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Bull Shoals Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Deep, clear and quiet: Bull Shoals hides 45,000 acres of Ozark bass water behind one of the South’s great trout tailwaters.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
78 / 79 F
Wind
SSE 6 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Bull Shoals Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 6 mph, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 79. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:48 AM-11:48 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Arkansas requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $10.50 for residents. What a Arkansas licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with AGFC before you keep anything. The season dates for Arkansas, read off the agency, are on the Arkansas seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp78 F
High / Low79 / 47 F
WindSSE 6-8 mph
Pressure1020.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:26 / 18:25
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Bull Shoals Lake this week

The best day on Bull Shoals Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:48 AM-11:48 AM and 10:16 PM-12:16 AM
Minor period
4:10 AM-5:10 AM
Sun
07:26 to 18:25
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Bull Shoals Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Bull Shoals Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bull Shoals Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 81 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 77 F, wind to 4 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 74 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Arkansas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Arkansas or Missouri license depending on the section: reciprocal rules apply in parts. Black bass limits vary by state: check AGFC and MDC current regulations.

Access

Bull Shoals-White River State Park, Lakeview, Oakland, Theodosia and Highway 125 ramps; marinas around the lake.

About this water

A 45,000-acre Corps reservoir on the White River spanning Marion and Baxter counties, Arkansas, into southern Missouri.

Fishing Bull Shoals Lake: the full guide

The big Ozark lake

Bull Shoals floods 45,000 acres of the White River valley across the Arkansas-Missouri line, with 1,000 miles of shoreline and water clear enough to see structure 20 feet down. It is a bass lake first: largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass on the endless gravel points and bluff ends: with white bass schooling the open water, crappie in the brush and walleye running the upper river arms in late winter. Below the dam, the White River becomes one of America’s premier trout tailwaters.

Clear-water bass work

Depth and clarity drive everything: fish relate to the thermocline and follow shad, so electronics matter. Spring pushes bass into the pea-gravel spawning flats and brushy pockets; summer sends them 20-35 feet on main-lake points and humps where drop-shots, spoons and deep crankbaits produce; fall brings them back shallow chasing shad into the creek arms. Smallmouth work the rocky bluffs year-round: a jerkbait in February is a legitimate trophy tactic.

Walleye and whites

Walleye run the upper White and Little North Fork arms in February and March: jigs and minnows in the current where the river enters the lake, producing the year’s best eating fish. White bass follow the same routes and then school the main lake through summer, blowing up on shad at dawn. Crappie hold the sunken timber and planted brush: 15-25 feet through most of the year.

Access and the tailwater

Corps ramps and marinas ring the lake: Bull Shoals-White River State Park, Lakeview, Oakland and Theodosia among many. The state park at the dam gives access to both the lake and the trout tailwater, where cold releases hold rainbows and brown trout past twenty pounds. Water levels swing seasonally with flood control: check current elevations, because ramps and structure change with them.

Common questions

Is the fishing pressure heavy?

Far lighter than Table Rock: the lake is enormous, deep and mostly undeveloped shoreline, so boats spread out even on holiday weekends.

When do walleye run?

Late February into March in the upper river arms: jigs and live minnows where current meets the lake.

Should I fish the tailwater too?

Yes: the White River below the dam is a world-class trout fishery with trophy browns. Many trips split days between the two.

Is fishing good at Bull Shoals Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Taneycomo18 miTable Rock Lake29 miNorfork Lake38 miBuffalo River38 miWhite River42 miBeaver Lake57 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.4950, -92.9675 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.