Bass Ivy

I know some guys that will eat all them little spots they catch.

To be honest I think the Spots have better size to them now in Beaver than they did 15 years ago. We could catch 50 in a day and never catch one keeper. Now I catch alot of keepers. I dont know if its the way I fish now compared to back then or a difference in Baits But me and most of my fishing buddies catch bigger spots now than we used too. Ill tell you the reason why I think they are removing the length limit. You will see alot of Largemouth in Beaver that are Skinny. and Spots too.. Their growth rates are real slow. In my opinion it just made it worse putting Walleye in the lake. But they do the fish counts and they are going off them numbers. Beaver is thick with spots. You know when you get a pond over populated with bluegill what happens to them? You can catch 400 hundred a day but they will only be 3 inches long. Thin them way down and they will get bigger. Table Rock is Different than Beaver it has alot better forage base. Grand Lake Does too. They have bigger river and creek tributaries. I think that helps them to have more forage. They are also not infested with white bass like Beaver is. Although over the last several years I dont think the whites are nearly as thick as they used to be. We used to could go out and catch over a 100 quiet often. I havent seen it like that in awhile. We used to find whites easy now you got to look harder than we did 15 years ago. This is what Ive noticed.

Ive been using Shad Raps for about 25 years LOL one of my favorite baits. Ive always got a couple around. I dont just throw them in the tackle box either I keep them in their original box when not in used. Ill tell you one of the best crankbaits I ever used was A Bagley's Killer B 2 I think in clear water a crank bait without a rattle is better. I had one of them old Bagleys that almost all the paint was knocked off it and it will still catch fish. They are made from balsa wood. I also preferred the old Wiggle Warts with no Rattle's in Clear water. I think the Rattles are a little bit much for these clear water bass. Ive used the exact same colors of Wiggle Warts one with Rattles and one without and the one without would out perform the one with Rattles every time. In Clear Water.

Them Flicker Shad baits look really similar to a Rapala Shad Rap.

Ok thanks!!

I read through this thread and I didnt recall seeing in Down Scan images beside a sonar image so I thought it might be helpful to some folks. To add some screen shots. I had some really good shots from Avoca Hollow of some timber and structure and fish but I lost them i guess. Im no pro at operating these units but Ive had Lowrances or Eagles since 1996. I figured I was ready to try out a decent unit. I have a Eagle Fishmark 320 on the bow of my boat and I can set right on top of fish with it and watch my bait and see fish come up and hit my bait right on the screen. Ive had that Fishmark 320 for a long time. They are a pretty good cheaper unit. I need to mount my 8 on a ram mount so I can see it up front. Or get me a smaller gen 1 lowrance and put up front. I can network another Lowrance up front and it will show the same view as the unit in the rear, but I want the transducer right underneath me. I like to fish for bass, crappie, whites, and I catfish too, but I also fish for stripers. It takes a unit up front and one at the console to do all that. The only fish I troll for is stripers. I got a smaller boat, but I will troll 10 to 12 lines at once. Run 6 planer boards 3 out each side and 2 down lines and 3 or 4 balloons out the back.

I figured there was some info on this forum somewhere I looked through several pages, but just decided to ask. They had talked about doing that a few years back and then they didnt do it. Yeh Ill get on the Game and Fish site and look at it sometime.

Yeh there was alot of talk about it for awhile. What was the final decision on that by the Game and Fish?

Yeh Im sure its the jack plate causing it but really its not bad enough that it bothers me much I will probably just leave it alone. I never have tried to use the overlay feature on that Gen -2. Yeh 800 is way better I think I was reading somewhere where 455 was better in shallow water and was checking that out. But I think I will just leave it at 800.

Catching Shad with a throw net is hard to do around here at any time of the year.

Man I think I could live without a bunch of rain right now

On some of my DI shots you will notice there is lines at the top. When im running in SI those lines will only be on the left side. Im thinking that my Structure Scan tranducer is mounted just a little bit too high and its shooting into the Jack plate to the transducers left. I think that is what is causing those lines right at the top. If anyone else has seen or heard of this problem let me know. I think my SS ducer needs moved down just a tad.

