Samkam1

We're going down next week as well 22nd-26th. Thinking about fishing the rocky branch area. We should exchange #'s and keep each other posted on where the fish are. SK

It can be done...however most transducers are made to function best when mounted to a solid surface tha doesn't move.

My Great Grandpa ate fried food every day of his life and he lived to 96 yrs. His favorite breakfast was dough balls rolled in cinnamon and sugar and fried in lard...ate them every day. I don't believe I could live without my fried fish!!! Ritz Crackers are my favorite for fried fish...they are great.

I kill those nasty things every time I catch one...they proliferate and are a nuisance. We have hooked some 20-30 lbers while striper fishing. Often times they will strip every line of it's bait that took hours to catch and if your lucky enough to snag one while hes stripping...time to take the club to him! We usually move when we get into gar...if they are around the game fish are not it seems. I wouldn't mind catching a few dozen 8-12 inchers and trying them out for bait. I bet they would work well. I have heard some old timers say they are pretty good eating..but man they sure are slimy and stinky! I have heard some old timers say skunks and possums are good eating too.. SK

We concentrated on Lost Bridge area and up...I would guess the mud line is pushing up towards the Rocky Branch area by now. Up around pt. 3 you can see down about 6'-8'...which isn't even close to normal but getting better than it has been. I would bet you can see down 10-12 feet up by the dam. Other than that the lake looks nice...still really high but the water condition looks good. SK

We've been using our secret weapon...the shad are too hard to keep alive even with a good bait tank. The bigger the redbreast sunfish the better. SK

Well we weren't able to go out until Sunday...fished 6am-noon. Concentrated up around Starkey and Point 3 and ended up with 5 stripers 1 hybrid and 1 spot. The stripers were 6-10lbs and the hybrid was 9lbs. We were in fish all morning....was tough to get them to bite due to the weather change. Had a big one find a weak spot and break off..was probably a wall hanger right? heh heh The fish we got to bite wanted live bait. They were in 18-22 ft of water in the thermocline. Clouds of baby shad were everywhere. SK

Heading down this weekend..anyone have a general idea where the stripers are hanging out? Things seem to be different this year from last due to the high water and we havent had a chance to stay on top of them the past few weeks...looking forward to getting down there this weekend though! thanks in advance for any tips. SK

I would suggest Don Andreasen (www.beaverfeverguides.com) make sure you get boat #1 or #2. Joe Farkas is an excellent guide as well. (www.joesstriperguide.com) hope you have a great time! SK

I have never seen them tear up perch like they were...a couple time as soon as we got them in the water they slammed them.... The perch were extremely difficult to come by though...the shiners work well and are easy to keep alive...the hard part is consistantly finding them at bait stores in the 5-7" range. If you put smaller shiners on everything in the lake tries to eat them. SK

They were both fairly shallow, caught them on perch in approximately 10-12 ft, both off of gravel points. SK

Do you keep and eat fish out of Spfd Lake? I have always been wary about it with as nasty as the water is...any ideas on if it is ok or not? SK

We used shiners and perch...floated under baloons and planer boards. It is great to see a board or baloon go skipping across the water then disappear in a big splash! SK

No problem at all! What an awesome fish..one for the wall for sure. It should only get better down there...we are going to hit Norfork this weekend and see what we can do over there. Good luck to you....hope you guys get some more big dogs! There is not a more fun freshwater fish to catch (and eat) imho! SK

