It’S A 31,700 Piece Puzzle Beaver Lake That Is.

[Feathers and Fins]

It’s a 31,700 piece Puzzle.

Beaver is a tough lake! Sound familiar? Well it’s a statement I heard so many times when I first started fishing her! She is intimidating to a lot of people as it is a big lake and size intimidates, truth be told if you forget the size of the lake and concentrate on the 10% of water holding 90% of fish then she is no more difficult than any of the other lakes I have fished. If you are not a species specific fisherman and keep an open mind she is actually more productive than many lakes I have fished. I started fishing Beaver when I first moved here in 2003 and have seen many changes some for the good others not.

Let me clarify “Species Specific “as I am writing this to help people catch more fish not just one type of fish. Most of us have grown up in the era of “tournament” fishing where we get pounded by sponsor after sponsor and television shows telling us ways of catching this fish or that fish and it’s in the interest of those shows to use the sponsors product.

Many of those products are designed for a very specific species of fish and many of them cross each other’s depth range or cover types. They actually limit the angler instead of broadening the anglers opportunity they limit it as people think this pro or that pro uses it so it has to be good. Though they catch fish they actually reduce the probabilities of catching numbers of fish. I am writing this for numbers not one species specifically.

An example of this is many younger anglers I have watched and talked to seem to think they must beat the brush and banks with Jigs, Jerk baits and spinner baits etc fishing from 0 feet to maxing out at about 10 feet. Yet in a lake over 100 feet deep they are missing 90 percent of the water. Others will work a drop shot or spoon maybe even a jig deeper off a point or cut as they have seen on Television shows or read in magazines but neglect to look in just open water. It is very evident in watching them and speaking to them they have been watching way too much fishing television and reading magazine after magazine. I am not saying that is a bad thing but it seems to almost force a mental limitation “mental block” on anglers.

All those techniques may produce fish but it is only a small amount of fish in the lake. These shows, magazines and lures actually limit anglers as they overlook the mass of the lake. Now though they may cover other techniques most anglers get comfortable in one style of fishing and are very hard pressed to try other means as confidence is literally preached into them to get confident and use what you are confident in!

What I hope is that people read this and think of things or try things way out of their comfort zone, to experiment with other techniques and learn to enjoy fishing as a whole and just go out some days and fish to catch fish and not care about the species.

So with that on to Beaver lakes ramps we go, you have to be in the water to catch the fish.

Where to launch a boat? There are many areas to launch but let’s stick to the well maintained and in my opinion safest areas to launch.

War Eagle and Hickory Creek are river ramps giving people good access to the river section and both are maintained fairly well.

Horseshoe Bend and Offers access to the river as well as open lake, the ramp is fairly steep and I suggest keeping the boat hooked up until you are in water, I have seen several peoples boats slide off the trailer at this ramp.

Prairie Creek is a large ramp that can fit 8 lanes comfortably, be warned though in low water years you want to launch on the North side of the ramp (looking at it from the parking lot left side) using the two furthest lanes as there is a drop off on the other lanes. The problem with this ramp is it is probably the busiest of ramps during the summer months because of its size and proximity to big cities. It can be frustrating and dangerous to use due to other less experienced boaters during the high use months.

Rocky Branch is an interesting area it actually has 2 ramps one on the north side of the park and one on the south side. The North ramp is long and relatively steep and subject to being less than pleasant in high wind conditions. The south ramp is much safer but the parking lot is small and can be difficult to find parking as all too often cars park in the boat parking stalls. Get there early is the rule for this ramp.

Lost Bridge North, South, Indian Creek and Starky are decent ramps and safe to use but in summer can be difficult to get parking.

Dam Site is a good ramp but very subject to winds just like Rocky Branch. Also this ramp can have an added issue as it seems parents allow their kids to throw rocks on the ramp because of its proximity to the dam and its large boulders you can have prop damage here. I have had it happen and I know others who have had this issue occur here. Use this ramp with your motor raised to avoid this issue.

