nathanhooper

Day before time rolls forward. First voyage of the year, all went well....boat wise. I have to say, this is the earliest I have ever been on the water. This is going to be a big learning curve for me. I've been creeping on here for a few weeks, looking forward to nicer weather. Of course, with everyone fishing miles up the lake it does make a guy wish he lived mid lake. I went up Indian Creek looking for the whites. I know it's a tad too early for them to be bunched up, but I thought I might see a few scattered. I have to say, I don't think I saw one fish on sonar. It sent me into a fizzle that I did not recover from during the trip. But, I got my boys out and that's what matters. They have been cooped up for a while now. We lost one lure because I seriously need to remember that I cannot remember very well anymore. I'm getting a notebook for the boat pronto. Lost a toy that 'abandoned ship' during a boring troll. Never recoverd the lure, but the toy was found on the next pass and brought back on board. (The lure was worth more than the toy....) The water temp was 43 ish. I looked in water that was 16' to 50' deep. No fish sign. I stayed in the creek arm the whole time, main portion, not venturing off into the coves. I normally see quite a few, but zero this trip. I'll start my weekly mid week trips this week. I really am hoping to catch the white bass run early this year. So, my question is, what FOW and depth are the whites holding at right now around the lake? My boys distracted my focus on searching for fish this round, but I'll be more focused next trip out. It was just nice to be back on the water. Spent a lot of time out there last year thanks to the guys on here.

There are no fish up here around Indian Creek.....nope....nothing to see here.... You hit the nail 195vs, this site is the #1 source of info on this lake as far as I'm concerned. I find that when you share info, then more info flows your way. I don't get on much during the winter months because my boat gets put away in lue of all my hunting gear. But I just drug the tarp off here this morning and put some fresh oil in the gear box. Heading out to Indian Creek in a few hours. I live just north of you in Gateway, work in Avoca. Welcome to the site. Maybe we will see each other on the water sometime. I fish out of a homemade(kind of) center console. Blue and White. Holler if you see me.

There are a lot of small mouth by the dam area. I cannot tell you how many I catch when trolling around. It just seems like they are in almost every spot I go. I wonder if it has to do with the rip raff and other big rocks in the area which seem to hold a lot of crawfish also. I know they love them.

One other thing I thought of. The guy made mention of the fact that the dam is setup for a trout hatchery. All that would need to happen is for congress to appropriate the money, etc. Not sure if that would be something people would want to bring up at one of these meetings or not.

I hear you, but I doubt they will do this. He was absolutely positive that it was getting put there, so I highly doubt, even with public input, that it will ever change. You know how the government is....once they set their mind to something...

Oh yea, another interesting tid bit of info is that Beaver Reservoir(a lake is actually naturally made, and a Reservoir is man made), has a two year detention time. That is to say that the water you see flowing into it, along with whatever minerals and other 'stuff', takes two years to get to the dam end. Beaver Water District has some good data that shows this. Their data goes back 9 years now so you can see some pretty good trends. Very well could see some things that would shed light on what the fish are doing and why.

I concur. I sat through a meeting yesterday where a guy with the COE gave a presentation. Very interesting. Did you know they have an app. lol "USACE Little Rock" He also said that they are putting in a pro weigh in station at PC. Said they would probably be taking down one of the shelters to do it, but either way its going in. Another interesting thing he said was that the day use finger there by the dam was actually built as a helicopter landing pad. JFK was supposed to fly in and dedicate the dam, but he died before then.

I know, this is a fishing forum, but bear with me....I am kind of fishing...in a way. I wanted to ask this here because I am looking for some local guys. Seeing how Beaver Lake is pretty local, figured its the best place to put it. Besides, I have grown fond of talking to you all. So, the question is if any of you guys out there have some 3D animal targets. I help out each year with our local volunteer fire dept in their biggest annual fundraiser. Its a turkey shoot and I run the archery event. For a few years now I have thought about different ways of making it more interesting for the archers and have come up with an idea. I am gonna need 3 targets to do it, and am hoping I can get 3 different animals. But beggars cannot be choosers and I will not look a gift horse in the mouth. I have contacted Cabela's in hopes that they might could work a deal out because I am willing to put forth some money to help acquire these. However, I am not sure how far that is gonna go.... I would rather purchase them then borrow them, but borrowing is my second option. So if anyone knows of any to be had for a good price I am all ears. They are just gonna be used for this event so I have no desire to spend hundreds of dollars on them. Sure, if I was a rich man it would be worth it, but I'm not.... If any of you guys would let me borrow them for the day of October 4th I would appreciate it. I only allow the use of field tips and quite honestly there are not that many archers that come. I am trying to change that with getting these though. I have used the same bag target for the last 7 years, for this event and my own personal shooting, and have not had to replace the cover or anything. Hey, we are all about letting people know who sponsors us so there is some free advertising to be had here. Just sayin. lol.

that's a nice haul. them flickers sure know how to bring the fish in.

