was still the victor for the evening…

It was about 11:00 PM.  Time to go home…  Oh yeah, I lost my lucky Fire Tiger on the last cast into the ONLY snaggle of tree root/stumps on the entire stretch of the bank.  Then, it was time to go home…  I don’t think you could have made me leave any other way…

As I packed away my Light Saber, basking in the glory of my return to power, I reflected on the evening…  Yes, it was truly “Return of the Jedi”, my friends…

Your White River Trout Diva

Darth Vader with Striper from Lake Norfork

Remember the Star Wars movies?  Well, “The Empire Strikes Back” was about as accurate a description of our evening out on the lake as I could come up with.  Yes, your White River Trout Diva got stomped BAD fishing Monday night by her loving husband, Steve.  Not just a little bad…  BIG BAD.  He suggested I let our readers know just HOW BAD.  Therefore, he wears the Darth Vader helmet in this story, because I know how to use Photoshop…  Anyway — lemme tell you about it…

It was Monday night, April 13, 2009…  The White River Trout Diva had been relentlessly ribbing her husband, Steve (aka Darth Vader — at least in this story…) for several days about how she’s been beating him up no matter how they’d been fishing…  More fish…  Bigger fish…  Yes, that “Diva gloating” was fixin’ to meet up with a light saber!

Lord Vader summoned all the power of the Dark Side of the Force, as he plotted his revenge…  Vader would take the Diva fishing up on Lake Norfork this night.  It was about 6 PM.  The weather was cool, the skies were overcast, with a 15 mph breeze coming through…  The conditions were perfect for his triumphant return to power in the Galaxy…  He let her continue to gloat on the way to the lake, and didn’t say a word — it was all part of his plan…

OK, enough of the Star Wars metaphors for now…  Since we haven’t fished Lake Norfork much, we decided to do what we suggest our guests do to familiarize themselves with the White River — we took a guide.  Darrell from Bink’s Guide Service did a great job for us!  That’s what’s so great about living here — we’re right in the middle of 3 rivers (White River, North Fork River, Buffalo River) and 2 lakes (Norfork Lake and Bull Shoals Lake) so the fishing opportunities are amazing!

Anyway, we left the Quarry Marina Dock around 6:00, and Darrell knew exactly where to go…  We started working a long point before sunset with some Mighty Minnows.  You use a medium retrieve, and then jerk the rod sharply every turn of the reel, let in some slack, and repeat.  I missed several fish before dark…  Lord Vader Steve already had one Striper.  Diva was beginning to worry, as Steve hadn’t had any other strikes yet, but landed the first fish he did have a strike on.  It’s different from trout fishing, folks!

When you set the hook for trout, you just basically lift the rod firmly.  Too hard, and you’ll rip the hook right out of a trout’s mouth.  When you’re on the lake, you have to SET that hook!  Steve gets another fish — a nice walleye.  (Just a note to you trout fishers that may go to the lake to enjoy yourselves…  Do NOT try to “lip-hold” a walleye!  TEETH — BIG, EVIL LOOKING TEETH!)

OK, I can see it now.  My husband is just giving me “the grin”…  Ladies, you know what I mean.  The grin that says, “How’s that gloating working for you NOW?”  I switch over to another rod with a Fire Tiger Stickbait, so I can get used to it before dark.  You don’t jerk these; you just use a medium retrieve that’s just a little slower than where you can feel the vibration.

Your Diva misses about 5 more fish…  Had 2 on for about 5 – 10 seconds, and both got off.  Probably not getting that good hookset, no doubt.  The count by this time?  Steve had 2 Stripers, 1 Walleye, and 2 Hybrids.

Then, it was my turn.  I caught a nice hybrid, but not as big as Lord Vader Steve’s.  It was so much FUN, though!!!  Then, Steve caught his big Striper.  The one in the picture?  That was actually his smaller Striper!  The picture of the big one did not come out, so I couldn’t share it with you.  Steve thinks I did that on purpose, but I ask you…  Would I actually DO that???

Moving on…  All evening, Lord Vader did not miss a single strike.  He did not tangle up his rod.  He did not lose a lure, and he did not get hung up anywhere…  He wound up with 3 Stripers, 3 Hybrids, and 1 Walleye — all noteworthy fish.

And your Trout Diva?  Ratted up my line at least 3 times — once so bad I actually had to change rods — what a rookie mistake!  I KNOW I heard my dear husband giggle and our incredibly patient and professional guide did not say a word — he just handed me another rod, and we continued on.  I missed probably 9 fish.  I wound up with 1 hybrid, and I’ll tell you what — I had an absolute BLAST!  And I learned so much…  and it’s a good thing, too, cuz you know what?  I’m plannin’ my comeback…

Tonight may have been “The Empire Strikes Back”.  So be it.  But my NEXT blog to you folks, God willing, will be entitled, “The Return of the Jedi”.  Talk to you soon.

