marknsaw

Night trolling does work, you just have to target your fish with the current conditions. With a good moon on, you can try shallow baits in shallow waters, or shallow baits in deep watersl.. I have had decent luck rolling #7 and #9 rapala floaters in 8-15 fow . When there is NOT a lot of moonlight...it's hit or miss. Tough thing about beaver is finding your spots. I learn something new everytime that I am out on the water. It's all just my opinion of course.......

Interesting color selection and variation FnF. Never know what works right? It's getting to that time of year for a harness discussion. Just an FYI to anybody wanting to twist your own....hit your beads and blades with a black light...... it'll help with selecting color combinations( you'll see darks and lights abit better( I.E. brass, bronze, and nickel) ) The UV penetrates the water better and will make the dominate shade(s) more noticeable.Yellow and Orange should be about the worst...... somehow they are the some of the better colors. A little flash, a little color, and you'll be hooking bluegills in 35 feet of water

It's not going to stop the "stupid" from being on the water....It's only going to give them reason to bother you. $200 for a hole in your throwable will change your tune.

trolling cranks has not been very good from 10-30 fow. slip bobbers with minnows has worked for crappie and white bass on structure ( sunken timber ) especially at night. Jigging plastics and spoons on structure and suspended has worked during the mid-day. best bite has been at night on bluffs under lights with live bait. camped last weekend at horseshoe and caught my very first smallie on liver while night fishing for cats. go figure. it's been a bit weird this year.

I haven't ordered any. they have just been listed as "available" at cabela's.com for a couple weeks. I'm 'tween vacations and haggling on a new motor so I have to keep it close to the vest. I'll definitely order a few after I get back next week. glad to hear it's not just me with the pro slicks!!

Vuekid has it right.... use a big rock and cheap nylon rope. You can get an anchor while looking for your night spot! If your going to night fish... most of the time you'll be on a bluff line with sunken timber. You'll tie off one end and anchor the other. 3 out of 5 times you're going to have to drag that anchor through sunken timber while retrieving it. Anchors are not worth the investment in this instance. Have a pair of gloves on your boat as well, trying to yank your anchor out of a submerged forest will test your patience and mettle. I have a nice 24# river anchor that I use when I am spot fishing, but I will not use it night fishing. You can also buy a bag of quick crete and make your own anchors with coffee, or cat litter containers .

Good catch! Enjoy and thanks for the report.

I have had a #9 flicker get bottom snagged in 18 fow with 160-170 feet of 10# Berkley flouro @ 1.8 - 2.0 MPH. The new flicker minnows are out guys. Cabela's has them listed, and the 7's are supposed to go to 18 feet, and the 9's to 23 feet. There are some regulars and the pro slick colors... I don't know about you guys but I have not had any luck with the pro slick colors though there are a couple new colors "I" may bite on

Starfire's are nice.. you can get those at Academy. Some of the new LED ones are a bit more expensive, but they do save on the battery a bit. Like FnF said, make sure you have a dedicated battery for your light. The Starfire will take 60-80% of your battery and the LED's will take 40-60% through the night. Double anchoring is your best bet. Either two achors or tie off to a spot/tree and 1 anchor. Find a spot out of the direct wind ( this helps ). Use your electronics to find fish holding on structure first. Then anchor above them, and when the sun is going down put out your light(s). I usually run a submerged light on one side and a lantern on the other The lantern does attract some bait fish, but more importantly it kills the bugs( which makes you and the bait fish happy! )! Live bait will be your best choice, but that doesn't mean you can't use artificial baits. Rig up a couple poles with live bait and a pole with some plastic(s). Lighted slip bobbers can also be used as well. Sunken timber near the channel or mouth always seems to be a good bet. Eden's Bluff, Horseshoe Bend, Joe's creek, Avoca Hollow, Coose Hollow, Ventris, Ford's Creek, both Van hollow and Rambo near point 6, as well as Quarry cove are all good places to start. I don't night fish much past point 6 but I have heard that both Clifty's, Molder, and Fishtrap are all good for night fishing. Just make sure you have a 5 Hour Energy in your bag if it's going good edit: put your splits about 12-16" up from your hook. If you get active minnows they'll swim around....with 2' they'll make a mess of that length and you'll be undoing minnow knots alot of the time you re-bait. Your electronics will show you what depth to place the bait.... depending on your depth.. just make an easy cast ( about 30' ), let it sink, and then a really slow reel up works well.

