As of Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers reports the lake’s elevation at 689.91 feet msl (normal conservation pool – 659.00 feet msl).

(updated 6-7-2017) Del Colvin at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock said last Saturday that the lake was at 691 feet msl and the water temperature was 76 degrees, up to 84 degrees depending on where you’re fishing. The water is getting warm pretty quick and the fish are in post-spawn mode. Lots of these fish have moved out of the spawning pockets and are staging up on the points. Down by the dam the water is really clear. Even in the creeks the water has gotten pretty clear. The channel bite had gotten a little challenging unless you’ve got wind or a little dirty water. Some of those creeks where there’s no flow, the fishing is real slow back in there. You want to avoid those if you can. The water level is coming down and as the temperature keeps coming up the fish are going to be moving out a little bit deeper. A lot of the offshore stuff is beginning to pick up a little bit. Most guys Del sees, he says, are fishing with their boats on top of the fish. What you want to do is get in the old shoreline anywhere from 25-30 feet off the shore and cast in. On any given day you could throw a Carolina rig, you could throw a Ned rig. Tubes are working. Del said he likes to draw a jig through the old brush; not necessarily dragging it but hopping it along, keeping it tight the whole time. There a ton of crawdads in the lake and the fish are eating on them. A green pumpkin with orange is the best color to match. Del uses a ½-ounce jig with a Jackall craw bait, you can use whatever one you want, he says. Highlight it if you have a marker. As for the topwater bite, seems like the creeks that do have a little bit of flow, if you don’t go into the very back, you can catch a few throwing a Whopper Plopper, a buzzbait, but conditions have to be right for it. If it’s bright and sunny, and the water is flat, Del says he wouldn’t go to the back and start power fishing. Also throwing the Walk the Dog-style baits will catch some fish but it’s still dependent on conditions. If you’re fishing from here on out, have a topwater ready to fire out there. If you can get up close to the shoreline along those steeper banks, the fish are on those channel swing banks. If it gets really, really windy and you’ve got some clouds, the spinnerbait bite is still working. The biggest thing is to fish the conditions. If you get on a pattern now you can figure them out. If it lays real flat for you, it seems like those hot days when it lays flat, you’re going to have to back out into the main lake, catch them on the drop-shot with a shad pattern, and a worm is working, too. Anywhere in the 30-40 feet depth seems to be holding the fish when the sun is up, it’s calm and nice and hot. Del is still catching a few in the back on the squarebill. He uses a Lucky Craft and swims it through submerged bushes, banging it across something, clashing it into a bush or coming across a log under the water. He says if you’re fishing an area closer to the main lake and catching smallmouth, sneak up closer on the points, look for the old road beds or walking paths that people have used to get down to the lake. There’s a lot of largemouth up in the areas up in the same areas that the smallmouths are, just a little bit shallower. Don’t be afraid to go up there on any given day. If you’re catching smallmouths on a point in 30 feet of water, after you’ve fished that, go back in and fish it shallow for the black bass. Drag a jig around, throw a tube around.

(updated 6-7-2017) K Dock Marina said the general public must access the marina from the lake only during this high water situation. No boat rentals at this time. They have no fishing reports.