Your White River Trout Diva

Crappie caught by Trout Diva on Bull Shoals Lake

Well, yesterday, Steve & I sneaked away from the resort about 2:45 in the afternoon, and went to the Fairview public ramp on Bull Shoals Lake.  I’d been hearing about the great lake fishing that’s been going on, and my husband had already been out a few times (without me!) doing some “product research” as he calls it…  So, we hit the water about 3:15 to see what we could find.

You’ve probably heard this before, but the first thing that always strikes you about Bull Shoals Lake is the crystal clear water.  We had 20′ water visibility – easy…  it was about 65 degrees, light breeze, blue sky…  perfect!

We quickly scanned a few coves with the Humminbird to look for larger schools of baitfish, hopin’ that what we wanted would be close by…  Wind was blowin’ from the west, so we stayed on the east side of the lake, figuring we’d have better luck, as the baitfish will usually be found in the direction of the prevailing winds.  The third cove we got into had significantly warmer water, and we had more initial fish sightings, so we decided to take a closer look here.  It was about 4:00.

As we cruised the shoreline staying at a 30 – 35′ depth, we saw several larger schools of baitfish concentrated on the sides of a larger point, in the general vicinity of some brush piles that had been added by AGFC.  We had to wait awhile for another gent to clear…  Didn’t have the heart to tell him, but he was in too close to the shore!  After he moved on, we came around of the north side of the point and set up.

While Steve was riggin’ us up, we had a fair breeze to contend with — about 20 mph or so…  not extreme, but enough to put my trolling motor skills to the test, to be sure!  I hadn’t been lake fishing in some time, and my skills with the trolling motor were…  well, shall we say, somewhat “rusty”…

Anyway, I set up to fish off the back of our bass boat about 4:30 or so, rigged for about a 24′ depth.  Not long after that, I caught a pretty small largemouth.  Then, I caught that brush pile that AGFC had so conveniently placed there for me, and, much to my husband’s delight, I completely lost my rigging…  (Just a note here:  Your Trout Diva does not make these kinds of mistakes without assistance, thank you very much!  My husband should have been holding us 5′ deeper as we went around the point — just wanted to clarify that!)

Anyway, I got rigged back up and started coming around the point.  Caught a few nicer smallmouth, and 2 more largemouth.  They were from last year’s successful spawn, and for “yearlings”, they were actually quite large and very fat!  This is really exciting news for the lake fishing in the next few years to come.

You know that reminds me…  There’s an article in the March-April 2009 Arkansas Wildlife magazine talking about what the high lake levels did for the spawns.  In a nutshell, water up into the treelines, which we had most of 2008, provided nutrients and cover and blooms of the small invertebrates eaten by crappie fry.  The combination of the additional food and cover ensured the survival of 2008′s bumper crop of crappie, and other fish, too.

The samples taken last year were 4 times greater than any spawn since biologists began sampling the lake for spawning success in 1972.  Did I read that correctly???  4 times greater than ever measured???  Yes, folks, the lake fishing is going to be phoenomenal for quite a few years to come!

And speaking of crappie…

We came around that long, slow drift the second time, and I had my minnow surgically removed from my hook twice in a row.  I’d missed fish twice already…  Something smarter than the average fish… Something more stealthy…  So, I was payin’ attention to any little twitch or movement in my line — I wasn’t going to be embarrassed a third time!  I felt just the slightest little tug and I set the hook like I meant it!

It felt like a snag for a couple of seconds, and I was about to start yakkin’ at my husband for drifting me through yet another brush pile…  After all, it IS his responsibility, considering HE was operating the trolling motor at the time, and HE had the other depth finder at the bow, right by his feet!  If there was another brush pile — I should have been notified!

But, before I could make a snippy comment, I felt that line pull back hard!  And I grinned…  I knew whatever it was…  it was GOOD!  Steve asked me if I was snagged up again, and I just smiled at him as I shook my head, no…  He asked me if I was sure?  I just shook my head, yes…

As I got it close to the boat, we both thought it was a big bass for a second or two, just because of its size of the silvery flash down in the water.  I had the drag set fairly tight, and when it got a look at us, it decided to go back down — smokin’ my drag along the way…  So I was patient, let it tire itself out a little, and then brought it to the boat — and we both had our eyes pop out of our head!  It was probably the nicest crappie I’ve ever caught…  I wore it out pretty good, so about 30 minutes in our aerated livewell gave it a good chance to revive before taking a quick picture and releasing it.

We both caught some more fish, including some more nice crappie, but none like that one!  Anyway, it was about 7:30 by now, and I didn’t want to load the boat in the dark, so we headed back to the ramp…  nice afternoon on Bull Shoals Lake!

By the way, did I mention that I caught 6 more fish than Steve that afternoon???  Well, I didn’t remember mentioning it to you…  I do, however, remember mentioning it to my dear husband…  maybe several times, actually…

Your White River Trout Diva — (Crappie Queen in my spare time…)