Fished Bull Shoals over the weekend in Northern Arkansas.
Lots of rain so the lake is way up with debris but gin clear.

There was an amazing topwater bite in the brush and stick ups.

Rigged my kids with a skitter pop and said just cast towards the shore.
pop, pop, smash.

Bass were fun but my older son hooked the biggest gill i've ever seen.
Saucer shaped and thick.
All the bass were cookie cutter 12-14 inches and a mix of LM and kT bass.
All on topwater baits.

trolled cranks and tried plastics, but we went back to the shallows for action.

lake was 81-83 degrees down 4ft.
below that it was low 70's.

boat worked great and put some miles and hours on the motor.

Can't ask for a better weekend.

I've never had better tasting bass than those Bull Shoals beauties

That is one trip I feel like I got stolen from me. Back in '97 me and a buddy planned a trip there for a long weekend of bass fishing and panfish fries. A week before we are set to leave he gets real sick and is hospitalized. Ends up being Lyme Disease, and we miss our trip so he can recuperate. We had a falling out the next year, and just last year began getting back in touch with one another.

The fishing the week that he was sick was just as you reported, topwater bass all over, huge bluegills and crappies all over on just about any bait, and gorgeous weather. I'd like to think one of these days I'll be able to get myself back down there, but we all know how that goes.....

Thanks for the mini-report Rob. I'm sure your kids had a blast down there with Dad.

If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to get there?

Ed
Take the family.
I know of a bunch of places to stay on the water and they rent boats.
My bride likes to ski & tube but lets us boys go fishing.

its an easy 9hr drive.
i have a portable dvd player ya can borrow for the lil ones.

best part is since '97 its hasn't changed much.
in 20yrs not much either..
Other than time to get there stays are very reasonable.
food and fuel were cheap.

Memorial Day weekend there were boats out there.
Monday afternoon we drove to the dam by water and back which was about 13 miles roundtrip.
Saw 6 boats.
1 i counted twice.

they get a lot of traffic from St Louis and Chicago.
i went to a local breakfast fundraiser Saturday.
a resort owner told me they were down 30-40% this year.
Economy up here hurts even down there.

Its remote and rural.
Setting is like Table rock and lake of the ozarks, but 90% less traffic!
Its the extra few hours on the windy roads that keeps them away..

Water will be warm to swim long into September!

John

its 550 miles takes me ~9-9.5 hours with stopping.

450 miles highway I-55 and I-44.(70-75mph)
100 miles on 2 lane Rt 5 (60mph)

Got back from a 10 day trip to Bull Shoals lake.
had the bass dailed in pretty good, caught tons 2 between 4-5 pounds.
Most were 12-14 inches.
My kids got bored tossing skitter pops and pulling in bass.
"Another short bass" was what i would hear.
can't beat that for success!

No walleye, and i trolled many hours washing different arrangement of lures.
had several on but none to the net.

7-8:30am topwater bite, best near the scrub shore with partial rock.
8:30-10am jig bite 20ft, twin tail on a standup jig.
7-8pm jig bite deep 20-30ft.
8:30 to dark topwater bite at the rocky shores.
None near the brush at night.

Fished with my brother in laws one night and tried to pass on my tips.
One was set on a bass topwater bite. (to early and it was 90 degrees out.)
I told him it was too early in the evening and to stay deep with the jigs.
I was pulling in fish while he was working the surface.
About 20 minutes before dark I tied on a chugbug and started getting hits.
He finally admitted that he had basically wasted 2 hours and should have listened.

Yep, was my only response.

brother in law #2 changed right after my first fish and learned to fish a jig.
He admitted the 2 hours was a learning experience and was glad he listened.

Its fun when the patterns work, but also frustrating when not applied when ya know they work.

Oh well, lots of fish caught and returned to catch next trip in the fall.

I recall your bro in law "Hook" not changing his lure once the entire trip and pretty much kicking all our asses. All hail the Rapala shad rap!