Though there are other ramps these are the best maintained and simplest to use for all experiences.

So what is Beaver known for?

When I moved here this was a bucket list lake for me after all she was the start to modern day B.A.S.S and tournaments. The first truly organized BASS tournament was held on her in June 1967, Ray Scott conducted The All-American Bass Tournament on Beaver Lake, charging 106 anglers from 13 states a $100 entry fee. Stan Sloan wins the event and earns $2,000 cash and a trip to Acapulco. That was the Birth of what is today’s B.A.S.S. B.A.S.S has spawned many innovations in lures, techniques, sonar, boats, catch and release and conservation. If you think about Beaver Lake and her history you can say she is the Mother of so many countless things when it comes to freshwater fishing! Ray Scott may well be the father but she is the mother.

Her Striper fishing is well known in Striper fishing circles and stands her own with many of the great inland lakes that have them roaming there waters. Her White Bass is hard to beat anyplace in this country and the size of her crappie is getting in the trophy class. She is a decent catfish lake but with one of the best so near in Grand Lake she certainly doesn’t get the recognition or the pressure. Bass are plentiful and the smallmouth population is really doing well with some true bruisers showing up. The Walleye fishing that has been getting better and better each year add in some Gar and Carp for fly fishing and the occasional paddlefish sighting and you have a neat lake with a diverse bounty of opportunity.

Beaver has some truly unique opportunities in her, Stripers that can reach 50 plus pounds are a true possibility giving people the chance to catch a fish of their lifetime giving her the ability to fulfill a dream to anglers of a giant at the end of their line. Live Bait is without doubt the key to catching the stripers but they will hit a host of different lures and provide a excellent top water candidate.

Hybrids or Striper / White Bass hybrids can gain large sizes up to 20pounds and they roam in large schools around the lake and when you locate one you can catch many giving people the ability for some true rod bending arm burning excitement.

With the Stripers ancestry being salt water it gives people a chance to play with a salt water fish in fresh water giving them a taste of the Ocean without ever having to go there. Both these species can turn the surface of the water in to a frothing boiling pot of water in no time when attacking bait with reckless abandon adding many points to a anglers blood pressure.

White Bass fishing in Beaver is hard to beat anyplace in the State possibly even the country, Beaver Lake is well known for her White Bass population and their line pulling ability not to mention the countless fish fries they are responsible for. They are easy to locate especially during their spring spawning run and for children’s enjoyment rival that of the mighty perch /bluegill for keeping kids happy for hours.

Speaking of her Perch; She has them some pretty good size however they are not heavily targeted, these are really a summer fish for kids as they are in shallow relatively clear water and the perfect bobber fish that gives the kids something to fixate on.

Crappie have gradually gotten bigger the last 5 years and 16 inch fish this last year were becoming common and I even managed one 18 inch crappie. Unlike many lakes though I have found her large crappie seem to have a habit of suspending in very deep open water with no cover around chasing schools of shad with other large predators. Now let’s face it for the frying Pan God created crappie to fill that pan and our plates! Who doesn’t smile when they see a true Pan sized crappie at the end of their line? But I ask keep only what you and your family can eat lets help keep growing large crappie.

I have seen two true success stories in the lake in my opinion the first being the Walleye, when I started fishing the lake a walleye was a rare fish to be caught and a legal one was very few and many cast between. The last two years catching a keeper ( 18inch ) or bigger fish has become very real and with a little understanding of them not to difficult. This last season I have caught fish from 6 inches to 32 inches all very fat and healthy. That is showing numerous age class fish.

The second is the Smallmouth Bass. Again it’s been the last few years that I have seen a dramatic improvement in them. I use to catch many in the pound to 2 pound class but seldom caught anything bigger. Now 2 to 4 pound fish are showing up more and ev6 pound and better are not out of the question. I can actually dream of a real possibility of seeing a 8plus pound fish coming out of the lake if things keep going well for them.

