kjackson

Or herring...I'd plug cut one of those so fast... I still want to play with shad a bit as well. Rigging one of those as a whole bait might work, or brining 'em so they'd hold up and doing the herring thing might be good as well. But you've got to start with fresh shad. I've also thought of some of the scent pads on the bottom of big Flatfish/Kwikfish and doused liberally with ProCure herring, shad or sardine scent might work. Tuna balls on the big plugs work on salmon and might here as would squid parts. Salmon and steelhead in the Great Lakes' fisheries really like squid, according to my sources. Figure out why that works. If I could find squid somewhere, it'd be worth a try here, assuming, of course, I can find the fish first. But, and it's a question worth asking, are stripers/whites attracted by scent or by sight? Walleyes do much better if there is scent, and that I know for a fact unless the Southern version is a lot different from those where I used to fish. I really need to get work finished so i can go fishing...

I'm thinking we should have a day where we fish nothing but WAG (Wild is the first word and Guess the last) presentations. I have some of my Western salmon/kokanee/walleye ideas that I have been wanting to try. I didn't get to fish much last year, and I have a list. I do know I'll put out one experimental rod each trip until I get some answers. Last year according to my electronics I had a big fish (thinking maybe a striper) come up and look at one of my salmon rigs. He didn't hit it, but there is promise. So I'll continue to ask dumb questions. Be prepared.

Here's a site to view the Flicker Minnow: http://www.fishusa.com/product/Berkley-Flicker-Minnows?utm_source=shopping_com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_com&utm_source=eBay_Com This is a pre-order offer. Word I got is that the baits won't really be available until "June", but that could be the end of the month. The stinger set up I have in mind is put on the line on your rod. Even with a downrigger, the line from your rod to the release will form a bow unless you're dead still in the water. Guys in the Great Lakes will tie a short leader on a duo-lock snap and then a lure to the leader. They simply clip that to the main line. The lure will slide down to the point of the greatest bow in the line and stay there. Of course, a diving lure isn't an option in this case. When the fish hits, the clip will slide down to the release, and the whole package then trips the release-- or that's my understanding of the process. F&F-- I like your idea of a three-way with a deep diver on the bottom and something like a crappie bait above that. Interesting...

The three-way rig I was referring to has a weight on the dropper that pulls the lure down to the bottom... never thought of the other alternative. I have considered running a stinger off a line when using the downrigger. That is simply a short leader on a snap with the lure being something like a spoon or a minnow bait. Just got word that Strike King is coming out with a line of walleye baits. We'll have to see what those look like and how they perform.

Do the larger whites and stripers hang out below the bait like salmon will? I've found that at times, chinook salmon will let the younger, faster fish tear into the schools of bait while they are well below the action, waiting for the cripples to come to them. The reason I'm asking is that on my trip to Lake Ontario last week, I did a bit of three-way fishing where the guides would rig Kwikfish and the 3.5 Mag Lip Flatfish to run off three-way swivels that would then be dragging on the bottom. I'm thinking about giving it a shot when I fish later this week. One of the guys said he does the same thing for stripers, and this got me to thinking...I always get in trouble thinking, so I thought I'd ask if this was a waste of time. For those not familiar with the 3.5 Mag Lip, it is a deep-diving plug from Yakima Bait that will run to 15 feet (or so) on 10 fluorocarbon. It's a smallish lure, and it should work here, not that it has for me yet. It has a wide wobble and will skip a beat to add to its appeal. Thanks.

Being relatively new to NW Arkansas, I really appreciate this forum and the information folks are willing to share. It's helped me a lot--especially in regards to whites and stripers, fish I'm not that familiar with. The information I've gleaned about walleyes is also very useful. These Arkansas walleyes don't act at all like the walleyes in Washington and Minnesota, so any and every bit of info is useful.

Excellent report! Thanks.

Basically, he thinks Beaver is a better bass lake than many think. He did well in practice, especially in the lower end, and had some success on some offshore rocks. He thought the dam end had pretty good potential for those who want to learn how to fish the clear water. His insight is probably nothing you didn't already know. We discussed Strike King baits quite a bit as the company is one of his sponsors, and he made some suggestions on things to try. As the last hijack (of this thread anyway), I'll post these pix. I leave at zero-dark tomorrow and will probably be home in time for the storms... The first photo is of a steelhead, and the second is of a laker. Both were caught in the Niagara River with emerald shiners for bait and 6-pound fluorocarbon leader. The hooks were very small Gammies--about #10 egg hooks.

Continuing on with the F&F-approved hijack, I'll add today's largest four smallies. Billy McDonald is holding the four largest out of perhaps 15 to 20 fish three of us caught in Lake Erie out of Buffalo. Billy fished Beaver in the FLW event and had some interesting insights.

Garrick Dixon on the left and Billy McDonald (FLW pro) with a few of their catch today...I'm fishing with Billy tomorrow.

Fished with a former walleye pro today and chased browns and steelhead. I won't take up cyberspace with the details; but we caught a fair number but all were small. The point of the post is that the pro--Greg Lamere-- said "We're trying to get the guys down south to troll, but..." I told him he was a little bit late in regards to that statement. But we did discuss walleyes, fishing for them and trolling at some length. Tomorrow, I head out to fish for smalls in Erie. The guys who did that today caught fives and sixes plus lots of smaller fish. The best technique was dragging tubes--just dragging. The group did have to push its way out of the harbor through the floating ice. Look for an image coming up from Garrick Dixon, my roomie and a topnotch photog.

