YAKFM

Great time on the water and tough to beat the fast action at the end of the day. It was hilarious watching you torment the white with your spoon as you followed the action on your graph in real time. Up goes the lure, up goes the fish, down goes the lure, down goes the fish. Wash, rinse, repeat for a minute or two. The fish finally had enough and inhaled the spoon. The bait ball slashing by the stipers and hybrids was really impressive to watch on the graph too.

Agreed. Catching the big slabs on a limber rod is a blast. Looking forward to spider rigging again.

I typically look for active fish with crankbaits, both trolling and casting. It is important to match your crankbait selection with the depth that the fish are located in the water column (using your graph). Once I locate fish I will use a jigging spoon if the fish are relating to the bottom or a small swimbait (keitech or Bobby Garland) if the fish are suspended. This past trip I would swim an 1/8 ounce white hair jig with a 3 inch keitech Easy Shiner or a Bobby Garland 2" Baby Swim'R on a 1/16th or 1/8th ounce jig head through the school. I will also use a "strolling" technique when in my kayak. To use the strolling technique I locate a school of fish, drop my crankbait in the water past the school, open the bail to my reel, then paddle over the school until I have let out up to 50 or 75 yards of line. I will then work my bait through the school with an erratic retrieve, often using a stop-n-go technique. This will enable me to trigger bites from fish that wouldn't hit the crankbait on a steady retrieve and allow me to reach deeper fish than I would on a cast. You can also use live bait (either shad or minnows) for fish that are in a negative mode.

Hubcap sized fillets too! Not sure about the old eyes there J-Doc. It says 13", not 30". Good thing your new graph comes with the extra wide screen. Lol

Water Temp: 72-75 F Water Clarity: 3-4 FOW Air Temp: 78-84 F Location: Mid Lake Lures: Crankbaits, jigging spoons, hair jigs, swimbaits, and topwaters. Total Fish in 4 Days: >100, which included LM (up to 20"), SM, Spots, Crappie (up to 15"), WB (up to 19.5"), Striper (all < 20"), Catfish, and Walleye (all <18")) I had a friend visit from out of state with his boat and we fished Monday the 6th through Thursday the 9th. Daily catch rates increased steadily from Monday (15 fish) to Thursday (37 fish) just ahead of the cold front. We fished each day from around 11 am to 5 or 6 pm. The majority of the fish we caught were WB, LM/spots, and crappie. Most LM/Spots were in the 13-16" range, WB averaged 1.5-2.5 lbs, and 12/17 of the legal crappie we kept were >13". We lost a 5-6 lb SM at the boat. Bait fish and bait balls were abundant in every creek we fished. We found large schools of fish near bait, all of which were concentrated around channel bends in 25-35 FOW. The fish seemed to be most active later in the day between 3 and sunset. We ended up with 6 or 7 doubles for the week, including the WB/crappie double pictured. Thanks to Fins and J-Doc for some timely tips on the water. Representative Photos Included:

As you well know J-Doc, success on Beaver can be fleeting. Every day I learn something new.

5 came on the jigging spoon. The remainder came on #7 flicker shad. We had multiple doubles on boat turns and we discovered by accident that they wanted some erratic action with the lures. Once we discovered this preference we held the rods in our hands and created erratic behavior by pumping the rod back and forth as we trolled. Straight line trolling at 2-3 mph only resulted in a few hook ups.

Large white bass and small stripers near PC today. A friend and I caught close to 30 WB in 3 hours this afternoon from his boat. Numerous doubles. They were all over our jigging spoons and trolled crankbaits. 20 feet down over 30 FOW with large bait balls in the area. No eyes for us either.

Thanks for the report Terry. Looking forward to see how you fare with the crankbaits.

Just don't catch the first catfish or bring the fish clicker. If necessary, coat his lures in stinkbait.

Congrats on the new job, J-Doc! Enjoy your trip and I hope you guys get some fish.

I'm looking forward to trying this recipe the next time I catch a drum, Fins.

Good luck tomorrow Tanderson. Looking forward to seeing your report.

Water Temp: 74-76 Water Visibility: 4 ft Location: Mid Lake Lures: Flicker Shad and Jigging Spoon Total Fish: 5-Walleye (3 legal to 20"), 5-White Bass (1.5 lbs), and 1 small channel cat. Water Depth: 28-30 FOW Fished from 7 am to Noon. Caught all white bass from 7-9 am. Started catching walleye at 9 and caught the last one by 11 am. No fish after 11 am. I trolled a few miles, but all hook-ups came from a relatively small area, maybe 50 yards long. Shad were all over the area. The fish were suspended in 30 FOW over structure on the edge of a large flat. All but 2 of the fish came on a Flicker Shad. Representative photos of each species included:

Nice catch Ron. Your eyes look like they have been eating well. To date I have only caught a couple of short eyes with the #7 and 9 FM. I seem to catch more bass and catfish with them than anything. Good to see had some success.

This was my experience as well. The jigging spoon bite was on in the latter part of the day in the creek I was in. Not much on the cranks, although the ones I did get came on the #5 Flicker. They seemed to prefer the smaller profile baits on Wednesday.

Good luck on the bow hunting, Green. I spent the first 3 hours scouting the creek with my electronics and trolling the Flickers. I caught several of the small bass and the crappie trolling, but the action was pretty slow early in the trip. Once I had found a couple of schools of fish on the flat I switched to the jigging spoon and the fish quality and numbers improved. In fact, most of the fish I caught came in the last 2 hours of the day. Had I been in a boat I might have been inclined to leave the area and missed out on the late developing bite. I also think the kayak can be an asset when fish are neutral or negative.

Water Temp: 76-78 Water Visibility: 4 ft Location: Mid Lake Lures: Jigging Spoon and Flicker Shad Total Fish: 19-LM (8-16"), 6-White Bass (1.5-2 lbs), 4-Crappie (9-10"), 1-Drum, and 1-Flathead (6 lbs) Water Depth: 20-22 FOW Fished from 11 am to 5 pm. Shad were all over the creek I was in from the shallow flats in the back of the creek out to the main channel. The shad appeared to be in the 2-3 inch range. Surface activity was steady through the mid to late afternoon. 80% of the fish I caught came on a 1/2 oz jigging spoon. Most of the fish came from an area the size of a football field in 20-22 FOW on a flat adjacent to the creek channel, which was 35-37 feet deep. Representative photos of each species included:

I have used the #9s on multiple trips, long line trolling from both a kayak and motorized boat, and the deepest I have made bottom contact is 23 or 24'. I was using 10 lb fluoro with 100-150 feet of line out trolling at 1.5-3 mph.

Thank you for the report Tanderson. Could you identify the color and size of the craws that they had eaten or were they too decomposed?

I had a great time on the water with you yesterday Fins. Great fellowship and the live action instruction was priceless. You indeed got another waterfowling convert yesterday.

A sampling of trash fish, including gar: http://gwfins.com/2014/06/gw-fins-trash-fish-dinner/ From the article: "The dinner is $40 exclusive of tax and gratuity. A “trashy cocktail” pairing will be available for an additional $25." Trash fish aren't on my menu, but it only takes viewing one episode of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel to realize that some people will pay for and eat just about anything.

Both the #7 and 9. Looking forward to seeing what they can do and how they compare side by side with the FS.

Nice mixed bag Nathan!

Nice work Nathan. I am looking forward to getting back out there and getting after them.