Then there is the Pesky Kentucky of the lake, very numerous yet small, the population appears to have no end and this heard needs to be thinned out. If you like the taste of bass please keep these to help reduce the population. Or better yet take a few kids out and when they ask to keep them let them.

The mighty largemouth, or should I say popular Black bass, though it’s a funny term as they are green lo! They certainly are not Florida or California size by any means but are respectful with 3 to 4 pounders possible any given day and with the other species apparently growing nicely the last few years.

Now people might be wondering why things are looking up for Beaver and it’s the flood years we have had right at the optimum time to really bolster the feed and spawns.

I also should discuss two of the lakes best candidates for a fly rod; Gar and Carp! Do not turn your nose up at this opportunity. Carp are freshwater Bonefish and on light fly gear will give you a great fight with long powerful determined runs and then a dogged out fight. I have caught the Silver Ghost of the Flats and can tell you Carp are very similar and sporting to the Bones and share a lot of characteristics to them. They will take a fly readily and can be every bit as spooky requiring stealth and perfect cast placement.

Gars on the other hand are very aggressive and streamer patterns will get them to violently chase and attack your bait. Near surface baits can give your heart failure watching some of the 4foot plus gar charging it. They are respectable in a fight and difficult to hook. It requires super sharp hooks and stout rods to bury the hook in that boney mouth of theirs. But when the fish Gods smile and you get a hook set it’s a fight worth having, not to mention they are very tasty especially when baked or smoked.

Finally the Cats of Beaver are there and can be caught but just never get the fanfare of her neighbor Grand Lake. This is a bonus to those who search out the cats as they are not nearly as pressured. There are some true bruisers in the lake for the catching.

Most of the cat fishing is done with Jug, trot and Limb lines but hook and line anglers can do just as well if they understand a few simple things. First is the cats seem to like to come out on Beavers flats at dusk and can be caught on them. The other place they can be caught is around some of the large boulders on the lake with the use of live bait cast up to them and let it slowly swim down toward the bottom. And finally if we get a good rain storm fishing the flats and creek channels where water is coming in is a highly efficient way to produce some great catches.

I have pulled my logs and reviewed them in writing this, with my sincere hope it will help others to catch more fish and enjoy the lake more as I know a frustrating trip can sour people on a lake as fast as anything else. This by no means is a complete guide to the lake but an attempt to try and help others unlock some tight lips from the lake from my perspective and experience.

We are lucky this day in age to have very high quality maps which will make a lake easy to figure out at least when it comes to what’s below the water. But then you add in its terrain and conditions so well marked on those maps and it would make many of our grandfathers call us cheaters. Combine those with internet forums for up to the minute reports and the numerous technological advancements in sonar and even under water video cameras and the edge starts swinging to the angler.

Beaver I learned was actually 4 different environments or sections! After understanding that I was able to apply my past knowledge from other similar lakes to her and develop fishing techniques that produced on them and then simply refined them for Beaver.

First environment is it’s a river from its head waters in Fayetteville to Horseshoe Bend Marina it is a river with flowing current and all the attributes of river. Fish react and behave differently in a river environment than in a still water lake. Luckily for me I have fished more than a few rivers and had bearing points. In current fish look for eddies and break points or places where water is slack or because of lack of current will pile in food. Beavers White River section is no different to me than the Delta of Northern California or the Chattahoochee of The south these fish feeding stations always can produce. During the heat of the day these deep slow water areas hold fish of all species and they are best targeted during the high sun times.

This area shines during the late winter and early spring as the Stripers, White Bass, Hybrids and Walleye move up the river to spawn. Don’t think of it as a large river but more for a opportunity to find fish in a relatively confined space. Find those feeding stations and take advantage of the smorgasbord that is moving up. As time progresses and the river narrows it only confines the fish even more making targeting them easier and easier. From February till the end of May this area of the lake is full of fish and with a little effort you can locate haunts the migratory species use year in and year out.