Well...it's not exactly "scientific", but I look at the fish and then try to find pictures that match or resemble them on the internet. If you guys are interested I'll start saving the pictures and post them here and we'll go from there. No biologist FnF, just Dr. Google and Mr. Wiki Never thought too much of it until a couple weeks ago when I started night fishing. Usually I get a huge ball of shad ( easy to ID ) under the light, but it's been a mix of all different sorts of bait. It just got me thinking about colors and styles of crankbaits to use while trolling or plugging. The fish I think was a smelt was shiny silver with a bluish green highlight ( depended on how the light hit it ) on it's back.... it also had a 1/8 inch wide perfectly silver stripe from gill to tail and was about 7 inches long. The herring may have been an alewife they are hard to tell apart and I couldn't pick between them ( it had a slight bluish highlight along it's back ). I realize that coloration varies from one system to another... and frankly there is just not a bunch of information or pictures of forage fish. That's why I posted... figured somebody would know more or help point me in the right direction.

I know... sounds crazy doesn't it. Everybody has put so much into the game fish catalog that this seems CrAzY. Honestly, look it up? There is not much information on the bait/prey/forage fish of Beaver Lake. I am only doing this because it has been really weird this year. Everyone knows that gizzard and threadfin shad are predominant on this lake. Well.....guess what? They are not dominant yet this year. My main goal is to document ALL known species of bait fish.... so if you see/know one.... POST IT! There are so many more types of bait fish..........I have caught these in my nets and traps through the years. Let me introduce you to a few. - brook silverside(skinny minnow) -blueback herring -rudd -rainbow smelt (OMG) -emerald shiner (and gold/silver) I'm only going off pictures that I have taken and tried to match. I Ask the forums help here.....Try to complete/update this list.

Get what you can afford. Bells and whistles aside... Big screen ( more real estate...easier on eyes), NAV/GPS compatible and upgradable ( BEST tool in the box ). These 2 features will allow you to fish where and why. Side scan or 360 are features that would be nice, but are not essential. Focus on those 2 and you won't go wrong.

the Spots still occupy the same habitat as Blacks and the Smallies. I am for this decision.. actually pushed for it when interviewed by AGFC ( along with more wally/yellow perch stocking ) . From what I read, they will compete and out-spawn and out-grow Blacks and Smalls, but they don't get as big as them. Just a bit tired of trolling up good eatin' 13-14 inch spots and throwin' em back. Just my opinion...but anytime I can boat more fish is fine with me. Now to start working on the 20" limit to stripers AWWWW come on! how many 18.5- 19.0 inch stripers has everyone caught? Get it down to 15" like all the other bass is alllllll I'm sayin.

Pflueger, Mitchell, and now, since I've had one awhile... Okuma. You shouldn't go wrong with any of these. Just match the reel for your presentation and you shouldn't be disappointed.

If your family is not adverse to nocturnal activity... the night bite is starting to take off. Find some submerged timber along a bluff near a channel and drop a light to catch some fish. Just make sure to get enough minnows. We used up 3/4 #'s of minnows by 2 AM last weekend. 52 whites, 38 crappie, 3 keeper stripes, 5 keeper walleye, and 2 keeper LM's. If not, I'll second FnF's suggestion that you hit PC to 12 bridge. The basin flat west of the islands is holding quite a bit of fish, and they are active. You just need to find the baitfish, and/or bottom structure they are relating to, and they'll be there. Was there Thursday evening and trolled up 5 whites, 3 crappie, and 2 walleye in about 2 1/2 hours. Probably could have caught more if we worked the bait balls or structure more thoroughly, but I was messin' with new/different cranks and not really trying to fill the cooler ( More interested in listening to the diamond hogs game ). Is it just me... or do jet skiers actually aim for the back of your boat if you have planar boards out?