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Seemed really windy for a top water, but I did see some fish busting top further south on the lake yesterday while checking out the boat. Guess I have a mental block about when to throw a top water.

Last day he switched over to Keitech in sexy shad that were given to him along with some super glue. That is what I read online.

I think the most important park of this stop for the FLW is that they make their number one money provider happy since that is their reason to fish. The people on this forum fish for the love of fishing, you tour for an entirely different love. So since this where the really big checks are written I don't see any reason for the PROs to complain. If they had no sponsors and fished Falcon and top producing lakes all the time for fun with there own money like the rest of us they would not be PROs. So the real question in my mind is, do stripers in the lake reduce the number of zeros on that Walmart check?

I will always go back to the day I was in Prairie creek looking for stripers in out in the middle with a jerk bait and every swirl I threw at was a 6lb or better black. There was a bass tournament going on and a boat came over to watch me weigh and release a 7lb fish then asked to see my jerk bait. After tying on the same jerk bait they returned to the shoreline while I continued to catch surfing fish in the center even though I offered them the water.

They have to blame it on something until you understand Beaver is an "upside down" lake. Fish turn off in when the sun goes behind clouds then move shallow when the sun beats down, will turn on during a cold front ect.... Just do the opposite of Table Rock on the same day and you will catch just as many fish.

TABLE ROCK

I would like to see some good spots weighed in myself and I would see the larger spots coming from the north end but I think the big girls will be caught south Horseshoe. I would like to see jerkbaits ruling but I don't think will be the case. By October will probably not care at all, but always nice to try to pick out local spots and boat docks on TV. I can predict one thing all the boat traffic will drive the stripers down deep, they don't like boat noise.

Anyone want to guess where and with what the pros will be pulling the most Bass out with. I am predicting another boring show of Alabama rig slinging and most of the top ten fishing below RT12 bridge to Hickory Creek. I don't see much bed fishing going on since early spawners will be small fish. My back hurts just watching them throw those rigs.lol

4 Men in a 10ft flat bottom plus alcohol and no life jackets, I am surprised only one is dead. 4 grown men in my Nitro 700 would sink it. My boat says 4 persons or 450lbs when was the last time you saw 4 men who's total weight was 450lbs? I can only guess the weight limit of a 10ft flat bottom?

The reason I like the new HELIX series is the price, color and 2 different functions for $250. I am going to replace both of my dated black and white models within the next year. Once I have both I can change out the console and front to have what I need when I need it. The GPS at the console is a must for me and I always shoot through the haul so I can get depth readings at any speed and not worry about the transducer getting messed up. I am excited that with these new units I can replace both units for around $500 and that is the cost of the old Eagle black and white GPS/Graph I bought 10 years ago. From what I am reading the DI is a good to have feature, so I am thinking one unit with GPS/fishfinder and one with DI/fishfinder though I could add $50 and get the GPS/DI/fishfinder for the front? That would bring the total cost of both up to around $600.

I have a very out dated black and white hummingbird fishfinder on the front of my boat. I am looking at the new Helix series and am limited on what I want to spend. My question is what do use use more on the front your down imaging or your GPS, since I plan to stay around $250 I will have have to choose between the two. I would not drive without a GPS but I have one by the wheel and SI is not worth the extra money to me on a 5in screen, my eyes are too old to make sense out of SI on that small a screen. So for those that have DI and GPS if you had to choose between the two witch one would you choose? This for the front only.....

The no wake zone around Prairie creek might be a good place to find some surface activity around sunrise and safe enough place to paddle around. The boats will slow down at the bridge also but the wakes can get rough around there and a stiper will take you for a ride. Good luck and be careful.

I have to go with the copolymer myself, I fish with people that have no problems at all with Fluorocarbon and never loose fish. I am not as good at tying knots, not backlashing and not bending the leaders as they are as experience has shown me. Any fluorocarbon I use and I have tried almost all of them, has resulted in lost fish and lures being zinged across the lake. I have to back the Vanish being useless no matter what test, at my skill level it breaks even when casting. Also I refuse to run line that was in the lake through my mouth before tying a knot and never will, I will just buy different line.lol

The young carp make great food for bass and stripers, try them for bait sometime. You don't get the babies without the adults. If you research carp stocking in the US you will find it was a government program to provide food during the Great Depression. For all of you that would never eat carp just remember that the difference between a meal you would not eat and a great meal is only two days. If don't believe me go two days without eating and see what looks good.