Then there are the flats and bars. Again current is key to the fish location. Always approach these areas from deep to shallow on the down current side. Use your electronics to look in the holes but be sure to set-up shallow above them and throw short of the hole and then feed line back into it slowly. Natural presentation for them is bait coming into them from the current not coming out of them.

Finally is the bluff walls, you ever notice how some areas produce while others are fair at best. Next time you are on one look behind you and see where the current is pushing the flow. The ones that constantly produce well are the ones where the current directly hits them at the hardest. Of course wind can influence things and turn a bluff on all over it but constantly the best areas is where the current actually is working it always.

The next area of the lake is from the Fish Hatchery to Rocky Branch. Big open water heavily influenced by wind for current, I liken this area to lakes such as Casitas, Okeechobee and even Havasu. It even fishes the same as they do. Here you are fishing Flats, Points and Structure such as timber and boulders and much deeper water areas. Wind is your current producer in this stretch of the lake unless we have had major rains at that point look to the back of coves and creek arms for active feeding stations. In windy conditions look for mud-lines that develop off of points. Keep a mind open water bait such as shad will be pushed to the banks or they will seek shelter in protected pockets. I love wind myself for fishing secondary pockets off main points and the mud-lines back side.

This is the first stop up river for the migrating fish and the exit points from the river and it boasts two of the best flats on the lake. One in front of Beaver Shores and the other at Horseshoe Bend, both of these flats are outstanding feeding station as bait sweeps over them and the fish stack up on them. Adding to their outstanding fish attracting nature is the channels proximity to them. You just cannot ask for better.

These two flats also create a interesting situation on Beaver lake when the large schools of shad are on them as the Large Bass tend to stop being related to the natural cover and places we expect them to be and orientate themselves to following the schools of stripers and Hybrids taking advantage of their feeding to easily pick off wounded or dead prey. When I discovered this habit I checked on it in other areas of the lake and have found it to be true throughout. These bass are typically 5 pounds or better and very susceptible to trolling techniques or flutter baits.

The deeper water of the lake here and the baits habit of suspending over it gives a unique and often overlooked opportunity to target species suspended in deep water. This is difficult but a persistent angler with good electronics can target the fish out in this deep water with a high degree of success as the species out there are there for the reason of feeding and seem to be much more active. I really enjoy this area starting in Late September and it’s from decent to excellent fishing until late may as the species move in and out of the river arm.

Next is from Rocky Branch to Fish-trap. It is another river setting but without current from a river. Here there are some great timber areas and under water mounds and large rock piles. Wind is a major factor for this area and North or South blowing wind really can turn on a bite. It’s also an area where I have found speed trolling and live bait to be most productive. The area really reminds me a lot of Ocean fishing in the fish to be very nomadic in this area and move around a great deal so covering water is a key producing technique.

If you look at it from the water and from a chart it gives the impression of the many sea mounds and reefs of our coast, the stripers that inhabit this area in late spring and summer are constantly on the move and that is why trolling is so effective. It certainly is an area for live bait use as well for them.

Smallmouth bass are plentiful in this area and in the right conditions this has to be one of my favorite sections to fish for them using top water baits and slow jerk bait presentations around the rocks. Another fun option is to purchase some Minnows (striper minnows) at the local bait shops and then tail hook them so they swim away from the boat, lightly lob them out and keep enough tension on the line so they try to swim away but stay near the surface. This technique can produce very aggressive and entertaining action from just about any species.

Finally we get to the last section; from Starky to the Dam area. This section is deep with numerous areas of timber and boulders, heavily is it influenced by generation flow and wind currents, the open waters truly the domain of the Striped Bass and the timber and structure guarded by some of the stoutest bass. It is certainly an area of difficulty for most anglers but when the right day comes an area that is more than capable of putting a smile on any anglers face.

