HunterTheAviator

I'm actually pretty new to fishing with lures. All I ever used before was bait. Caught my first trout on a lure with that Kastmaster! On the whipping action with the countdowns, are you relying on that to set the hook, or do you feel the resistance then set it? On the kastmaster, I missed a few fish because I didn't really know what it felt like for a fish to hit on a reeling/ retrieving lure, only on jigs fished vertically which feels like bait. The only time I ever caught fish on lures before was white bass on rooster tails and that was a few years ago.

At Houseman on the downstream side of the boat launch, the regulations are pretty much gone. Barbed hooks are allowed as are multiple rods. The slot limit is also gone, mostly. You can keep any size fish, but you can still only keep one over 16 inches. 5 fish limit still applies.

Just realized this is in the wrong forum. Sorry!

Thought I got this topic up a few days ago, but it seems something went wrong. Got a chance to go fishing with my brother on Saturday. We got out to Parker Bend at 5am. We started on bait. I had a white and a chartreuse power egg on a size 8 hook floated off of the bottom at about 16-18 inches. No leader. Brother had an inflated nightcrawler and a white power egg floating off of the bottom at around 6-8 inches. He got a few hits and finally landed a 12 incher about 15 minutes in. I didn't get much so I casted out into the main channel after seeing lots of fish swimming through it. Finally started getting bites but I couldn't keep a single darn fish on. I think two got off before I landed a keeper. Bait fishing stayed pretty consistent until 9AM when the sun got high. I had one in the bag and he had two before it slowed. We both had some pretty great action until then but for some reason we couldn't keep any fish on, and the ones we did were too small or we had to throw them back. I'm pretty sure it's the hooks we were using. We must have lost 8 or 9 between the two of us. Tried my luck with a 1/4oz silver kastmaster and lost it on my second cast due to a snag. We headed up to the Dam Store for some lunch and lures and headed to the dam to catch some sculpin and to try our luck. We didn't catch anything on lures there but there was a gentlemen who was slaying them on chartreuse power bait. We got our sculpin and went to Houseman around 10. We didn't have any luck on them at all the whole time. He tied on a rainbow trout Rapala Countdown and I used a silver Kastmaster and fished all depths in a fan pattern a few times before I saw any action. Started to see some fish following after I started jigging it. I'd let it fall to the bottom and give it a quick jerk upwards. Nothing would take it, but I knew they were interested in it's fast and erratic behavior. Brother had some follows too on a steady medium retrieve. I'll just say that he didn't have a single bite on lures for the rest of the day. I started a steady medium retrieve with a few twitches and started seeing some action pick up. Landed a keeper and lost a few more. Lost a VERY nice fish. I got it all the way up to about 10 feet away from me after a nice fight and he got off. He was at least 20 inches, no doubt about it. I should mention that this whole time we also had a line out with a worm and a white egg floating off the bottom about 24 inches. We ended up landing a keeper on that one too. The fish were under way too much pressure and shut off completely around 2 o clock. We tried our luck back at parker bend around 6, hoping they would pick up again with no luck. We left that day with 5 fish in the bag and a whole lot more in the river. Not too bad! Fishing down there has definitely changed over the years. I used to be able to catch my limit of respectable fish before the sun came up. Now I'm lucky to leave with 3 or 4 by sunset.

That would explain why I hooked up on a brown with a purple/white crank during generation... I was desperate and so was he.

You mean to tell me I can catch trout in Beaver Lake?

The Beaver Dam tailwater is where I always go. I'm not much of a fly fisherman, though, so I can't tell you anything about flies. Lake Springdale, Lake Atalanta, and various ponds are stocked with rainbows in the winter, but I never have had any luck with them. Below Beaver is a safe bet. Try Parker Bend if you want wade-in access. Let me know if you'd like to get out on your kayak with a fishing buddy. Mine's collecting dust and has been neglected for far too long.

New to crappie fishing. I call Beaver Lake my home. I have a kayak and want to get out and do some crappie fishing because it looks like fun and they look so tasty. The second day I had my kayak (Dec. 26th, 2011), I launched out of hickory creek with 2 rods, a load of jigs, some Crappie Bites, and a few hand warmers. I was still pretty new to fishing altogether, and only knew that in the winter, many fish would be holding to cover pretty deep. So I found a sunken tree, tied on a chartreuse jig, and fished it at different depths for an hour until I started getting bites. What do you know!? WHITE CRAPPIE! Caught about 15 of them on that tree. I actually had no idea what I was catching at the time until I was packing up on shore and saw the Crappie Bites label, you know, that has a crappie on it. Anyway, I want to get out and do some more fishing on Beaver. She's never been really kind to me other than some nice white bass and cats from the bank over the years. My kayak is collecting dust and never sees me because I'm always looking for rainbows and browns on the tailwater, which is much nicer. I have NO idea where to start for crappie. I just got lucky that one time. I'm considering investing in a fish finder for my yak. I know how to read a topo map, but I simply don't know where they hang out at any given time of year. Any research I have ever done yields results that tell me what baits to use and how to find crappie beds, which is all fine and dandy if you can find the fish first at the right time of year! Getting a guide is far too expensive, so I'm turning to the internet(again). Help!