Looks like next week will be lots of rain with Monday and Thursday being SEVERE weather but if they move fast should not add that much water. I am still betting that high winds and increased flow will push the mud line north by next weekend.

I did not mean to insult anyone, just to point out that the lake is dangerous and not very well regulated. I do have a 17ft glass boat and have quit fishing during a bass tournament that I paid to enter more than once due to weather or boat wake conditions. That area that the canoe went down was in what most big boats consider an "open lane" and not somewhere I would be in a small boat. Seems the reason for this tragedy is overloading the canoe and not having the proper safety equipment. (DANGER..DANGER) But I do teach defensive driving for a living and just as I teach drivers, you can't control anyone's actions but your own and when you try to control another vehicle (or boat) actions other than your own you become the problem, not the solution. People have the right to get on the lake in anything they want or to swim the lake anywhere they like. All I am saying is dangerous in open areas when the boat traffic is heavy. Those $60K wake boats are designed to put out MORE wake and without big wake they don't do what they paid all that money to get. They seem to get more popular every year, so please be aware of the traffic and hope to see you on the lake no mater how big or small your boat happens to be. Also my little Nitro is NOT the big 18 wheeler on the lake, and not the DANGER I was speaking of.....I slow down for all little craft if I see them in time. The DANGER I spoke of is being in 130 feet of water with improper safety equipment and training, if you want to take 4 people out on the lake I would get a bigger boat, I don't even have that many people in my glass boat. HAPPY BOATING TO ALL

This steady climb this early makes me think we will reach the flood gates this year. April showers will tell the story but I think the bass will spawn around the picnic tables this year. I personally like those years. We are at full pool 1 month ahead of 2013 so another 10 feet is not unthinkable if they wait until hot weather to generate. I do enjoy Holiday Island area much more during a full lake that with lots of generation than on the dry years.

IMO using a canoe or kayak on Beaver Lake is the same as ridding a bicycle down the middle of I49 and complaining about about the big trucks and cars going 70mph. It only takes a LITTLE common sense to survive in this part of the world. There are lots of smaller lakes around that a perfect for smaller craft so please learn to use Google Earth and find them. I have a 17ft boat with a 115 but I would not put in the Gulf of Mexico and chase salt water fish with it! Sorry people have to die to remind people why you DON"T DO DANGEROUS THINGS.

That little rain has the lake graph going straight up...rain coming again Wednesday. So two guesses, how high will the lake go this spring and how far down stream will the mud line go? I think this will be an over the flood gates spring, then I always guess that.

A small package of Imodium A-D is always in all my kits, I never needed it but sure would be hard to get the boat in and home if I did need it.

Good luck getting the bass guys to talk, any info you will get out of the tournament guys will be nothing but mixed truths or blank stares. Sticking with guys that eat fish is the best information you will get on the lake. If you want to know where the big bass are hitting ask a stripper guide, a 20lb bag of blacks is nothing compared to what they get and release of the live bait sometimes. I saw a 25lb five bass limit come up on one umbrella rig before.

Good question to ask at the open house!

I just got a card in the mail and the Corps are holding public open house on the following dates on revisions to the Master Plan for Beaver Lake. March 10 Fayeteville- Town Center-15 west mountain 2pm-7pm March 11 Rogers- 1ST Baptist Churh Olive Street Campus - 626 W Olive Street- 2pm-7pm March 12 Eureka Springs- Inn of the Ozarks- 207 W Van Buren 2pm-7pm They are asking for YOUR input.

I don't have one of these chips, but my idea would be to set your boat on a contour line, then look at your depth finder. If the contour line is at 20 feet and your depth finder is at 10 feet, then you can use that day's water level to find the answer.