Indian Creek and its coves offer outstanding summer striper fishing, what this section of the lake offers is a true night bite. Often I have ventured down here for the opportunity for night Bass fish and Striper fishing. Beating the summer heat the night offers some relief and exciting action.

Another aspect often overlooked is the Walleye fishing along the dam itself, when the wind is blowing out of the north the rip-rap section on the dam can offer some excellent walleye fishing and the same holds true when they are generating. When generating everything turns on and it makes it difficult to choose a good area. Typically I will hit the rip-rap and if it is not active I will move to the points and work them over, one of those places will produce.

Alas there is more than just having a brief description of the lake to understanding it! You must have an understanding of the species that thrive in the waters you hunt. But before that an understanding of the food they eat. The forage is the key to locating fish.

For me there is four key bait species on the lake to look for;

First is the Gizzard Shad, often found in shallower quieter waters in coves protected coves and areas with current inflow. They are the largest of the forage foods in the lake. Though they can be caught using netting techniques and used year round for bait they are the species I look for in the Fall of the year far more than any other species. As the water cools from the oppressive heat of summer the predators start coming back to the shallows to look for these high nutritional and large prey species. Locating the areas holding them then targeting adjacent waters near to them can yield some very large catches as only the largest of fish in the lake can take on these baits that are often over 8 inches in length.

More often than not many anglers make the mistake of trying to fish right where they caught the bait, and though it is possible to catch a few fish in there to maximize your odds take the baits out past the large shoals of bait. Having a good sonar is very helpful in doing this! Simply motor out past the bait until you start marking the large predators then go beyond them and quietly drift back toward the bait if the wind is in your favor or use your trolling motor only enough to do it. Free lined bait is most effective so it swims naturally.

Second is the Threadfin shad; by far the most abundant of the fin prey, migrating the lake in large shoals in open water. As they pass shallow areas of points or over flat timber or other structure they become a meal for many species. It is however when they are in the open water near no structure that the offers anglers a chance for trophy species. Many times I have seen and caught large bass, stripers and walleye feeding on them. The sonar marks are unmistakable, and though I caught the species it was not until I had the opportunity to use an underwater video camera did I confirm all my theories.

Picture if you will a bait ball, most of us have seen it on our sonar, then you see fish suspended below them with the occasional streak shooting into the ball. Below the suspended or feeding fish is another mass often near the bottom or well below the suspended fish. I call this set-up the Triple stack of Pancakes. First layer is the Bait then the suspended/feeding fish and below that is third stack which is the smart fish and largest, oldest and wisest they do not waste valuable energy attacking the bait or chasing it down. This group simply sits below the aggressive fish and picks off the stunned and wounded bait. They are lazy as even as the bait falls through the other fish they make no mad dash at it but slowly swim over and inhale it.

Frustration was a good word to use when targeting these fish for a long time as they would not hit a spoon or drop shot heck for that matter any conventional approach. Sure every so often I would get lucky and have one bite but more times than not is was hair pulling. The camera was the defining and tide turning weapon in winning the battle. Watching these fish made me understand they were leisurely eating prey that was free floating –sinking. I started using large streamer pattern flies with little to no weight and just let them float down to those fish. You will catch many small fish on the way down. But when you get through them you end up catching true trophy fish bass 5 pounds and better, Stripers in the double digits and large walleye.

This pattern holds and works year round but is most effective in spring during the spawning migration up the river arms.

Third is perch; this is a spring and fall pattern I have found very useful. The small perch on the lake tend to school in shallows during these two times of year and if you can locate them the Bass, Walleye and Hybrids are usually never far behind. This is also a perfect opportunity for fly fishing for those species. Many other lures work well in the area they are in but never linger long as they are moving and the predators come in and move out fast but never pass up the opportunity.

