bfishn

'Twasn't that long ago there weren't any walleye anglers on Beaver. Course there weren't any walleye either. :-)

The only scenario I can see the AGFC abiding bait trout is in tailwaters that hold both trout and stripers (or walleye). Wasting a stocker or two to remove a predator that would otherwise eat several hundred would be a pitch they'd wisely consider. Not as effective as a shocking boat, but way cheaper. If the trout anglers saw some stripers hauled out, they might buy it too. Of course you'd have to keep the stripers.

That's how OK does it, but Okies seem to be far more forgiving when it comes to keeping fish, especially trout. Try that in the White River, and the resulting outcry would make smallmouth gigging rants pale by comparison. .

That was exactly my point. None of the members here give a hoot about commercial uses. The premise of this thread seemed to infer that fishing with live shad on Beaver was doomed now that Grand is out, and that's simply not the case. As for using trout in Beaver, I can tell you from (others) experience it's largely a waste of time. They are pretty awesome in lakes that are stocked with trout though. Since I closed up the last commercial Arkansas trout farm, any commercially produced trout would have to come from out of state, something the AGFC would be hard pressed to allow as they'd have no control over the disease/parasite aspect.

For sale: Two insulated shad tanks (1-30 gal., 1-50 gal.), both plumbed with quick-dump inline filters and Keep Alive aeration. Both are fitted with oxygen flowmeters with 0.1 lpm graduation. Mini-C oxygen bottle and regulator included. Also 3 Betts Pro Series cast nets.* In the interest of full disclosure I must advise interested parties that none of this gear will work for Beaver Lake shad, and the economics make hauling your own shad to fish with in Beaver from somewhere else totally unaffordable. Beaver is completely different from other lakes where live shad consistently outproduce all other baits for big fish by 10 to 1, the only baits that work there must be purchased at a bait shop. *(Not).

River shad are definitely stronger. How you handle them for the first 30 minutes determines how well they'll keep. You've obviously figured that out.

That was him. I didn't know he passed, (thank you) he was quite a guy.

...and some have a dedicated bait crew/facility. One former customer had a 70x150' drive-thru, with 16-5x10' concrete tanks run on well water. They keep >100 big gizzards in each one, and the bait crew indeed makes 2 runs to the River a week to keep them full. They built a 1/4" plate 8x22' aluminum bait boat that held 350 gallons of water (on the trailer), had LOX, the works. The net man was a freak of nature, a real brute. If bait makes your business, that's how it's done.

How so? The law simply prohibits selling bait taken from public waters, a seemingly no-brainer. The only reg between you and raising shad to sell is a $100 fish farmer license.

A recent Nat Geo article indicates a number of biologists are reconsidering the old "native good, invasive bad" doctrine; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140724-invasive-species-conservation-biology-extinction-climate-science/

...or an ill-planned episode of "Home Improvement"... on peyote...

The biggest problem most beginners have is using cheap, lightweight nets. a 5fter (radius) with 5-8 lbs of lead is a waste of time in clear water, the shad just swim away before it sinks to their level. Small mesh works for minnows or threadfins, but sinks slower (more resistance) than big mesh. A good gizzard net will cost you $75 and up, and you quickly learn to never pitch it where you can't see a clean bottom.

Yep. If you can see some, either flipping or swimming shallow you can catch a few in the daylight. Sometimes you can hit deeper (5-15') ones you graph at night, but be d... sure it's shad you're throwing down on. Once you find a few productive spots, you can often count on them to produce regularly. I've got a few spots I can bet on getting at least a few anytime, even at high noon in mid-August, but you have to be really stealthy and hit them your first throw.

Having 3-4 dozen fresh Beaver shad in the tank every morning for a guide trip could be a lot of work, but I've rarely been unable to catch enough there for a personal trip.

Yum! Love those peps!

Simply put, everything. For bass try Quachita, and wet your flies in upper Lake Catherine (Hamilton tailwater). The first few miles below the Hamilton dam has trout, stripers, & walleye. Cabins right there if so inclined. Or floating Catherine's tailwater for bass & walleye. Or....

Not me, but she. Except for the bunny.

Enjoying myself with a fishing pole in hand. That's a pretty easy goal if you let it be. Muck that up with further expectations and you set yourself up for eventual failure. Failing at something you're supposed to be having fun at sucks. Some give up, others join fishing forums.

That explains a lot. I've long pursued the 10s, and have even caught a few. Now I see they were 10s alright, just on the wrong axis... :-(

All the ambitious snakes moved into finance & politics.

HL&S has come a long ways from Nick's little 12x24 shack at VSnS (formerly Crenshaw's, formerly Neal's). Hope it works out for you.

Last time I was there the only thing changed since the '70s was they'd taken those old 5 gallon bottles of sauce out of the front window. Maybe they finally got 'ripe' :-)

I picked up carryout at Arthur's the evening that Jimmy Carter had been there for lunch... seems like such a short time ago.

If a brush pile marks like a solid rock you're getting plenty of return signal. Try lowering the sensitivity until it looks more like a brushpile.

^^^ROFL!^^^ Post of the month!