I have not been out in a while now and this is making me jealous... Here is a curiosity question, have you ever used live craws to fish for walleye before? Makes me wonder what would happen if I dropped a few over the side of the boat and eased around.

Good stuff. I gotta get my kids out again before it gets too cold. Saturday was nice.

I launch Indian creek and run to the back of it and sometimes to point 3. But that is the normal fishing range. So 2-3 miles from ramp is usually it. But when I'm trolling my GPS says I've gone up to around 15 miles some days.

I'm camping at LBS this weekend. Seeing a few boats here in the mouth of the cove. You can see the heat coming off the water this morning when looking through binos.

Do you just shoot geese that you come across while trolling? I've never hunted them myself, probably won't either unless I get a wild hair. But it does seem interesting and brings a whole lot of questions to mind.

Great, thanks for the info. I did not get out last night so I have nothing to show. Not sure how much time I'll get to spend fishing in the coming weeks. I am full swing in my house project and deer season is coming quick. I'll be keeping an eye on the forum thought and will for sure report when I get out. Thanks for all the help over the last year. This has been a good one for sure!

So they move off deeper in the water in the fall? Interesting...

Nice. When do you figure people will catch them shallower? My neighbor was curious. I'm gonna try to get him out tomorrow for my mid week trip. My goal is three this time.

Robert you bring me some lobster and I'll match you pound for pound with walleye.

Man it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut....... Anyways......Doc, what lb test were you using? I know when I had to get new line and changed the lb test it made a huge difference in depth.

How deep are they getting that flicker minnow to 300' behind the boat? #9 I'm guessing? 10lb line? I'd be curious to hear more details on them. Hopefully someone could write us a report on how they are working. Would love to see one side by side a flicker shad. Might have to get one or two myself to cure my curiosity.

8lbs. . Really though, I used downriggers. Not sure how much it would take with long lining them.

Yep. I have to admit, this has been a big change over the previous years. It helps to listen to what others say, then apply it. I am actually starting to see some similarities between this and hunting. I guess animals are animals whether they be aquatic or land dwellers.

Well, it does not show them quite like I was seeing them. I actually did not see them till I looked at the sonar after the second one was boated. I was just drifting, and had been for a while getting those two in, and they still were following the downrigger weights.

Went for my weekly hump day trip. I did manage to get out a tad earlier, but ended up leaving a tad earlier also. So still only got about 2 1/2 hours on the water from 5:30 to 8. I called my neighbor to see if he wanted to go with me, but he said he had been out all morning and didn't catch a thing. He mentioned the water temp being down, but I am sure it was just from the rain and has not effected the water column that much yet. When I got out it was 84 almost 85 degree's. I launched at Indian Creek and set to trolling the same way I did last week. #7 Flicker Shad - Silver/Black, 50' behind the boat and 30' deep. I wanted to get a few more of the walters because the ones last week were delicious. So not more than 15 mins into the troll and the first pass across a main point resulted in a double hookup. A nice 20"+ and one a little too short. I really need to get me one of those fish measure things. I have marks on my boat floor at 10", 15", 18", and 20" away from the side so I can tell if a fish is legal, but I can never tell exactly what length it is. After getting set back up I decided to make another pass and hooked up with a little SM. I really think that using these rubber bands on the downriggers is the way to go. I would have never seen that little guy had I not been using them. Well, after letting him go and getting set back up I decided to hit another point. As I was out over some deeper water making my turn all of a sudden one rod popped out of the down rigger and started peeling line, then I look over and see the other one do the same. Never fails, every time I see that my initial reaction is "dang, I'm hung up again!". Realizing that I was in 100' FOW I got a big smile on my face. Got one up to the boat, while every now and then reaching over to try and make sure the line stayed tight on the other fish. I have to say, those 9' rods with medium action tips really helped out in this situation by having enough flex to fight the fish for me. Got one in the boat and tried to untangle the lure from the net but found myself with a sports injury instead... Not wanting to loose the other fish I just put the net in the water with the other lure still on to be able to get it in the boat. What a mess. Sure wish I would have convinced my neighbor to come now. Its funny, I have been chasing striper exclusively for a while and then I go out for walleye and end up running over a nice school of striper instead. So getting to fight two back to back, they were 7-8lb range, I had to see if I could get on the school again. So like an addict I trolled back and forth, this way and that, but did not find them again. I had one more hookup with something, I believe it was a walleye as it came from the same point tip I caught the other two at, but it came off. I then tried another spot and caught one white and decided to call it a night. I like when short trips turn out good like this. This is the picture I took of that school of stripers after I had boated the second one. I think the weights had made them stir up and they were still coming up to look at them.