Finally are the crayfish; primary food for the bass and walleye love them as well. I looked for crayfish when I started fishing the lake in all the normal spots such as rocks and fallen debris but discovered something on a few dives into the lake. They really like to get under stumps and walleye like to dig them out of there and in turn the smallmouth has learned to go to the opposite side when they walleye are trying to dig them out. Knowing this I have learned if I am catching walleye in a stump field to switch to a jig and start working the stumps and more times than not I will catch some smallmouth.

Getting back to actually putting fish on the boat is the understanding of the lake. I briefly touched earlier on the Map and Sonar technology and would like to go more in to detail.

When I moved here I bought several maps and then did a lot of internet searching for maps of the lake and history of the lake. I wanted to learn about what was on the bottom of the lake and what types of vegetation was there before the lake was built. It is important to me in fishing any new body of water to find out what was there before the lake.

I am looking for farm lands, timber areas, old roads and rail road’s, farm houses and churches anything that could be a fish producing area such as where a farm field met a timber stand or where a homestead was and the farmer may have piled rocks when tilling his fields or even created a pond for his stock.

It takes a lot of patients to spend time pouring over the volumes of information and even more patients to go out on the lake and spend the time looking at these areas without fishing. It will however teach you the area and that will put fish in the boat.

After you spend the time on research its time to take it one step further! Trolling will teach you more about the lake and now you are putting in some fishing time. Even if you are not familiar with the technicalities of trolling you can still do it. Simply let a lure of your choice behind the boat (40) count will work good and slowly start motoring around. Guys this is a good way to get a wife and kids time on the water as you are moving keeping scenery fresh.

As you troll watch your sonar, be ready to mark way-points as you go both on the map and sonar. You will see structure not on any map and over years doing it you will see fish in areas you will never expect year in year out around the same time of year. In time you will have build a knowledge of the lake far surpassing any map or way-point marks it will be in your memory giving you a starting point any time of day any time of year and that catches fish.

If you really want to fine tune your knowledge I suggest taking Google earth and zoom in to specific areas and save the imagine then put it on Excel and mark the map using the excel tools. I must admit I have a few of them that are so cluttered I really need to break the area into type of marks only.

All this will help you understand your fish finder much better and the lake.

So after all that I bet everyone is wondering what baits to use or techniques?

On the technique side I have seriously scaled way back over the years and made things less complicated.

The first thing is to form a game plan! Base it off weather, water temperature and the full moon (this is the only phase I concern myself with) Full Moon means fish bite at dusk and through the night. Try and have a minimum of 5 spots to cover just in case others are already on your primary area.

Time of year greatly affects what step one is. Cooler months I want to search out bait and cast net my own; bait hunting sometimes is more fun than the fishing and certainly very educational on where fish are and why they are there. It is always advisable to get live bait before hitting the lake even if just a couple dozen it could be the difference between a good day and a frustrating day.

After I have or some days don’t have bait from the lake I will head to a Primary spot. Now keep in mind your primary area may have to be changed based on what you see when you get on the lake. If on my way to get bait I mark fish on the sonar or notice very nervous behavior in the bait or even see fish attacking it the primary spot may well be just where I am, so maintain and open mind.

But anyway when I reach that primary spot I like to start by trolling, this affords me the luxury of using the electronics to look over the area as well as check those way-points I have marked for fish. It normally does not take long to detect fish or not. If they are in the area and not biting lures this is the time to drop a couple of live baits down and see what happens.

When trolling the area be sure to cover different depths this may take some time but it may well help you find the fish. If after trolling and live baiting nothing has happened move toward where the fish may be. This is on Beaver is a simple thing to figure out as it is the next piece of the puzzle. Beaver has four highly migratory fish in it, Stripers, Hybrids, Whites and Walleye and then it has the stationary fish such as Bass, Crappie and Perch. Though I list them as stationary they do certainly move around but not near to the degree of the four migratory species.

