Samkam1

http://www.andersonminnows.com/ Will post our results! Planning on going tuesday and thursday..so I will let you know. The bait have been in the tank since Friday. So we will see! SK

I believe that store in Rogers is actually out of business though. Used the off-shore angler size at Beaver Saturday and they seemed to work well. Caught 7 stripers....9 lbs and under... no bigguns. Pulled many baits off the hook and put them back in the tank for our next trip on Tuesday! Hopefully they will be biting better...we were in fish all morning....just no really steady action with the rain coming through and no 15lb + fish. Next time though... SK

In the lakes that we fish I can't see a problem with a minnow that gets up to a max 8 inches being much of a nuisance fish...but we mostly fish lakes that have walleye/stripers/hybrids that can easily eat an 8 inch minnow. I never have really worried about minnows that I use becoming a nusiance...but who knows. SK

This will tell you all you need to know......live bait shipped to your doorstep that are so frisky they explode out of the bags when you open them to put in your tank. Sounds like a plan to me? Shad are such a nuisance to catch and keep alive...plus they stink up your tank and die after 20 minutes on the hook. www.blacksalty.com SK

Curious if any of you live-bait guys have used Black Salty's... I've heard you can't kill the things...and you can use them on the surface all the way down to 60 feet deep and throw them back in your tank if they don't get eaten before your done fishin....and they stay as lively as the day they were born... Thought about giving them a try. SK

Im pretty sure they're legal down at Beaver....I have seen numerous people using them down there for shad. You just have to check each area's regulations. SK

Beaver Dam store carries broods sometimes and Riverview Resorts and bait shop carries them also. Cranfield Junction carries them over at Norfork. Whatever you can get that is 5 inches and bigger from the stream or store might work. Shad are nice to use at Truman because you can catch them all over the lake pretty much any time you want to, so you can always have lively shad. It's different at Beaver and Norfork because thread fin are harder to catch and the water is so clear. So if you have to travel like we do, the broods and suckers last so much longer and dont stink up your tank like the big fat gizzard shad do. We've been having good luck on perch too...3-6 inchers. Sam Heres a couple more pics of the fish we caught last Sat. I have to brag a little bit because we got into them so good!

Dad has his boat set up pretty nice for a 16' boat...just not much room for more than 2. He has one downrigger that we usually stack on, and most of the time we make use of 4 side planers, 2 out each side at different legnths. We also like to use baloons some, if you can keep the skiers/jetskiers out of them. Put a 10inch shad, shiner, or sucker way back behind the boat on your biggest rod on a baloon by himself and hope for that 50lb + fish!! Sam

Good luck over there Lilley....I lived in Fort Collins for 7 years and fished every creek and lake I could find up there. There is nothing that compares to the beauty of the Rocky Mountains....We spent a lot of time up Poudre Canyon as well as hiking to desolate hidden lakes. Some awesome trout waters up there! We also spent a decent amount of time at Boyd and Horsetooth lakes catching walleye, whites, and bass...as well as trout in the inlets at Horsetooth. Saw a kid pull a 6 lb rainbow out of that inlet...the biggest I got was a 4 lber. The Rockies are great for a "different" type of fishing...but nothing compares to our water here in the Ozarks!!! Sam

Yeah regular baitcast rod....different size weights to cover varying depths from about 20-50 ft of water. There is no limit on how many rods you can put out so we try to keep out 10-12 rods to increase the odds! Sam

30lb test with 20lb test flourocarbon leader in that clear water. You can see down like 25'.

Yeah the only way we are surviving the heat is by fishing 4am until like 9am then going home. Man it's been hot!!! Dad broke down and got a blue water bait tank and we use shad, 6-8 inch golden shiners or "brood" minnows, crawdads, and 2-5 inch perch. The shiners actually are much easier to keep alive and frisky than the darn shad...and the fish love them. The tank was an excellent investment....and we love to use the live bait. Umbrella rigs are leagal, as well as gill-nets for threadfin shad. That hybrid came out of Truman a couple years back, he went 14lbs. Sam

Got into the fish good on the 4th.....close to the dam and honey creek area in about 50ft of water. The fish still suspended at 25-40 ft. Caught over 12 fish in the 7-14lb range all on live bait and this one is dad's biggest striper. Will make a nice wall mount! 31 pounds 42 inches. Sam

