crkoester

If you're fishing Beaver tailwater I'd say you are about 2 hours away. (From Bull Shoals Dam).

I would guess that the term "snagging" here refers to fish intentionally foul hooked, and/or fishing with a rig designed for the purpose of snagging. Incidental foul hooking is probably considered differently.

AGFC will never stock trout in Beaver due to well publicized failures doing so at Bull Shoals and Greers Ferry many moons ago. Once the Greers Ferry trout stocking ended up resulting in both the all-tackle walleye and hybrid records, AGFC got a clue what was happening to all those trout...

Anything over 4# is a big smallie on Beaver. I live on the lake, and I'm pretty dialed into them at certain times of the year... I catch a fair number of 3+ pounders, but I've only caught 4 of them over 4 pounds. Biggest ever was right at 4.5#. The size and numbers seem to continue to trend upward over the years.

Those are clearly stripers, not whites. Trout killers. Get em out of there, please.

The guy in the bassboat was being an arse. No, he would not have moved in on another bassboat like that, because he knows he'd have soon either had a boarding party or a 3/4 oz RatLTrap headed his way. I guess kayakers aren't as intimidating as a good ole boy in a 21' Ranger? It's obvious you found a really good spot, because he knew how good it was and decided it was worth showing his arse. I always give kayakers the right of way when I'm fishing from my bassboat.... it's a much bigger challenge in a kayak to get to a good place to fish, maintain your position, actually fish, etc. In my bassboat I can run and fish literally anywhere in the lake. A guy in a kayak has to break a sweat just to get across the creek. I figure if you expended the effort to get your kayak to that spot, it's yours for as long as you want it. Those are some dandy smallies... 18" is a fine fish anywhere around here.

They are running very strong right now, but you can't just throw a line in anywhere and expect to catch them. I spent all day Wednesday trying to find them, I drove to 3 different rivers and hiked probably a total of 8-10 miles up and down them through the day. It was one here, one there, very slow... until I finally found them at about 3:00. Then it was a bite on almost every cast for 3 hours I quit when I hit 100. Put your time in and keep moving around until you find them. Focus on deeper holes below the shoals, fishing slowly near the bottom, or deeper runs just above the shoals. I was fly fishing with Clousers, but any small shad-imitating bait should catch them. Chris

Shallow flats in the very back of Prairie Creek, Avoca or Coose Hollow. That's where you always see the striper guides netting them up. Oftentimes you may only see larger gizzard shad back there, the threadfins are hit or miss, but the water should be warm enough at this point they should be around. Chris

You guys are smoking crack. 61# won at Table Rock. You've forgotten that this is Beaver Lake. 55# will do it.

Fished Richland and upper War Eagle today, both are still pretty swift and dirty.... more importantly, didn't have a bite either place and didn't see anyone else catch a fish either. Don't waste your time.

Seems an appropriate place to note the ironic fact that the MO state record striper was actually caught in Bull Shoals. Chris