Ive noticed my Down Image shots are alot better on 800kHz. And I probably need to run the sensitivity on my sonar on Automatic. This is just a nice shot. Looks likes a school of whites or crappie just off the the right side of that shad ball. attachment=24100:DSC02978.JPG]

I had alot of text typed in on the pics above and lost it somehow. I figured I better just leave that post alone the more I tried to edit it the more I messed things up. LOL . I like the shot of this ledge at about 30 feet down.

I wanted to add some Screen shots on here for the folks that are learning about what the pictures on a sonar are actually showing. Ive been using them for years and it has taken years to really figure out what you are seeing. When I got this Lowrance HDS -8 Gen 2 With Structure Scan It took most of the guessing out of what you are seeing on the screen. First off the biggest problem I had in over the years was being able to tell brush piles or trees from fish. Or pick out fish inside of a tree top or brush pile. In the sonar pic you can see at the bottom there is just a blob there that is either fish or a tree or both. But look at the right hand picture from the Down Image. It clears it right up as to what you are seeing. Its a tree with a school of fish to the right and a school of fish to the left. and that is at 70 feet. Up at 40 feet you have some target fish Id say they are stripers. If you can see a fish in your Down Imgage screen shot its pretty good size. The pics are not that clear and my sensitivity was a little too high on my sonar pic but when I saved these screen shots I had only had the unit on the water a couple times. This is in Beaver Lake Here again in this picture the Down image clears up what structure you are looking at. It really shows the bait balls well. There are some nice target fish around that tree. And again my sensitivity is a little high I could turn it down and clear the image up.

So what are the best colors of Flicker Shad in Beaver?

Yep they sure have screwed the pooch. Lots of people are not real happy about it;

Thanks for the info everyone. Man this weather is nasty it will drop the water temp on down some. Last time I was on the water before this nasty weather the water temp was around 52 in the 12 bridge area. Im glad to hear there are some moving in coose and around the PC marina.

Anyone got any updates on Stripers?

Ive had that happen twice at Academy. When you see an item for a price and take it up to pay for it and its more. My dad had that happen also. Seems like Im hearing that same story more and more.

Its not that I would want to see the spots be gone forever in Beaver it would be nice if the spots were of the same quality as they are in Table Rock. TR has some nice spots. Maybe it would be a good idea to introduce some new genetics into the spots in Beaver. Bring in some different strain of spots and let them cross with the native spots. When I was a kid my dad would take me fishing at the War Eagle mill. We would go down there and catch a nice mess of crappie maybe some nice perch and some bass. But Ive seen times where we could catch 100 of them small spots right there under the bridge at the mill. Most people dont know this but the Beaver Lake length limits never did count under the bridge at War Eagle mill. Beaver Lake regualtions started down the river a ways. Like 100 yards below the War Eagle dam or something like that. I dont go down there much any more, but If the conditions are right I will take my kids down there and catch some fish. But those little spots are not in there like they used to be years ago. Now its common to catch some nice smallmouth and walleye in there. But it used to be fun to stand down there with a bucket of minnows and catch them little bass all day. Would catch an occasional large mouth but they were mostly small spots. To be honest I really dont think there are as many spots in Beaver as there was 20 years ago. I may be wrong, but Im just going off my own fishing results. I know there are not nearly as many whites. Some folks may not agree, but Im pretty sure the white bass population has gone down. In the early 90's I could just slay and I mean slay the whites. We would catch so many it shouldnt have been legal. Ive never counted the fish some of them times, but Ive had my live wells on a 96 Bass Cat Sabre completely full of whites you couldnt even shut the lids and they would be laying two deep in the floor of the boat, and do that in 4 hours with 3 of us fishing. Fillet them all out and have 3/4 of a five gallon bucket of just fillets. We used to catch them like that all the time, but usually I would just take home about 20 and turn the rest back. Catch them like that from the middle of May till the middle of July at night. This is what I have noticed in the last several years there are more crappie than I think there has been in a long time in Beaver and the LM and SM and Spots have noticebly gotten consistenly bigger. The Walleye have really taken off. The whites have went down hill as far as population goes wich should help on the forage alot. Lots of people thinks Beaver is the worst catfishing there is, but I beg to differ. Beaver is awesome catfishing. But I read all the time people saying how bad Beaver is for catfishing, and everyone needs to go to Grand. But im tellin ya Beaver is thick with Flatheads. Lots of small to 10 or 12 pounders. Ive caught several in the mid 20's, but I dont target big Flattys. There are some big Flatheads in Beaver though. Ive caught Blues to 39 pounds, but there are way bigger ones than that. The blues that Ive seen are always healthy looking. But they are slender alot of times. Id say the 39 pounder we caught would weigh over 50 if it would have been in the Arkansas River or somewhere, big long fish but slim. Something about the Channel cats in Beaver that ive never understood is a 5 pounder is a big one in Beaver. I caught a 15 pound channel cat out of Lake Brittny in Bella Vista, but 3 or 4 pounders is about it out of Beaver. I dont understand that. You would think there would be some monster Channel cats in Beaver, but I dont think there is. Most of the time I will take two other people in my boat on Beaver catfishing and we can have a limit of catfish most of the time if we want to. But I will say this Ive never caught a big ole fat Flathead out of Beaver like you see in pictures. They are usually long and slender. Most of the time they will have crawdads in their stomach. The Flattys are usually in good shape, but they are not fat for their size they are lean. So I think the Blues and flats are not overly fed either there just needs to be more forage all around. People need to keep hammerin them whites and take every one of them out of the lake they can and take them little spots home and eat them too. It would be nice to increase the shad population.

