Bull Shoals Lake - Striper Fishing

Bull Shoals is Missouri's striped-bass hot-spot right now, thanks to a one-time accidental stocking by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 1998.

Open houses on possible striped bass management on Bull Shoals Lake
The proposed striped bass plan calls for stocking 22,000 fingerling striped bass in Bull Shoals every other year beginning in 2012. Along with these stockings. See results of meetings. Bull Shoals Lake Striped Bass Proposed Management Plan

In 1998, a mix-up resulted in the stocking of 19,000 striped bass that were intended for Norfolk Lake, said Ken Shirley, district fisheries supervisor for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

“We were expecting a shipment of walleye for Bull Shoals,” Shirley said. “A summer helper called to tell us that a shipment of fish had arrived at the hatchery and asked where they were supposed to go. We thought it was the walleyes, so we told him to take them to Bull Shoals. It turned out they were striped bass.”

Shirley said the surviving fish from that mistaken stocking now weigh between 30 and 60 pounds and are near the end of their lives. Shirley expects the boom in trophy striper fishing at Bull Sholes to taper off over the next four or five years as fish from the accidental stocking slowly disappear.

Other waters in Missouri to find striped bass include Lake of the Ozarks and occasionally found in the Osage, Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

Bull Shoals lake in the heart of the Ozark mountains is last in a chain of four man made lakes on the White River that include (from upstream to downstream) Beaver Lake, Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo.

Bull Shoals Lake is shared by Arkansas and Missouri, Controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers and has the primary purpose of flood control. The shoreline of the lake is totally undeveloped and protected by a buffer zone owned, operated, managed, and controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Bull Shoals dam is designed for a maximum elevation of 695 feet (top of the flood pool).

Bull Shoals Lake covers 45,000 acres with a 700-mile shoreline at powerpool to more than 70,000 acres with a 1,000-mile shoreline at 690 feet. The bottom of the lake consists of bedrock with very limited vegetation. The shoreline is heavily forested.[

The Bull Shoals Nursery Pond, an 1135 Restoration Project on Bull Shoals Lake is operational. This pond, which cost $1.3 million to construct, was built adjacent to the upper end of the lake and contains 21 surface acres. The pond and its crop can be drained directly into the lake. It will be used for stocking white and black crappie and walleye on a rotational basis. Located in north central Arkansas.

ArkansasStripers.com

Bull Shoals Yields a Monster Striped Bass.

Dismissing Myths About Striped Bass

Striped Bass Predation on Bass and Crappie

Striper Facts

Striper Recipes

Striped Bass
History

Arkansas Record Striper

Live Shad for Stripers

Catch and Release Can Kill Stripers

Striper Age Weight Chart

Spawning

Striper Seasons

Morone Saxatilis