Well all in all we did fairly well. Set up camp and started fishing around the Rocky Branch area....bad decision. Have never seen the water in the shape it was last week...and talked to some old timers that said they had never seen it like it is now in their entire lives. We ended up finding a few fish and the end of the mud line all the way up around point 4 after much searching all day on Tuesday. Caught one 22" walleye and a 4lb stripe and some black bass and whites. We decided to move camp to Lost Bridge south...it ended up being a great choice. Ended up fishing all week up around the dam, point 3 area, and across from point 3 to the north. All in all we ended up with over 30 stripes....smallest at 5lbs and I beat my personal record of 18lbs with a 22.5lb 36" male. What a dandy! We had some nice hybrids in the 8-9lb range and a bunch of stripes in the 12-15lb range. We couldn't keep the whites off the hook...caught over 50 of them...as well as another nice 20" walleye, and assorted black bass including a dandy 3lb smallie. Only caught one striper on top-water :-( All other fish came on live bait. The water was in the 65 degree range and with this weather warming up the next couple weeks the top-water bite should be getting great. The FLW boys didn't mess up our fishing too badly at all...the huge downpour on Thursday and the dense fog on Friday slowed them down some..and we caught most of our fish before they even got started. It sure was fun watching those boats tear around at 80MPH with the Warthog jets and helicopters following them around. Quite a spectacle! Even with the water as high and muddy as it is...we still had an excellent week!!! I sure was in need of a vacation from the ole grind. SK

Heading down for the week to chase stripers. Any current reports/advice would be much appreciated! Will be fishing live bait as well as looking for that topwater bite. Looks like the weather is going to cooperate...hopefully a few fish will do the same! SK

Most of the stripers are up in the river right now. Bever Fever Guides Donny can put you on the fish if you want to hire a guide one day. SK

Too hot to hunt! Went to Beaver instead and got in on the top water striper action. Going to hunt this week when it cools off. SK

Beaver lake is an awesome fishery I must agree! That is very cool that you guys had a well-rounded trip. After catching those stripers like that it is hard to want to catch any other type of fish! We caught over 120 stripers in the 6-20lb range and one that went close to 32lbs out of Beaver last spring/summer along with multiple smallmouth and kentuckies....and this fall/winter is looking excellent...we have been getting into a TON of topwater action lately down there! What a blast! SK

Topwater bite going on good down close to dam. Fished across from quarry marina in thumb point and frog pond area -- Caught 6-8 fish in the 4-10lb range on topwater (super spooks) and a few on bait -- one 18.9 lbs and one 19.11 lbs both on large brooders. Couldnt have been more beautiful weather! Head on out if you want some decent top water action! SK

Heading to Norfork for the weekend. Anyone been fishing for stripers down there lately? Any tips/tricks/pointers will be helpful! Staying at Hand Cove resort....should be a beautiful weekend. thanks! SK

Fished from dawn until about 2PM on Saturday. Hit coppermine area, around rocky branch (cedar creek, etc), and point 3 area. Couldn't find the concentrated fish...they seemed to be spread out. Only caught 1 small striper, and a bunch of smallmouth and kentuckies and largemouth. All in all a great day -- beautiful weather to get out on the water!! I think the season transition has got the fish spread out...and once it settles and the water gets down to about 70 watch out...bring that topwater plug and redfin with you!! Water temp right now is around 75-77 degrees and the thermocline is around 26 feet. Best of luck, SK

Caught 11 stripers and one small channel on salties and brood minnows Saturday morning. Nothing huge...6-8 lbers and one went 14.2 lbs. Lots of action and a fun morning in the Rocky Branch area...water temp around 82.5 and fish around thermocline at 30-40 feet. SK

Brownie -- they are very hardy...still have 40+ in the bait tank from last Friday. Have changed the water out a few times and they stay as frisky as ever. Those rascals are born and bred in Arkansas....doesn't that make them "native"? Im not sure we will use them too much again....I think the stripers prefer the "brood minnows" that we have been using (which you can also buy from IF Anderson farms) because they are long and slender and they can slurp them down easier. The salties look alot like gold fish...just really dark. They work ok...but I think they may work better for catfish and bass than they have for the stripers. Have a great weekend guys...go catch some fish!!! SK

Couldn't get out to beaver tuesday morning.....dang work!! We did make it out on thursday morning from 5-9...boated 4 fish-- an 8 lb and a 15 lb striper, as well as two hybrids one went 5 and one went 7 lbs. We had a couple really nice fish get off, one pulled line until it broke and the other wasn't hooked well and got off. We also had quite a lot of short strikes. Heading out saturday and sunday mornings....shall let you kow how we do!!! SK