Knowing this is a great advantage the four migrating species can be patterned fairly easily! They move up the lake to the river arms to staging points in fall and as winter progresses toward spring further and further up it. Use this knowledge to seek out the staging and feeding areas and you can follow the fish, and in late spring to summer it’s purely the reverse. It is a pure waste of time to go the opposite way of the migration.

Even with the less migratory species they still have some degree of migration it may simply be pulling off shallow cover to deep cover. This is why I say always covering many depths when trolling you may well find them in much deeper water than you expect.

Base your fishing spots on the seasonal pattern and when you find fish on one of them that is the area to stay! Fish will be coming and going off it all day and there may well be periods of no action until the area replenishes throughout the day.

For instance if you are starting out in Prairie Creek in late September you start at the back of the creek where the water is flowing in, you find nothing the next stop would logically be 12 bridge then Beaver Shores and in to Blackburn on to Horseshoe Bend etc. Follow the migration route.

Now when you discover the fish there a multitude of different tackle that can be used to catch them and for this discussion I will just keep it limited to what I personally use, others may have their favorite baits but these are the ones I use to maximize my catches.

Trolling baits Flicker Shad are hard to beat from 3 feet of water down to 18 feet of water, their action and sizes mimic bait perfectly! Running these baits at 2.0 to 2.5 miles per hour seems to be the preferred speed for most the game fish in the lake. You will have to experiment with colors at times but the Pearl White, Black and White, Avocado, Speckled Gold Shiner and Blue Tiger seem to be high on the list.

Next is Keitech swing impact for 3 to 8 feet of water again using the same speed, The nice thing about this bait is if you do locate schooled fish you can simply real it in and cast it right to them.

For deeper water go with Bucktails and umbrella rigs a trick to the umbrella rig be it the big one or the A-rig is to run the baits 3 to 4 feet off the arms on 20lb fluorocarbon fishing line to get them away from the metal tangles happen but so do fish.

After locating the fish switch to your confidence bait be it a spoon, jig or worm and work it methodically through the area. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t get the bite you wanted as some days only trolling or live baits seem to be the producer.

Well I hope something in there helps you put more fish on the boat.

[Jerry Rapp]

excellent post F&F. I will probably never fish Beaver, but if I did this post would be a hell of a starting point. You done good! Thanks.

[fisherofmen11]

Good stuff. Thanks F&F.

[kjackson]

That is good info, F&F. Thanks. I appreciate the time it took to get it all down--that's a lot of writing!

I do have a question, though. Are you referring to yellow perch? I know some sunfish are referred to as perch...and I want to make sure. The reason for my curiosity (besides the fact that perch are great on the table) is that they also are a favored prey for walleyes. I just pulled all the perch-pattern crankbaits out of my trolling boxes as I was told there were no yellow perch in Beaver. But I can easily throw them back in...

[nathanhooper]

If you have ever heard of the old saying, "I'll have to chew on that one for a while", its applicable here. Good night! This thing will get a lot of views because every now and then I'll be coming back to re-read it. Lots of info there, many thanks.

[Feathers and Fins]

Perch is a generic for all the sunfish family for what i was writing... but I wouldnt take them out of your box I have caught walleye and Striper on pearch pattern baits.

[pomm muskie]

Thanks for the info. when you troll do you use keel weights or just add weight in front of the lure.

[Feathers and Fins]

When I troll im using baits that I know the depths they work at straight line to bait .

[kjackson]

Perch is a generic for all the sunfish family for what i was writing... but I wouldnt take them out of your box I have caught walleye and Striper on pearch pattern baits.

There are still a few perch-patterned baits in the lineup. but I was trying to cut back so that I only needed two boxes instead of three...or four.

[Guest]

Its going to be awhile before I can digest a 6000 word document.

That's longer than most term papers in my college years.

Did you sit down and write that all in one session?

Or have you been piecing it together for weeks?

Very impressive, btw