Let's try this: The guy holding the fish is Mark Davis of Bigwater Adventures TV.

Did the laker thing today, and if I could figure out how to resize images on my laptop, I'd add a photo of the largest--a 20 (or thereabout) caught one other, about 15. Water temps dropped from 38 to 34, and the bite shut down. Tomorrow, we may be heading for Erie as the winds are changing. There is supposed to be a smallmouth or two around there... Also, I learned some things today that may work well in Beaver, but we'll see. Nice job on the fish...

That's a huge male 'eye. Way to go, gentlemen. My skipper for tomorrow's trip (Lake Ontario) is on lakers in the upper teens, and maybe lower 20s. We'll see. The weather is supposed to fairly sloppy and cold (there is plenty of ice around). Don't mean to hijack, but I wish I was on Beaver. Next week, I'll be back...

This won't mean much to most fishermen in the Ozarks, but for those with roots in the Pacific Northwest, it will. Here's what I posted on my Facebook page: To my friends in the fishing industry--I'm the bearer of sad news. Yesterday, Roy Houle passed away. Roy worked for Yakima Bait Company for decades with fishermen, guides, pro staff and outdoor writers. He was responsible for numerous innovations and tweaks to the company's lures, and was an icon on Northwest rivers, lakes and reservoirs. When Roy retired from the production end of things, the company outfitted him and his wife Lois with a motorhome and jetboat so that he could continue to fish and work with fishermen. He and Lois would spend weeks on the road, fishing in places like the John Day River, the Columbia, Lake Roosevelt, and anyplace he could find steelhead, salmon, walleyes or any fish that would bite. Roy was a good friend, a good man, and the world will be poorer for his passing.

I continue to learn. I do like the 12 bridge area, and I only wish it was closer. I do need to figure out this end of Beaver so that I can head out for an hour or two when the urge strikes. Keep up the reports; they are great.

Nicely done. You are my hero. I think i have a game plan for tomorrow...

Forgot to add that the temp was 58-59 back in a ways. I didn't see any beds, and I'm thinking the pale bass I caught were just moving up.

Clifty lured me into the back bays, and I really had to go bass fishing...something I've not done to any extent this year, at least not in Arkansas. I fished quite a ways back in North Clifty, past the old road crossing anyway and into the timber and stained water. I caught mostly smaller spots, one smallie and a largemouth. The largest fish was about 2 maybe 2 1/2 pounds and a spot. Fish were mostly in 10 feet plus, maybe as far as 15 feet down. While I caught fish on plastic and crankbaits, the jerkbait fish were a no-show. The best lure was the Rage Blade, a Strike King version of a Chatterbait... but different. Ned was no help.

Very nice! That walleye looks so confused--probably wondering where his snack went...

I'm hoping the next two days of better temps will help fishing. The game plan now is to launch at Starkey, run to Cedar, and then scout my way back to the Clifty area. Once there, I may put the Flickers down and explore a bit. I looked into North Clifty last fall for a few minutes and found a bunch of Ks on flat gravel. The way the bass in my pond have been starting their beds makes me think that if I can find some warmer water back in a ways, I may find something happening. It's new-to-me water, so if nothing else, it will be interesting. I wouldn't mid finding it stacked with whites and walleyes. But after this winter, I'll be happy with just about anything.

I tried a version of them on Banks Lake back in the day. They are very shallow runners--can't remember exactly how shallow, but they didn't dive much at all. Norman bought the company, took over the molds and produced a steelhead version for a while. The only fish I've caught on them was a staging coho about eight pounds. I do know that BASS writer Don Wirth was up on the originals for a while, but I'm not sure how much of that was marketing hype. Cool looking baits, though.

Heading out Friday and thinking it might be a good day to explore the Clifty arms. This part of the lake is new territory for me, and I really have no idea as to what I'll find. I am thinking, though, that there might be some crappie back in a ways and possibly some whites or walleyes as well if there's enough current to be a draw. Any advice? It's either the Clifty area or back to Eagle Rock to see if I can find the elusive white run.

If you're going to use the electric for trolling, having a power-drive model is ideal, IMO, as you can be anywhere in the boat and control it--whether it's with the foot pedal or the remote. You can sit at the helm, stare at the depthfinder and steer the boat. You can sorta do that with a cable drive unit by locking it in position and steering with the outboard, using its lower unit as a rudder. It's not quite as sweet, but it will work--sorta. You would then have to move up front to adjust speeds. I really like the idea of having the control connected to the motor as opposed to only having a remote. Remotes can be lost, left at home, dropped overboard or run out of battery. MK has power drive units that are basic and a lot less expensive than iPilot/coPilot versions.

But is that at idle? Most of your trolling will be very close to that. F&F trolls bit faster than idle with his two-stroke but uses the electric for slow speeds. Gas is easier for trolling. I'm not experienced with Merc four strokes, but Yammies are very quiet. Hondas are quieter.