I went to a meeting about 3 years ago in Rogers, and they were going to do away with the length limit on spots then, but they didnt do it at that time. So I figure they have been studying this for several years. One thing I think does hurt Beaver as far as forage for the LM and SM bass is the whites and the stripers. I do like fishing for them though. And I can also say that there are more bigger bass in Beaver now than years ago. It is getting better, but the fish are poor. I caught one the other day it was skinny as a rail. Its a common thing for me to catch a skinny black. But alot of times the spots are fat and slick. I kinda wish they hadnt introduced the walleye. They are awesome fish, but the forage is already low. I dont think there are nearly as many whites now in Beaver as there was 20 years ago. You kinda have to look for them now, back years ago they were everywhere all the time. I know I try to put a dent in their population. I have a couple buddies that would eat the heck out of them spots. I would too if I knew it would help the fishery out, but I like to put them blacks and smallies back. I like eatin them, but just dont usually. I wish there were more shad in Beaver. Ive fished Grand a few times and that place is crawling with shad. Also comparing to Table Rock it has bigger and longer rivers feeding it. Plus it has no stripers or hybrids. The whites have a limit on them in Table Rock so their population is in check. They were out of control on Beaver in the past IMO. I dont catch very many of them small spots any more almost every fish we catch is a keeper, but I suspect its the baits we are using. Im ready for them to do it on the lenght limit. I will target them smaller spots if they do and fry em up. I just dont think there will be enough taken out to make much of difference. I know a couple guys that will eat them, but most of the bass fisherman dont keep any bass I know I dont. But if it will help I will fry em up. I know one guy who will eat every legal fish he catches he would have a feast on them spots. LOL. I just dont think the walley was a good idea dont they use the same forage as the LM and SM? Walleye are starting to be in good numbers too.

I went through all of this last year deciding wich unit to get. I fished with a guy some that had a Humminbird it was a nice unit. I wound up getting the HDS 8 Gen 2 with SC. It is awesome. But now I want one for up front. www.hatfieldshunting@hotmail.com try this guy if anyone wants a Lowrance see what kind of deal you can get. He is out of Kentucky. He sure did me right on my unit. I know this thread is kinda old but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth.

You could have a rod bearing that has failed. That is what my Mariner 200 did. The rod bolt backed out and once it nocked the rod bearing out it the rod started eating into the crank. The compression was low on that one cylinder. I need to talk to Fishingwrench myself. I would like someone to help me out with putting a good crank in there and a rod. Might need another piston in that hole also. My motor ran for awhile like that. I lost the lower unit too. The lower unit was actually what locked it up in the end.

All Jokes aside I heard a couple years ago that it was Bobby Patrinos house. I think it looks like crap myself. I like looking at land that is natural and then you have the goofy looking thing out there in the middle of no where. That area is called the Slate Gap Area. From the Mouth of Rambo Cove going toward Lost Bridge there is a water intake on your right hand side. Its a big concrete thing with a building on top of it. Go past it still heading toward Lost Bridge then Go left into the first good sized cove that is where that thing is. I really dont know if its Bobby's house or not, but I did hear that. Probably just a rumor.