New Bullards Bar Reservoir
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New Bullards Bar Reservoir Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from New Bullards Bar Reservoir. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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Spotted BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonFallStructurePointsAnother great day at Bullards, with lots of different rigs getting it done. Thankfully, wake boarders are petering out, so was able to stay on the main body all day. Did most of my damage with a drop shot in 25-35 feet of water. The Strike King Magnum was money! However...I've been chasing one of those monster Spots that roam these waters for 3 years now, and I finally got into one with a Wacky Rig Senko in Sexy Shad pattern. Would love to show you a picture...but it broke my line before I could land it...I was so shook up, it took me a good 15 minutes to even make another cast. It had to be in the 7 to 8+ Pound range to fight like it did. Two days later and I'm still replaying what I could have done differently to land her...UGH!!!
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueShakey HeadsSeasonFallStructureHumps
In my never-ending quest for a Big Spotty at Bullards, I forced myself offshore using techniques I'm not super confident in. But this day, I made some progress. No monsters, but had some fun pulling in fish at 30-40 feet using a shakey head, loaded up with a Strike King bullworm. When I got that first hit, I was so pumped!!! I spent the day using my mapping to fish extended points. It took some patience for my shakeyhead to get down to the bottom. But once it was there, I hopped and popped it, and when those spotties hit it, what a blast getting them up and into the boat! Ya just have to give it a try!!!
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Worming)SeasonFallStructureLedges
Super windy today. I was trying everything with not much success. It was nearly 20 degrees colder than the day before...and the wind. It was a grind....right up until the wind blew me over to where I thought I was just too close to the shoreline...but when I looked a little closer, there was a nice looking submerged shelf with a lot of shade underneath. So before moving away, I picked up my Texas Rig rod, already set up with the trusty Zoom Plum Trick Worm and I flipped right to the top of the shelf. As soon as that worm dropped into the shade, a spotty ripped out of nowhere and gobbled it up. I spent the next hour and a half haulin' them in, but only if I got that flip right up on the edge. Even 6 inches away and they would ignore it. But right on the edge and they hit it every time. Turned a tough day into a very memorable one. I love this lake!
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueSpybaitsSeasonWinterStructureStumps
Took the W on this pond. Never fished it before but was rather easy to figure this place out. Right now the pattern is changing daily and throughout the day so you just have to adapt and keep moving. Start out on points, Move to secondary points, cuts, creeks, ditches, clay, isolated rock etc. Try it all until you find the better bite. Right now there is not a lot of fish up shallow. Most fish are deep or suspended. Getting a fish over 1.5lbs is very hard. 1-1.5lbs is good. You can even still get a topwater bite going if you want. Your best bet to get a big bite is to fish dangerously (to the fish's health) deep 50-80+ or to target suspended fish in open water. That being said I targeted my fish in the mornings with moving baits. Cranking with a 10-15' diver, X-Nanahan +2 and throwing a spybait or small swimbait when I saw fish suspended. Once the sun came up and the fish pulled out I decided to keep fishing the 0-30' range with a hula grub. As the day progressed I switched to isolated stumps with the hula grub and occasionally would mix in the spy bait and neko rig. The biggest fish came on the spybait. My rods of choice were a variety of ALX rods
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueMedium Diving Crankbaits (7'-12')SeasonWinterStructurePoints
Don't fall over that this isn't a finesse report. Today was my first time out with my new set up with Lew's Pro Casting Reel, teamed up with a St Croix Trigon Rod. And just WOW! I was bombing that Crank Bait 50% farther than anything I had in the boat before. What a difference it makes having those baits in the strike zone for a longer period of time! I love the look and action on those 6th Sense Crank Baits!!! Side Note: That bass in the picture got me to my goal of 240 bass for the year....and there's still 6 weeks left to pile on...
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueDrop ShotSeasonWinterStructurePoints
Finally got my car out of the shop...again. That meant an immediate run up to my favorite lake to go big Spottie hunting. I really focused on using a drop shot in 30-45 feet of water off submerged points. The elusive monster Spottie is still lurking out there. Best one of the day for me was a 3 pounder. I really had to slow everything down. With the water and air temps dropping quickly, their bites were very subtle. Sorry, no pics this time around. I left my phone in the car.
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueNed RigsSeasonSummerStructureBoulders
Went out on Saturday, Sept 3rd. Conditions were tough. Super high winds (that was surprise) made staying in position kind of tough. Plus, there were about 3 times as many wake boaters out as usual (not a surprise for Labor Day weekend) so it felt like I was out on the Pacific Ocean. I headed straight up the main fork until I got into the 5 mph zone, which thankfully took care of the wake boarder issue. Once I was up there, I started with a drop shot using a Yamamoto Shad shape worm in a blue/silver flake color, hoping to entice a Spottie into thinking he had himself a small kokanee...but they weren't falling for that. So I switched over to a Ned Rig, using the 3" Senko in Plum Apple and had immediate success! I stayed off shore about 20' and was getting all the way to the bottom (10-12') and bounced it back to the boat from there. I landed six bass in a couple of hours of fishing before I just got tired of battling the wind to call it a day. I love fishing this lake! Still looking for the really big ones that I hear are out there. But large or small, the fishing is great and it's really a beautiful lake.
- SpeciesSpotted BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Worming)SeasonSummerStructureBoulders
As usual, I spent the first half of the day chasing the monster Spots that live in this lake....and then I go catching! Putting a Zoom Plum Trick Worm on a Texas Rig set up and fishing the boulders at this lake is absolutely a blast. No big fish to brag about, but lots and lots of 1 to 2 pounders that kept me busy all afternoon! I practically went through an entire bag of those trick worms pulling in those fish today.