Well we ended up doing decently...hit the right moon pattern and had frisky bait. It was slow and only caught one Friday night but they turned on in between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m Sat morning during the moon transition. We had our limit by 8:00 am right around point 3, lost bridge area, and honey creek in 80 ft water with the fish suspended at around 30 ft. Caught them all on shad and big golden shiners 6-8 inches long. We had double 10 lb fish on at one time!!!! Stripers are by far the most fun freshwater fish to catch....and such good eating you would think it was halibut. Concentrate on beaver and norfork and learn to catch them and you will have a blast! Why catch white bass or crappie when these fish will pull out 200 yards of line and are such good eating...and you always have that chance of a 30-60 lb fish. Sam

Been down there a few times this summer...fish seem to be pretty scattered and moving fast. Weve caught a few but nothing over 12 or so. It seems like with the water getting up into the mid 90s that the fish are biting when its dark. Thanks for the tips! We will most likely be moving around a lot and trying to locate the fish...most likely not fishing under the lights. Put in last weekend at lost bridge park and there were the guide boats....seems like most of the fish being caught from like 2am-7am or so. We shall give it a try...hope the shad stay alive and frisky!!

Wondering if anyone has any tips on gear/bait/techniques to bring night fishing for stripers? Have live shad, downriggers, diamond shad and rattle traps...any info would be beneficial! I know that with is getting so hot lately that night fishing is supposed to be good...just havent dont it much for stripers. Heading down this weekend..putting in close to the darn -- points 3, 4, and the Lost Bridge park area. I hope we find some big dogs! thanks, SK

That right there is a good reason to keep a club in the boat!! Man I hate those things....hooked into many at Bull Shoals and Beaver 20lbs+. Cool Pic!! SK

You should keep those things...they're such good eating! Points 4 and 5 are excellent areas right now. Hit the points accross from the point 5 cove and all around point 4. Bone or clear spooks, and black and gray redfins. good luck!

Thanks for the info guys. Looks like we will have to use a boat to consistantly catch shad. Can you put any boat in at Lake Springfield if you only use the trolling motor and not even start the gas motor? If not im going to look for a small aluminum boat or something to put in to catch bait. thanks! Sam

Fishing heating up in Mutton Creek area...the incoming cold front may change things. On the 30th we caught a decent amount of walleye, crappie, and whites in Googer creek and the cove directly north of the boat ramp at Mutton. All were right up next to the brush and in any coves that are full of sunken grass or willows. Water was around 63 degrees and a beautiful clear/emerald green. Much nicer than up in the river! Fish liked black/chartreuse, black/silver, jigs tipped with monnows. good fishing!!

Stripers, hybrids, smallmouth biting well early morning and late evening off of main lake points. The moon was full so I'm sure the fish were biting all night long. Caught a decent number of fish on the 31st in the 5-10 lb range and had a couple break us off. Got one 16lb striper...what a fight. All fish caught on brood minnows under baloons and planer boards. Water temp was up around 65 degrees, and the clarity was excellent. Could see down to the bottom in 16 feet of water! I love Norfork :-) Hudson and Frog Pond area are good spots. Good fishing!

65ish degrees and very muddy as of the 28th.

At least take some good pics/measurements and have a replica made.....they last longer and look better anyways :-)

Any good places at these lakes to net shad for bait? Locations would be extremely helpful so we dont have to run to truman/stokton just to get shad to take to beaver and norfork! thanks. SK

We stuck to the flats accross from the mouths of War Eagle and the White.... Caught 7 stripers in the 5-10lb range and one hybrid that went 10lbs. They were pretty scattered still and a bit finicky, but it was still a lot of fun. We couldn't find any catchable shad, so we had to purchase brood minnows. We saw some guides around the same spot, and they were doing about the same. One had two stripers over 20lbs. We could have caught a lot of white bass and crappie had we been fishing for them specifically. Saw many stringers of crappie and we caught a few whites and crappie while fishing for stripers. All in all had an excellent weekend though a little slow. The weather cooperated and the fishing should be excellent this spring. We are going to concentrate on crappie and walleye this week at Stockton to stock up the freezer and then we will head back down to chase the big boys at Beaver. Good fishing!!! Sam Sam